Today we celebrate the 39th anniversary of the day Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was shot dead in 1983, beginning the movement that would eventually topple the dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. from power three years later.
We all know the story; Senator Aquino repeatedly challenged the policies of the dictator who finally had him jailed. However, he was allowed to seek treatment in the US where he would spend the three years in exile and with the promise to never return. But he did anyway, planning to continue to challenge Marcos Sr., despite the threats to his life.
After his flight arrived at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983, he was escorted off the plane by uniformed personnel purportedly to take him back to jail.
He never even made it to any building, vehicle, or safe facility. He was only able to take a few steps on the ground before he was shot dead on the tarmac.
Whoever masterminded his murder was never brought to justice. It was this brazen murder that started a chain of events that would eventually remove Marcos Sr. from power and have him fleeing the country with his family.
Thirty-six years after the overthrow, the son of the deposed dictator, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., running on a vague platform of “unity”, would win an overwhelming mandate of 31 million votes from the Filipino people and assume the presidency.
Many say Bongbong is out to redeem the Marcos name, and we actually hope he will do so by becoming a good president. But correcting the mistakes his father made and sanitizing history to make it appear that the dictatorial years were our “golden era” are two different things. He, as well as we, should be able to tell the difference.
Again, this unity President Marcos is calling for will never happen unless he acknowledges sins committed in the past. To be sure the sins were not his, considering his youth when Aquino was killed. But they were sins committed in the name of upholding his family.
But enough of President Marcos Jr. Let’s be fair; it’s still too early in his presidency to say what kind of president he is or will become. Again, to Ninoy. While some people move to manipulate Philippine history, may we never forget this man who believed that the Filipino was worth dying for and who lived that creed to his last breath.