REQUIR E M E N T S I N

RE A D I N GS I N P H H IS T O R Y
T O: M R. J O N AT HA N G A LANG
SUBMITTED
GRIA , UN A L YN D . B EED 1- A
SUBMITTED BY: UN
 IS NINOY
AQUINO JR.
A HERO OR
A
TRAITOR?
INTRODUCTION
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT BENIGNO “NINOY” AQUINO JR. IS A
TRAITOR IN OUR COUNTRY AND SOME SAY HE IS A HERO.
EVERYONE BECAME A JUDGE WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THIS
TOPIC. SO, IN ORDER FOR US TO UNDERSTAND FURTHER,
LET’S DISCOVER THE DIFFERENT FACTORS WHY NINOY
BECOME A TRAITOR OR A HERO IN THE EYES OF PEOPLE
AROUND THE GLOBE ESPECIALLY IN OUR COUNTRY. THIS
TOPIC WAS DRIVEN FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES, BOTH
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY.
HOW NINOY AQUINO BECAME A TRAITOR IN OUR
COUNTRY?
SENATOR NINOY AQUINO FOUND GUILTY FOR MURDER, ILLEGAL
POSSESSION OF FIRE ARMS, AND TREASON WITH VIC CORPUZ,
BERNABE BUSCAYNO, AND JOMA SISON CPP-NPA LEADERS.

VIC CORPUZ, SAID, “HE AND JOMA SISON CPP-NPA PLANNED THE
PLAZA MIRANDA BOMBING.”

NINOY WAS THE MASTERMIND OF CPP-NPA, THAT BECAME THE

STEPPING-STONE OF JOMA SISON AND BERNABE BUSCAYNO TO
BUILD TERROR GROUP.
FORMER SENATE PRESIDENT JUAN PONCE ENRILE VIVIDLY
RECALLED OPERATION MERDEKA, WHICH WAS A MILITARY
OPERATION TO RETAKE SABAH SOMETIME IN 1963, THAT
WAS SCUTTLED BY AN EXPOSÉ OF NINOY THAT GREATLY
FAVORED MALAYSIA.

EVEN BEFORE SPANISH COLONIZATION, SABAH WAS

UNDER THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI AND EVEN SARAWAK,
ENRILE WENT.
THE BRUNEI SULTANATE A LONG TIME AGO SOUGHT THE HELP OF THE
SULU MONARCH IN A CONFLICT IN BORNEO. AFTER BEING VICTORIOUS,
AS A SIGN OF GRATITUDE, THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI BEQUEATHED SABAH
TO THE KIRAMS WHO RULE THE KINGDOM OF SULU, ENRILE RECOUNTED.

THEN IT WAS RENTED BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN AN AGREEMENT

WITH THE SULU SULTANATE.
WHAT HAPPENED IN EFFECT WAS THAT BRITAIN COLONIZED THE
TERRITORY SINCE THE LEASE WAS INDEFINITE, ACCORDING TO ENRILE.
DURING THE TERM OF THE LATE PRESIDENT FERDINAND MARCOS,
THERE WAS A GROUP IN CAGAYAN DE SULU, NOW TAWI-TAWI, WHO
PENETRATED SANDAKAN AND TESTED THE CAPABILITY OF MALAYSIA
TO DEFEND SABAH.
“THEY OCCUPIED SANDAKAN FOR SEVEN DAYS UNCHALLENGED
SINCE MALAYSIA THEN DID NOT HAVE A STRONG MILITARY FORCE,”
ACCORDING TO ENRILE, WHO BECAME MARCOS’ DEFENSE
SECRETARY.
HE RECOUNTED THAT AFTER THAT MILITARY EXPERIMENT,
“PRESIDENT MARCOS DECIDED TO PUSH THROUGH WITH THE SABAH
CLAIM.”
THE RETAKING OF SABAH WAS TACIT POLICY THEN, NOT ONLY OF
MARCOS, WHO WAS ELECTED IN 1962, BUT ALSO OF HIS PREDECESSOR,
PRESIDENT DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL.

MACAPAGAL ASSIGNED THEN PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

ELEUTERIO ADEVOSO TO RELOCATE ABOUT 10,000 FILIPINOS TO RESIDE
IN SABAH, WHICH WAS APPARENTLY A PRELUDE TO RECOVER THE
TERRITORY.

“THEY ARE STILL UP TO NOW SABAH RESIDENTS,” ACCORDING TO ENRILE.

