People Power Revolution

Martial law protest

Barred from running for a third term as president in 1973, Marcos announced Proclamation No. 1081 on September 23, 1972, declaring martial law,[15] using the civil unrest that arose after the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis as a justification for the proclamation.[16]

Through this decree and through a controversial referendum in which citizen assemblies voted through a show of hands, Marcos seized emergency powers giving him full control of the Philippines' military and the authority to suppress and abolish the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and many other civil liberties.

President Marcos also dissolved the Philippine Congress and shut down media establishments critical of the Marcos Administration.[16] He also ordered the immediate arrest of his political opponents and critics. Among those arrested were Senate President Jovito Salonga, and the leaders Senator Jose W. Diokno and Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. — whom Marcos sent to Laur, Nueva Ecija[17] — and the man who was groomed by the opposition to succeed President Marcos after the 1973 elections.[16]

A constitutional convention, which had been called for in 1970 to replace the Commonwealth-era 1935 Constitution, continued the work of framing a new constitution after the declaration of martial law. The new constitution went into effect in early 1973, changing the form of government from presidential to parliamentary and allowing President Marcos to stay in power beyond 1973. The constitution was approved by 95% of the voters in the Philippine constitutional plebiscite. The constitution was part of the landmark Javellana v. Executive Secretary case (G.R. No. 36142) that led to the resignation of Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion. Part of the plot of the regime involved legitimizing the military rule through the new constitution providing legislative and executive powers to the president. Simultaneously Marcos conducted the 1973 plebiscite through the simple counting of hands raised by children and adults that involved questions such as the option for more rice in lieu of constitutional affirmation.[18]

With practically all of his political opponents arrested, out of office, and in exile, President Marcos's pre-emptive declaration of martial law in 1972 and the ratification of his new constitution by more than 95% of voters enabled Marcos to effectively legitimize his government and hold on to power for another 14 years beyond his first two terms as president. In a Cold War context, Marcos retained the support of the United States through Marcos's promise to stamp out communism in the Philippines and by assuring the United States of its continued use of military and naval bases in the Philippines.[16]

On November 27, 1977, a military tribunal sentenced Aquino and two co-accused, NPA leaders Bernabe Buscayno (Commander Dante) and Lt. Victor Corpuz, to death by firing squad.[19] In 1978, while still the last opposition leader yet to be released from prison at Fort Bonifacio, Aquino founded his political party, Lakas ng Bayan (abbreviated "LABAN"; English: People's Power) to run for office in the Interim Batasang Pambansa (Parliament). All LABAN candidates lost, including Aquino himself. He appeared in a television interview with Ronnie Nathanielsz to freely criticize the regime during the campaign. In 1980, he was later released to have a heart operation in the United States, being banned from repatriating back to the Philippines. Aquino had successful surgery in Dallas and then moved east.[20] Aquino stayed with his wife Corazon, and children in Boston College as a fellow for numerous American universities such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Carmen and the Diokno family protest through KAAKBAY, the leading organization of the first coalition JAJA

Despite warnings from the military and First Lady Imelda Marcos, Ninoy Aquino was determined to return home. Asked what he thought of the death threats, Aquino responded, "The Filipino is worth dying for."[21] Ninoy's passport expired and the renewal was denied. Ninoy developed a plan to acquire a passport with the help of Rashid Lucman.[22] The passport carried the alias Marcial Bonifacio (Marcial for martial law and Bonifacio for Fort Bonifacio where he was imprisoned).[23]

On August 21, 1983, after three years, Aquino was murdered by the military,[24] as he disembarked from a plane at the Manila International Airport (later renamed in Aquino's honor).[25] His assassination shocked and outraged most Filipinos, who had lost confidence in the Marcoses. The event led to more suspicions about the government, triggering non-cooperation among Filipinos that eventually led to outright civil disobedience.[26] It also shook the Marcos Administration, which was by then deteriorating due in part to Marcos's blatant illness (turned out to be the fatal lupus erythematosus).

