Traces the life of the woman who won election as the first woman president of the Philippines in 1986.

This book, The Philippine Presidency, is a comparative study of four successive presidents between 1965 and 2001. The period coincides with two People Power Revolutions. The first brought to power in 1986 President Corazon Aquino, the wife of the assassinated opposition leader, Benigno "Ninoy" S. Aquino. The second removed President Joseph Estrada from office in 2001. In the intervening period served President Fidel Ramos, who complemented Aquino's efforts to lead the Philippines into social and economic reform, and from the economic doldrums of the years under President Ferdinand Marcos to prosperity. This book comparatively examines the four successive presidencies to expose discernible patterns of leadership in the presidents' grapple to attain and retain power, to deal with social and economic ills, and to suppress multifarious rebellions. The relevant constitutions (1935, 1973, and 1987) within the period were compared to identify priority issues of the administrations and provisions that applied to the presidents during their tenures. Marcos was seen as having manipulated the constitutional provisions of martial law to retain power. The attempt to impeach Estrada stalemated, and the added pressure from the People Power Revolution removed him from office. On the whole, it is concluded that the personal attributes of the presidents were the most important factors (variables) in explaining state postures during the respective tenures of the four successive presidents of the Philippines examined here.