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MEMORIAM
Early
life and career
Ninoy
Aquino was born in Concepcion,
Tarlac to a prosperous family of hacienderos (landlords). His
grandfather, Servillano Aquino was a general in the revolutionary army of
Emilio Aguinaldo while his father, Benigno Aquino Sr. was a prominent
official in the World War II Japanese-organized government of Jose P.
Laurel. His father died while Ninoy was in his teens amid rumor of alleged
collaboration with the Japanese during the occupation. He was educated in
private schools--elementary at St. Joseph's College, and high school at San
Beda College. He took his tertiary education at Ateneo
De Manila with a degree in Liberal Arts but he did not graduate. At age
17, he was the youngest war correspondent to cover the Korean War for the
newspaper The Manila Times of Joaquin "Chino" Roces. Because of
his journalistic feats, he received a Philippine Legion of Honor award from
President Elpidio Quirino at age 18. At 21, he became a close adviser to
then defense secretary Ramon Magsaysay. Ninoy took law at the University of
the Philippines, where he became a member of the Upsilon
Sigma Phi. He interrupted his studies however to pursue a career in
journalism. In early 1954, he was appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay to
act as personal emissary to Luis
Taruc, leader of the Hukbalahap
rebel group. After four months of negotiations, he claimed credit for
Taruc's unconditional surrender. He became mayor of Concepción in 1955 at
the age of 22. In the same year he married Corazón Cojuangco, and they had
5 children; Maria Elena, Aurora Corazon, Benigno Aquino III, Victoria Elisa
and TV host Kris Aquino.
Political
career
He
was no stranger to Philippine politics. Ninoy was a third-generation Aquino,
a family who had been involved with some of the country's political
heavyweights. His grandfather served under President Aguinaldo while his
father held office under Presidents Manuel
Quezon and Jose
P. Laurel. He became the youngest municipal mayor at age 22, and the
nation's youngest vice-governor at 27. He became governor of Tarlac in 1961
at age 29, then secretary-general of the Liberal
Party in 1966. In 1967 he made history by becoming the youngest elected
senator in the country's history at age 34. He was the only
"survivor" of the Liberal Party who made it to the senate, where
he was inevitably singled out by Marcos and his allies as their greatest
nemesis. In 1968, his first year in the Upper House, he warned that Marcos
was on the road to establishing "a Garrison State" by "ballooning
the armed forces budget", saddling the defense establishment with "overstaying
generals" and "militarizing our civilian government
offices"--all these caveats uttered almost four years before
martial law.
In
many ways, Aquino bedeviled the Marcos regime, chipping away at its
monolithic facade. His most celebrated speech, insolently entitled "A
Pantheon for Imelda", was delivered on February 10, 1969, and assailed
the first lady's first extravagant project, the P50 million Cultural
Center, which he dubbed "a monument to shame". President
Marcos, outraged, called Aquino "a congenital liar". The First
Lady's friends angrily accused Aquino of being "ungallant". This
so-called "fiscalization" tactics of Aquino quickly became his
signature trademark at the senate. During his tenure as senator, he was
selected by the Philippine Free Press magazine as one of the nation's most
outstanding senators. His achievements at a very young age earned him the
moniker "Wonder Boy" of Philippine politics.
Aquino
was considering the highest office in the land, the presidency. Surveys
during those times showed that he was the number one choice among
Filipinos, since President Marcos by law was prohibited to serve another
term.
Martial
law, hunger strike
It
was not until the Plaza
Miranda bombing however--on August 21, 1971 (12 years to the day before
Ninoy Aquino's own assassination)--that the pattern of direct confrontation
between Marcos and Aquino emerged. At 9:15 p.m., at the kick-off rally of
the Liberal Party, the candidates had formed a line on the makeshift
platform and raised their hands as the crowd applauded. The band played, a
fireworks display drew all eyes, when suddenly there were two loud
explosions that obviously were not part of the show. In an instant the
stage became a scene of wild carnage. The police later discovered two
fragmentation grenades that had been thrown at the stage by "persons
unknown". Nine people died, 85 others were wounded, many critically.
Although
suspicions pointed to the Nacionalistas (the political party of Marcos),
Marcos allies sought to deflect this by insinuating that, perhaps, Aquino
might have had a hand in the blast in a bid to eliminate his potential
rivals within the party. Later, the Marcos government presented
"evidence" of the bombings as well as an alleged threat of a
communist insurgency, suggesting that the bombings were the handiwork of
the growing New
People's Army. Marcos made this a pretext to suspend the Writ
of Habeas Corpus, vowed that the killers would be apprehended
within 48 hours (they never were), and arrested a score of known
"Maoists" on general principle. Ironically, the police captured
one of the bombers, who was identified as a sergeant of the firearms and
explosive section of the Philippine
Constabulary, a military arm of the government. According to Aquino,
this man was later snatched from police custody by military personnel and
the public never heard from him again.