By the end of 1983, the economy contracted by 6.8%.[27] Because the Marcos administration's spending had relied so heavily on debt since the Marcos family's first term in the 1960s,[28] the Philippines was left vulnerable when the US economy went into recession in the third quarter of 1981, forcing the Reagan administration to increase interest rates.[29] The Philippine government plunged further into debt and the economy began going into decline in 1981, continuing to do so by the time of the Benigno Aquino Jr. assassination in 1983. The economic and political instability combined to produce the worst recession in Philippine history in 1984 and 1985, with the economy contracting by 7.3% for two successive years.[29][28][30][31][32]

In 1984, Marcos appointed a commission, first led by Chief Justice Enrique Fernando and later Corazon Agrava, to launch an investigation into Aquino's assassination. Despite the commission's conclusions, Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, declined an offer to join the commission and rejected the government's views on the assassination.

This began a period of coalitions, first led by the nationalist liberal democrats under Jose W. Diokno called Kilusan sa Kapangyarihan at Karapatan ng Bayan or KAAKBAY, an umbrella organization founded in 1983, which headed the first grand liberal coalition called JAJA, or the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All movement. JAJA consisted of organizations such as the social democrat-based August Twenty One Movement (ATOM) led by Butz Aquino, KAAKBAY, MABINI, the Makati-based Alliance of Makati Associations or AMA, and others. Parliamentarians of the streets, as it was called applied pressure politics, and soon other coalitions were formed, culminating in the first call for elections for the opposition in the Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino or KOMPIL.[33] KOMPIL was organized by Aquino's ATOM from the JAJA coalition, as a means to unite the businessmen, communists, and other groups. Most of the KOMPIL members were led by the AMA leaders. Meanwhile Diokno, Lorenzo M. Tañada of MABINI, Butz and Corazon Aquino, and a few others were elected the overall presiding leaders in a search to find the opposition candidate. The main issue was whether to accept the CAMEL or Call for Meaningful Elections or, as Diokno and the more liberal JAJA members preferred, to boycott the event which might be another fixed election.[34] JAJA was later replaced by the Coalition of Organizations for the Restoration of Democracy (CORD) in the middle of 1984, which retained most of JAJA’s features and membership. A year later CORD was replaced by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or BAYAN, which was to be a platform for Diokno should he run for president, and was led by Tañada and student leader Lean Alejandro of the University of the Philippines. However the socialists/national democrats took control of the coalition so Diokno, Ambrosio Padilla, and the liberal democrats as well as Butz Aquino, ATOM, and the social democrats left BAYAN to the present national democratic coalition that it has become in the 21st century.[35] Before the division of the center-left and national democratic/Marxist left, the coalitions tended to pursue Diokno's philosophy of pressure politics or mass actions to influence and sway the Marcos dictatorship.[36]

Jovito Salonga of the Liberal Party's Salonga wing, first part of the boycott movement before campaigning for the presidential nomination

Eventually the top leaders decided to convene to select a candidate in case of contingencies or any sudden announcements of changes. It was then on November 3, 1985, after pressure from the US government,[37] that Marcos suddenly announced a snap presidential election would take place the following year, one year ahead of the regular presidential election schedule, to legitimize his control over the country.[38] The snap election was legalized with the passage of Batas Pambansa Blg. 883 (National Law No. 883) by the Marcos-controlled unicameral congress called the Regular Batasang Pambansa.[39]

