The death of Ninoy Aquino 19 years ago was a historical event in our nationhood. It breathed life to the restoration of Philippine democracy after a dark period of dictatorship.

In life, what Ninoy gave to the people was already greater than freedom. He inspired us to fight for it. He inspired us to be tough in struggle, even in despair and isolation; to be loyal to principles, and to a high vision.

Ninoy was motivated by his profound love for the Filipino. He truly believed that the Filipino was worth dying for. It was supreme human faith that drove him.

His assassination jolted our people from lethargy and galvanized the nation to put an end to decades of tyranny and exploitation. This is what we learned from his martyrdom: We must never let terror and injustice rule our lives again. We must safeguard our democracy and never allow the ascendancy of dictatorship.

Through the supreme sacrifice, Ninoy contributed a most valuable stone in building the edifice of a strong Republic.

Let this inspire us to commit ourselves to our fight against poverty, crime, terrorism and corruption. Let us all be vigilant for the rule of law and decency.

I shall continue to lead our people under the same principles that Ninoy lived and died for. Let us all set aside our differences and gather our energies so we can forge ahead – each citizen casting his own stone, as Ninoy did, in the national edifice.

19 years after, Aquino
legend refuses to die
Posted: 0:09 AM (Manila Time) | Aug. 21, 2002
Inquirer News Service

Yearly 'confidential messages'

NINETEEN years after the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., the legend refuses to die.

Only last week, former president Corazon Aquino received a "confidential" cryptic message written on California hotel stationery.

The mysterious sender claimed knowing "what really happened" on the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983, according to the fallen leader's only son, Tarlac Representative Benigno Aquino III.

The congressman said he called up the letter-writer's mobile-phone number but there was no answer.

"Around this time every year, we really get messages like this," Representative Aquino said.

Wednesday marks the 19th death anniversary of his father, then the No. 1 political enemy of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He was returning from a three-year exile in the United States and was felled by assassin's bullet while being escorted out of the plane by soldiers.

Representative Aquino said the messages came from alleged informants or witnesses to the assassination. The killing sparked massive protests that culminated in the downfall of Marcos in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

The Aquino family has also been frequently visited by "espiritistas" (mediums), who claim to be in touch with the spirits of the slain hero or his murderers.

"They come to us at any time of the day. Some of them even go into trance," the young Aquino said.

Despite the conviction of a general and 15 other soldiers for the murder in September 1990, he said questions remained as to who really ordered the killing.

The young Aquino said the mystery was not so much what happened on the tarmac but what happened before the killing. No mastermind was identified during the trial.

The congressman, who was only 13 when his father was killed, acknowledged that the difficult part was proving in court Marcos' hand in the murder.

"They were adamant that my dad didn't come home (from exile),'' he recalled.

He said that while there were "middle operators'' who apparently took orders from General Fabian Ver, then the Armed Forces chief of staff, "what happened probably was that Marcos was really ill and he left guidelines" for his military chief to execute.

He said that even though Marcos and Ver were now dead, the entire truth about his father's killing needed to be unraveled for the benefit of the future generations.

He said the Marcoses should apologize for atrocities committed during martial rule.

"They have to admit that they were wrong and truthfully reconcile with the Filipino people," he said.

In Congress, Aquino crosses path with Marcos' daughter Imee who is representative of Ilocos Norte.

"I bear no ill will toward the children because we are only victims of the parents," he said.

"The only difference is that I know (injustice)," he added.

WE were all born, again, on Aug. 21.

Nineteen years ago, at a time of deep uncertainty over the future of the nation, a man returned bearing the gift of certitude. Former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. returned to remind us of the one thing many had already forgotten: the essential truth that the Filipino was truly worth dying for.

The forgetting process began as soon as martial law was declared, leading an American senator to famously remark that the Philippines was peopled by 40 million cowards run by one SOB. The machinery of martial law accelerated the process, by creatively confusing the fate of the nation with the personality cult of the conjugal dictatorship. By 1983, in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the end of World War II, the sense of drift and despair was thick. The pro-democracy movement continued to make some headway in highly urbanized areas and in the countryside, but the country as a whole seemed -- quite literally -- hopeless.

Aquino's return, and his act of self-sacrifice, quickened the life of the nation, and gave it hope. 

Ninoy’s wedding ring pawned at
P1,800; recovered

THE GOLD wedding band of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., stolen from the Aquino Center in Tarlac City over the Holy Week, has been recovered by police in a pawnshop in Tarlac City, a spokesman for former President Corazon Aquino said.

The ring was pawned for P1,800.

"I am very happy that the ring, which carries great sentimental value to me, has been recovered," former Press Undersecretary Deedee Siytangco quoted Mrs. Aquino as saying. "I laud the Central Luzon police and the National Bureau of Investigation for its recovery."

