A young country’s fight for freedom was hindered the day that Ferdinand Marcos was elected President of the Philippines. A man born to an upper class family, whose real father was a prominent Chinese judge, Marcos was given all the benefits of life, and excelled at all that he did both academically and physically. Despite past accusations of being a murderer, Marcos was a popular candidate until the day Marcos executed martial law over the nation, dissolving its constitution and jailing his enemies. One such enemy was Benigno Aquino. Ninoy Aquino had a stellar reputation in politics, the youngest mayor ever elected, as well as the youngest senator. He was the first and only member of his party to be elected to senator, and thus was a fierce enemy to Marcos. Ninoy was brilliant, a great speaker, ambitious, and loved by the people. He was the obvious choice for president when Marcos was to step down in 1973 after his maximum two terms. Right before the end of his term Marcos refused to give up power, and became a tyrant. Ninoy Aquino was like any other man and lived his life in his way, became an extraordinary man for his principles, and continued his work as a legend after his death.
On November 27th, 1932, Ninoy Aquino was born in Luzon to an illustrious family. Son of a senator and wealthy landowner, grandson of a legendary Military General, and set to have an inheritance of his own, from birth Ninoy was primed for politics. As a teenager out of high school, he worked for the Manila Times, and at seventeen was sent to report on the war between north and South Korea. When he returned home and finished with college, he was elected Mayor at the age of twenty two, and then went on to be senator. It was during this time that he met, and married Corazon Cojoangco, who would go on to continue his work, and take his place as the Philippines’ next president. Ninoy and Corazon, fondly nicknamed Cory, had five children during their time together, who would also go on to continue their parent’s fight for freedom.
Ninoy told the people, “The Filipino is worth dying for”. What other could he speak of but freedom? The freedom for the individual that the Filipinos had only just gained from the United States after so much fighting was what Ninoy held so dear to him. For centuries the Philippines had been a colony, but now they had their freedom, and Marcos was destroying it. Ninoy was fighting in the political ring, and he gained so much support, not because he could sway the crowd with words, but because he sincerely cared about the individual. The individual was the key for the Philippines to grow and prosper, and it was corruption such that Marcos’ had that suppressed the individual. Ninoy Aquino had a strong faith in God, and continued fighting in the way that he knew how to. He was a shining star for the people of the Philippines, and so the day he was gunned down was the day the people fought hardest for him.
In 1980, Ninoy was allowed to go to the United States for a heart bypass surgery; there he stayed for three years, before finally returning to his beloved people in 1983. Marcos may have declared himself leader of the country, but the people turned to Ninoy. As Ninoy Aquino stepped off the plane at Manila National Airport to crowds of Filipinos, awaiting the return of their true leader, he was shot and killed on the scene. Three years later, Marcos surprised the nation by calling for presidential elections. The Laban party turned to Ninoy’s widower Cory, and begged her to run. After persuasion, Cory decided to take up arms in the manner her husband did, and continue his fight. The results came to be that Marcos was the winner, but Cory and her party challenged the results. Soon after the Military renounced Marcos as the winner and declared Corazon Aquino rightful president of the Philippines. On February 25, 1986, both candidates were sworn into the presidency by their respective parties. On that same day Ferdinand Marcos fled the country, and lived in exile until the day of his death. On that day the Philippines had its first female president, and she had freed them from years under a dictator.
Ninoy Aquino was born a man like any other, his struggle through life made him a hero, and his death made him a legend. To this day his work is continued, in the fight for freedom, and the voice of the individual within the corrupted Filipino government. His children continued his work as their mother aged. Kris Aquino is now a celebrity, and uses her position to constantly fight corruption, and perform charitable acts throughout the country. Ninoy’s son, Benigno Aquino the third, or Noynoy Aquino, is now the president elect. On June 30, 2010 he will be sworn into office as the President of the Philippines, and has expressed that he will continue with the same ideals that his parents head before him. What thing is there greater to fight for, but freedom?
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