In this exhibit, we look at the life of Ninoy Aquino and how his tale came to inspire many to challenge the dictatorial rule of the Marcos regime.
The second of seven children and a part of a prominent land-owning family with a rich political history, Ninoy learned to love being around people. On the other hand, Ninoy was not too fond of going to school. In , Ninoy married Corazon Cojuangco, the daughter of another land-owning family from Tarlac and a childhood acquaintance of Ninoy.
From there, Ninoy entered into a long career in politics. The year after his return, Ninoy was elected as mayor of his hometown Concepcion, becoming the youngest mayor at He served as governor once more in before finally winning a seat in Senate in when he was 35 years old—the youngest of the elected senators. That year, Ninoy was also the only candidate of the Liberal Party to win a seat in the Nacionalista-dominated senate.
As a senator, Ninoy was a staunch critic of the Marcos regime and its abuses. The morning after the declaration, Ninoy was arrested along with other members of the opposition and detained first in Camp Crame and later in Fort Bonifacio. On March 12, , Ninoy, along with Pepe Diokno, was brought to a helicopter bearing the presidential seal, handcuffed, and blindfolded.
As Ninoy recalled:. Ninoy was stripped naked and issued only two t-shirts and a pair of underwear to be worn alternately. However, his teen years were full of turmoil.
Ninoy's father was jailed as a collaborator when the boy was only 12 and died three years later, just after Ninoy's 15th birthday. A somewhat indifferent student, Ninoy decided to go to Korea to report on the Korean War at the age of 17 rather than going to university.
In when he was 21, Ninoy Aquino began studying law at the University of the Philippines. There, he belonged to the same branch of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity as his future political opponent Ferdinand Marcos. The couple first met at a birthday party when they were both 9 years old and became reacquainted after Corazon returned to the Philippines following her university studies in the United States.
A year after they married, in , Aquino was elected mayor of his hometown of Concepcion, Tarlac. He was only 22 years old. Aquino went on to rack up a string of records for being elected at a young age: he was elected vice-governor of the province at 27, governor at 29, and secretary-general of the Philippines' Liberal Party at Finally, at 34, he became the nation's youngest senator.
From his place in the Senate, Aquino blasted his former fraternity brother, President Ferdinand Marcos, for setting up a militarized government and for corruption and extravagance. Aquino also took on First Lady Imelda Marcos, dubbing her the "Philippines' Eva Peron ," although as students the two had briefly dated.
Charming and always ready with a good soundbite, Senator Aquino settled into his role as the primary gadfly of the Marcos regime. He consistently blasted Marcos' financial policies and his spending on personal projects and enormous military outlays.
On August 21, , Aquino's Liberal Party staged its political campaign kickoff rally. Aquino himself was not in attendance. Shortly after the candidates took the stage, two huge explosions rocked the rally—the work of fragmentation grenades hurled into the crowd by unknown assailants. The grenades killed eight people and injured about more. Aquino accused Marcos's Nacionalista Party of being behind the attack.
Marcos countered by blaming "communists" and arresting a number of known Maoists. On September 21, , Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines. Among the people swept up and jailed on fabricated charges was Ninoy Aquino. He faced charges of murder, subversion, and weapons possession, and was tried in a military kangaroo court. On April 4, , Aquino went on a hunger strike to protest the military tribunal system.
Even as his physical condition deteriorated, his trial continued. The slight Aquino refused all nourishment but salt tablets and water for 40 days and dropped from to 80 pounds. Aquino's friends and family convinced him to begin eating again after 40 days. His trial dragged on, however, and did not conclude until November 25, On that day, the military commission found him guilty on all counts.
Aquino was to be executed by firing squad. From prison, Aquino played a major organizational role in the parliamentary elections. Although the LABAN party enjoyed huge public support, every one of its candidates lost in the thoroughly rigged election.
Nonetheless, the election proved that Aquino could act as a powerful political catalyst even from a cell in solitary confinement. Feisty and unbowed, despite the death sentence hanging over his head, he was a serious threat to the Marcos regime.
Below is the draft of the speech he was to deliver on the day he died. I have returned on my free will to join the ranks of those struggling to restore our rights and freedoms through non-violence. I seek no confrontation.
I only pray and will strive for a genuine national reconciliation founded on justice. I am prepared for the worst, and have decided against the advice of my mother, my spiritual adviser, many of my tested friends and a few of my most valued political mentors.
A death sentence awaits me. Two more subversion charges, both calling for death penalties, have been filed since I left three years ago and are now pending with the courts.
I could have opted to seek political asylum in America, but I feel it is my duty, as it is the duty of every Filipino, to suffer with his people especially in time of crisis. I never sought nor have I been given any assurance, or promise of leniency by the regime.
I return voluntarily armed only with a clear conscience and fortified in the faith that in the end, justice will emerge triumphant. According to Gandhi, the willing sacrifice of the innocent is the most powerful answer to insolent tyranny that has yet been conceived by God and man. Three years ago when I left for an emergency heart bypass operation, I hoped and prayed that the rights and freedoms of our people would soon be restored, that living conditions would improve and that blood-letting would stop.
Rather than move forward we have moved backward. The killings have increased, the economy has taken a turn for the worse and the human rights situation has deteriorated.
During the martial law period, the Supreme Court heard petitions for habeas corpus. It is most ironic after martial law has allegedly been lifted, that the Supreme Court last April ruled it can longer entertain petitions for habeas corpus for persons detained under a Presidential Commitment Order, which covers all so-called national security cases and which under present circumstances can cover almost anything.
The country is far advanced in her times of trouble. Economic, social and political problems bedevil the Filipino. These problems may be surmounted if we are united. But we can be united only if all the rights and freedoms enjoyed before September 21, are fully restored. The Filipino asked for nothing more, but will surely accept nothing less, than all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution — the most sacred legacies from the founding fathers.
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