Benigno Aquino, Jr.
From Freepedia
- For the municipality, see Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat
Benigno "Ninoy" Simeon Aquino Jr. (November 27, 1932–August 21, 1983) was a leading opposition politician in the Philippines during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos. He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now renamed in his honor) on returning home from exile, and widow Corazon Aquino became the focus of the opposition and eventually replaced Marcos as president.
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Biography
Ninoy was born in Concepción, Tarlac to a family of hacenderos (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, and amidst a lingering cloud of distrust owing to his alleged collaboration with the Japanese during occupation. At the age of 17, he was the youngest war correspondent to cover the Korean War under the newspaper The Manila Times of Joaquin "Chino" Roces. Because of his journalistic feats, he received a 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 secured Taruc's unconditional surrender. He became mayor of Concepción in 1955 at the age of only 22. In the same year he married Corazón Cojuangco, where they had 5 children namely Maria Elena, Aurora Corazon, Benigno III (Noynoy), Victoria Elisa and Kristina Bernadette (Kris).
Political Career
Ninoy was no stranger to Philippine politics. Being a third-generation Aquino, his family had been pretty much involved in some of the country's political heavyweights (His grandfather served for President Aguinaldo while his father served for Presidents Manuel Quezon and Jose P. Laurel). Ninoy of course, had something to show under his belt. The youngest municipal mayor at 22, he became, at 27, the nation's youngest vice-governor; he became governor of Tarlac in 1961 at age 29, then he became secretary-general of the Liberal Party in 1966. In 1967 he made history becoming the youngest elected senator in the country's history at the age of 34. As a matter of fact, he was the only "survivor" of the Liberal Party that made it to the senate, which he was subsequently singled out by Marcos and his senators as their nemesis. In 1968, his first year in the Upper House, he warned that Marcos was building up "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 a million different ways, the indefatigable Aquino bedeviled the Marcos regime, chipping away like a beaver 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 Ninoy "a congenital liar". The First Lady's friends, while a flood of tears cascaded down her beautiful face, 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 outstanding senators. His achievements at a very young age dubbed him the "wonder boy" of Philippine politics.Ninoy was undoubtedly aiming for the highest office in the land, the Presidency. Surveys during those times showed that Ninoy was the number one choice among Filipinos, since President Marcos can no longer serve another term. But Ninoy's dream of becoming the next president didn't materialize.
On the road to Martial Law
It was not until the Plaza Miranda bombing however - on August 21, 1971 (12 years to the day before Aquino's own assassination) - that the pattern of direct confrontation, the grand collision, between Marcos and Aquino emerged.
At 9:15 p.m. on that day, at the kick-off rally of the Liberal Party, the LP candidates had formed a line on the makeshift platform and raised their hands as the crowd applauded them. The band played, a fireworks "show" drew all eyes - but then there were two loud explosions that were not part of the fireworks, and the stage became a scene of wild carnage. It was later discovered by police that two fragmentation grenades had been thrown at the stage by "persons unknown". Nine (9) people died, 85 others were wounded, many gravely, including former senate-president Jovito Salonga.
Although the finger of suspicion pointed at the Nacionalistas (the political party of Marcos), the 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 in the party. Later, evidence of the bombings as well as the situations surrounding the communist insurgency suggested that the bombings were the handiwork of the growing New People's Army. Nevertheless, Marcos suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus, vowed that the killers would be apprehended within 48 hours (they never were), and arrested a score of alleged "Maoists" on general principles. Ironically, the police captured one of the bombers, and was identified as a sergeant of the firearms and explosive section of then Philippine Constabulary. According to Aquino, this man was later snatched from police custody and the public never heard from him again.
