February 25, 1986, 40 years ago: The "People Power Revolution" comes to the Philippines, ending the 20-year dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Born in 1917, Marcos was one of the Filipinos taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II, but was released after 4 months. The reason is not clear. He later claimed to be "the most decorated war hero in the Philippines," but most of those decorations were found to have been granted many years thereafter -- by himself, once in power. (Similarly, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was awarded his country's highest honor, "Hero of the Soviet Union," for his 60th birthday, and he awarded himself the honor 3 more times, even though his military service was not especially noteworthy.)
He became a lawyer, and served in each house of the national legislature, before getting elected President in 1965. He managed to grow the economy for much of the Pacific island nation, but also left great poverty and great repression.
In 1972, a series of bombings added to the difficulties he would have in getting elected to a 3rd term. They may have been "false flags," his own "Reichstag Fire": He imposed martial law, and revised the Constitution to make it easier for him to do what he wanted. Freedom of the press came to an end under his rule.
At this time, he had Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, the leader of the opposition, arrested. He released Aquino in 1980, so he could travel to America for medical treatment. On August 21, 1983, knowing he could be arrested, or even killed, upon his arrival, Aquino flew back to his homeland. Sure enough, as soon as he set foot on the tarmac at Manila International Airport, he was shot and killed by soldiers, a brazen assassination. Even President Ronald Reagan, who supported Marcos because he was a strong anti-Communist, began to back away from supporting him.
In 1985, the national Assembly attempted to impeach Marcos -- not for the assassination of Senator Aquino, but for corruption. The impeachment drive failed. Also failing was Marcos' health: He had lupus, underwent a kidney transplant that failed, and underwent a second transplant that worked. His wife Imelda Marcos began to be seen as his public spokesperson. People who hated him now hated her, too.
So, in spite of having another year left in his term, he called a snap election for February 7, 1986. The opposition nominated Corazon Aquino, Ninoy's widow, for President. The Commission On Elections (COMELEC) ruled that Marcos had won, with 53.7 percent of the vote. However, the National Movement for Free Elections said that Aquino had won, with 52.5 percent. Fraud was alleged -- by both sides.
Who was right? The answer came when 35 COMELEC computer technicians issued a statement, saying that the official results were manipulated to favor Marcos. Some Marcos allies defected to the opposition, including one man who said an assassination attempt against him was a fake, an attempt to generate sympathy for the ruling regime.
Demonstrations were held all over the country. On February 25, Mrs. Aquino participated in a non-binding inauguration ceremony. It was clear that, even if Marcos had rightly won the election, he couldn't win one now: The country wanted him gone.
Marcos telephoned Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada, a close friend and ally of President Reagan, who advised him, "Cut, and cut cleanly." With the U.S. military still having a presence in the country, over 40 years after World War II, Marcos made a deal, and the U.S. Air Force took him to Guam, and then to Hawaii.
Mrs. Aquino was officially sworn in as President, and at the end of the year, Time magazine would name her its Person of the Year. She would eventually face counter-coups that would fail. After she left office in 1992 -- constitutionally and willingly -- the airport where her husband was assassinated was renamed for him: She died in 2009. Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Their son, Benigno Aquino III, a.k.a. Noynoy, served as President from 2010 to 2016.
Stories of the Marcoses' luxurious habits leaked out of both Manila and their home-in-exile in Hawaii. Particularly grabbing people's attention, on both sides of the Pacific, were Imelda's collection of thousands of shoes. They began to look like an Asian version of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. In fact, the Bakkers were amateurs compared to the Marcoses: Jim convinced his followers to give to him, while Marcos looted an entire country.
He died in 1989. Imelda was allowed to return to the Philippines, and reinter her husband's remains there. As of February 25, 2026, she is still alive, 96 years old.
Currently, the country's Constitution limits the President to one term, so Rodrigo Duterte, who was an even more oppressive leader than Marcos was, had to leave office. So the Marcoses' son, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a.k.a. Bongbong Marcos, ran in the 2022 election, and won, with Sara Duterte, the outgoing President's daughter, as Vice President. A Marcos daughter, Imee Marcos, now serves in the Senate.
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