President
Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972,and he went on air to
broadcast his declaration the midnight of September 23. Aquino was one of
the first to be arrested and imprisoned on trumped-up charges of murder,
illegal possession of firearms and subversion.
[1]
On April 4, 1975, Aquino announced that he was going on a hunger strike, a fast
to the death to protest the injustices of his military trial. Ten days
through his hunger strike, he instructed his lawyers to withdraw all
motions he had submitted to the Supreme Court. As weeks went by, he
subsisted solely on salt tablets, sodium bicarbonate, amino acids and two
glasses of water a day. Even as he grew weaker, suffering from chills and
cramps, the soldiers forcibly dragged him to the military tribunal's
session. His family and hundreds of friends and supporters heard Mass
nightly at the Santuario de San Jose in Greenhills,
San Juan, praying for his survival. Near the end, Aquino's weight had
dropped from 180 to 120 pounds. Ninoy nonetheless could walk throughout
this ordeal. On May 13, 1975, on the 40th day, his family and several
priests and friends, begged him to end his fast, pointing out that even Christ
Himself fasted only for 40 days. He acquiesced, confident that he had made
a symbolic gesture. But at 10:25 p.m. on November 25, 1977, the
government-controlled Military Commission found Aquino guilty of all
charges and was sentenced to death by firing squad. However, Ninoy and many
others believed that Marcos, ever the shrewd strategist, would not want him
to suffer death that would surely mark him (Ninoy) for martyrdom. Whatever
the end may be, Aquino was convinced, it will be by devious and dastardly
means.
1978
elections, bypass surgery, exile
In
1978, from his prison cell, he was allowed to take part in the elections
for Interim Batasang Pambansa (Parliament). Although his friends, former
Senators Gerry
Roxas and Jovito
Salonga preferred to boycott the elections, Aquino urged his supporters
to organize and run 21 candidates in Metro
Manila. Thus his political party, dubbed Lakas ng Bayan
(People's Power), was born. The party's acronym was "LABAN" (the
word laban means "fight"). He was allowed one television
interview on Face
the Nation (hosted by the infamous Ronnie Nathanielsz) and proved
to a startled and impressed populace that imprisonment had neither dulled
his rapier-like tongue nor dampened his fighting spirit. Foreign
correspondents and diplomats asked what would happen to the LABAN ticket.
People agreed with him that his party would win overwhelmingly in an honest
election. Not surprisingly, all his candidates lost due to widespread
election fraud.
In
mid-March 1980, Aquino suffered a heart attack, possibly the result of
seven years in prison, mostly in a solitary cell which must have placed a
heavy toll on a gregarious personality such as his. He was transported to
the Philippine
Heart Center where he suffered a second heart attack. The doctors
administered ECG and other tests and
found that he had a blocked artery. The surgeons were reluctant to do a
coronary bypass because of their unwillingness to be involved in a
controversy. Additionally, Aquino refused to submit himself to the hands of
local doctors, for fear of a possible Marcos "duplicity",
preferring to either go to the United States for the procedure or return to
his cell at Fort Bonifacio and die.
On
May 8, 1980, Imelda
Marcos made an unannounced visit to Aquino at his hospital room. She
asked him if he would like to leave that evening for the U.S., but not
before agreeing on two covenants: 1.) That if he leaves, he will return;
2.) While in America,
he should not speak out against the Marcos regime. She then ordered General
Fabian Ver and Mel Mathay
to make necessary arrangements for passports and plane tickets for the
Aquino family. Ninoy was shoved in a closed van, rushed to his home on
Times Street to pack, hustled to the airport and put on a plane bound for
the U.S. that same day accompanied by his family.
Aquino
was operated on at a hospital in Dallas,
Texas. He made a quick recovery,
was walking within two weeks and making plans to fly to Damascus,
Syria to contact Muslim leaders,
which he did five weeks after. When he reiterated that he was returning to
the Philippines, he
received a surreptitious message from the Marcos government saying that he
was now granted an extension of his "medical furlough".
Eventually, Aquino decided to renounce his two covenants with Malacañang
"because of the dictates of higher national interest".
After all, Ninoy added, "a pact with the devil is no pact at
all".
Aquino
spent three years in self-exile, setting up house with Cory and their kids
in Newton,
Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.
On fellowship grants from Harvard
University and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, he worked on the manuscripts of two books and
gave a series of lectures in school halls, classrooms and auditoriums. He
traveled extensively in the U.S. delivering speeches critical of the Marcos
government.