When President Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972 (he went on-air to broadcast his declaration on the midnight of September 23), Aquino was one of the first to be arrested and imprisoned on charges of murder, illegal possession of firearms and subversion. On April 4, 1975, he announced that he was starting a fast to the death to protest the injustice of his military trial. Ten days after the "fast" began, he instructed his lawyers to withdraw all motions he had submitted to the Supreme Court. As the weeks went by, he took no food, only salt tablets, sodium bicarbonate, amino acids and two glasses of water a day. Even as he grew weaker, undergoing 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 that he would not die. Near the end, Aquino's weight had dropped from 160 to only 120 pounds. Ninoy could walk throughout the 40 days. On May 13, 1975, on the 40th day of his fast, he noted that it was the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. His family and several priests and friends, begged him to stop his fast, pointing out that even Our Lord Jesus Christ had fasted only 40 days and nights. He survived. He had made his gesture, offered his sacrifice up to God. But at 10:25 p.m. on November 25, 1977, Military Commission No. 2 found Aquino guilty of murder, subversion and illegal possession of firearms, and was sentenced to death by firing squad. However, Ninoy believed that Marcos would not want him to die this way. Whatever it may be, Aquino said, it will be done in another way.
Batasang Pambansa (Parliament) Elections and Heart Bypass Surgery
In 1978 from his prison cell, he was even allowed to "take part" in the elections for Interim Batasang Pambansa (Parliament). Although his friends, former Senators Gerry Roxas and Jovito Salonga preferred "boycott", Aquino urged his supporters and allies "outside" to organize to run 21 candidates in Metro Manila. Thus his political party, dubbed "Lakas ng Bayan" (People's Power), was born, with a fighting acronym that was more than appropriate: "LABAN". Ninoy was allowed one television "interview" on "Face the Nation" (hosted by 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 that LABAN would win on Election Day, but lose the next day.
In early 1980, about mid-March, he suffered his first heart attack - the attrition of being locked up seven years in cage, in solitary confinement at that (a cruel punishment for an extroverted and naturally gregarious individual), the unremitting test of wills between him and Marcos and the Military Tribunal, which had finally condemned him, had at last exacted their toll on his body. At the Philippine Heart Center, Ninoy suffered another attack and the doctors were able to take his ECG right then and there. They found out he had blocked arteries. The director of the Heart Center did not want to operate Ninoy because he did not want to be involved in such a controversial matter. Besides, Ninoy refused to submit himself to any surgery at the Heart Center, preferring to either go to the United States to have a surgery or to return to Fort Bonifacio and die. On May 8, 1980, Imelda Marcos came to Ninoy's 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 the necessary arrangements for passports, visas and plane tickets for the Aquino family. Ninoy was rushed to his home on Times Street in a closed van to wash up and pack up and was hustled on to the airport to catch a plane for the U.S. that very same day, accompanied by Cory and his family.Ninoy was operated on in Dallas, Texas and not only recuperated speedily but was walking within two weeks and making plans to fly to Damascus, Syria to contact Muslim leaders just five weeks after. When he reiterated that he was returning to the Philippines, he received a message from the Palace saying that it would be all right for him to extend this medical furlough. Eventually, Aquino decided to renounce his two covenants with Malacañang "because of the dictates of higher national interest". Afterall Ninoy added, "a pact with the devil is no pact at all".
Ninoy spent three happy years in U.S. "exile", setting up house with Cory and the kids in Newton, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. 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 rocketed all over the U.S. delivering speeches critical of the Marcos government. Marcos and his officials, in turn, accused Ninoy of being the "Mad Bomber" behind a rash of bombings that had erupted in Metro Manila in 1981 and 1982. Aquino denied that he was advocating bloody revolution, but warned that new Oppositionists were threatening to use violence soon. He urged Marcos to "heed the voice of conscience and moderation", and declared that he was willing to lay his own life on the line.Even as Senator Aquino was recognized as the most prominent of President Marcos's political opponents, and he was regarded by many in the years prior to martial law as a representative member of the entrenched traditional political system. While atypically telegenic, he was not known to be immune to the ambitions, excesses or abuses associated with the ruling political class. However, his years of imprisonment, including periods of solitary confinement, had a profound, life-changing effect on his character. He drew strength from traditional Catholic devotions and renewed inspiration from the writings of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. As a result, the remainder of Aquino's personal and political life would undertake a noticeable evangelical sheen. He became an outspoken proponent of non-violence as a means of combatting the Marcos regime. Some remained skeptical as to Aquino's redirected spiritual focus, yet this aspect of his life has had an apparent effect on his wife's subsequent political career, and somewhat eased the subsequent emergence of Senator Aquino as a modern-day martyr, joining the ranks of Dr. Jose Rizal and other Philippine heroes.