To select a leader, the convenor's group of opposition leaders formed underlying principles. These principles, mainly proposed and edited by Diokno, discussed matters that involved anti-foreign domination in the economy, especially American intervention and military bases.[40] After the principles were agreed upon by the opposition leaders, as Lorenzo M. Tañada quipped, it became almost automatic and completely expeditious in agreeing unanimously on one candidate to face Marcos. For the initial step in nominating a candidate, the selection process started out with a pooled list among the opposition leaders themselves. The list of candidates for president were mostly including former senators: Jose W. Diokno, Butz Aquino, Jovito Salonga, Eva Estrada-Kalaw, Salvador "Doy" Laurel, Ambrosio Padilla, Aquilino Pimentel, Raul Manglapus, and Ramon Mitra, as well as a future senator in Teofisto Guingona Jr., and a technocrat who once served as Marcos's executive secretary named Rafael Salas.[41]

After the vetting of nominees, as men such as Sen. Diokno vehemently opposed to run for president,[42] the remaining potential candidates who openly wished to earn the opposition's nomination were Salonga, Laurel, and Estrada-Kalaw. United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) members Estrada-Kalaw and Laurel were the only two not to sign the declaration of unity or the underlying principles. Eventually Estrada-Kalaw withdrew after being overwhelmed by the multiple candidates in the selection process and campaigned to become the vice-presidential candidate.[43] Between 64 year old Salonga, who with 64 year old Estrada-Kalaw represented the two largest Liberal Party factions, and Laurel, who was son of former president Jose P. Laurel, it was decided by men such as Chino Roces that both candidates might lack the popularity needed to win.[44] This was because Salonga had spent much time in exile in the United States while Laurel, the founder and main head of UNIDO, was deemed "too lightweight".[42]

UNIDO and the other coalitions agreed to choose Aquino's wife Cory Aquino instead of Luarel or Estrada-Kalaw and began the Cory Aquino for President Movement or CAPM, led by Roces, et al. Only Laurel, a friend of Ninoy Aquino, did not agree with this choice and wanted to run against Aquino and Marcos. UNIDO overwhelmed Laurel's vote and encouraged him to become Cory Aquino's vice-president instead. Once Cory Aquino became the main candidate, Laurel eventually ran as Cory Aquino's running mate for vice-president under the United Opposition (UNIDO) party. Marcos ran for re-election, with Arturo Tolentino as his running mate under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) party.[39] Thus within a matter of only a few weeks the candidates were fixed and the campaign period was set for the 1986 snap election.

Corazon Aquino campaigning with son Noynoy

The election was held on February 7, 1986.[38] The official election canvasser, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), declared that Marcos was the winner. The final tally of the COMELEC had Marcos winning with 10,807,197 votes against Aquino's 9,291,761 votes. On the other hand, based on returns of 70% of the precincts[45] of the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), an accredited poll watcher, had Aquino winning with 7,835,070 votes against Marcos's 7,053,068 votes.[46]

This electoral exercise was marred by widespread reports of violence and tampering of election results, culminating in the walkout of 30 COMELEC computer technicians to protest the deliberate manipulation of the official election results to favor Ferdinand Marcos. The walkout was considered one of the early "sparks" of the People Power Revolution. The walkout also served as an affirmation to allegations of vote-buying, fraud, and tampering of election results by the KBL.[47][48]

Because of reports of alleged fraud, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) through Cardinal Ricardo Vidal issued a statement condemning the elections.[49] The United States Senate also passed a resolution stating the same condemnation.[38] US president Ronald Reagan issued a statement calling the fraud reports as "disturbing" but he said that there was fraud "on both sides" of the Philippine election.[50][51] In response to the protests, COMELEC claimed that Marcos with 53 percent won over Aquino. However, NAMFREL countered that the latter won over Marcos with 52 percent of votes.[52]

On February 15, Marcos was proclaimed by COMELEC and Batasang Pambansa as the winner amid the controversy. All 50 opposition members of the Parliament walked out in protest. The Filipino people repudiated the results, asserting that Aquino was the real victor. Both "winners" took their oath of office in two different places, with Aquino gaining greater mass support. Aquino also called for coordinated strikes and mass boycott of the media and businesses owned by Marcos's cronies. As a result, the crony banks, corporations, and media were hit hard, and their shares in the stock market plummeted to record levels.[53]

