On February 25, 1986, two candidates took their oath for the presidency
of the Republic of the Philippines. One was the incumbent, one of the most
powerful men in the country’s history and the world. The other was the
widow of his staunchest political rival.

Two days before, on February 23,1986, millions of Filipinos began to amass
at the Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA). They answered the call of
Manila’s Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to defend former Marcos loyalists
General Fidel V. Ramos, then the chief of the Philippine Constabulary,
and Juan Ponce Enrile, the Minister of Defense. They set up a human barricade that faced the worst of President Ferdinand Marcos’ military machinery. Armed with rosaries and flowers, nuns, priests, students, workers and a representative of virtually every sector in society stood between the guns and tanks and the rebels, protesting the snap election results that were held on February 7, 1986. While the Commission on Elections declared Marcos the winner, events led to the eventual inauguration of Corazon C. Aquino, widow of slain senator Ninoy Aquino.

The Filipino is worth dying for. - Ninoy Aquino

The end of the Marcos Administration did not begin in 1986. It actually began with Ninoy Aquino’s assassination at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. Sentator Aquino’s death was a catalyst for change after almost ten years of martial rule.