“WHEN THE PLAN WAS DRAFTED TO TAKE SABAH FROM
MALAYSIA, THERE WAS A TRAINING HELD IN CORREGIDOR, WHERE
THE SO-CALLED JABIDAH MASSACRE HAPPENED,” HE INDICATED.
“AND THE ONE WHO CONCOCTED THE NARRATIVE WAS NINOY
AND SENATOR JUSTINIANO MONTANO OF CAVITE,” ENRILE
INDICATED.
THE INCIDENT, HOWEVER, NEVER HAPPENED. “A COURT MARTIAL
FOUND THAT IT WAS A MUTINY THAT HAPPENED FROM TAWI-
TAWI RECRUITS AND NOT A MASSACRE, SO THERE WAS SOME 14
WHO DIED,” ACCORDING TO ENRILE.
ENRILE SAID PROJECT MERDEKA, WHICH WAS PLANNED TO THEN
TAKE OVER SABAH INVOLVED SOME 180 TRAINEES WHO WERE
SUPPOSED TO INCITE AN UPRISING AMONG THE MOSTLY FILIPINO
RESIDENTS IN SABAH.
AFTER NINOY EXPOSED IT, CONGRESS STARTED AN INVESTIGATION
THAT ENDED THE MISSION.
“IF NINOY DID NOT BLOW THE LID OFF THE MILITARY OPERATIONS,
SABAH WOULD HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO THE PHILIPPINES.
MALAYSIA WAS THEN A NEWLY-FORMED REPUBLIC THAT DID NOT
HAVE THE MILITARY STRENGTH TO MATCH THE PHILIPPINES,”
ACCORDING TO ENRILE.
FROM THEN ON, THE COUNTRY’S CLAIM BECAME WEAKER.
“THERE WAS NO QUESTION THAT THE PHILIPPINES WOULD
HAVE RETAKEN SABAH HAD NINOY NOT INTERVENED.
MALAYSIA DID NOT HAVE A MILITARY IN PLACE BUT ONLY
POLICE FORCES THEN,” ENRILE LAMENTED.

AS A RESULT, THE COUNTRY’S RELATIONS WITH MALAYSIA

STARTED TO SOUR, WHILE THE RIVALRY BETWEEN MARCOS
AND NINOY BECAME FIERCE, HE NOTED.
IN THE END, MALAYSIA BENEFITED AT THE EXPENSE OF A
VALID HISTORICAL CLAIM OF THE COUNTRY, WHICH
MAKES THE REVELATION OF NINOY IN 1968 AN ACT OF
TREASON.
HOW NINOY BECAME A HERO?
“A MINUTE OF HEROISM IS BETTER THAN
DECADES OF USELESS LIFE.”

