UP Ibalon Bicol: Ninoy Aquino

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Reading Ninoy Aquino's letter

8/11/2009 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post

As Pres. Corazon Aquino’s demise starts to settle permanently in our senses, I can’t ignore an email a friend sent me. It is part of the “forwards” I receive each day. But this one is exceptionally good to read and think about. It comes from Philippine hero Ninoy Aquino--- writing his daughter Ballsy in 1973.

I thought, for its incisive and compelling content, Ninoy's letter deserves to be posted for those who haven’t read it.

Ninoy, the martyred husband of Cory may well be a father who lives, trying to share something lovable, beautiful, and sublime for his family and the rest of the world. (Photo Credit: Mon Solo)=0=

NINOY'S LETTER TO DAUGHTER BALLSY 1973

August 18, 1973
Fort Bonifacio
Makati, Rizal

Ms. Maria Elena C. Aquino
25 Times St. Quezon City

My dearest Ballsy,

I write you this letter with tears in my eyes and as if steel fingers are crushing my heart because I wanted so much to be with you as you celebrate your legal emancipation. Now that you have come of age, my love, a voice tells me that I am no longer young and suddenly, I feel old.

An old poet gave this advice very long ago “when you are sad, remember the roses will bloom in December.” I want to send you bouquet of roses, big red roses from my dreamland garden. Unfortunately for the present, my roses are not in bloom, in fact they have dropped all their petals and only the thorns are left to keep me company. I do think it is fitting to send you a thicket of thorns on this memorable day!

I am very proud of you because you have inherited all the best traits of your mother. You are sensible, responsible, even-tempered and sincere with the least pretenses and affection which vehemently detest in a woman. I am sure like your mother, you will possess that rare brand of silent courage and that combination of fidelity and fortitude that will be the life vest of your man in the tragic moments of his life.

During my lonely hours of solitary confinement in Fort Magsaysay, Laur, Nueva Ecija last March and April with nothing else to do but pray and daydream, with only my fond memories to keep me company, I planned a weekend barrio fiesta for you in Tarlac for your 18th birthday. I fooled myself into believing that my ordeal would end with the fiscal year. I planned to invite all your classmates and friends and their families for the weekends.

The schedule called for an early departure by bus from Manila and the first stop will be Concepcion, where lunch will be served by the pool. And after lunch, you were to visit the SantaRitaElementary School to distribute cookies and ice cream to the children of that public school where you were first enrolled.

I guess sheer nostalgia prompted me to include Santa Rita. We were only three then: Mommie, you and I. Those were the days of happy memories little responsibilities, tremendous freedom, a great future ahead and capped by a fulfillment of love... You are the first fruit of our union, the first proof of our love and the first seal of our affections.

From Concepcion we were to proceed to Luisita for the barrio fiesta. I intended to invite a friend who could roast an entire cow succulently. Swimming, pelota, dancing and eating would have been the order of the day.

Sunday morning was reserved for a trip around the Hacienda and the mill and maybe golf for some of the parents and later a picnic-lunch on Uncle Tony’s Island. Return to Manila after lunch. I am afraid this will have to remain as one of the many dreams I had in Laur.

Our future has suddenly become uncertain and our fate unknown. I am even now beginning to doubt whether I’ll ever be able to return to you and the family. Hence, I would like to ask you these special favors.

Love your mother, whose love for you, you will never be able to match. She is not the greatest mother in the world, she is your sincerest friend.
Take care of your younger sisters and brother and lavish them with the love and care I would like to continue giving them but am unable to do so.

Help Noy-noy along and pray hard that he will grow to be a real, responsible man who in later years will protect you all.
You are the model for your three younger sisters. Your responsibility is therefore great. Please endeavor to live up to our highest expectations. Be more tolerant to Pinky, more accessible to Viel, our little genius-princess, and more charitable to Krissy, our baby doll, and make up for my neglect.

Finally, forgive me, my love, for not having been an ideal, good and thoughtful father to you all as I pursued public office. I had hopes and high resolve of making up, but I am afraid my destiny will not oblige.

I seal this letter with a drop of tear and a prayer in my heart, that somehow, somewhere we shall meet again and I will finally be able to make up for all my lapses, in the kingdom where justice reigns supreme and love is eternal.

I love you,
Dad
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Labels: Ballsy, Cory Aquino, family, hero, Letter, Love, martyr, Ninoy Aquino, Pres. Corazon Aquino, Totie Mesia

The forgotten Reynaldo Galman & his disappeared mother Lina

3/07/2009 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post

Reynaldo Galman condemns the granting of executive clemency to the 10 imprisoned convicted killers who blame Rolando Galman, his father, as Ninoy's murderer. Joining the the family of Ninoy Aquino, he decries the fact that the brains behind the Aquino-Galman murders on August 21, 1983 remain undisclosed. He believes his father tagged by the Marcoses as a communist killer is just a fall guy in the blatant plot to kill Ninoy Aquino.

