Remembering Ninoy and Cory, icons of democracy and leadership 

August is a somber month for the Aquinos. Patriarch and former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was assassinated August 21, 1983, while matriarch and former president Corazon "Cory" Aquino died of colon cancer August 1, 2009.

 

Cory's fifth death anniversary was commemorated by a simple mass at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City. The same will go with Ninoy's 31st death anniversary, according to Mr. Rafael Lopa, president of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF) and first cousin to the Aquino siblings.  

He said in a phone interview with GMA News Online, "The family wants to keep it low key."  

 

However, Lopa insisted that more than anything, the Aquino family wants the Filipino people to remember what Ninoy and Cory have done for the country. To do so, he called for support for Ninoy and Cory's only son and current president Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Lopa said, "The president can only do so much but everybody needs to help." He also encouraged the Filipinos to remember Ninoy and Cory by trying to be like the couple who sacrificed their lives for the people of the Philippines. 

 

The Ninoy & Cory Aquino Center for Leadership (NCACL) marked August as the the Ninoy and Cory Leadership Month. However, the organization, which is a partner of the NCAF, holds leadership programs all year round in the government, schools, workplaces, and other sectors of society to develop a new generation who uphold Ninoy and Cory as their role models. 

 

With the Aquino couple as its role models of leadership, NCACL wants to embed in the hearts of young leaders the commitment to go beyond self. The Aquinos are known for giving importance to their spirituality, a characteristic that the leadership program also highlights. 

 

Ninoy, a catalyst for democracy 

 

Ninoy Aquino was the arch nemesis of former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He spent years in prison after martial law was declared in September 21, 1972, just a few months before the 1973 election where Ninoy was leading in the presidential polls.

In 1980, he was finally given the chance to travel to the United States for heart surgery. But it was in 1983—the very year he spoke his famous words, "The Filipino is worth dying for," that he was gunned down the moment he stepped out of the plane. The plane had just landed at the then-Manila International Airport (renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).

Ninoy's last breath was just the beginning of Cory's lifelong battle for democracy. 

 

Cory, 'plain housewife' turned freedom fighter 

 

Cory reiterated many times that being a plain housewife to Ninoy and her five children was her favorite role. Although she was surrounded by political figures all her life—her father, grandfathers, and husband—she expressed many times that she never wanted to take a seat in any public office. 

When Ninoy was gunned down, her closest friends urged her to take Ninoy's lead and run for president. She was full of doubt at first, but seeing the public's reaction to Ninoy's death changed her mind. Through people power, she became the first female president of the Philippines despite Marcos's tactics. She became an icon of democracy, not just in the Philippines, but throughout the entire world. 

 

Until her very last months, Cory never lost her fighting spirit, even with her cancer plaguing her. In one of her last public appearances at De La Salle University-Manila, commemorating Ninoy Aquino's 75th birth anniversary, Cory encouraged the youth to initiate change and do something they believe in. 

 

The Philippines and the world laud Ninoy and Cory for their courage to overthrow a dictatorship and pushing democracy in the country. But, fate had it written: the Aquino couple's love story would never be complete without involving the Filipino people who are worth dying, living, and fighting for.

After all, to them, "the call to leadership is the call to love." — VC, GMA News