The five Aquinos in Philippine history
Today is Ninoy Aquino Day, declared as a national special day. This is the 34th anniversary of the assassination of Sen. Benigno "Ninoy'' Aquino Jr., whose death marked the beginning of the end of the 20-year regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. Ninoy's murder started the rise of his widow, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, the most unprepared and most unwilling candidate, who eventually became president. In turn, her untimely demise also pushed her unprepared son (who was not even performing well in the Senate) to run for president (capitalizing on the peoples' love for Cory) and pushed Sen. Mar Roxas aside. It would seem then that death was always the game changer or tipping point in the three Aquinos' political careers.
Ninoy started as a journalist and covered the Korean War as a reporter. He was also asked by President Ramon Magsaysay to negotiate with then Huk Supremo Luis Taruc. Ninoy ran for mayor and then congressman and won those elections, his age qualification was questioned but he won and was proclaimed. He ran for senator, and again his age was questioned and he also won. In the Senate, Ninoy distinguished himself by exposing many Marcos anomalies. One of those was the Jabida Mission which was supposed to occupy Sabah and take back what was then claimed to be Philippine territory. Because of Ninoy's exposé, Malaysia cut off diplomatic relations with us, although later it ended in reconciliation.
Cory is touted as the restorer of Philippine democracy. However, Marcos loyalists dispute that saying democracy was never lost. Let history judge that. We can say the PNoy presidency might have been a success in terms of economic development, but the fruits of that development only made the tycoons and the taipans richer. The poor became poorer. PNoy refused to distribute agrarian reform-covered land to the tenants. He worked for the impeachment of the chief justice who favored the tenants. PNoy was anti-poor, anti-worker, and did not take care of OFWs. He got GMA detained but she was absolved of charges against her. PNoy was the most vindictive president we ever had. He bungled the Mamasapano operations leading to the massacre of 44 of the PNP's Special Action Force.
Aside from Ninoy, Cory, and PNoy, there are two other remarkable Aquinos: Benigno Aquino Sr, Ninoy's father, sixth speaker of the House of Representatives and the first speaker of the National Assembly under the second Philippine republic. He was the Japanese-installed Director General of Kalibapi, the puppet political party during the Japanese occupation. Thus, many Filipinos believed he was a collaborator. Again, let history judge that. But the first great Aquino was Tandang Sora, or Melchora Aquino, the old woman from Balintawak who operated an underground refugee center for wounded and sick Katipuneros disguised as a store.
Today, as we honor Ninoy and Cory, we should also pay our respects to the great Tandang Sora who never went to school but was perhaps the greatest of all the Aquinos.
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