Marcos
and his officials, aware of Aquino's growing popularity even in his
absence, in turn accused Ninoy of being the "Mad Bomber",
allegedly masterminding a rash of bombings that had erupted in Metro Manila
in 1981 and 1982. Aquino denied that he was advocating a bloody revolution,
but warned that radicalized oppositionists were threatening to use violence
soon. He urged Marcos to "heed the voice of conscience and
moderation", and declared that he (Aquino) was willing to lay his
own life on the line.
"I
have returned"
Throughout
his years of expatriation, Aquino was always aware that his life in the
U.S. was temporary. He never stopped affirming his eventual return even as
he enjoyed American hospitality and a peaceful life with his family in
American soil.
In
the first quarter of 1983, Aquino was receiving news about the
deteriorating political situation in his country combined with the rumored
declining health (due to lupus)
of President Marcos. He believed that it was expedient for him to speak to
Marcos and present to him his rationale for the country's return to
democracy, before extremists took over and make such a change impossible.
Moreover, his years of absence made his allies worry that the Filipinos may
have resigned themselves to Marcos' strongman rule and that without his
leadership the centrist opposition would die a natural death.
Aquino
decided to go back to the Philippines, fully aware of the dangers that
awaited him. Warned that he will either be imprisoned or killed, he
answered, "if it's my fate to die by an assassin's bullet, so be
it". [2]
His family, however, learned from a Philippine Consulate
official that there were orders from Manila not to issue any passports for
them. At that time, their visas had expired and their renewal had been
denied. They therefore formulated a plan for Ninoy to fly alone--to attract
less attention--and the rest of the family to follow him after two weeks.
Even with government restriction, he had acquired a passport through the
help of Rashid Lucman, a former congressman from Mindanao.
It carried an alias, Marcial Bonifacio--Marcial for martial law and
Bonifacio for Fort Bonifacio, his erstwhile prison. [3]
He eventually obtained a legitimate passport from a sympathizer working in
a Philippine consulate. The Marcos government warned all international
airlines that they would be denied landing rights and forced to return if
they tried to fly Ninoy to the Philippines. Aquino insisted that it was his
natural right as a citizen to
come back to his homeland, and no government can prevent him from doing so.
He left Logan
International Airport on August
13, 1983, took a circuitous route home from Boston,
via Los Angeles, Singapore,
Hong Kong, and Taipei,
before heading towards Manila. He had chosen Taipei as the final stopover
when he learned the Philippines had severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
This made him feel more secure; the Taiwan authorities could pretend they
were not aware of his presence. There would also be a couple of Taiwanese
friends accompanying him.
It
would have been perfectly convenient for the Marcos government if Aquino
had stayed out of the local political arena, however Ninoy asserted his
willingness to suffer the consequences declaring, "the Filipino is
worth dying for." [4]
He wished to express an earnest plea for Marcos to step down and seek a
peaceful regime change and a return to democratic institutions.
Anticipating the worst, during a pre-return interview, he revealed that he
would be wearing a bullet-proof
vest, but he also said that "it's only good for the body, but
for the head there's nothing else we can do". Sensing his own
doom, he quoted during the interview that they (the journalists) "have
to be ready with your camera because events will happen very fast...in a
matter of 3 or 4 minutes it could be all over...and I may not be able to
talk to you again after this..." In his last formal statement he
said, "I have returned to join the ranks of those struggling to
restore our rights and freedom through nonviolence. I seek no
confrontation."
Assassination
On
August 21, 1983, while on his way to Manila, Ninoy was accompanied by
several foreign journalists to ensure his safety or, in the least, record
events for posterity in case rumors of a planned assassination proved to be
true. Despite a convoy of security guards (all assigned to him by the
Marcos government) and a contingent of 2,000 military and police personnel
on the tarmac, he was fatally shot in the head as he was escorted off the
airplane. Government investigators claimed that he was gunned down by
Rolando Galman, who was immediately shot dead by the aviation security. No
one actually saw who pulled the trigger. Post-mortem analyses disclosed he
was shot on the back of the head in close range with the bullet exiting at
the chin. Even more suspicions arose on who ordered the execution.
Everyone
from the CIA to the Communist
Party of the Philippines to First Lady Imelda Marcos was accused of
conspiracy. President Marcos was reportedly gravely ill, recovering from
kidney transplant when the incident occured. Theories arose as to who was
in charge and who ordered the execution. Some hypothesized that Marcos had
a long-standing order for Aquino's murder upon the latter's return.
