ion's demands that he become more democratic. President Marcos’s plans for victory were upset by a housewife who entered politics only two months earlier. Her husband, Benigno Aquino, was Marcos’s chief rival who was slain on his return from exile in 1983. On the campaign trail, it soon became clear that Aquino's main asset was herself. Turning her appearances into what became improvised prayer rallies, the small figure in yellow stood before crowdsand delivered heartfelt parables about her life under Marcos. Wherever she spoke, tens of thousands of worshipers came together in a sea of yellow, flashing the L sign of LABAN, and striking up chants of "Co-ry! Co-ry! Co-ry!" By voting day, Aquino had become a powerful political presence. During the presidential election, Marcos had his men rip up ballots and they intimidated voters at gunpoint. About three million names were just taken off the voter list. Suddenly thousands of volunteer poll watchers, singing hymns and burning candles, formed a human barricade against the armed goons and carried their ballot boxes through the streets to counting stations. Thirty of the government's vote tabulators walked out in protest against the fraud. The country's Catholic bishops publicly condemned the election, and the U.S. Senate echoed the protest. Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, the architect of Marcos' martial law, and Lieutenant General Fidel Ramos, the deputy chief of the armed forces, broke away from the government, claiming that Aquino was the true winner. As the rebels barricaded themselves inside two military camps, tens of thousands of common citizens poured into the streets to offer food, support and protection to the maverick soldiers and Aquino backers. Civilians, bearing only flags and flowers, took up positions to defend the military men. The world then knew that it was watching more than just an electoral disturbance. Marcos's tanks rolled toward the crowds, only to b...
