Death of Ninoy

Today is the death of our former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino. In this new age, I'm not sure if many young Filipinos knows this hero by heart. So let's try to dig some little information about him.

Benigno Simeón Aquino Jr. was born in Conception, Tarlac on November 27, 1932. Aquino was able to be elected mayor when he was 23 years old. That's when his first political career started. Five years later, he was elected the nation's youngest vice governor. Two years later, he became governor of Tarlac province and it was 1968 when he became a senator.

Aquino became known as a constant critic of the Marcos regime, as his flamboyant rhetoric had made him a darling of the media. It was not until the Plaza Miranda bombing on August 21, 1971 that the pattern of direct confrontation between Marcos and Aquino emerged.

And to make short , Aquino died at the Manila International Airport which now called Ninoy Aquino International Airport or also know as NAIA. He was shot in the head after returning to the Philippines on August 21, 1983. His image is printed on the 500-peso bill together with his wife.

Although Aquino was recognized as the most prominent and most dynamic politician of his generation, in the years prior to martial law he was regarded by many as being a representative of the entrenched familial elite which to this day dominates Philippine politics.