NINOY AQUINO: HIS LIFE, POLITICAL CAREER, EXILE AND THE ANTI- MARCOS OPPOSITION

BENIGNO (NINOY) AQUINO

Ninoy Aquno

Marcos's main political rival was opposition party leader Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr. He was the Philippines’s best known political prisoner and was exiled to New York in 1980. He once said ‘The Filipino people were worth dying for.” He was assassinated presumably by soldiers loyal to Marcos after he stepped of a plane at Manila airport on August 21, 1983 after returning from exile in the U.S. Aquino had originally been expected to succeed Marcos. He was the husband of Corazon Aquino, the president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992 after Marcos’s was ousted. She died in 2009. Their eldest son, Benigno Aquino III, was president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2015.

One of Marcos's first acts under martial law in 1972 was to jail Aquino, then a senator, and Marcos main opponent. But even in his imprisonment, Aquino maintained a large following, and when he was allowed to go to the United States for medical treatment in 1980, he became a more formidable leader of the opposition in exile. By 1983 the deteriorating economic and political situation and Marcos's worsening health convinced Aquino that in order to prevent civil war he must return to the Philippines to build a responsible united opposition and persuade Marcos to relinquish power.

Aquino had served as a mayor, governor, and senator. He was sentenced to death by firing squad after his arrest in 1972. Like his life-long rival, Marcos, Aquino was a consummate Philippine-style politician, He interrupted his college studies to pursue a journalistic career, first in wartime Korea and then in Vietnam, Malaya, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Like Marcos, a skilled manager of his own public image, he bolstered his popularity by claiming credit for negotiating the May 1954 surrender of Huk leader Luis Taruc. [Source: Library of Congress]

The Aquino family was to Tarlac Province in Central Luzon what the Marcos family was to Ilocos Norte and the Romualdez family was to Leyte: a political dynasty. Aquino became the governor of Tarlac Province in 1963, and a member of the Senate in 1967. His marriage to Corazon Cojuangco, a member of one of the country's richest and most prominent Chinese mestizo families, was, like Marcos's marriage to Imelda Romualdez, a great help to his political career. If martial law had not been declared in September 1972, Aquino would probably have defeated Marcos or a hand-picked successor in the upcoming presidential election. Instead, he was one of the first to be jailed when martial law was imposed.

Ninoy Aquino's Family and Early Life

Ninoy Aquino (right) receiving a Confernment of the Philippine Legion of Honor from then-Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay in August 1951

Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr. was born into a wealthy landowning family of politicians in Conception, Tarlac, Luzon, the Philippines on November 27, 1932. Kallie Szczepanski wrote in Asian History, about.com: His grandfather, Servillano Aquino y Aguilar, had been a general in the anti-colonial Philippine Revolution (1896-1898) and Philippine-American War (1898-1902). Grandfather Servillano was exiled to Hong Kong by the Spanish in 1897, along with Emilio Aguinaldo and his revolutionary government. [Source: Kallie Szczepanski, Asian History, about.com ]

Benigno "Igno" Aquino Sr., the father, was a longtime Filipino politician. During World War II, he served as speaker of the national assembly in the Japanese-controlled government. After the Japanese were expelled, the U.S. imprisoned Igno in Japan and then extradited him to the Philippines, where he was tried for treason. He died of a heart attack in December 1947 before his trial could take place. Ninoy's mother, Aurora Aquino, was Igno's third cousin. She married Igno in 1930 after his first wife died. The couple had seven children, and Ninoy was their second child.

Ninoy attended several excellent private schools in the Philippines while growing up. However, his teenage years were full of turmoil. His father was jailed as a collaborator when he was only 12 and died three years later, just after his fifteenth birthday. An indifferent student, Ninoy chose to report on the Korean War at age 17 instead of immediately attending university. He reported on the war for the Manila Times and earned the Philippine Legion of Honor at 18 for his work. In 1954, at age 21, Ninoy Aquino began studying law at the University of the Philippines. There, he belonged to the same Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity branch as his future political opponent, Ferdinand Marcos.

