Negros group honors Ninoy Aquino on 41st death anniversary

NINOY AQUINO / AUGUST 21, 1983 / SAVED IN PDI ARCHIVE
Oppositionist senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. at then Manila International Airport after returning from a three year long exile in the United States.
PDI PHOTO

BACOLOD CITY — A group in Negros Occidental called on Filipinos to fight for what is right and to defend the country from foreign aggression as they marked the assassination of the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. on Wednesday, Aug. 21.

Joy Jarabelo, head of the Federation of Urban Poor (FedUp), said they were celebrating Ninoy Aquino Day on the exact day of the 41st anniversary of the senator’s assassination, to honor his courageous sacrifice for the nation.

Aquino, she said, demonstrated by example “how to be a true blooded Filipino.”

Jarabelo said Filipinos should stand up against the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), threats to the West Philippine Sea, and those who betrayed the nation in favor of China.

READ: A day to remember, holiday or not

To commemorate the Ninoy Aquino Day, the FedUp members, clad in yellow shirts, attended a Mass at the Lupit Church at 6 a.m. and walked to the statue of Aquino in Bacolod City for a floral offering.

President Fredinand Marcos Jr. moved the commemoration of the Ninoy Aquino Day this year to Friday, Aug. 23, “to provide for a longer weekend” for the Filipino people.

The assassination of Aquino on his return to the Philippines sparked the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986 that led to the ouster of then president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.