"I will go back to the Philippines"
Throughout his three years and three months in the United States, Ninoy was always aware that their life there was temporary. Ninoy never stopped talking about returning to the Philippines even as he enjoyed living together with his family in the land of the free.
In the first quarter of 1983, Ninoy was receiving information about the deteriorating political situation in the country combined with the rumored poor health (due to lupus) of President Marcos. Ninoy believed that it was imperative for him to speak to Marcos so that he could appeal to him to return the country to democracy, before extreme forces were released that would make such a return impossible. Also, the three years Ninoy spent in the U.S. made his allies worry that the Filipino people may have already forgotten about him, thinking that perhaps the people had finally embraced Marcos' strongman rule and that the opposition was no more.
Ninoy decided to go back to the Philippines fully aware of the dangers that awaited him; even if it'll cost him to go to jail, "so be it", Ninoy answers. However, the Aquino family learned from the Philippine Consulate official in New York that there were orders from Manila not to issue any passports for them. At that time, all their passports had already expired and they had been denied new passports. So there was a change of plan. Ninoy decided it would be better if he went alone to attract less attention, and the rest of the family were supposed to follow him after two weeks. Ninoy had acquired a passport through the help of Rashid Lucman, a former congressman from Mindanao. The passport carried the name Marcial Bonifacio (Marcial for martial law and Bonifacio to represent his imprisonment in Fort Bonifacio). Ninoy was able to get a second passport from one of his friends in one of the Philippine consulates in America, and this passport carried his name, Benigno S. Aquino Jr. The Marcos government warned all international airlines who will airlift Aquino that they will be sanctioned and forced to return (if ever they carry Ninoy) to the point of embarkation. Ninoy reiterated that it's his natural right as a Filipino citizen to return to his homeland, and no government can prevent him from doing it. He left Logan International Airport on August 13, 1983 and took several routes home from Boston, to Los Angeles, then to Singapore, next to Malaysia, where he had friends in the ruling family, to Hong Kong, and then to Taipei, his last pitstop before heading towards Manila. Ninoy had chosen Taipei as the final stopover because the Philippines had severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan. This made him feel more secure; the Taiwan authorities could pretend they did not know of his presence. There would also be a couple of Taiwanese friends to take care of him.
Having spent three years in the U.S., Ninoy could've chosen a better life by not to return in order to avoid another possible detention. In fact, it's fine to Marcos that Aquino would stay in the U.S. forever. Yet Ninoy made the biggest sacrifice to suffer all the consequences of returning home and to settle his score with the President. He wished to return to suffer alongside his people and to appeal directly to Marcos to step down and seek a peaceful regime change and reformation. Anticipating the worst, during a pre-return interview, he revealed that he'll be wearing a bullet-proof vest, but he also said that "it's only good for the body, but in 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 very ready with your hand camera because this action can become very fast...in a matter of 3 or 4 minutes it could be all over you know...and I may not be able to talk to you again after this...so this is the danger, the big danger".
Assassination and Aftermath
On August 21, 1983, while on his way to Manila, Ninoy accompanied himself with several foreign journalists from different agencies to insure safety and to let the people know if the rumors of assassination aborted his mission...he was right. Despite the presence of his own security guards and government troops on the tarmac, he was fatally shot in the head as he was escorted off the airplane at Manila International Airport. The government claimed, unconvincingly, that he was gunned down by Rolando Galman, who was immediately shot dead by troops. It was never officially established why or even whether Galman had done it, though many suspected that Galman was just a fall guy. Aquino's arrival has been anticipated by the government, and around 2,000 security personnel (both police & military) were scattered at the airport to secure his safety. There are still questions lingering on how Aquino was gunned down despite heavy security at the airport. Many believed that it was one of the soldiers that escorted the senator who pulled the trigger. Even more suspicions arose on who ordered the assassination. Everyone from the CIA to the Communist Party of the Philippines to First Lady Imelda Marcos was accused of having conspired for the hit. It must also be noted that President Marcos was gravely ill and in very poor shape during this time, as he was at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute recovering from his kidney transplant on August 7 when this incident occurred—he was in no shape to run the government. Conspiracy theories arose as to who was in charge and who ordered the hit when Marcos was in his sickbed recuperating. President Marcos then ordered an independent body, the Agrava Commission, to investigate the assassination. High-ranking military officials were indicted, including Gen. Fabian Ver, the Armed Forces Chief and known as Marcos's enforcer, but were soon acquitted. The military team on the tarmac at the time are currently serving life sentences at National Bilibid Prison. They have filed a recent appeal to have the sentences reduced after 22 years, claiming that the assassination was ordered by Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, a Marcos crony and Corazon Aquino's cousin.
