EDITORIAL - Ninoy, 29 years later

Twenty-nine years is a long time to remember. A generation has grown up with no personal recollection of the years when a conjugal dictatorship ruled the land, and the charismatic man who posed the greatest challenge to authoritarian rule was gunned down on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport.

Ferdinand Marcos promised to make this nation great again. At the end of his dictatorial rule, the nation was close to ruins. The assassination of his archrival, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., awakened an apathetic nation to the abuses of the martial law regime. The resulting mass protests culminated in the seemingly impossible: the collapse of a dictatorship through people power.

Ninoy Aquino’s murder by state forces catapulted his widow Corazon to power. Her presidency, and the newly restored democracy, survived several coup attempts, staged by personalities who benefited from people power and wanted more. Nearly two decades after Cory Aquino peacefully handed over power to her preferred successor, Filipinos tired of corruption and abuse of power pinned their hopes on radical change in the only son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. 

Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III carries the legacy of his parents as both a gift and a heavy load. The promise of people power still has to be fully realized. The battle lines during Ninoy Aquino’s time were clearly drawn and the enemies had a face. The battle President Aquino has chosen is more complicated: alleviating poverty by fighting corruption. In this complex task, he can derive inspiration from his father, and the spirit of people empowerment that Ninoy Aquino stirred in this nation. Until his death, Ninoy had an unwavering belief in the Filipino’s capacity to achieve what seems impossible.