Cardinal Ricardo Vidal

Cardinal Vidal, after the result of the snap election, issued a declaration in lieu of the Philippine Church hierarchy stating that when "a government does not of itself freely correct the evil it has inflicted on the people then it is our serious moral obligation as a people to make it do so." The declaration also asked "every loyal member of the Church, every community of the faithful, to form their judgment about the February 7 polls" and told all the Filipinos, "Now is the time to speak up. Now is the time to repair the wrong. The wrong was systematically organized. So must its correction be. But as in the election itself, that depends fully on the people; on what they are willing and ready to do."[49]

On February 16, 1986, Corazon Aquino held the "Tagumpay ng Bayan" (People's Victory) rally at Luneta Park, announcing a civil disobedience campaign and calling for her supporters to boycott publications and companies which were associated with Marcos or any of his cronies.[54] The event was attended by a crowd of about two million people.[55] Aquino's camp began making preparations for more rallies, and Aquino herself went to Cebu to rally more people to their cause.[56]

Camp Aguinaldo

In the aftermath of the election and the revelations of irregularities, the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) - a cabal of officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) disgruntled by the patronage politics and corruption in the AFP, formed in 1982[57] - set into motion a coup attempt against the Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.[58]

RAM's initial plan was for a team to assault Malacañang Palace and arrest Ferdinand Marcos. RAM founder Col. Gringo Honasan formulated a plan to attack the palace and "neutralize" the Marcos couple.[59] Other military units would take over key strategic facilities, such as the airport, military bases, the GHQAFP in Camp Aguinaldo, and major highway junctions to restrict counteroffensive by Marcos-loyal troops.

However, after Marcos learned about the plot, he ordered their leaders' arrest,[60] and presented to the international and local press some of the captured plotters, Maj. Saulito Aromin and Maj. Edgardo Doromal.[61]

Threatened with their impending imprisonment, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and his fellow coup plotters decided to ask for help from then-AFP Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Fidel Ramos, who was also the chief of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police). Ramos agreed to resign from his position and support the plotters. Ramos also contacted the highly influential Cardinal Archbishop of Manila Jaime Sin for his support.[62]

Despite Ramos' defection, however, the coup plotters were essentially trapped in Camp Crame, and in the words of historian Vicente L. Rafael, "became sitting ducks for Ferdinand Marcos’ loyalist forces."[63]

At about 6:30 p.m. on February 22, Enrile and Ramos held a press conference at the Ministry of National Defense building in Camp Aguinaldo, the AFP headquarters, where they announced that they had resigned from their positions in Marcos' cabinet and were withdrawing support from his government. Marcos himself later conducted a news conference calling on Enrile and Ramos to surrender, urging them to "stop this stupidity".[64] Marcos tried to call Enrile, but Enrile refused to play Marcos's game. Eventually out of desperation Marcos televised his sickly appearance, and announced that he promises to crush every Filipino who stands in his way in order to capture Enrile and Ramos.[62]

Jaime Cardinal Sin

After Cardinal Vidal's condemnation of the snap election's fraudulent result, a message was aired over Radio Veritas at around 9 p.m., Cardinal Sin exhorted Filipinos in the capital to aid rebel leaders by going to the section of EDSA between Camp Crame and Aguinaldo and giving emotional support, food and other supplies. For many, this seemed an unwise decision since civilians would not stand a chance against a dispersal by government troops. Many people, especially priests and nuns, still trooped to EDSA.[64]

My Dear People, I wish you to pray, because it's only through prayer that we may solve this problem. This is Cardinal Sin speaking to the people, especially in Metro Manila. I am indeed concerned about the situation of Minister Enrile and General Ramos, I am calling our people to support our two good friends at the camp. If any of you could be around at Camp Aguinaldo to show your solidarity and your support in this very crucial period, when our two good friends have shown their idealism, I would be very happy if you support them now. I would only wish that violence and bloodshed be avoided. Let us pray to our blessed lady to help us in order that we can solve this problem peacefully

