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.