—NINOY AQUINO
BENIGNO AQUINO OF THE PHILIPPINES WAS A LEADING
OPPONENT OF THE RULE OF PRESIDENT FERDINAND
MARCOS (1917–1989), WHO GOVERNED THE PHILIPPINES
FROM 1966 TO 1986. AQUINO'S OPPOSITION ENDED IN
AUGUST 1983 WHEN, AFTER LIVING IN THE 
UNITED STATES FOR THREE YEARS, HE RETURNED TO THE
PHILIPPINE CAPITAL OF MANILA AND WAS ASSASSINATED
(KILLED) AT THE AIRPORT. AQUINO'S DEATH TOUCHED OFF
MASSIVE DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST PRESIDENT
MARCOS.
BENIGNO "NINOY" AQUINO JR. WAS BORN ON NOVEMBER 27, 1932,
IN TARLAC PROVINCE, ON THE ISLAND OF LUZON, TO A PROMINENT
FAMILY. HE WAS THE GRANDSON OF A GENERAL AND THE SON OF A
PHILIPPINE SENATOR WHO WAS ALSO A WEALTHY LANDOWNER.
HIS AMBITION AND ENERGY STOOD OUT EARLY WHEN, AT AGE
SEVENTEEN, HE WAS SENT BY THE MANILA TIMES NEWSPAPER TO
REPORT ON THE KOREAN WAR (1950–53). THE WAR WAS
BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA (
NORTH KOREA) AND THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (SOUTH KOREA), AND
WAS A WAR IN WHICH THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA
 EVENTUALLY JOINED.
THERE ARE PEOPLE STATED THAT NINOY
AQUINO IS A HERO BECAUSE OF HIS GOOD
DEEDS AND SACRIFICES JUST TO RESTORE
THE FREEDOM THAT EVERY FILIPINO
DESIRES IN THE TIME OF FERDINAND
MARCOS.
ACCORDING TO KEN KASHIWAHARA, NINOY’S BROTHER IN
LAW, “HE HAD DONE EVERYTHING HE COULD IN THE US AND
OUTSIDE OF THE PHILIPPINES, HE RALLIED THE OPPOSITION
, HE SPOKEN AGAINST MARCOS, HE’D JUSTIFIED THE 4TH
CONGRESS, AND IT WAS NOTHING MORE HE COULD DO SO
HE FELT HE WAS REALLY HAD TO GO HOME.”
PERFECTO JUN YASAY, AN INTERNATIONAL LAWYER SAID,
“WHEN NINOY WAS IN THE SENATE, HE WAS ACTIVELY
INVOLVED IN A LOT OF GOVERNMENT EXPOSES FOR
IRREGULARITIES AND CORRUPTION AND ABUSES, THAT
NOT ONLY INVOLVED THE PRESIDENT, BUT EVEN IMELDA
MARCOS ALSO AT THAT TIME AND I SAW NINOY POISED
HIMSELF AS THE ONLY SERIOUS THREAT TO THE
PRESIDENT.”
IN NINOY’S SPEECH IN LOS ANGELES ON 1883, HE SAID, “I WROTE
MR. MARCOS THAT I SHALL DEDICATE THE LAST DROP OF MY BLOOD
FOR THE FREEDOM IN THE DISMANTLEMENT OF YOUR MARTIAL LAW.”
“DO NOT FORGET THAT YOUR READINESS TO SUFFER WILL LIGHT THE
TORCH OF FREEDOM WHICH CAN NEVER BE PUT OUT AND LEARN TO
SAY ‘NO.’ NO TO TYRANNY, NO TO CORRUPTION, NO TO THIS
DEGRADATION OF HUMAN DIGNITY. THE MOMENT YOU SAY ‘NO’,
YOU’RE BEGINNING TO PROTEST. THE MOMENT YOU SAY ‘NO’ TO
TYRANNY YOU ARE BEGINNING TO STRUGGLE THE LONG LONELY
ROAD TO FREEDOM.”
ROBERT TRENT JONES, AN AMERICAN FRIEND OF
NINOY STATED, “I CALLED HIM AND SAID, NINOY I
HAVE TO REPORT THIS TO YOU AND HE WAS VERY
QUIET AFTR I TOLD HIM WHAT I HAVE HEARD AND HE
SAID, ‘I HAVE TO DO THIS. THIS IS MY MISSION,
THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS ORDAINED ME TO DO AND I
HAVE TO RELIEVE THE PHILIPPINE PEOPLE OF THEIR
SUFFERINGS.”
BEFORE HE WENT TO PHILIPPINES, HE AND HIS FRIEND
ANTONIO GONZALES MET IN SAN FRANCISCO AND ANTONIO
STATED THEIR CONVERSATION.
NINOY: “YOU SEE THAT AIRPLANE?”
ANTONIO: “YES.”
NINOY: “YOU SEE THAT LADDER GOING DOWN TO PLANE?”
ANTONIO: “YES.”
NINOY: “THEY MAY LEAD ME DOWN THAT LADDER WHEN I COME
TO PHILIPPINES AND IF THEY DO, YOU’LL NEVER SEE ME AGAIN.”
WHEN NINOY ARRIVED
IN THE PHILIPPINES ON
AUGUST 21, 1983, 5
MILITARY MEN
ACCOMPANIED HIM AND
WHEN HE TOUCHES THE
GROUND, THE
ASSASINATION
HAPPENED.
HIS BROTHER IN LAW KEN, WHO WAS WITH NINOY IN HIS
LAST MINUTES STATED THAT, “THEY HELPED HIM GET UP
FROM THE SEAT AND THEY WERE GOING OUT AND SO I
YELLED AT HIM AND SAID, ‘NO! I’M GOING WIRTH YOU!’ AND
HE TURNED AROUND AND SAID, ‘YEAH, COME ON.’ I THINK
THOSE WERE HIS LAST WORDS.
THE JOURNALIST, LUIS BELTRAN WROTE OF NINOY
SWIFT RISING AND WALKING TOWARD THE FATAL
STEPS. HIS DETERMINATION TO CONFRONT
WHATEVER AND WHOEVER IT WAS. THAT PICTURE
OF NINOY IS FOREVER FROZEN IN THE MIND OF
EVERY FILIPINO AND MEN STILL SCREAM
SOUNDLESSLY OVER THE MURDER OF THEIR
