It was probably an overwhelming sympathy during Cory Aquino’s death, Kris Aquino’s moving message and our exasperation towards Gloria’s excesses that endeared Noynoy Aquino to a lot of us. We were reminded of Ninoy Aquino’s sacrifice, and we thought Noynoy could relive that. We remembered how Edsa was like. And forgot what it was 25 years after.
Again, people saw hope in the eyes of Noynoy. He was pure and simple with a hard-punching slogan, “Hindi ako magnanakaw!”. And as usual, Pinoys believed the fairytale and they failed to see the other side of Noynoy. He’s been in government service for a long time and so far, there weren’t that many accomplishments compared to what his contemporaries in the Congress and the Senate had achieved. Had he been sleeping?
Of course, you can’t really find too many faults on a guy who has not really done anything. Noynoy epitomizes the word “mediocre” and he is absolutely does not share the qualities of his dad, Ninoy. Kris does, in testosterone.
What did he do during the Hacienda Luisita Massacre in 2004? He was then a congressman in Tarlac, and he simply put the blame on NPA rebels for the mayhem to save the family’s interest. Just in case you still don’t know, Hacienda Luisita was bought in late 1950’s by his late grandfather, Peping Conjuangco Sr. from the Spaniards with government help. (President Magsaysay was Ninoy and Cory’s ninong in their wedding.) The condition set was to give the land back to its tillers at a reasonable cost within a 10-year time frame. (Turnover was supposed to happen in 1967.) To cut the long story short, the deal was long overdue and never happened. The workers were fired to find a job elsewhere and the outspoken ones were brutally murdered.
How would you expect someone who has a lackluster record in public service be able to turn this country around? Noynoy can’t even clean his own backyard. Does he have the political will to control those people who will work under him? What I see are further disappointments and his vice president, Mar Roxas, if ever he wins, running the show for him.
I was in the mall looking for porcelain tile design when I heard the news about Senator Mar Roxas quitting his presidential bid to give way for Noynoy Aquino. I overheard someone say, “Will Korina (Sanchez) back out from her wedding to Mar now that Noynoy has been thrust to the presidential limelight?”
Mar Roxas is one of the finest senators we have. Everyone knows him as Mister Palengke, which happens to be true with his mom, Judy Araneta-Roxas, managing the Farmer’s Market in Cubao. Nonoy Aquino was a little bit in the shadows until Cory passed away that his parents’ magic seemed to have rubbed on him. Noynoy is the Aquino’s legacy to this ailing nation and somehow the people’s hope rests on him.
I have the feeling that Noynoy, despite strong contenders like Villar, will eventually make it.
My only memory of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino was his black portrait on yellow shirts I saw the neighbors wore immediately after his assassination. That was more than 25 years ago when I was still an eight-year-old kid and weight losss supplements have not yet been invented.
During the height of public protests against the excesses of the Marcos regime and its participation to Ninoy’s assassination, former Senator Jovito Salonga quoted that Ninoy was “the greatest president we never had”. But with his death, no matter how unjust and brutal it was, Ninoy had accomplished more than what he could have done serving the country as its chief executive.
Benigno Servillano Aquino was born to a family of hacienderos in Concepcion, Tarlac. His grandfather, Servillano Aquino, was a general in the revolutionary army of Emilio Aguinaldo while his father, Benigno Aquino, Sr. (1894-1947) was a prominent official in the World War II government of José P. Laurel. His mother was Doña Aurora Aquino-Aquino, his father’s third cousin. His father died while Ninoy was in his teens. Aquino was educated in St. Joseph’s College, San Beda College, Ateneo de Manila, and De La Salle College.
- He was the youngest war correspondent to cover the Korean War for the newspaper The Manila Times at age 17.
- At 18, Ninoy received a Philippine Legion of Honor award from President Elpidio Quirino.
- At 21, he became an adviser to then defense secretary Ramon Magsaysay.
- He was 21 when he was appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay to act as personal emissary to Luis Taruc, leader of the Hukbalahap rebel group. After four months of negotiations, he was credited for Taruc’s unconditional surrender.
- He became mayor of Concepcion in 1955 at the age of 22. He married Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco on the same year.
- He was the youngest vice-governor at age 27.
- At 29, he became the governor of Tarlac.
- At 34, he was the youngest elected senator in 1967.
- On August 21, 1983, he was assassinated at age 50. Exactly 12 years after the 1971 Plaza Miranda Bombing.