Political Opposition under Marcos

Martial law had emasculated and marginalized the opposition, led by a number of traditional politicians who attempted, with limited success, to promote a credible, noncommunist alternative to Marcos. The most important of these was Salvador H. "Doy" Laurel. Laurel organized a coalition of ten political groups, the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO), to contest the 1982 National Assembly elections. Although he included Benigno Aquino as one of UNIDO's twenty "vice presidents," Laurel and Aquino were bitter rivals. [Source: Library of Congress *]

Left-wing groups, affiliated directly or indirectly with the Communist Party of the Philippines, played a prominent role in anti-regime demonstrations after August 1983. While the New People's Army was spreading in rural areas, the communists, through the National Democratic Front, gained influence, if not control, over some labor unions, student groups, and other urbanbased organizations. Leftists demanding radical political change established the New Nationalist Alliance (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan — BAYAN), in the early 1980s, but their political influence suffered considerably from their decision to boycott the presidential election of February 1986. *

Anti-Marcos demonstration

Discontent rooted in economic disparity and religious differences grew in the late 1960s. The New People's Army (NPA), a guerrilla force formed in 1968 in Tarlac Province, north of Manila, by the newly established Communist Party of the Philippines-Marxist Leninist, soon spread to other parts of Luzon and throughout the archipelago. In the south, demands for Muslim autonomy and violence, often between indigenous Muslims and government-sponsored Christian immigrants who had begun to move down from the north, were on the rise.

In 1969 the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was organized as a guerrilla force for the Muslim cause. The volatile political situation came to a head when grenade explosions in the Plaza Miranda in Manila during an opposition Liberal Party rally on August 21, 1971, killed 9 people and wounded 100. Marcos blamed the leftists and suspended habeas corpus. Thirteen months later, on September 21, 1972, Marcos used a provision of the 1935 constitution to declare martial law after an attempt was reportedly made to assassinate Minister of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile. In 1986, after Marcos's downfall, Enrile admitted that his unoccupied car had been riddled by machine-gun bullets fired by his own people. *

Influence of the Catholic Church Grows During the Martial Law Period

During the martial law and post-martial law periods, the Catholic Church was the country's strongest and most independent nongovernmental institution. It traditionally had been conservative and aligned with the elites. Parish priests and nuns, however, witnessed the sufferings of the common people and often became involved in political, and even communist, activities. One of the best-known politicized clergy was Father Conrado Balweg, who led a New People's Army guerrilla unit in the tribal minority regions of northern Luzon. [Source: Library of Congress *]

Although Pope John Paul II had admonished the clergy worldwide not to engage in active political struggle, the pope's commitment to human rights and social justice encouraged the Philippine hierarchy to criticize the Marcos regime's abuses in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Church-state relations deteriorated as the statecontrolled media accused the church of being infiltrated by communists. Following Aquino's assassination, Cardinal Jaime Sin, archbishop of Manila and a leader of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, gradually shifted the hierarchy's stance from one of "critical collaboration" to one of open opposition. *

A prominent Catholic layman, José Concepcion, played a major role in reviving the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) with church support in 1983 in order to monitor the 1984 National Assembly elections. Both in the 1984 balloting and the February 7, 1986, presidential election, NAMFREL played a major role in preventing, or at least reporting, regime — instigated irregularities. The backbone of its organization was formed by parish priests and nuns in virtually every part of the country. *

Ninoy Aquino's Political Career

Wedding of Ninoy and Cory Aquino in 1954

The same year he began law school, Benigno Aquino Jr. married Corazon Aquino (born Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco), a fellow law student from a prominent Filipino-Chinese banking family. The two had first met as nine-year-olds at a birthday party and later reconnected after Corazon returned to the Philippines from her university studies in the United States. In 1955, just a year after their marriage, Ninoy was elected mayor of his hometown, Concepcion, Tarlac, at the age of only 22. [Source: Kallie Szczepanski, Asian History, about.com ]

