More than three decades ago this Monday, that is on August 21, 1983, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was escorted out of a plane as it landed in Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport or Naia in his honor)) after years in exile in the United States. Though for fear of his life many close relatives had misgivings about his decision to return to the country, Ninoy brushed aside his fears and took a great leap of faith. But he definitely knew the danger he was walking into.
An undelivered speech said it all: “I have returned on my free will to join the ranks of those struggling to restore our rights and freedoms through nonviolence. 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 x x x 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.”
As fate would have it, Ninoy did become the sacrifice that saved the country from the Marcos dictatorship.
My memory of that day is still vivid in my mind. It was a Sunday and I was at home in the House of Being, the apartment (it is now a Chicken Bacolod restaurant) I shared with other philosophy graduates, students, and teachers on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. Politically, I was ambivalent about Ninoy Aquino. Although I liked him personally, I also considered him a traditional politician. When word came that Ninoy was coming back to the Philippines after a stint in Boston, I admit I didn’t care much. I vaguely remember that there were attempts to organize a student contingent to welcome him but I did not pay attention to that. But when I heard the news, I was both afraid and angry. It was clear to me that Ninoy’s assassination was a game-changer.
As I recalled in earlier columns, it took a number of days before I realized how nation-changing Ninoy’s assassination would be. The next day, I lined up for two hours at Santo Domingo to view the remains of the fallen leader. During his funeral, I marched under the rain all the way to Luneta and witnessed how millions came to honor the hero. The Filipino people have finally awakened. “Justice for Aquino, Justice for all!” was the rallying cry.
That was 34 years ago. But what does this event mean for us today, other than the convenience of a long weekend and a national holiday? Indeed, what is the lasting legacy of the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino?
For sure, this legacy is not about justice and accountability. To this day, even with his widow and son having become presidents, we still do not know the mastermind(s) of Ninoy’s assassination. It is one of our biggest failures as a society—this impunity, this inability to make accountable those who commit crimes.
For me, the legacy of Ninoy Aquino is summarized in these immortal words: “My friends do not forget that your readiness to suffer will light the torch of freedom which can never be put out. Do not forget that we who are now in the middle of our years must inspire the youth when they are almost in the brink of despair. Do not forget that the purpose of life is precisely reexamining our being, not merely a floating flotsam in the time, in the floods of time. Do not forget, as Longfellow said that we should never be like driven cattle, but be a hero in the strife.”
The spirit of Edsa has long faded. Today, we still face identical problems like we did during the Marcos era—poverty, corruption, abuse of power, disregard for human rights, marginalization of the poor, etc. But these problems are manifesting themselves in a different way. The torture and imprisonment of political opponents of the Marcos regime to bring about a “new society” have been replaced by the daily massacre of the poor in the war against illegal drugs that its instigator himself has admitted cannot be won.
What Ninoy symbolizes remains as true today as it was 30 years ago. It is his courage to stand up against tyranny, his nobility in the face of adversity, his willingness to fight abuse and impunity with no regard to his person, and his determination and perseverance to fight for the dignity of every Filipino and his pure love for his country that make Ninoy an enduring emblem to the best virtues of our race. Again, his words about the Filipino ring loud and true today: “I have weighed all the virtues and faults of the Filipinos, and I have come to the conclusion that the Filipino is worth dying for.”
The Filipino is worth dying for. But why are we killing so many of them today?
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