Remembering Ninoy

When I was still in kindergarten, long before the popular days of MTV and Myx, the only music channel on the television at home was the videoke channel. It only played the golden oldies and the video quality was as great as a coin-fed karaoke machine. I was barely six years old, so naturally, I didn’t know any of the music that channel played, but I would still watch it every day hoping that I would catch the one song that I wanted to hear.

I don’t know where I learned the song, and most people were (and often still are) surprised that I know it. Tie a Yellow Ribbon (Round the Old Oak Tree) was one of my favorite songs when I was a kid. I didn’t understand the song at all; I just remember liking the thought of tying yellow ribbons around trees.

Up to this day, seeing yellow ribbons on trees makes me happy. Because of this, August is one of my favorite months of the year. Everywhere, from the gigantic acacia trees on the school grounds to the electricity posts on my home street, yellow ribbons greeted me. The pretty bows never fail to transport me to my childhood, and in my head, I hum the old tune whenever I see the bright knots.

I grew to expect to see the ribbons every August in the same way that I expected Christmas lights in December. Seeing them festooned everywhere cheered up the gray and dreary August days, but I had no idea why they were put up at all.

Embarrassing as it is to admit, I must confess that for the longest time, I believed that there were yellow bows all around because people were celebrating the anniversary of the song.

It was only a year before I graduated elementary school that I finally understood why so many folks were taking the time and risking serious bodily injury to wrap ribbons around tree trunks and branches, car antennas and lampposts.

The cheerful ribbons I loved so much were actually signs of respect and mourning for a modern-day hero.

I knew about Ninoy Aquino Day (because classes were always cancelled on this day), but before the age of 12, it never really occurred to me to connect the ribbons with the fallen senator.

It seems that every year since then, the significance of the 21st day of August has grown more and more. Last year, the “I Am Ninoy” campaign was launched and suddenly, Ninoy became part of, not only Philippine history, but also Pinoy pop culture. His face, his glasses and his words were made into T-shirts, caps and even license plates.

The Ninoy-mania grew exponentially. It was almost impossible to go to a mall or any public place for that matter and fail to see people, both young and old, wearing Ninoy shirts or toting bags proclaiming themselves as Ninoys.

This trend became so popular that I think Filipinos, the youth especially, had come to see the Ninoy memorabilia in the same way that I used to see the yellow ribbons — they were objects, beautiful objects, yes, but the significance they once held had been lost.

“I am Ninoy,” or “The Filipino is worth dying for,” people (or at least, people’s clothes and accessories) say. But who is Ninoy? Why do we want to be like him? Why was he assassinated?

I think that if I ask these questions of random young people on the street, I would only get vague answers. At least most young people know that Ninoy was a senator — I remember a contestant in a game show I watched once said that he was president!

Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was a journalist and a politician. He covered the Korean War and acted as an emissary to the Hukbalahap. He has held the post of municipal mayor, governor and senator. He is much admired because he was brave enough to be critical of the excesses of the Marcos regime and stand up against the injustices of martial law. Sickness, imprisonment and exile could not keep him from fighting the established government. He was assassinated because he was a threat to those in power because he had the support of the people.

The streets turned yellow for his funeral. This year, it has happened again for his wife, Cory.

Practically the whole month has been colored yellow. The streamers have been strung and the ribbons have been tied earlier. The statement shirt-wearing populace has been out in full force.

Today, on the anniversary of the death of the man who has been called “the greatest president we never had,” let us show our support and respect by donning our shirts and making more than just a fashion statement.

There is a little Ninoy in all of us — we are all capable of making our country a better place. Even small things like not littering or drawing graffiti on public property or following traffic rules makes us Ninoys.

Let the yellow ribbon be more than just another tree ornament. Remember Ninoy and keep his legacy alive by becoming Filipinos worth dying for.