Aquino quickly built a reputation as a rising political star, setting records for attaining high office at a young age. He became vice governor at 27, governor at 29, and secretary-general of the Philippines’ Liberal Party at 33. At 34, he was elected the country’s youngest senator. From the Senate, Aquino emerged as a fierce critic of President Ferdinand Marcos—a former fraternity brother—accusing him of establishing an increasingly militarized and corrupt government. Aquino also targeted First Lady Imelda Marcos, likening her to “the Philippines’ Eva Perón,” despite the fact that the two had briefly dated during their student years.

Charismatic and quick with memorable remarks, Senator Aquino became the leading opposition voice against the Marcos regime. He sharply criticized the administration’s economic management, lavish personal projects, and heavy military spending. On August 21, 1971, the Liberal Party launched its campaign rally without Aquino in attendance. During the event, two fragmentation grenades were thrown into the crowd, killing eight people and injuring about 120. Aquino swiftly accused Marcos’s Nacionalista Party of orchestrating the attack, while Marcos denied responsibility, blaming communist elements and ordering the arrest of several known Maoists. Aquino had a clean reputation and was well-liked by Filipinos. He had pressed the President Ferdinand Marcos to get rid of the dictatorship he had created and pursue democracy. "Ninoy was talkative man," said Heherson Alvarez, 75, former secretary of agrarian reform and an ally of Aquino. "Ninoy was a dreamer. Ninoy was certainly a turning point." Alvarez was a student in his 20's when he met Aquino, and they would talk about their dreams for democratization. Aquino was arrested in 1972 when martial law was imposed. [Source: Yuko Mukai, The Japan News, February 10, 2015]

Martial Law and Imprisonment of Ninoy Aquino

Undated photo of President Ferdinand Marcos meeting Aquino

On September 21, 1972, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law. Among those arrested on what many considered fabricated charges was Benigno Aquino Jr.. Aquino was accused of murder, subversion, and illegal weapons possession, and was brought before a military tribunal widely criticized as a sham proceeding rather than a fair civilian court. .[Source: Kallie Szczepanski, Asian History, about.com ]

On April 4, 1975, Aquino began a hunger strike to protest the military court system. As his health steadily declined, the trial continued. Refusing all sustenance except water and salt tablets, he fasted for 40 days, losing a dramatic amount of weight. Alarmed by his worsening condition, his family and supporters persuaded him to end the strike. Nevertheless, the legal process dragged on for years. On November 25, 1977, the military commission convicted him on all charges and sentenced him to death by firing squad.

Even while imprisoned, Aquino remained politically active. From his cell, he helped organize the 1978 parliamentary elections by founding a new opposition party, Lakas ng Bayan (LABAN), meaning “People’s Power” or “Strength of the Nation.” Years of confinement—marked by physical suffering, the constant threat of execution, and time for reflection—transformed him from a quick-witted political tactician into a more resolute and principled leader of the democratic opposition. Though still behind bars and under a death sentence, he led LABAN’s campaign in the 1978 legislative elections and even debated Marcos ally Juan Ponce Enrile on television.

Despite widespread popular support and capturing roughly 40 percent of the vote in Metro Manila, LABAN failed to win any seats in an election widely regarded as fraudulent. Even so, the campaign demonstrated that Aquino remained a potent political force, capable of mobilizing public sentiment from solitary confinement. Unyielding and outspoken despite the looming threat of execution, he continued to pose a serious challenge to the Marcos regime.

