"Benigno Aquino (1933-1983) of the Philippines was a leading opponent of the rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. His opposition ended in August 1983 when, after living in exile in the United States for three years, he returned to Manila and was gunned down at the airport. His death precipitated massive demonstrations against President Marcos."
Benigno S. Aquino, Jr.,was born on November 27, 1932, in Tarlac Province, on the island of Luzon, to a prominet family. Ninoy was destined to become a political leader. He traced his lineage from people who have worked with some of the country's well-known leaders. Gen. Servillano Aquino (Camp Aquino in Tarlac was named after him), his grandfather, became a general of the Philippines' first president, Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. Benigno Aquino, Sr., his father, served under President Manuel L. Quezon and became a Speaker of the House during Jose P. Laurel's presidency.
In 1949, Ninoy became a presidential adviser on defense to then President Ramon Magsaysay. Under this capacity, he successfully negotiated the surrender of Hukbalahap (a communist insurgency group) leader Luis Taruc. His ambition and energy stood out early when, at age seventeen, he was sent by the Manila Timesnewspaper to report on the Korean War (1950–53). The war was between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), and was a war in which the United States and China eventually joined.
In 1955, Ninoy became mayor of his hometown (Concepcion, Tarlac) at the age of 22 - setting a record as the youngest mayor. During that same year he also married the late President Corazon Aquino, with whom he eventually raised five children. His mayoralty post paved the way for his later successes in politics: in 1959 he became the youngest vice-governor of the Province of Tarlac, and then in 1961 he became the governor. Yet again in 1967, he set a record by becoming the youngest senator at the age of 34, when he ran under the banner of the Liberal Party.
Ninoy was known as the "Wonder Boy of Philippine Politics." While in the Senate, he exhibited his fiery eloquence and became President Ferdinand Marcos's most vocal critic by exposing the excesses of the administration. Ninoy's accomplishments in the Senate and his most famous exposes, such as the 1968 Jabidah Massacre (the killing of about 60 Filipino-Muslims who were being trained for an operation authorized by Marcos to claim the island of Sabah from Malaysia), the 50-million peso construction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) - which Ninoy called a "monument to shame" and the "most scandalous misspending of national funds" - and the plan to impose martial law known as "Oplan Sagittarius," quickly put him on the national spotlight.
Martial Law in the Philippines
On September 21, 1972, Marcos declared martial law. Ninoy and other opposition leaders, like human rights lawyer Jose W. Diokno, were be put to jail. Marcos implicated Ninoy as the mastermind of the Plaza Miranda bombing a year before - where a bomb exploded during a campaign rally of the opposition Liberal Party - allegedly to remove his rivals within the party. He also branded him as a communist. To protest martial law and the military commission which tried the false charges (subversion, illegal possession of firearms and murder) against him, Ninoy fasted for forty days and forty nights. But Ninoy was still convicted by the commission and sentenced him to death by firing squad. But the sentence against Ninoy was not carried out.
After seven years and seven months of military confinement, Ninoy suffered a heart attack and was allowed by Marcos to go to the United States to have a heart bypass surgery. After recovering, Ninoy stayed with his family in Boston, Massachussets. He was granted a fellowship at the Harvard University and Massachussets Institute of Technology. Ninoy also continued his advocacy by speaking in various forums against the Marcos dictatorship. His most unforgettable speech, which showed his brilliance and eloquence, was in Los Angeles in 1981.
Ninoy's unforgettable speech
Assassination of Ninoy
Ninoy decided to return to the Philippines after three years of self-exile in the United States. Since Marcos instructed consular offices not to issue him a passport, Ninoy secured a passport under the nom de guerre Marcial Bonifacio. As a precaution Ninoy wore a bullet-proof vest under his white safari shirt, but he acknowledged - and foreboded - that the vest won't be much of a help if his head becomes the target. When asked about the threat of assassination, Ninoy defiantly answered, "If it's my fate to die of an assassin's bullet, so be it."
After the airplane carrying Ninoy touched down in Manila on August 21, 1983, Philippine military personnel boarded the plane and escorted him out. A few seconds later, passengers in the airplane heard several gun shots rang out and saw the body of Ninoy lying on a pool of blood on the airport tarmac as aviation security personnel fired shots on Rolando Galman, who was lying near Ninoy. Ninoy was felled by an assassin's bullet on the back of his head.
Marcos swiftly launched an investigation, but only after he was ousted from power that a court found Ninoy's military escorts as the perpetrators. To this day, however, the mastermind of Ninoy's assassination remains unknown.
People Power Revolt
The death of Ninoy sparked widespread opposition against Marcos and massive protest rallies continuosly poured on the streets. Marcos, who by then was already serving as president for two decades, called a snap presidential election to calm the opposition. The opposition fielded Ninoy's wife, Cory Aquino, as its standard bearer. During the counting of votes, Marcos emerged with a wide lead against Cory until several election personnel walked out of the canvassing proceedings and revealed massive rigging of the election results. People and opposition leaders started massing into the streets in huge numbers demanding the ouster of Marcos. Eventually Marcos and his family fled to safety and lived in exile in Hawaii.
Marcos swiftly launched an investigation, but only after he was ousted from power that a court found Ninoy's military escorts as the perpetrators. To this day, however, the mastermind of Ninoy's assassination remains unknown.
People Power Revolt
The death of Ninoy sparked widespread opposition against Marcos and massive protest rallies continuosly poured on the streets. Marcos, who by then was already serving as president for two decades, called a snap presidential election to calm the opposition. The opposition fielded Ninoy's wife, Cory Aquino, as its standard bearer. During the counting of votes, Marcos emerged with a wide lead against Cory until several election personnel walked out of the canvassing proceedings and revealed massive rigging of the election results. People and opposition leaders started massing into the streets in huge numbers demanding the ouster of Marcos. Eventually Marcos and his family fled to safety and lived in exile in Hawaii.
Cory Aquino became president and restored democracy in the Philippines by removing vestiges of the Marcos dictatorship.
