Duterte: Honor Ninoy's legacy by sacrificing for common good, becoming resilient
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte Saturday urged Filipinos to honor the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. by sacrificing for the common good and by becoming resilient as the country battles a pandemic.
In his message for the 38th anniversary of Aquino's death, Duterte said Filipinos should draw strength from the selflessness of the late senator, a prominent critic of the Marcos dictatorship.
The president also called on Filipinos to take the lessons from the country's "storied" and "colorful" past "so that we may truly value, learn, and appreciate who we are today as a nation."
"As Filipinos, let us honor his (legacy) by showing our capacity to sacrifice our personal interests for the common good. May this sacrifice inspire all of us to be resilient and undaunted by challenges, especially now that we are still dealing with COVID-19," Duterte said.
Duterte said the commemoration of the Ninoy Aquino Day is "truly timely" not only because of the pandemic but also due to the recent death of the late senator's son and former president Benigno Aquino III. The former president died of renal disease at the age of 61 last June 24.
The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a political rival of Aquino, was given a hero's burial under Duterte despite protests by victims of human rights violations during Martial Law. Duterte has maintained that Marcos can be interred at the heroes' cemetery because he was a former president and a soldier.
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