Ninoy's Aquino’s Exile to the United States

Aquino delivering a speech during his trial to the Military Commission No 2 in 1973

In March 1980, while still imprisoned under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Benigno Aquino Jr. suffered a heart attack in his cell. A subsequent attack at the Philippine Heart Center revealed a blocked artery. Fearing possible foul play if operated on locally, Aquino refused surgery in the Philippines. On May 8, 1980, Imelda Marcos unexpectedly visited him in the hospital and offered a medical furlough to the United States for heart surgery. The offer came with two conditions: Aquino had to promise to return to the Philippines and refrain from criticizing the Marcos government while abroad. That same evening, Aquino and his family departed for Dallas, Texas. [Source: Kallie Szczepanski, Asian History, about.com ]

After recovering from surgery, the Aquino family chose not to return home immediately. Instead, they settled in Newton, Massachusetts, near Boston. There, Aquino accepted fellowships from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The academic appointments gave him the opportunity to lecture widely and write two books. Despite his earlier assurance to Imelda Marcos, Aquino became an outspoken critic of the Marcos regime during his stay in the United States, emerging as a leading figure of the Philippine opposition in exile.

Ninoy Aquino Prepares to Return to the Philippines

Corazon Aquino wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “Throughout our three years and three months in the United States, Ninoy and were always aware that our life there was temporary. Ninoy never stopped talking about returning to the Philippines even as we enjoyed living together as a family in the land of the free. In the first quarter of 1983, Ninoy was receiving information about the deteriorating political situation in our country combined with the rumored poor health of the dictator. Ninoy believed that it was imperative for him to speak to Marcos so that he could appeal to him to return our country to democracy, before extreme forces were released that would make such a return impossible. I told Ninoy: “What makes you think that Marcos will want to talk to you or even listen to you?” And he said: “I will never be able to forgive myself if I did not least try.” [Source: Corazon C. Aquino, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Thursday, August 21, 2003 ]

“Hearing Ninoy say that, I knew there was nothing I can do to stop him from returning. Not even after we were warned about the threats to his life. The tiniest hope that there could be a peaceful and painless restoration of democracy was enough to convince Ninoy he had to try it. For him, the important consideration was that the solution did not involve more of the pain and suffering that the original problem spawned. While it is true that Ninoy’s own sufferings had convinced him of the inexhaustible capacity of the man to endure pain, still he did not want anyone else to go through the same experience. I think Ninoy was convinced that suffering ennobles, but he was not prepared to experiment with other people’s lives – only with his own.

Corazon Aquino wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “The original plan was for Ninoy to arrive in Manila on Aug. 7, a Sunday, at a time when there would be four or planes arriving so there would be a ready-made crowd at the airport. Our only son, Noynoy, and our youngest daughter, Kris, would accompany him. It was necessary for Kris to be in Manila early in August so she could enroll at the International School. And in case Ninoy was arrested at the airport and detained again in Fort Bonifacio, Noynoy could take care of Kris. Our three other daughters, Ballsy, Pinky and Viel, were to saty with me to finish the packing and closing up of the house. [Source: Corazon C. Aquino, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Thursday, August 21, 2003 ]

“But then we learned from the Philippine Consulate official in New York that there were orders from Manila not to issue us any passports. At that time, all our passports had already expired and we had been denied new passports. So there was a change of plan. Ninoy decided it would be better if he went alone to attract less attention, and the rest of us were suppose to follow him after two weeks. Ninoy had acquired a passport through the help of Rashid Lucman, a former congressman from Mindanao. This passport carried the name of Marcial Bonifacio (Martial for martial law and Bonifacio to represent his imprisonment in Fort Bonifacio). Ninoy was able to get a second passport from one of his friends in one of the consulates in America, and this passport carried his name, Benigno S. Aquino, Jr.

Corazon C. Aquino: The Last Time I Saw Ninoy

Corazon and her children stayed in the U.S. while Ninoy took the circuitous route back to Manila. Corazon Aquino wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, “The last time I saw Ninoy alive was on Aug. 13, 1983. We had all attended Mass that morning at Saint Mary’s Chapel in Boston College. Both of us had very little sleep the night before. I remember being so nervous and in fact I was shivering that night, which was quite unusual because it was a warm summer night in Boston. (Whenever I feel very nervous, I usually shiver regardless of the temperature.) I could sense that Ninoy was also feeling quite apprehensive, but he reminded me that we had already discussed the matter and he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I guess he did not want me to worry more. And so we left it at that. I just prayed and prayed as I could not sleep even as I felt that Ninoy was just pretending to be asleep. [Source: Corazon C. Aquino, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Thursday, August 21, 2003 ]

