Ninoy at 81: If Ninoy were alive today, what would his only son ask him?

Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. would have been 81 years old yesterday if he were not slain at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport 30 years ago. His eldest daughter Ballsy Cruz once recalled to me that starting when she was about 10, her father would take the family to Hong Kong to celebrate his birthday. He would treat his brood to good Chinese food, which he himself would order. “Siya talaga pipili. That was just such an enjoyable time. Kami-kami lang,” Ballsy recalled.

Ninoy’s assassination was a turning point in Philippine history — it made the Filipino people realize how valuable freedom and democracy are, and that their rights are inviolable. EDSA truly began with Ninoy.

Ninoy once aspired to be President. His only son, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, did not aspire for the presidency until there was a clamor in 2009 for him to continue his parents’ legacy.

Noynoy’s life changed completely when Ninoy was arrested after the declaration of martial law in 1972. He saw old friends abandoning them, one by one. But he also witnessed how some would remain true, like the mayor of his dad’s hometown, Concepcion, who would continue celebrating Ninoy’s birthday year after year even while Ninoy was in jail. Noynoy cannot forget, too, how his classmates and their parents gave him rousing applause when he received his high school diploma in 1977. Ninoy was in jail and Noynoy knew the applause was meant for his father, who longed to stand by his only son at his high school graduation.  

He says his encounter with his emaciated father through the barbed wires of Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija was “the start of truly growing up.”

“Son, bahala ka na sa mommy mo at sa mga kapatid mo. (Son, it’s up to you now to take care of your mommy and sisters),” his father told him then. He was only 13 years old.

For the 30th anniversary of his father’s assassination last August, I had an exclusive interview with President Noynoy Aquino at Malacañang. To celebrate Ninoy Aquino’s 81st birth anniversary, I’d like to share excerpts from that interview:

JOANNE RAE RAMIREZ (JRR): What lessons from your father have you taken to heart since assuming the Presidency?  Do you think he groomed you to be a public servant?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: I think both my parents said we could pursue our own courses. From the start, Dad had a very clear sense of what was right and what was wrong. And he wasn’t a preachy type of person.

JRR: Was he generous with praise when you did well?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: To my face, he would say, “Kulang pa ‘yan.” One time I was top three in my class. Proud na proud ako. But my dad told me, “Top 1, kailan kaya yon?” So there was always that gentle push. Both of my parents would probably say, “There’s still so much more to be done.”

Dad had this concept of not having enough time to be able to do the things that he wanted to do. He had this stride. Everybody wanted to catch up with him, they had to jog or run just to keep pace with him. Then I guess it was my mother who would explain, he really felt that he wouldn’t have the time that he needed to be able to accomplish all the things that he wanted to do. So he was always in a rush. Any time that was wasted, you’re wasting something you can never recover. He never said it in those words. I think he pushed gently. He pushed me. The push was there, but it was not hard to accept.

JRR: How did your father react or respond to crisis?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: During the Plaza Miranda bombing for instance in ‘71, when the candidates managed to get out of the hospital, the Liberal Party had to conduct its next meeting inside a TV studio. It was easier to secure them there, as opposed to Plaza Miranda. But after the bombing, Dad went out right away and he went to check on everybody, to see what had happened to everybody. He was a driven man, somebody with a purpose.

JRR: Did you ever want to tell your dad to quit politics and live a more quiet life at home?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: I never told him that. I imagined that someday I’d have a family with a lolo doting on the grandkids. But of course, he never got to see any of us get married.

JRR: What sustained your family during the seven years and seven months that your father was imprisoned?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: Dad had a strong faith... The faith was enough to sustain us all those dark days. Reaching each Christmas was like a major achievement for us. Long-term planning was like two years, three years down the line. Napaka long-term na nung three years... I was 12 when martial law was proclaimed. So they arrested my dad’s photographer, they arrested my yaya who was no longer working for us. Arrested her husband at the same time, who was also no longer our employee. We had a houseboy who came back to us... like a prizefighter coming from a very brutal match. A bodyguard of my grandfather was also arrested...

JRR: What is the fondest memory you have of your father? You know, your sister Pinky still has the ring that your dad bought in Israel. She keeps it up to now. What of your dad’s gifts to you do you still have and what did you keep as an adult?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: We had a German Shepherd. And one day my cousins brought the dog inside a vehicle and I asked, “Dad, saan dadalhin ang aso natin?” “Ibinigay ko sa kanila,” he answered. He had a lot of possessions but he wasn’t tied to any of them. He saw me keeping candy at one point. I don’t even remember what the candy was. And then he said, “Amin na yan.” He went around the house and started giving the entire contents of the bag of candies to anybody he passed by, whether the person wanted it or not. May natirang one piece and he gave it back to me and said. “Hindi maganda ang swapang.” He always stressed that we should not be materialistic.

He had the ability to see humor in so many things. During his darkest moments, he had the ability to be happy with really simple things. When he was still senator, he’d come home a little early, around 9 p.m., with Ma Mon Luk siopao and he’d wake up the kids and share them with us. Tuwang-tuwa na siya dun. He believed in the theology of liberation. If you live too complex a life, how will you fight the oppressive structure if you’re tied to so many things?

JRR: If you could spend a day with your dad now, where would you go and what would you do? What would you ask him?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: Tarlac. I could say the transformation has been great but we’re still in that process. Maybe Fort Bonifacio, where The Fort now stands. It would be the only place that was quiet during New Year’s Eve. The place where he used to be incarcerated is, I think, where McKinley Hill is now. I would ask him, “Ano pa ang dapat nating gawin? Ano ang sa palagay mo ang kulang pa?” He said the Filipino is worth dying for...

JRR: Do you have further political plans after your term ends in 2016? Like running for local office as some former Presidents here and abroad have?

PRESIDENT AQUINO: For me, running for local office is like you went up and you want to go back down. I’ll be 56 in 2016. Maybe I will go corporate, run a company that gives an avenue to a lot of entrepreneurial talent. I can be a tourist in the places we’ve been promoting for such a long time. I want to go to the underground river in Palawan. How many hours did I spend there? Three hours with flying time. Maybe next time I can stay overnight. Boracay, I’ve been there once in my life and I spent lunch, one hour. Because I had to go to the Caticlan terminal then I had to go back because there might have been flooding in Malabon and Marikina. I would like to read the books that have caught my interest that are now gathering dust. I’d like to think that Mom was right: “There’s life after the Presidency.”