Corazón Aquino

The former president of the Phillipines, Corazón Aquino, universally known as Cory, who has died of colon cancer aged 76, was the most recognizable symbol of the turbulence endured by her country over the last four decades. The 1983 slaying of her husband, the opposition politician Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, by assassins acting for the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, prompted this shy, religious widow into challenging his regime. Its attempt to rig the presidential election in February 1986 led to its being overthrown, and to her installation as president. But while she remained personally popular, not even a "people power" revolution was enough to resolve the conflicts dividing the nation.

Aquino avoided the limelight, and was more comfortable among priests and nuns than politicians. Yet, with dignified stoicism, she persevered with the duties of a presidency that had been thrust upon her by tragedy and circumstance. This "Mother of Sorrows" image proved both endearing and effective. It enabled her to count on the support of Cardinal Jaime Sin, ecclesiastical primate in the world's third largest Catholic nation (83% of the 90 million Filipinos are Catholics), and shielded her in the seven coup attempts launched by her enemies over the six years of her presidency. However grudgingly, the Philippines military establishment was forced to protect the woman whose democratic mandate emanated from the uprising of February 1986 that had taken the old regime and the world at large by surprise.

The 3.5 million ordinary people who came on to the streets of Manila with bibles and rosaries had answered the call of Cardinal Sin on Vatican Radio to confront the military machine peacefully. The effects of this uprising were felt far beyond the Asian island nation. Moving television images of nuns praying before tanks provided inspiration for other revolutions of the late 1980s, when people took to the streets of eastern Europe to shake off the chains of communism.

Yet for all her moral virtue, as a president Aquino was naive and weak. Her "reconciliation" policy towards Marcos henchmen meant that many such apparatchiks remained unpunished for crimes committed during the martial law era of 1972-86. Chief among them was Marcos's cousin, General Fidel Ramos, the military strong man who spearheaded the repressive state machine: Aquino appointed him armed forces chief, and he eventually succeeded her as president in 1992. Another was Marcos's judge general, Anniano Desierto, who was appointed national ombudsman. Even Marcos's defence minister, Juan Ponce Enrile, brutal jailer of the democracy campaigners, was placated by Aquino, eventually finishing up as a senator. Her dependence on the pro-Marcos military and their supporters came at a heavy price.

In the southern provinces, military hit squads roamed freely, mowing down peasant leaders, human rights campaigners and Catholic social activists. Aquino proved incapable of bringing those forces to heel, as she also failed to secure the extradition of Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda from their exile in Hawaii or the return of the sums they had looted from their nation, estimated to total $800m.

Born in Tarlac province to an elite landed family owning vast plantations, Maria Corazón Cojuangco seemed destined for a genteel and cultured existence. She was educated at an exclusive girls school run by nuns, was fluent in French, Spanish and English by the age of 18 and inherited a personal fortune. She left law school to marry the up-and-coming politician Benigno Aquino. He later became leader of a fragmented opposition to President Marcos, who in 1965 had defeated Diosado Macapagal (father of the current president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) to acquire the office to which he clung for the next 21 years.

Following Marcos's declaration of martial law in September 1972, Ninoy Aquino denounced the dictator, was imprisoned and was later indicted on trumped-up murder charges that left him in custody for seven years. When Ninoy required treatment for heart problems, Marcos allowed the Aquinos to go to the US, hoping that he and Cory would prefer their comfortable exile to a Manila prison cell. However, Ninoy decided to return when an ailing Marcos looked to be losing his grip on power. As he stepped off the plane at Manila airport on 21 August 1983, he was murdered by armed soldiers, in full view of television cameras. A grieving Cory returned to the Philippines the following day, and instead of retiring into seclusion, allowed Ninoy's open coffin to travel from place to place before the funeral - which attracted a crowd of 2 million.

Overwhelmed by the public reaction, she managed to control the potentially explosive public shock and anger, and soon learned how to harness public outrage to spectacular effect, holding weekly demonstrations of more than a million people. Coming from a wealthy family with investments in sugar, real estate and banking, she also managed to involve sectors not normally motivated to protest - the business community and upper classes, as well as the church, students and the poor people. Ayala Avenue, the Wall Street of Manila, became one of the biggest centres for her rallies.

When, in November 1985, Marcos called a snap election, she was the obvious choice of the previously fragmented opposition - 1.2 million signatures were gathered to endorse her candidacy. She agreed to take up the challenge after 10 hours' meditation on a spiritual retreat, later saying: "We had to present somebody who was the complete opposite of Marcos, someone who had been a victim. Looking around, I may not be the worst victim, but I am the best known." It was not a challenge she relished, however. "Please don't overestimate me, don't expect too much of me," she pleaded at one rally. She announced her candidacy a day after a Marcos-appointed court acquitted 26 military men accused of being involved in Ninoy's assassination.

Marcos called her "a snake in the Garden of Eden", and his beauty-queen wife Imelda, bitter with jealousy over Cory's popularity and old wealth, pooh-poohed her endorsement petition. Cory rose above these cheap shots, however, comparing herself to "the young boy David about to face the giant Goliath". As widely anticipated, the election was marred by massive fraud, but by the end of the campaign it was clear that Aquino was in the ascendant. Thus, when Marcos's election commissioners delayed the vote tally by almost three weeks, and then sought to declare the dictator the winner, a military revolt combined with millions of civilians taking to the capital's streets to demand Marcos's departure.

As president - the first female holder of the post in the Philippines - Aquino can best be remembered for her noble fight to restore democracy and the systematic dismantling of the worst abuses and trappings of dictatorship. Yet her vision of a functional Christian democracy never materialized, nor was she able to facilitate restorative justice to desired levels.

The euphoria of February 1986 was quickly replaced by disappointment. Her 1987 constitution, with its ban on abortion and divorce, also restored traditional dynastic government and the presidential system, a feature that benefited powerful families like her own. She was inexperienced and surrounded by squabbling advisers, and her presidency was plagued by massive debts and unremitting intrigues by her enemies. The most serious coup attempt against her, in December 1989, was only quashed when a flyover by US jets deterred mutinous soldiers. Her retirement in June 1992 came as a relief to herself and her hard-pressed allies.

In retirement, she initiated a foundation to assist disadvantaged Filipinos create small businesses. From her private resources, she endowed church social projects in poor communities and rescue centers for street children.

At the same time, her voice was heard on public issues. She openly supported the removal of Joseph Estrada from the presidency in 2001, but on the discovery of evidence linking President Arroyo to ballot fraud in 2005 she called for her resignation. She never again took an active part in politics, however.

She is survived by four daughters and a son.

• Maria Corazón Aquino, politician, born 25 January 1933; died 1 August 2009