INNOCENCE.
MILLIONS OF FILIPINO
GIVING THEIR RESPECT
AND HAVE FELT GRIEF AT
DEATH OF NINOY. THEIR
HOPE OF FREEDOM DIED
AT THOSE TIMES AND LIVE
AGAIN AND CAME TO LIFE
AGAIN WHEN THEY FOUND
OUT THAT HIS WIFE CORY
WILL CONTINUE HIS
LEGACY.
DR. CAROLYN STEPHENSON (PEACE
STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII), “THE
PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION THAT OCCUR AT
THE END OF THE CALLED ‘WAR’ AS WELL AS
IN THE OTHER PLACES THROUGHOUT LATIN
AMERICA AND OTHER PLACES IN THE
WORLD.”
STEPHEN SOLAREZ (US CONGRESS, 1974-1992). “I’VE BEEN
PREVILEDGED TO TRAVEL DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AROUND
THE WORLD AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT WHATEVER I’VE
BEEN, FROM SOUTH KOREA TO SOUTH AFRICA, FROM
POLAND TO PAKISTAN. THE TRIUMPH OF PEOPLE’S POWER
IN THE PHILIPPINES HAS BEEN A SOURCE OF ENDURING
INSPIRATION TO MILLIONS OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO
YEARN FOR DEMOCRACY IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES.”
NINOY WAS A GREAT TURNING POINT IN THE WORLD
HISTORY UP UNTIL HIS DEATH, THE WESTERN WORLD
TAUGHT SOME DEGREES OF AUTHORITARIAN. A MILITARY
RULED WAS INEVITABLE THE NATION COUNTRIES.
HOWEVER AFTER THE DEATH OF SEN. AQUINO, EVEN
WESTERN WORLD STARTED TO REALIZE THAT IF THEY DO
NOT BUILD DEMOCRACY IN ASIAN COUNTRIES, PEOPLE OF
ALL THESE COUNTRIES MAY NOT ENDURE DICTATORSHIPS.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2956, SIGNED INTO LAW IN 2004,
DECLARED AUGUST 21 OF EVERY YEAR AS “NINOY AQUINO
DAY,” A NATIONAL NON-WORKING HOLIDAY, “IN ORDER TO
COMMEMORATE THE DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF FORMER
SENATOR BENIGNO ‘NINOY’ S. AQUINO JR.”
NINOY AQUINO WAS A PROMINENT PHILIPPINE
JOURNALIST AND POLITICIAN. HE SERVED THE PROVINCE
OF TARLAC AS THE MAYOR OF CONCEPCION, PROVINCIAL
VICE GOVERNOR, AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR.
“THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE NHCP IS THAT HEROES
ARE NOT LEGISLATED, THEY ARE MADE BY PUBLIC
ACCLAIM. THE ROLE OF THE NHCP IS NOT TO FORCE PEOPLE
TO STICK TO A PARTICULAR POSITION WHEN IT COMES TO
HEROES AND HISTORICAL FIGURES, BUT TO PRESENT TO
THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE FACTS CONCERNING THE HERO -
THE POSITIVE, THE NEGATIVE, THE GOOD OR THE BAD - AND
LET THE PEOPLE EVALUATE FOR THEMSELVES THE
WORTHINESS OF A PERSON AS A HERO.”
AQUINO IS CONSIDERED A NATIONAL HERO BECAUSE HE
HAD INSPIRED MANY OTHERS AS “A FIGURE WHO STOOD
AGAINST A TOTALITARIAN REGIME, (IF WE LOOK AT THE
IMPACT HE MADE ON A NATIONAL SCALE, MANY MARCHED
ON EDSA BECAUSE OF NINOY AND FOR THAT NINOY FOR ALL
ACCOUNTS AND PURPOSES CAN BE CONSIDERED A
NATIONAL HERO.” THE NHCP ADDED.
CONCLUSION
AFTER DOING THIS ACTIVITY AND SOURCING IN BOTH PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY SOURCES, I CAN SAY THAT IT WAS HARD TO DETERMINE
IF BENIGNO “NINOY” AQUINO JR. WAS REALLY A HERO OR A TRAITOR.
HE HAD DONE SOMETHING WRONG IN OUR COUNTRY BUT ON THE
OTHER HAND, HE ALSO DONE GOOD DEEDS AND SACRIFICES FOR OUR
COUNTRY JUST TO RESTORE DEMOCRACY. THEREFORE I CONCLUDE
THAT AT THE END OF THE DAY, THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT
IT, NINOY WAS DECLARED AS A NATIONAL HERO AND IF WE ARE
AGAINST ABOUT IT, WE ARE FREE TO STATE OUR OPINION BECAUSE
WE HAVE OUR OWN FREEDOM THAT WE OWE TO HIM.
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!
 REFERENCES
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LpcJsaWFRA
• https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/08/09/traitor-not-a-hero/
• https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/ninoy-old/
• https://
verafiles.org/articles/vera-files-fact-check-ninoy-aquino-national-hero
• https://
www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/philippines-history-biographies
/benigno-aquino