— Jaime Cardinal Sin

Radio Veritas played a critical role during the mass uprising. Former University of the Philippines president Francisco Nemenzo stated that: "Without Radio Veritas, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to mobilize millions of people in a matter of hours." Similarly, a certain account in the event said that: "Radio Veritas, in fact, was our umbilical cord to whatever else was going on."[65]

Radio Veritas

At dawn, Sunday, government troops arrived to knock down the main 50-kilowatt transmitter of Radio Veritas, cutting off broadcasts to people in the nearby provinces. The station switched to a 10-kilowatt standby transmitter with a limited range of broadcast.[65] The station was targeted because it had proven to be a valuable communications tool for the people supporting the rebels, keeping them informed of government troop movements and relaying requests for food, medicine, and supplies.[64]

Fidel Ramos

Still, people came to EDSA until it swelled to hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians. The mood in the street was very festive, with many bringing whole families. Performers entertained the crowds, nuns and priests led prayer vigils, and people set up barricades and makeshift sandbags, trees, and vehicles in several places along EDSA and intersecting streets such as Santolan and Ortigas Avenue. Everywhere, people listened to Radio Veritas on their radios. A photo taken by Pete Reyes of Srs. Porferia Ocariza and Teresita Burias leading the rosary in front of soldiers has since become an iconic picture of the revolution.[66] Several groups sang Bayan Ko (My Homeland),[67] which, since 1980, had become a patriotic anthem of the opposition. People frequently flashed the 'LABAN' sign,[68] which is an "L" formed with their thumb and index finger. 'laban' is the Filipino word for 'fight', but also the abbreviation of Lakas ng Bayan, Ninoy Aquino's party. After lunch on February 23, Enrile and Ramos decided to consolidate their positions. Enrile crossed EDSA from Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Crame amidst cheers from the crowd.[64]

In the mid-afternoon, Radio Veritas relayed reports of Marines massing near the camps in the east and LVT-5 tanks approaching from the north and south. A contingent of Marines with tanks and armored vans, led by Brigadier General Artemio Tadiar, was stopped along Ortigas Avenue, about two kilometers from the camps, by tens of thousands of people.[69] Nuns holding rosaries knelt in front of the tanks and men and women linked arms together to block the troops.[70] Tadiar asked the crowds to make a clearing for them, but they did not budge. In the end, the troops retreated with no shots fired.[64]

By evening, the standby transmitter of Radio Veritas failed. Shortly after midnight, the staff was able to go to another station to begin broadcasting from a secret location under the moniker "Radyo Bandido" (Outlaw Radio, which is now known as DZRJ-AM). June Keithley, with her husband Angelo Castro, Jr., was the radio broadcaster who continued Radio Veritas' program throughout the night and in the ensuing days.[64]

At dawn on Monday, February 24, the first serious encounter with government troops occurred. Marines marching from Libis, in the east, lobbed tear gas at the demonstrators, who quickly dispersed. Some 3,000 Marines then entered and held the east side of Camp Aguinaldo.[64]

Later, helicopters manned by the 15th Strike Wing of the Philippine Air Force, led by Colonel Antonio Sotelo, were ordered from Sangley Point in Cavite, south of Manila, to head to Camp Crame.[71] Secretly, the squadron had already defected and instead of attacking Camp Crame, landed in it, with the crowds cheering and hugging the pilots and crew members.[64]

A Bell 214 helicopter piloted by Major Deo Cruz of the 205th Helicopter Wing and Sikorsky S-76 gunships piloted by Colonel Charles Hotchkiss of the 20th Air Commando Squadron joined the rebel squadron earlier in the air. The presence of the helicopters boosted the morale of Enrile and Ramos who had been continually encouraging their fellow soldiers to join the opposition movement.[64] In the afternoon, Aquino arrived at the base where Enrile, Ramos, Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) officers, and a throng were waiting.[71]