The
Marcos government then ordered an independent body, the Agrava Commission,
to investigate. The men on the tarmac, the rank and file of the military,
were found guilty and are currently serving life sentences at National
Bilibid Prison. They have recently filed an appeal to have their sentences
reduced after 22 years, claiming the assassination was ordered by a Marcos
crony and business partner (and Corazon Aquino's estranged cousin), Eduardo
Cojuangco Jr., who was eventually cleared by the Aquino family.
Aquino's
funeral procession on August 31 lasted from 9 a.m.--with a funeral mass
officiated by the Catholic archbishop of Manila, Jaime
Cardinal Sin, and held at Santo Domingo Church--to 9 p.m., when his
body was interred at the Manila Memorial Park. Two million people lined the
streets during the procession which was aired by the Church-sponsored Radio
Veritas, the only station that covered the procession. The procession
reached Rizal Park, where
the Philippine flag was brought to half-mast.
Aftermath
The
death of Ninoy transformed the opposition from a small isolated movement to
a massive unified crusade, incorporating people from all walks of Filipino
life. The middle class got involved, the impoverished majority
participated, and business leaders whom Marcos irked during martial law
endorsed the campaign--all with the crucial support of the military and the
Catholic Church hierarchy. The assassination showed the increasing
incapacity of the Marcos regime—Ferdinand was mortally ill when the crime
occurred while his cronies mismanaged the country in his absence. It
outraged Aquino's supporters that he, if not masterminding it, allowed the
assassination to happen and engineered its cover-up. The mass revolt caused
by Ninoy's demise attracted worldwide media attention and Marcos' American
contacts, as well as the Reagan
Administration, began distancing themselves. There was global media
spotlight to the Philippine crisis, and exposés on Imelda's extravagant
lifestyle (most infamously, her thousands of pairs of shoes) and
"mining operations", as well as Ferdinand's dictatorial excesses,
came into focus.
The
assassination thrust Ninoy's widow, Cory, willingly or unwilling, into the
public eye. Convinced by leaders of the opposition that she was the person
to best Marcos, Cory Aquino went on to campaign tirelessly in the 1986 snap
elections which were called by Marcos to pacify rampant public discontent.
In 57 days of trying to win people's votes before the February 7, 1986
election, her United Nationalists Democratic Organizations|UNIDO party took
to the streets, visiting all but a few of the Philippine provinces. On the
campaign trail, Mrs. Aquino was greeted by throngs of people throwing
confetti and cheering "Cory! Cory! Cory!". Despite the
Marcos-controlled Commission on Election's declaration of a Marcos'
victory, the majority of the Filipino people refused to accept the
allegedly fraudulent outcome, prompting the People
Power revolution that drove Marcos into exile and placed Cory at the
seat of power.
While
no Filipino president has ever been assassinated, Ninoy Aquino is one of
three presidential spouses who have been murdered. Aurora
Quezon was killed along with her daughter and son-in-law in a Hukbalahap
ambush in 1949, while Alicia
Syquia-Quirino was murdered by the Japanese along with three of her
children during the Battle
of Manila in 1945.
Legacy
In
Ninoy's honor, the Manila International Airport where he was assassinated
has been renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and his image is
printed on the 500-peso
bill. The Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act (R.A.) 9256,
declaring August 21st, the anniversary of his death, as Ninoy Aquino Day,
an annual public holiday in the Philippines. Several monuments were built
in his honor. Most renowned is the bronze memorial in Makati City near the
Philippine Stock Exchange, which today is a venue of endless
anti-government rallies and demonstrations.
Although
Ninoy Aquino was recognized as the most prominent and most outspoken critic
of the Marcos dictatorship, he was regarded by many, in the years prior to
martial law, having descended from political families, as representative of
the entrenched familial bureaucracy which, to this day, still predominates
Philippine politics. While atypically telegenic and uncommonly articulate,
he had his share of detractors and was not known to be immune to ambitions
and excesses of the ruling political class. However, his years in prison
which included lengthy periods of solitary confinement, had a profound
effect on his spirit and in his character. In his moments of despair he
renewed devotion to his traditional Catholic faith, drawing strength from
it. He also voraciously perused the writings and speeches of Gandhi
and Martin
Luther King, Jr., deriving inspiration.
As
result, the remainder of his personal and political life would undertake a
distinct spiritual sheen. He emerged as a contemporary analogy to the great
Rizal, who was among the
world's earliest proponents of non-violence as the instrumentation to
combat a repressive regime. Many remained skeptical as to Aquino's
redirected spiritual focus, nonetheless it ultimately had an apparent
effect on his wife's political career. Some doubt the prominence given him,
yet it was his assassination that was pivotal to the downfall of a despotic
ruler and the eventual restoration of democracy in the Philippines. His
greatness still being measured, Ninoy Aquino's death somehow destined him
to be a modern-day martyr in the ranks of Jose
Rizal and other Philippine heroes.