Today is Aug. 21. Exactly 41 years ago, Sen.
Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was shot dead as he got off a plane. It’s easy to write a sentence like this when Aug.
21 becomes a mere moveable holiday that can be shuttled back and forth between long weekends until the commemoration becomes a celebration, and the celebration becomes stupor. After all, when a commemoration becomes widely known as a holiday, it degrades into a day where our only task is to take a break, spend more time with our families or our hobbies, or catch up on sleep. Rarely will such a holiday be one for commemoration, where we remember what exactly is being remembered.
Then, before long, we forget, the way that those in power want anyone to forget the sins of the corrupt. Let’s try writing that sentence again. To do that, we have to look at what the events of Aug.
21 mean. Yes, there was an assassination that led to a snap election, then a bloodless revolution less than three years later. Yes, people fought for their right to be heard and live in safety.
Yes, it was a time to march, to demand change, to throw off our shackles and leave our dungeons. As Dr. Randy David put it in last Sunday’s column (“The significance of Ninoy Aquino’s assassination,” 8/18/24), however, we must also remember why the assassination happened at all, and what it represents in our history.
Ninoy’s death came after years of martial law, where the country was promised progress, but where only the rich, privileged, and.