“We saw Ninoy off at the Logan airport and we tried to be cheerful as we told him that we would see him in two weeks. Ninoy had to take another route home – from Boston on Aug. 13, 1983, to Los Angeles, then to Singapore, next to Malaysia, where we had friends in the ruling family, to Hong Kong, and then Taipei. And from Taipei to Manila. He had chosen Taipei as then final stopover because the Philippines had severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan. This made him feel more secure; the Taiwan authorities could pretend they did not know of his presence. There would also be a couple of Taiwanese friends to take care of him.

“Ninoy and I talked for the last time on Aug. 20, 1983, at 7 p.m. Boston time, which was Aug. 21, 1983, 7 a.m Taipei time. He told me that he had written letters for me and each of our five children, and that he would soon be leaving for the airport. I told him I had been informed that AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Fabian Ver had warned any airline bringing Ninoy in that Ninoy would not be allowed to disembark, and that the airline would be ordered to fly Ninoy back to his original port of embarkation. Ninoy said they could not do that to him because he is, was and always would be a Filipino. And he told me that most likely he would be re-arrested and brought back to Fort Bonifacio. In that case, he said, he would ask Gen. Josephus Ramas for permission to call me up.

“At around 2 a.m Boston time, Aug. 21, 1983, a Sunday, our phone rang and my eldest daughter Ballsy who answered it was shocked when Kyodo news agency representative in New York asked her if it were true that her father had been killed at the Manila International Airport. United Press International and Associated Press reporters also called, asking for verification. I was hoping and praying that all these reports were false. But when Member of Parliament Shintaro Ishihara of Japan called me up from Tokyo and told me that from Manila and verified the shooting report, my children and I cried as we had to accept the cruel fact that Ninoy had been shot dead.”

Ninoy's Aquino’s Return to the Philippines

In 1983 Aquino was fully aware of the dangers of returning to the Philippines. Imelda Marcos had pointedly advised him that his return would be risky, claiming that communists or even some of Marcos's allies would try to kill him. The deterioration of the economic and political situation and Marcos's own worsening health, however, persuaded Aquino that the only way his country could be spared civil war was either by persuading the president to relinquish power voluntarily or by building a responsible, united opposition. In his view, the worst possible outcome was a post-Marcos regime led by Imelda and backed by the military under Ver. [Source: Library of Congress *]

“The Marcos regime tried to prevent his return by revoking his passport, denying him a visa, and warning international airlines that they would not be allowed landing clearance if they tried to bring Aquino into the country. Starting on August 13, 1983, Aquino flew a meandering, week-long flight route from Boston through Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan to his final destination of Manila. Because Marcos had cut off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the government there was under no obligation to cooperate with his regime's goal of keeping Ninoy Aquino away from Manila. As China Airlines Flight 811 descended in to Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983, Ninoy Aquino warned the foreign journalists traveling with him to have their cameras ready. "In a matter of 3 or 4 minutes it could all be over," he noted with chilling prescience. Minutes after the plane touched down, he was dead.”

The Office of the President of the Philippines disclosed a speech draft on August 21, 2013, the anniversary of Aquino's death. Aquino had planned to read the speech to the Philippine people after he returned. In the speech, he expresses the feelings; "Yes, the Filipino is patient, but there is a limit to his patience. Must we wait until that patience snaps? ... I return from exile and to an uncertain future with only determination and faith to offer - faith on our people." [Source: Yuko Mukai, The Japan News, February 10, 2015]

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Library of Congress, Philippines Department of Tourism, Philippines government websites, Encyclopedia.com, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wikipedia, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993, UNESCO, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) the official government agency for culture in the Philippines), Lonely Planet Guides, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, The Conversation, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Google AI, and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated February 2026