Ninoy’s detention cell now a shrine

President Arroyo has declared Feb. 25 a special non-working holiday and the former military detention cell of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino in Nueva Ecija as a national shrine.

Feb. 25, a non-working holiday as per Proclamation No. 331, falls on Tuesday next week and is the 17th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA people power revolution that led to the downfall of deceased former President Ferdinand Marcos.

"The EDSA people power revolution restored our democratic institutions and ushered in meaningful political, social and economic reforms in the country," Mrs. Arroyo cited.

"It is fitting that the people will be given full opportunity to honor the memory of the EDSA people power revolution with appropriate ceremonies," she said.

Meanwhile, the room of Sen. Benigno Aquino and his cellmate, Sen. Jose Diokno, where they were detained during the martial law regime in the 1970s, was declared a national shrine by the President.

She said the detention room, located in Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, was declared a government-protected national shrine to remind the Filipino people of the senators’ personal sacrifices to restore Philippine democracy.

The President said she and Aquino’s widow, former President Corazon Aquino will join the formal program on Feb. 25 to be held right at the detention cell in Fort Magsaysay to mark the 17th anniversary of EDSA I.

"It’s an important place to commemorate an important part of our history," she said.

The Aquino assassination in August 1983 triggered nearly three years of civil disobedience that culminated in EDSA I.

Like Mrs. Aquino, the President was swept to office on Jan. 20, 2001, through a similar civilian-military uprising.

Mrs. Arroyo told Palace reporters during an informal luncheon press conference at Malacañang yesterday that she would be back at dawn Tuesday, from Malaysia in time for the EDSA I anniversary.

She will be leaving this Sunday for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to join other heads of state attending the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting to be held there. – Marichu Villanueva