On August 21, 1983, thousands flocked to the Manila International Airport, all wearing yellow clothes and tying yellow ribbons to the surrounding trees following the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree.” It was all to welcome an exile who to them was the strongest resistor to an unjust regime that ruled the country for many years. He, despite the warnings of family and friends, returned to his homeland knowing the dangers that await him. As he stood before the oppressions of the Martial Law Regime before, he would rather die on his feet with honor than live on bended knees in shame.
Many fought for the freedom that was trampled during the Dictatorship, but none came close to the legacy of Ninoy Aquino Jr.
Born on November 27, 1932, in Conception Town, Tarlac province, Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was the son of Benigno “Igno” Aquino Sr. who was then a senator from the 3rd district and Senate Majority Leader, and Aurora Lampa Aquino who came from a prosperous line of hacienderos. His grandfather, Servillano “Mianong” Aquino, was a revolutionary member of the Katipunan, became an elected mayor of Murcia, Tarlac, and later fought against the Americans in the Philippine-American War.
At the age of seventeen, he was already a reporter for the prestigious Manila Times Newspaper and became the youngest war correspondent ever to cover the Korean War, of which he was awarded the Philippine Legion of Honor, Degree of Officer by President Quirino himself, an award that would be given to him again by President Magsaysay following his negotiation to the surrender of Hukbalahap (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Mga Hapon) Leader Luis Taruc.
Ninoy Aquino (17).
The years that followed would be the start of his political career. At the age of twenty-two, he became the youngest mayor of Conception Tarlac, his hometown, later became its youngest vice-governor at the age of twenty-six and became its governor following the incumbent’s resignation. In 1967, after being dubbed “The Wonder Boy of Philippine Politics.”, he was elected as the youngest senator of the Philippines at the age of 35.
He became known amongst his closest peers as the ‘Young Man in a Hurry’. His mother, Aurora Aquino, commented that perhaps the reason why Ninoy lived such a fast life is because he knew he doesn’t have much of it left to begin with.
Being a passionate journalist and a staunch servant for the freedom of the Filipino People, Ninoy Aquino Jr. criticized the 1967 Senate Election claiming it was fueled by “guns, goons, and gold.” He became an adversary to President Marcos’ regime, a fight that would follow him for the rest of his life.
On September 1972, under the alleged threat of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP) and the Muslim Separatist Movement of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, crushing Ninoy Aquino Jr.’s attempts at running for the presidency. Still, with a prolific political career in his name, Aquino became one of the most influential critics of the Marcos regime. He criticized the human rights violations witnessed under the Marcos Administration, having witnessed the totalitarian rule of the North Korean Regime and the end of French Colonialism in Asia during his time as a correspondent at the Indochina. Outspoken and fearless, he mocked the numerous lavish projects under the government for their pointlessness, in the face of widespread poverty. It was these statements, followed by his penning ten open letters against the Marcos regime that were smuggled and published at the Bangkok Post that led to him and his partner, Jose “Pepe” Diokno, being arrested in 1973 on the false allegations of possession of weapons and conspiracy against the government.
August 27, 1973, Ninoy Aquino Jr. announced his non-participation before Military Commission No. 2. (source: Ninoy: Ideals & Ideologies 1932-1983)
In the years that followed, Aquino endured torture, abuse, and humiliation. Like many opposers of the Marcos regime, he was stripped of his basic human rights, forced to live in meager conditions, and issued with only a pair of tee shirts and underwear to be worn alternately. The following years were spent defending himself at numerous trials calling for his execution over various false allegations. Aquino refused to participate, calling his 1973 trial an “unconscionable mockery”. His seven-year imprisonment came to a halt in 1980, when he suffered a heart attack in his cell. With permission from the Marcos administration, he was released from Fort Bonifacio to undergo a triple heart bypass surgery at Baylor Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A on May 8, 1980.
He settled with his family in Newton, Boston, Massachusetts, but remained a staunch critic of the Marcos Administration during his exile. It culminated in his decision to return to the Philippines on August 21, 1983, despite the vehement protest of his family. Aquino intended to negotiate the re-establishment of democracy in the Philippines with the Marcos Administration.
A dream that never came to be, he was assassinated at the Manila International Airport, before his family and friends, and thousands of supporters who came to welcome him. The life of one of the most decorated politicians came to an abrupt bloody end. Ninoy Aquino led a life fighting for the unjust oppression of the Filipino People, and it was his death that was the final push for his countrymen, to the momentous People Power Revolution that toppled a regime that held the country down for far too long.
“I have asked myself many times: Is the Filipino worth suffering, or even dying for? Is he, not a coward who would yield to any colonizer, be he foreign or homegrown? Is a Filipino more comfortable under an authoritarian leader because he does not want to be burdened with the freedom of choice? Is he unprepared, or worse, ill-suited for presidential or parliamentary democracy? I have carefully weighed the virtues and faults of the Filipino and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for.”
– Benigno Simeon Aquino Jr. Movement for Free Philippines, Los Angeles 1981
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The pursuit of greatness should always be embraced with a little insanity.