In the Philippines, Benigno Aquino was a senator and leading oppositionist to the autocratic rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino came from a family of politicians. His father held office under two presidents, while his grandfather served under the first president, Emilio Aguinaldo, who led the resistance against Spanish and later American occupation of the Philippines. Before his political career, Benigno was an award winning journalist at the young age of 18. He became municipal mayor by 22, vice-governor by 27, governor of Tarlac and secretary-general of the Liberal Party by 29, and the youngest elected senator in the country by age 34.

Being the only member of the Liberal Party in the senate made Aquino a target for Marcos and his allies. However, Aquino would not be intimidated. From the start, Aquino attacked the Marcos regime for “ballooning the armed forces budget”, “militarizing (the) civilian government offices”, and described the first lady’s $50 million Cultural Center as “a monument to shame”. For his outspoken criticism he was selected as one of the nation’s most outstanding senators by the Philippine Free Press.

The snowball really started rolling in 1971, at a rally for the Liberal Party, when nine people were killed and 85 wounded as two grenades were thrown on stage where candidates were lined.President Marcos and his Nacionalistas Party blamed Aquino for the incident, suggesting he was trying to eliminate competition from within his own party. The president immediately suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus, using this specific act of terrorism as justification (sound familiar?). President Marcos then vowed that the terrorists would be apprehended within 48 hours; arresting large numbers of communists instead. About one year later, on September 21, 1972, Marcos declared martial law. Benigno Aquino and several other political opponents to Marcos were subsequently arrested and imprisoned on false charges.

In 1975, Aquino had undergone a 40 day fast to protest the injustice of his imprisonment. Not surprisingly, he was found guilty of murder, illegal possession of firearms, and subversion by a government-controlled Military Commission. Aquino was sentenced to death, but was spared the firing squad by Marcos who thought such a fate would mark him for martyrdom. In 1978 Aquino was allowed to take part in a televised interview which showed the populace that prison had not quelled his spirit to fight. From prison he started his own party, the People’s Power, which had a huge following and ran 21 candidates for Parliament. However, due to election fraud, all his candidates lost.

After nearly 9 years in his solitary cell, Aquino suffered two heart attacks. President Marcos was in an awkward position. With the country overwhelmingly in support of Aquino, he had to offer him the best medical attention or face the consequences of an already angry public. The first lady, Imelda Marcos, offered Aquino a passage to America for a coronary bypass on two conditions: 1.) That he would return; 2.) While in America, he would not speak out against the Marcos regime. Aquino agreed, had a successful operation in Dallas, Texas, and broke his promise to the first lady, stating that “a pact with the devil is no pact at all”. Spending three years in self-exile, Aquino wrote two books and gave a series of lectures and speeches around the US about the abuses of the Marcos regime. Aquino’s popularity only grew larger in the Philippines.

In 1983 Aquino grew evermore concerned over the political situation in his homeland and the failing health of President Marcos. Confident that he could reason with Marcos to return the Philippines to the people and establish a true democracy, Aquino decided to go back. His goal was to convince Marcos to step down from his 20 year reign and establish a peaceful regime before an extremist takeover made such a change impossible. Well aware of the dangers which awaited his return, he said, “the Filipino is worth dying for… if it’s my fate to die by an assassin’s bullet, so be it”. This week in capitalism, just minutes after his plane landed, Benigno Aquino was taken into custody by soldiers and killed by an assassin’s bullet to the back of the head. Government investigators claimed the assassin was Rolando Galman, who was immediately killed at the scene by soldiers. However, the majority of the country didn’t buy the story and accused Marcos of ordering the execution. Fatefully, Aquino did become a martyr for the opposition. The Philippines received worldwide attention and Marcos supporters, such as President Reagan, began to distance themselves. Eventually the People Power revolution forced Marcos into exile after another fraudulent election declared him the winner. Aquino’s widow, Cory Aquino, was then placed as president of the Philippines.

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