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Today is apparently Ninoy’s 22nd death anniversary according to a couple of blogs I regularly visit. When Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was assassinated in 1983, my family and I had only been living here in the United States for seven months. We learned of his death on a Sunday morning at church from the domestic helper of the Lopezes who were San Francisco residents at the time. We were new attendees of the church that she and the middle Lopez son were members of. The Lopezes fled the Philippines after Marcos had closed down any non-state broadcast services their father made a daring escape from prison in 1977.

During my trip to the Philippines last month, I had a chance to visit the Fort Bonifacio compound where Ninoy Aquino was imprisoned for seven years. In fact, I was able to enter the very cell that he occupied. My elementary school best friend who is now a major in the Philippine Army had Ninoy’s cell unlocked and let me inside. It is now a shrine of sorts, with the original furniture and Ninoy’s things still intact.

The cell’s plaque says this:

Ninoy Aquino’s Cell

“Symbol of unconquerable human spirit amidst tyranny and hopelessness.”

Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was arrested while attending a House Committee meeting at the Manila Hilton Hotel on September 23, 1972, two days after President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared Martial Law. Ninoy was briefly detained in Camp Crame, Quezon City and subsequently moved in Vista Lodge, Fort Bonifacio. On March 5, 1973, he was brought to Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija. On August 27 of the same year, he was transferred to Building No. 2, Legaspi Compound, Fort Bonifacio, where he was detained for seven years until his release.

Ninoy was virtually kept in isolation, except for his 24-hour duty guards who were posted outside but were forbidden to communicate with him. He had his weekly medical and dental check-ups within this cell to monitor his health. A daily supply of national newspapers and occasional visits from family members maintained his awareness of current developments and vital issues.

In this cell, Ninoy found and learned to accept what was to become his destiny. It was in this cell where Ninoy fasted for forty days to protest the lies and deception imposed by a dictatorship. His defiance became his flickering symbol of hope for countless suffering Filipinos. From within this cell, Ninoy kept the flames of freedom and democracy alive and burning, undaunted by a dictator who wanted to break his spirit.

This cell is a mute witness to Ninoy’s heroic struggle against human oppression. With an indomitable spirit, unyielding defiance, and a determination steeled by the sufferings of his fellow countrymen, Ninoy rose above hopelessness and accomplished truth, justice and freedom.

We took the following pictures in Intramuros last 4th of July. As an “outsider,” it’s my lame attempt at commenting about the current Philippine political situation. To those who may get offended, advance apologies. I deemed an image of Marcos’s sculpture to not even be worthy of occupying space in my camera’s SD card.

  
Left: Olivia and I with Emilio Aguinaldo. Right: Aquino with a big L on her forehead (L for Laban, of course).

  
Left: Joel with ninong (really!). Right: Olivia doing for Erap what he was probably doing anyway in the photo the sculpture was modeled from.

Tara lending a hand in balancing Arroyo’s precarious head.

I give props to Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) for ending the Cold War but I’d like to think the Filipino people helped inspire the world to fight oppressive regimes in the 1980s. The People Power Revolution that followed Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983 catapulted his widow, Cory, to run, and eventually win, against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos during snap elections held in 1986. It was this revolt that gave hope, I believe, to oppressed people worldwide. I remember in 1987 watching South Korean protesters on TV holding up the “L” sign, the initial of Cory Aquino’s LABAN party, as they appropriated the symbol for themselves in their own fight against unfair elections. I see the image of the lone guy standing defiantly against a tank in 1989’s Tiananmen Square protest mirrored in the image from 1986 of nuns and ordinary citizens praying in front of tanks during a rally in Manila. Even as Reagan set the stage in his resolve to rid the world of communism in the 1980s, the People Power movement demonstrated to the world how non-violent peaceful resistance is done.

Update: found this interesting article on the legacy of People Power.