But the former president also expressed sadness that the theft was carried out by a trusted security guard of the Aquino Center, located inside the Hacienda Luisita in San Miguel, Tarlac.

The ring was found to have had been pawned with the Villarica Pawnshop.

Siytangco said Central Luzon Police chief Senior Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya reported to Mrs. Aquino that the Aquino-Reagan commemorative gold coin, which was stolen along with the ring, has also been recovered. According to sketchy reports, it ended up with a Makati-based coin collector. The coin marked the September 1986 official visit to the White House of Mrs. Aquino. It was on display at a different section 
of the museum. 

Ninoy’s wedding ring, along with his eyeglasses, his leather boots and broken rosary, was turned over to his family when they claimed his body at the Fort Bonifacio Hospital morgue hours after he was assassinated on Aug. 21, 1983. The ring remained in his widow’s safekeeping until it was displayed in a glass-encased stand in the Aquino Center.

The Center, patterned after the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library and Museum in Boston, was inaugurated in September last year. It houses memorabilia of the late senator, whose assassination sparked a series of non-violent protests that led to the ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Mementos of Ninoy’s wife Corazon’s presidency are also displayed in the Aquino Center.

Ninoy Aquino bust
unveiled at Naia 3
Posted: 2:13 AM (Manila Time) | November 27, 2001
By Norman Bordadora
Inquirer News Service

"IT'S good to know that he has yet to be forgotten," said former President Corazon Aquino as she unveiled on Monday another monument to her martyred husband, Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., at the international airport that bears his name.

The former President celebrated the late senator's birthday a day early, joining top government officials in unveiling a giant bronze bust of Aquino at the site of new Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

"This is a fitting tribute to Ninoy. There could not have been a better time for this than on the occasion of his birthday," said Mrs. Aquino, who wore her signature yellow dress.

The martyred Aquino would have turned 69 today. He was killed upon his return from his US exile on Aug. 21, 1983.

His assassination, which was blamed on people close to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, signaled the fall of the Marcos regime as protests and civil unrest accelerated after his death.

"This is a fitting place for his monument because this is where he offered his life. Ninoy loved life but he also taught us the meaning of courage and the willingness to sacrifice," Mrs. Aquino said.

The ex-president was joined at the unveiling by her son, Tarlac Rep. Benigno Aquino III.

The new Aquino monument, executed by Bicolano sculptor Ross Arcilla, was commissioned by Piatco, the private consortium that is building and will be operating the new Naia Terminal 3.

Arcilla, who considered Aquino his hero, said he has been waiting to do something to keep his memory and ideals alive in the hearts of Filipinos.

The bust was unveiled at its temporary berth at the departure hall of the terminal that is still under construction. It will have its permanent place in front of the mammoth facility that is to be completed in November 2002.

This is the first time that a monument to Aquino has been erected in the airport where he met his martyrdom.

The Manila International Airport only has a marker commemorating his death, placed there when the airport was renamed the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Aug. 17, 1987.

Other government officials who were at the unveiling ceremonies were Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez and Naia general manager Edgardo Manda.

Also present was Piatco president Vic Cheng Yong.

Not Just Speeches, Wreaths for Ninoy
September 21, 2001, by Russell Arador and Tonette Orejas 
and TJ Burgonio, Inquirer News Service, 21 August 2001
Aquino Center

Beyond the usual speeches and the rites of wreath-laying, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was much-remembered Tuesday on his 18th death anniversary with a living memorial and plans for a shrine to be named after him.

The Aquino Center which also serves as the repository of the presidential papers of his widow, former President Corazon Aquino, was inaugurated at the Luisita Industrial Park in Tarlac City.

In Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, plans are underway to convert the Military Security Detachment (MSD) compound where Aquino was held in solitary confinement for 30 days into a shrine.

Aquino, together with Sen. Jose W. Diokno, was spirited out of Fort Bonifacio in Makati where they had been confined, and flown to Fort Magsaysay to isolate them from their supporters in Metro Manila, according to Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, chief of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division.

Aquino’s confinement at the MSD was a turning point in his seven years and seven months of imprisonment during the martial rule of Ferdinand Marcos.

Where he was once treated like a criminal at the MSD, it honored him by documenting his and Diokno’s ordeal in Fort Mag, the Army division’s official publication.

The two prisoners were separated into adjacent cells and barred from talking with or seeing each other. They were not provided clothes other than a pair of white T-shirts, trousers and undershirt.

Fort Mag said the “lights were never switched off and they were not allowed to wear wristwatches to deny them any idea of time. All windows were closed and there was little ventilation. The only occasion when they were allowed to get out of their rooms is in going to the comfort room.”

Aquino’s wife, Cory, who visited Fort Magsaysay three times, was the only link of the two prominent prisoners to the anti-Marcos movement.

