BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO, JR. Filipino Hero and Martyr
• Served as Mayor, Vice-Governor, Governor, (Tarlac)
• Senator of the Philippines (1967—1972)
• Served as Special Assistant to the following Presidents: Pres.R. Magsaysay, Pres.
C. Garcia, and Pres. D. Macapagal
• Journalist, Outstanding Senator, and multi-awarded civic, government leader, and
freedom fighter.
Date of Birth: November 27, 1932 (Concepcion, Tarlac, Philippines)
Died: August 21, 1983
Assassinated upon his arrival at the airport.
BIRTH & HERITAGE
1932, Nov. 27—born to Benigno S. Aquino, Sr., nationalist, speaker and later
Senator of the Philippines, and Aurora A. Aquino, in Concepcion Town, Tarlac
province. His paternal grandfather was General Servillano Aquino, famed
revolutionary, who fought first the Spanish and then the Americans at the turn of
the century.
EDUCATION
• San Beda High School, 1948
• Ateneo de Manila College of Liberal Arts (Pre-Law), 1950
• University of the Philippines, College of Law (4th Year)
• Harvard University Center for International Law—Fellow
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for International Studies —Fellow
EARLY JOURNALISM YEARS
1950—Reporter for the Manila Times Newspaper at the age of 17 and assigned as
the Manila Times war correspondent in Korea.
1952—Foreign Corespondent, Manila Times in Southeast Asia. Assigned to Indo-
China, covered the last moments of French colonialism in Asia, at Dien Bien Phu.
Later posted to Malaya to cover the British counter-insurgency efforts under Gen.
Templar.
-Journalism remained his particular vocation inspite of his entry into politics, and
from time to time he wrote “perspective articles” for such publications as ‘Foreign
Affairs Quarterly’ and the ‘Pacific Community.’
1952 —Still with the journalist’s bent, he agreed, while already Senator, to conduct
a weekly television news analysis show, titled “Insight” for Channel 5, upon the
urging of his former publisher of the Manila Times, Mr. Chino Roces. He kept this
up until his arrest in 1972 by the people responsible for the Martial Law regime.
GOVERNMENT SERVICE
1954—Special Assistant to President Ramon Magsaysay
Negotiated the surrender of Huk Supremo Luis Taruc.
(May 16, 1954)
1955—Elected as youngest mayor (22 years old) of Concepcion, Tarlac, his
hometown.
1956—Press Officer, Philippine—American Military Bases Agreement
negotiations.
1957—Special Assistant to President Carlos P. Garcia.
1959—Elected as youngest Vice-Governor of Tarlac Province, (26 years old).
Elected Secretary-General of the League of Provincial Governors and City Mayors.
1961—Became governor in 1961 after the Governor’s resignation.
1963—Elected Governor (age 31) of Tarlac province, winning in all 17 towns
of the province, posting the highest majority ever garnered by a gubernatorial
candidate in the province. Dubbed as the “Wonder Boy of Philippine Politics.”
1964-Philippine Delegate, Eastern Regional Organization for Public
Administration (EROPA) Conference held in Korea.
1965—Special Assistant to President Diosdado Macapagal. Accompanied Pres.
Macapagal in State visits to Cambodia and Indonesia, Spokesperson, Philippine
Delegation, Afro-Asian conference in Algiers, Africa.
1966—Project Director, Tarlac “Project Spread” A joint undertaking of the
National Economic Council (Philippine government ) and the U.S.A.I.D., designed
to increase rural income.
1967—Elected as the youngest Senator of the Philippines, (35 years old) the lone
opposition Liberal Party candidate to survive the election sweep made by Pres.
Marcos’ Nacionalista Party. Elected Secretary-General of the Liberal Party.
1968—(author of several speeches, and many articles while serving as a public
servant) contained in the book “A Garrison State in the Make and other Speeches”
by Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr. (BSAF Publication) Senator Aquino also
authored/co-authored several bills filed and approved in Congress to benefit the
masses. Authored several privilege speeches printed in the “Ninoy Aquino—
Speech Series,” 1968-1970’s.
1970—Resource Person for the Philippines, International Institute of Strategic
Studies, London.
1971—Member, Philippine Delegation, Asian Conference on the Cambodian
Question, Jakarta, Indonesia.
