A tribute to Ninoy – Part 1

This is the Privilege speech of Rep. Tony Cuenco, South District, Cebu City, November 27, 2007, in memory of Benigno S. Aquino Jr.

“Mr. Speaker, we commemorate today the 75th birth anniversary of Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. His assassination on August 21, 1983 grievously wounded the Filipino people, and for a few days the attention of the world was riveted on the agonizing drama. Twenty-four years have passed and we no longer suffer today as much shock and grief as we sustained on the hideous moment which we shall never forget all the days of our lives, and yet, the visage of his courage and heroism still pervades our land, for his sacrificial offering is imperishably etched in the soul of this nation. His name is forever stamped in blazing flames upon our hearts and our collective memory as a people.

“Those of us who have been blessed by the privilege of his friendship cannot be blamed for openly luxuriating in that honor. Anyone who has been personally associated with him will always glory in that fact. We, who were his friends, we, who were his colleagues in the same party and advocates of the same cause, fighting the same battles, still carry around our personal association with him as a medal that we shall always proudly pin on our breasts. For he was a giant among Lilliputians, the warrior in residence of our political formations, the battleship among tugboats, the spearhead and the beacon light whom the people lionized in life and revered in death.

“So today I rise Mr. Speaker, to talk of this great and immortal man for my own special and personal reasons. Even before I got elected to this chamber in 1965 at the age of 29, I had already been honored of his friendship for he used to go to my home city of Cebu as he perambulated magnificently all over the country in search of his elusive dream with such dazzling speed and liberating impact that he was like a flash of lightning in the dark horizon of the continuing political thunderstorms of the day.

“Upon his election to the Senate in 1967, against formidable odds, he being the primary target of Ferdinand Marcos, we formed the Liberal Party “young turks”. He was like a resplendent eagle flying over the raging sea emerging as a spinning, whirling, exploding oppositionist wizard who rained fire and brimstone on the Marcos administration.

“Not even, the mailed fist of martial law and the debilitating sorrows of vindictive imprisonment stopped him in his tracks. The rest is history Mr. Speaker and I shall not presume to rehash the glorious epic of his valiant struggle. But permit me to recall my experience with him a few days before he met his heroic fate and took his honored place in the glorious pantheon of the ages.” (To be continued)