Ms Aquino, who led the inaugural rites of the Aquino Center, said Filipinos were “still in the process of strengthening democracy and we have to work very hard.”

The center, she said, would “inspire Filipinos to make democracy work.”

“Young men and women who do not know Ninoy will benefit from the center. They will learn about the sacrifices of Ninoy during martial law until his death and of the Filipinos during the first People Power.”

The Aquino Center’s main attraction is the museum that contains not only photographs and documents but also Aquino’s bloodstained white shirt, black leather boots, typewriter and wristwatches.

Aquino was wearing a white jumpsuit when he was gunned down at the tarmac of the old Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983. The airport was renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport to honor his heroism.

Bloodstains

At the very spot where he fell, his youngest sister, Tessie Aquino-Oreta, and brother, Rep. Agapito “Butz” Aquino, led the Mass said for Aquino.

“When he died, we were polarized and then joined forces. He was the uniting factor. Now we’re back to polarization,” Oreta said referring to the animosities between the forces that swept President Macapagal-Arroyo to power and those that remain loyal to ousted President Estrada.

Perceived as an Estrada ally, Oreta said that her late brother would have been “proud of me because I stuck to what I believed in. I really believe in what I was doing,” Oreta said in her remarks.

“What if he were alive today? I think he would die a broken-hearted man. Because the country that he loved so much is very polarized. There is so much bickering,” Oreta said.

Ms Aquino said that the family, during her husband’s wake in 1983, refused to have the bloodstains on his face and his shirt removed to remind the world of the brutality of the martial law regime.

Located about 500 meters from the LIP’s main entrance in Barangay San Miguel here, the Aquino Center, a U-shaped structure with a manicured lawn at the center, houses the memorabilia, rare photographs, copies of speeches, other documents and personal belongings of Aquino.

The museum is divided into four chambers.

The first chamber contains Aquino’s photos and memorabilia from 1950 to 1971 or before the declaration of martial law by Marcos. The second houses materials about Aquino’s arrest, exile and assassination (1972-1983).

In this chamber may be found the Aquino memoirs about his incarceration at MSD where he wrote, “he was able to talk to God, that gave me the strength and spirit to fight for the Filipino people, to forget my political career and personal ambitions but to pursue a mission -- to unify the people and attain their quest for struggle, progress and democracy.”

Adolf Azcuna, Ms Aquino’s executive secretary and legal counsel during her presidency, said the museum “kindles the fire, the dream of Ninoy,” he said.

The third and fourth chambers cover Ms Aquino’s rise to power until the end of her term in 1992.

The museum is located on the right wing of the center. Also on the right wing are function rooms for seminars and training, an audio-visual room, a landmark tower and a chapel.

On the left wing are the Ninoy Aquino Library, more function rooms and the ballroom.

Rapa Lopa, the Aquino Center’s executive director, said the library was still empty but “will contain Ninoy and Cory’s book collections as well as other materials about People Power.”

The library would also have Internet access, he said.

The center also houses the Institute for People Power and Development “to continue whatever is not yet finished by institutionalizing People Power,” Lopa said.

The center was built through a fund-raising campaign led by Ms Aquino when she stepped down in 1992, Lopa explained.

Nobility of race

“As (Ms Aquino) goes out and talks about what she’s doing, (she usually gets honoraria which she donates to the Ninoy Aquino Foundation),” he said.

He said Ms Aquino also donated the prize money that she won in the Ramon Magsaysay Award to the construction of the center.

Lopa said donations also came from individuals and groups abroad like the Hans Seidel Foundation of Germany.

Aside from Azcuna, those who graced the Aquino Center opening were former Public Works Secretary Jose de Jesus, former Government Service Insurance System president Cesar Sarino, former National Economic and Development Authority director general Cayetano Paderanga, former Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr. and Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr.

In Manila, Mayor Lito Atienza, Rep. Agapito “Butz” Aquino and former Sen. Neptali Gonzales Jr. led ceremonies marking the Aquino anniversary.

City politicians and guests offered wreaths and made speeches at his statue on the corner of P. Burgos Street and A. Bonifacio Drive in Intramuros early yesterday morning.

The mayor said that even if Aquino led the struggle for the restoration of freedom and democracy in the country, “he also had a vision of a prosperous and peaceful Philippines where every Filipino would have the opportunity to live a decent life.”

Gonzales recounted the anguish that most Filipinos felt in 1983 when they learned of Aquino’s murder, recalling that what was supposed to be a joyful homecoming march was transformed into a funeral procession.

“He is one of the greatest men in our generation and the image of the nobility of our race,” he said. “He never surrendered his principles as he led the opposition in fighting for freedom, steadfast in his convictions even in the face of certain death.”

With a report from Jerome Aning