1972—Philippine Delegate, International Conference on Japan and the Evolving
World, sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies of London, at
Mount Fuji, Japan,
July 4th guest speaker of Filipino communities in Honolulu, Los Angeles and San
Francisco, U.S.A.
MAJOR AWARDS
1950—Philippine Legion of Honor, Officer Degree, awarded by President Elpidio
Quirino for “Meritorious Service” to the Philippines for his coverage of the
Philippine Expeditionary Force to the Korean War.
1954—Philippine Legion of Honor, Commander Degree awarded by President
Ramon Magsaysay for “exemplary meritorious service” to the Filipino people in
negotiating the coverage of Huk Supremo Luis Taruc.
1957—First Bronze Anahaw Leaf, Philippine Legion of Honor, conferred by
President Magsaysay, for services in the peace and order campaign.
1960—Voted one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM)
in the field of public service.
1963—Voted one of the Twenty Four Outstanding Young Men in the Philippines.
1968—1971: Outstanding Senator, voted yearly by the Philippines Free Press, the
Philippines’ leading political weekly magazine.
1971—Man of the Year, voted by the Philippines Free Press, citing him for the
leadership he showed when his party’s leadership was bombed in Plaza Miranda,
the Philippines’ equivalent to Hyde Park. He led his Party’s campaign “with
courage, with distinction” despite threats to arrest him, made by President Marcos.
He led his Party (Liberal party) to a 6-2 victory in the Philippine Senate elections
that November, which catapulted him to become the No. 1 presidential contender
in the 1973 elections.
Sen. Ninoy Aquino received several awards of distinctions, certificates of
appreciation, resolutions (Ninoy Aquino Day), given both here and abroad.
He consistently fought for the restoration of freedom and democracy through
nonviolent means. He was called a man of peace and worked for “A Free society
reconciling liberty and equality…”
September 22, 1972—Arrested and detained by the Martial Law regime.
Imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio and in Laur, Nueva Ecija for 7 years and 7 months,
mostly in solitary confinement. While in prison, went on a protest hunger strike
on April 4, 1975 up to May 13, 1975. Ninoy had the opportunity to be free in
exchange for his fight for freedom and democracy but repeatedly declined the offer
and would rather die for his principles than surrender. Ninoy defended himself
with his “closing statement” before the Military Commission No. 2, (he worked on
this closing statement from 1975 and finished it in 1977) Details published in the
book “Testament From a Prison Cell” by Ninoy Aquino, (A BSAF publication)
May 8, 1980—Released from Fort Bonifacio to undergo a triple heart bypass at
Baylor Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.
May 13, 1980—Operated and successfully given a triple bypass, in Dallas, Texas.
1980—1982: Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs.
1982 -1983: Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for
International Studies.
August 21, 1983-Assassinated at the airport seconds after disembarking a China
Airlines plane from Taipei.
Ninoy’s brutal assassination outraged the Filipinos and shocked the world.
The media featured him on the covers of Newsweek International Magazines,
Asiaweek, and Time. It also landed the front pages of the major dailies in New
York and many other cities and appeared in publications circulated worldwide.
August 31, 1983—Ninoy’s funeral march from Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon
City to Manila Memorial Park, Parañaque, was the “longest funeral march in world
history”. Around two million people joined the funeral.
NINOY’S FAMILY BACKGROUND
His brothers and sisters:
Benigno Sr. and Maria Urquico Union
Antonio (deceased)
Servillano (deceased)
Mila Aquino-Albert
Linda Aquino-Martinez
(two years after the death of Maria Urquico, Benigno Aquino Sr. re-married in
1930.)
His brothers and sisters:
Benigno and Aurora A. Aquino Union
Maur Aquino-Lichauco
Ditas Aquino-Valdes
Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara
Agapito (Butz) Aquino
Paul Aquino
Tessie Aquino-Oreta
Ninoy Aquino married Corazon Cojuangco on October 11, 1954
Their five children are: Maria Elena, (Ballsy) now Mrs. Eldon Cruz, Aurora
Corazon, (Pinky) now Mrs.Manuel Abellada, Benigno III (Noynoy), Victoria Elisa,
(Viel) now Mrs. Richard Joseph Dee, and Kristina Bernadette (Kris)
Sourced from the book,
“Ninoy: Ideals & Ideologies” (pp.138-139) published by Ninoy & Cory Aquino
Foundation in 1993.
