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AQUINO
1932-1983
Political career
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Aftermath
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
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.
Reference:
http://ninoyaquino.50webs.com/biography.html