By Atty. Howie Calleja
By virtue of Republic Act No. 2956, signed into law in 2004, August 21 of every year was declared as “Ninoy Aquino Day.” It is a non-working holiday nationwide commemorating the death anniversary of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr. We do so because Ninoy was a significant and inspiring Filipino political figure who fought for independence and a free democracy.
It was on that August afternoon in 1983, when after a passenger jet carrying Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. landed in Manila; four gunshots rang out to which horrified passengers looked through the windows to see the senator’s lifeless body lying on the tarmac. It was such a tragedy but Aquino’s assassination, in broad daylight, was the last straw. The senator’s widow, Corazon, led a popular uprising three years later, forcing the events of People’s Power 1.
As such, remembering Ninoy is to remember his words, “The Filipino is worth Dying for”. His words still echo in my mind … “I have asked myself many times: Is the Filipino worth suffering, or even dying, for? Is he not a coward who would readily yield to any colonizer, be he foreign or homegrown? Is a Filipino more comfortable under an authoritarian leader because he does not want to be burdened with the freedom of choice? Is he unprepared, or worse, ill-suited for presidential or parliamentary democracy? I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for because he is the nation’s greatest untapped resource” (cf. August 4, 1980 at a convocation of the Asia Society in New York City).
These words can be said to be very much alive today. In our just recent experience with the COVID-19 Pandemic, our Medical professionals, frontliners and essential workers in the various sectors have risked their lives under this deadly plague working untiringly to ensure the wellbeing of the people and to deliver goods and services in the daily fight against COVID-19. And, with the Post-Covid state of our nation, many are disenchanted and disbelieving.
We have come to a difficult time in our country’s history. We have been battling with the socio-economic impacts of this virus for nearly three years now. No matter how difficult or dangerous times may get, we must remember that things can be changed for the better — only if we believe in each other, as Ninoy would have done.
For Ninoy the Filipino is worth dying for because he believed that the Filipino is the nation’s “greatest untapped resource”, and that despite all of his shortcomings, the Filipino is worth dying for because he is the future of our Motherland. The Filipino is worth fighting for, dying for, and living for. We carry the potential to bring about lasting transformation in our society if we see in us what Ninoy saw — the seeds of a great nation through its people.
Like Cory (whose death also falls in August) and Noynoy whose life is of an equal legacy like Ninoy, let us BELIEVE IN OURSELVES and rise together to fight hindrances that may come our way. We should work hand-in-hand to make the Philippines a better place to live in — not just for us, but for the future generations to come.