His funeral procession on August 31 lasted 12 hours, from 9 am, when a funeral mass attended by the Catholic Archbishop in the country, Jaime Cardinal Sin, was held in Sto. Domingo Church, to 9 pm, when he was interred in the Manila Memorial Park. Two million people lined the streets during the procession, and millions more listened on the Church-sponsored Veritas radio station, the only station that dared to cover the procession. The funeral itself afforded a rare public expression of anger at the Marcos regime, but was relatively calm and even retained moments of good humor. Famously, when rain started pouring in the midst of the funeral procession, hundreds were dissuaded from opening their umbrellas with the chant, "Only Imelda (Marcos) uses an umbrella!" Another notable moment from the funeral was when the procession reached Rizal Park, and the crowd forcibly brought the Philippine flag down at half-mast.
The assassination of Ninoy transformed the opposition movement overnight from a small isolated movement to a mass movement involving people across all classes of society in Metro Manila. The middle class was involved, the lower class was involved, and business leaders whom Marcos irked during martial law supported the movement. The assassination showed the increasing incapacity of the Marcos regime—Ferdinand was mortally ill when the assassination occurred while his cronies mismanaged the country in his absence—and outraged Aquino's supporters that he would allow the assassination of a key figure of the opposition to happen. The mass discord caused by the assassination put the Philippines on the map for the United States. Attention was brought to the Philippine Crisis, and exposes on Imelda's extravagant lifestyle and "mining operations", as well as Ferdinand's dictatorial excesses emerged. US President Ronald Reagan became fearful of a full scale, destabilizing and bloody revolution that could only spell disaster for US interests in the Philippines, as well as the regional stability. Reagan would denounce the assassination—but never renounce his friend Marcos.
The assassination also thrust Ninoy's widow, Cory into the popular eye. Cory Aquino went on to campaign furiously in the 1986 snap elections called by Marcos to satiate public discontent with his regime. On the 57 days of campaigning before the February 7, 1986 election, Aquino’s UNIDO party took to the roads, visiting all but a few of the Philippine provinces. On the campaign trail, Aquino was greeted by throngs of people throwing confetti and cheering her on, "Cory! Cory! Cory!". Despite the Commission on Election's (COMELEC) declaration that Marcos had won the election, Cory and her supporters refused to accept the allegedly fraudulent outcome, prompting the People Power revolution that drove Marcos into exile and placed Cory in power as President.
In Ninoy's honor, the Manila International Airport has been renamed as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and his image is printed on the 500-peso bill. On February 24, 2004, the Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act (R.A.) 9256, declaring August 21 of every year as Ninoy Aquino day, a special nonworking holiday. Several monuments were built in his honor. His monument in Makati City near the Philippine Stock Exchange tower perhaps is the most popular, where several rallies and demonstrations (mostly anti-government) are constantly being held.
His son, Benigno Aquino III, is a congressman representing the 1st district of Tarlac and his daughter, Kris Aquino, is a TV and movie actress.
References
- Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino: In the Eye of Memory by Maximo V. Soliven, Mr.& Ms. Publishing Co., 1984
- Ninoy: The Heart and The Soul by Teodoro Benigno
- "The last time I saw Ninoy" by Corazon C. Aquino, Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 21, 2003 [[1]]
Categories: 1932 births | 1983 deaths | Politicians of the Philippines | Murdered politicians | Philippine journalists | Democracy activists