A damaged newspaper from The Manila Times covering the revolution

At around that time, June Keithley received reports that Marcos had left Malacañang Palace and broadcast this to the people at EDSA. The crowd celebrated and even Ramos and Enrile came out from Crame to appear to the crowds. The jubilation was however short-lived as Marcos later appeared on television on the government-controlled MBS-4,[72] (using the foreclosed ABS-CBN facilities, transmitter and compound in Broadcast Plaza, now ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center) declaring that he would not step down. It was thereafter speculated that the false report was a calculated move against Marcos to encourage more defections.[64]

During this broadcast, MBS-4 suddenly went off the air. A contingent of rebels, under Colonel Mariano Santiago, had captured the station. MBS-4 was put back on the air shortly after noon, with Orly Punzalan announcing on live television, "Channel 4 is on the air again to serve the people." By this time, the crowds at EDSA had grown to over a million, but some estimates place the crowd number up to 2 million people.[64]

On September 14, 1986, this broadcast was considered the "return" of ABS-CBN on air because this was the time when former employees of the network were inside the complex on after 14 years of closure since Marcos took it over during the Martial Law of 1972. "Radyo Bandido" ended broadcasting that afternoon, while Radio Veritas resumed transmissions, this time from the Broadcast Plaza's radio studios.

In the late afternoon, rebel helicopters attacked Villamor Airbase, destroying presidential air assets. Another helicopter went to Malacañang, fired a rocket, and caused minor damage. Later, most of the officers who had graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) defected. The majority of the Armed Forces had already changed sides.[64]

Prior dialogues to stop the revolution had not succeeded with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which was led by Gen. Ver. AFP was ready to mount an airstrike on the day but Marcos ordered them to halt.[73][74]

The actual dialogue on TV between Marcos and then AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Ver went as follows:

Fabian Ver: The Ambush there is aiming to mount there in the top. Very quickly, you must immediately leave to conquer them, immediately, Mr. President.

Ferdinand Marcos: Just wait, come here.
Ver: Please, Your Honor, so we can immediately strike them. We have to immobilize the helicopters that they've got. We have two fighter planes flying now to strike at any time, sir.
Marcos: My order is not to attack. No, no, no! Hold on. My order is not to attack.
Ver: They are massing civilians near our troops and we cannot keep on withdrawing. You asked me to withdraw yesterday–
Marcos (interrupting): Uh yes, but ah... My order is to disperse without shooting them.
Ver: We cannot withdraw all the time...

Marcos: No! No! No! Hold on! You disperse the crowd without shooting them.

Inauguration of Corazon Aquino

Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as the 11th president of the Philippines on February 25, 1986, at Sampaguita Hall (Now Kalayaan Hall).
Date	February 25, 1986 (1986-02-25)
Location	Sampaguita Hall, Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila
Participants	President of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino Assuming office Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Claudio Teehankee Administering oath Vice President of the Philippines Salvador Laurel Assuming office Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Vicente Abad Santos Administering oath

On the morning of Tuesday, February 25, at around 7 a.m., a minor clash occurred between loyal government troops and the reformists. Snipers stationed atop the crony-owned RPN-9 transmitter in Panay Avenue, near MBS-4, began shooting at the reformists. Many rebel soldiers surged to the station,[64] and a rebel S-76 helicopter later shot the snipers at the broadcast tower. The troops later left after a V-150 was blocked by the crowd assembled.

