MANILA (UCAN): On the anniversary of the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr., the Philippine opposition leader whose death 40 years ago led the People Power Revolution Church leaders and rights activists called on people to fight corruption and human rights abuses in the country.
Aquino, fondly called ‘Ninoy’, was killed on 21 August 1983, on the tarmac of Manila International Airport on his return from self-imposed exile in the United States.
“Blood spilled on the tarmac of the airport forty years ago.… You are not alone, Ninoy [Aquino]. Thousands gathered and lined up under the heat of the sun to pay their respects to the body of Senator Ninoy,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen, in his homily during a Mass commemorating the 40th death anniversary of Aquino at St. Domingo Church in Manila’s Quezon City.
He was a staunch critic of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the country’s former dictator and father of current president, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.
There was speculation that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy by the Marcos administration, which was not proved. Some 16 members of the military were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1990 for his killing.
Blood spilled on the tarmac of the airport forty years ago.… You are not alone, Ninoy [Aquino]. Thousands gathered and lined up under the heat of the sun to pay their respects to the body of Senator Ninoy
Archbishop Villegas
“His blood-stained clothes … still bearing the marks of having fallen from the slaughter, shook the country in fear and blindness,” said Archbishop Villegas, the former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Philippines.
At the time of the assassination, the archbishop was secretary of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila, who played a leading role in the People Power Revolution that led to Marcos’ ouster in 1986 which ended his two decades of iron-fisted marred by corruption and human rights violations including torture, detention, and killing of critics and political opponents.
The assassination galvanised the opposition and led to Aquino’s widow, Corazon, to become the nation’s 11th president in the 1986 election.
Archbishop Villegas urged his countrymen to “wake up from sleep” to fight against endemic corruption and seek justice for the ongoing killing of fellow citizens, referring to the deadly drug war instigated by former president, Rodrigo Duterte.
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The Philippines is still unable to get back the stolen wealth, failing to halt high levels of corruption and the legal system is blindly covering up and protecting murderers who need to be hunted down by the law, he said.
Since Marcos Jr. became president, there have been attempts to “revise history,” they said. Marcos and his allies have been accused of flooding social media with fake news that the martial law years were the “golden years” of Philippine history
According to the 2022 Corruption Perception Index, the Philippines ranks 116th out of 180 countries, while rights groups estimate that between 12,000 and 30,000 were killed in Duterte’s “drug war.”
The government’s own data shows more than 6,190 people were killed in police operations from 2016 to August 2021, Human Rights Watch reported last year.
Human rights groups held rallies in the Philippines and abroad to pay tribute to Aquino on August 21.
Since Marcos Jr. became president, there have been attempts to “revise history,” they said. Marcos and his allies have been accused of flooding social media with fake news that the martial law years were the “golden years” of Philippine history.
Nevertheless on the occasion of the anniverary, Marcos called for unity among Filipinos, for them to “transcend political barriers” to advance the interests of the nation.
“By standing for his beliefs and fighting for battles he deemed right, he became an example of relentlessness and resolve for many Filipinos,” Marcos said in a statement.
