Aquino’s final act: Return to Ateneo

President Aquino’s final public engagement as the country’s 15th President might be a return trip to his alma mater, Ateneo de Manila University, on Saturday, where he is scheduled to give a commencement speech for the university’s graduation.

Aquino, in a speech at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday, said he could not help but smile as he counts the last seven days of his term. He is to step down at noon on June 30, after completing six years in office, and replaced by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

When asked about Aquino’s schedule for his last week in office, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said: “I know that this Saturday he would speak at the commencement exercises at Ateneo de Manila University.”

Aquino spent all his education at Ateneo, from grade school through college where he earned his Economics degree before joining his family in the United States.

But the president often recounted that he was unable to join any of his class graduations because of martial law.

He was a 13-year-old high school student when the dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, and his father, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., was among the hundreds who were arrested and jailed.

The President was unable to join his own graduation at Ateneo de Manila University in 1980 because  he had to fly to Boston to join his family. Family members were granted exit visas by Marcos to join the elder Aquino who was to have a heart bypass.

His mother, democracy icon Corazon Aquino, had urged him to leave for fear that his visa might expire.

The family returned to the Philippines in 1983, after Ninoy Aquino was assassinated and triggered the firestorm of protests against Marcos.