Later in the morning, Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as President of the Philippines in a simple ceremony at Club Filipino[75] in Greenhills, about a kilometer from Camp Crame. She was sworn in as president by Senior Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee, and Laurel as vice-president by Justice Vicente Abad Santos. The Bible on which Aquino swore her oath was held by her mother-in-law Aurora Aquino, the mother of Ninoy Aquino. Attending the ceremonies were Ramos, who was then promoted to General, Enrile, and many politicians.[64]

Outside Club Filipino, all the way to EDSA, hundreds of people cheered and celebrated. Bayan Ko (My Country, a popular folk song and the unofficial National Anthem of protest) was sung after Aquino's oath-taking. Many people wore yellow, the color of Aquino's presidential campaign.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos is sworn by Chief Justice Ramon Aquino in the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace on February 25, 1986.

An hour later, Marcos held the inauguration at Malacañang Palace. Loyalist civilians attended the ceremony, shouting "Marcos, Marcos, Marcos pa rin! (Marcos, Marcos, still Marcos!)". On the Palace balcony, Marcos took the Oath of Office, aired on IBC-13 and RPN-9 (RPN-9 was going off-the-air during the broadcast of the inauguration, as its transmitter was captured by reformist soldiers)[64] None of the invited foreign dignitaries attended the ceremony, for security reasons. The couple finally emerged on the balcony of the Palace before 3,000 KBL loyalists who were shouting, "Capture the snakes!"[76] Rather tearfully,[76] First Lady Imelda Marcos gave a farewell rendition of the couple's theme song – the 1938 kundiman "Dahil Sa Iyo" (Because of You) – chanting the song's entreaties in Tagalog:

Because of you, I became happy
Loving I shall offer you
If it is true I shall be enslaved by you
All of this because of you.[76]

The broadcast of the event was interrupted as rebel troops successfully captured the other stations. It was the last time Marcos was seen in the Philippines.[64]

By this time, hundreds of people had amassed at the barricades along Mendiola, only a hundred meters away from Malacañang. They were prevented from storming the Palace by loyal government troops securing the area. The angry demonstrators were pacified by priests who warned them not to be violent.[64]

Marcos in exile in Hawaii

Despite holding an inauguration, Marcos and his family were already preparing to flee the country. At 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Marcos phoned United States Senator Paul Laxalt, asking for advice from the White House.[76] Laxalt advised him to "cut and cut clean", to which Marcos expressed his disappointment after a short pause. In the afternoon, Marcos talked to Minister Enrile, asking for safe passage for him, his family, and close allies such as General Ver.[77] He also asked Enrile if United States Ambassador Stephen Bosworth could assign a security escort for the Marcos family's departure.[78]

Around midnight, the Marcos family boarded a United States Air Force HH-3E Rescue helicopter[79] and flew to Clark Air Base in Angeles City 83 kilometers north of Manila. At Clark Air Base, Marcos asked to spend a couple of days with his family in Ilocos Norte, his native province. Aquino vetoed the request. President Reagan privately derided Aquino for denying Marcos a last look at his home province.[80]

The deposed First Family and their servants then rode US Air Force DC-9 Medivac and C-141B planes to Andersen Air Force Base in the north of the United States territory of Guam, then flying to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii where Marcos finally arrived on February 26. The United States Government documented that they entered the United States with millions of dollars in jewelry, gold, stocks, and cash.[10][64]

When news of the Marcos family's departure reached civilians, many rejoiced and danced in the streets. Over at Mendiola, the demonstrators stormed the Palace, which was closed to ordinary people for around a decade. Despite looting by some angry protesters, the majority wandered about inside through rooms where national history was shaped, looking at objects extravagant and mundane that the Marcos clan and its court had abandoned in their flight. Shortly after midnight on February 26, five army trucks of troops under the command of Fidel Ramos arrived in Malacañang Palace to secure it after Ferdinand Marcos had left - marking the end of the Marcos dictatorship, and placing the palace under the control of the Provisional Government of the Philippines until a new constitution could be enacted a year later, in 1987.[81]

In other countries, people also rejoiced and congratulated Filipinos they knew. CBS anchorman Bob Simon reported: "We Americans like to think we taught the Filipinos democracy. Well, tonight they are teaching the world."[64]