Following the assassination of opposition senator Benigno Aquino Jr. on 21 August 1983, Makati became a nexus for protests against the dictatorship of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. Known as the "Confetti Revolution", the demonstrations held in the central business district were led partly by employees of major corporations based in the area, culminating in the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled Marcos’ 20-year authoritarian regime. His political rival and successor, Corazon C. Aquino–the wife of the deceased senator Aquino–became the eleventh and first female president of the Philippines.