Remembering Ninoy

When Ninoy was assassinated at high noon on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, it was not just the end of his life. It was a beginning for an aggrieved nation. And it was not just because of politics, either.

More than a million Filipinos joined the funeral cortege of the hero and grieved for a human being who was gunned down so defenselessly. There is a more important context that his martyrdom should be viewed if we only knew the truth. It became a turning point in the struggle against a dictatorship that subsequently catapulted his widow, Cory Cojuangco, to become President of the Philippines.

I was abroad in exile at the time. I remember the day because I was in Paris with my two sons and I had barely put down my luggage at the hotel lobby when my husband called to give me the sad news. It was unbelievable but all I knew was that I had to move fast, return home and put out a special edition of Pahayagan, a newspaper for the Filipino community that my husband and I published to keep our countrymen in London informed about their country. Both my sons were uncomprehending. Who was Ninoy that our planned holidays had to be cancelled? Mama, why is he that important to us?

He is important to us as a leader, a hero and most of all as a human being. And then I went through memories and glimpses about the man although I knew of him only in newspapers. The only personal encounter was to be introduced to him by Max Soliven just before my family and I left Manila in 1970. (You can imagine what it was like being squeezed in between the rapid talk of Ninoy and Max on the political situation.) The two were like peas in a pod.

It was my husband who knew Ninoy more. He was a brod as Upsilonians call themselves but so was Marcos. It was my calling as a journalist and political exile that brought me to think of him as a kindred soul. So I told my sons what they would understand more — that Ninoy was a man who might have been president but because of fortuitous circumstances he ended an exile like us. He was the hope nurtured in the hearts of Filipino freedom fighters and then added as an aside (in retrospect wrongly) that he died to make it possible for us to return to Manila. They liked that.

Of all the many things that were said and written about Ninoy’s assassination there is one that stands out in my memory. Asked by a reporter why he should grieve for Ninoy, the man in the street said, “Galit ako sa mga pumatay o nagpapatay sa kanya dahil wala siyang kalaban-laban. Hindi ganyan ang Pilipino. Lalaki sa lalaki. Kahit gaano pang katindi ang galit mo sa isang tao, ito’y kailangan daanin sa pagtutunggaling harapan. Hindi ganoong basta babarilin mong nakatalikod” (I am angry with those who killed him or had him killed because he was so defenseless. That is not the way of a true Filipino). The man was neither a politician nor a relative of Ninoy. He was angry because the assassination cut deep into his sense of honor. That was what led him to the streets. It was blatantly unjust and oppressive. They wanted to know who really ordered him killed and who was the mastermind.

Filipinos turned to Cory even if they knew she was not qualified to run the country. More than anything, it was an emotional decision for Filipinos. If she were to do nothing more than find out who set the soldiers out to kill him she would have done the job she was elected President for. We need only look at the newspaper archives to confirm this fact: Cory became president because of the martyrdom of Ninoy. People wanted to know who ordered him killed and that they should be punished.

Unfortunately, a determined effort to pin down just how and why Ninoy was shot down was not undertaken by the first Aquino government at the time when emotions were still high and the evidences still fresh. The trial should not have stopped with the soldiers even if it did go as high as General Ver. There were other political figures that could have brought light to what the killing of Ninoy was all about. There was unseemly haste to get back to normality — let’s get on with it as if the assassination in broad daylight did not happen.

His assassination remains a watershed in our history. We can try to dismiss it all we want. The trouble is it did happen and can not be forgotten. It is my opinion that had we been more serious in finding out more about Ninoy’s assassination we would have found a can of worms that plagues us to to this day.

There are a few witnesses still alive who know the truth. It is to those few we should seek out.

We hope President Aquino is as concerned to know who ordered the killing of his father. Reliable sources say that it was a mistake to blame it on the Marcoses. It was too easy and convenient. The assassination had more to it than meets the eye. We may have abhorred the dictatorship but it is true that killing Ninoy ended the Marcos regime. Would Marcos or even Imelda have wished their own end by resorting to a horrific crime in front of the world’s cameras?

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I can understand why Senator Joker Arroyo is so incensed that the Palace should issue statements that the President was undecided about setting apart a day to commemorate Ninoy’s martyrdom. Joker was among his closest confidantes in the freedom struggle. The freedom we enjoy today we owe to his martyrdom. Therefore we owe it to ourselves to know who killed him and why.

In a way, especially for those who do not give up too easily, Ninoy Aquino Day should be commemorated each year to ask yet again — who ordered and machinated Ninoy’s martyrdom?

Surely, President Noynoy would want to know that too. After all Ninoy was his father and he became president on the wings of his martyrdom. He does not have to wait advice for that. Ninoy Aquino Day should be observed because it is the law whether the Palace wants it or not.