Barely an adolescent when the gruesome murders took place in the airport, son Reynaldo Galman could only recall his ordeal after his father was killed. He was only 10 years old when mother Lina Galman was abducted by unidentified men, never to be seen again after the airport murders investigation began. With only a sketchy memory of his parents to keep, Reynaldo lived the life of an orphan.

After more than two decades, many of the principal players who could have shed light on the heinous incident have died. They refused to tell the truth until the memory of the Filipinos has faded. President Gloria M. Arroyo thinks it’s now the ripe time to set free the incarcerated killers in spite of the unresolved questions surrounding the case.

The 10 soldiers of the Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM) part of the team tasked to provide security to Ninoy have stuck to the official Marcos story which portrayed Rolando Galman of Nueva Ecija as the killer. They insist the "hitman" broke the cordon of their very tight security. But the Aquinos, the Galmans, and the majority of the Filipinos who followed the investigation don’t believe this.

The ugly tail of injustice wags mockingly on Reynaldo Galman who lost a father. Like the Aquinos and the rest of the aggrieved Filipinos, he is one among the victims who waged the People Power in revulsion to the tarmac murders and government corruption. Yet this isn’t enough to make Arroyo desist from favoring the convicted military men in her discretionary clemency. She probably doesn't know Reynaldo Galman and the rest of the Filipinos have been affected by the murders. Her political nemesis, Pres. Cory Aquino, the widow of Ninoy, aged and ailing, is mum over the pardon.

As one can see, life isn't fair even on Ninoy Aquino whose towering life could have changed the course of the country’s governance. For giving his life, the martyred Marcos rival has been admired, but it didn't take long before people forget his sacrifice. A number of his friends have abandoned his cause. Politics have a way of leading leaders like Gloria Arroyo to choose the low road against certain individuals---like Aquino who till his death insisted that “Filipinos are worth dying for.”

There are people who lie without conscience, condone moral aberrancy, and inflict incalculable cruelty on others. In the guise of handing down social justice, they welcome public apathy and forgetfulness, so that no one bothers to question. Expediency and rationalization have been part of how politics work in the country. (Photo Credits: Hoy_Sushi; Britt01)=0=

RELATED BLOG: "Pardon and (In)justice: Ninoy’s killers freed" Posted by mesiamd at 3/05/2009

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Labels: executive privilege, human rights, Justice, killings, lies, Lina Galman, murder, Ninoy Aquino, Reynaldo Galman, Rolando Galman, Totie Mesia

Pardon and (In)justice: Ninoy’s killers freed

3/05/2009 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post

Those who followed the news of the grisly killing of Ninoy Aquino more than two decades ago couldn’t easily believe the freeing the 10 soldiers convicted of the assassination. They never imagined Pres. Gloria Arroyo, in her exercise of executive power pardoned the convicts just as easily as she pardoned Pres. Joseph Estrada of his ignominious crimes.

Released Convicts

ex-Capt. Romeo Bautista
former 2/Lt. Jesus Castro
ex Sgt Ruben Aquino,
ex Sgt Arnulfo de Mesa
ex Sgt Rodolfo Desolong
ex Sgt Arnulfo Artates
ex Sgt Claro Lat
ex Sgt Ernesto Mateo
ex Sgt Filomendo Miranda
ex Constable 1st Class Rogelio Moreno

There was no admission of guilt from the soldiers convicted of Ninoy’s fatal shooting on August 21, 1983 when he arrived in Manila after a three-year exile from United States. The soldiers beholden by military code of silence pointed to Rolando Galman, tagged by the Marcos dictatorship as the communist hitman out to kill Marcos’ chief political opponent. Though the mastermind of the crime was not known nor punished, Pres. Cory Aquino believed it was Marcos who was behind the murder. Upon learning of the pardon, the ailing Ninoy’s widow refused to comment.

Accusing Pres. Arroyo of “abuse of discretion,” Sen. Noynoy Aquino, Ninoy’s son, said “Society has an obligation to transmit a message that if you commit a crime, you must pay for it,..They haven’t owned up to their sin. Why were they freed when they have yet to ask for forgiveness?”

In a reaction, Sen. Francis Pangilinan said that the “sad reality about all this is that only the small fry have been made to suffer….Until the masterminds are known and punished for their dastardly deed, we will never have closure to this brutal murder case.”---Inquirer (03/05/09)

It was for “humanitarian reasons” that the executive clemency was given. Government officials were unmindful of the need to apply the law consistently so as to hammer the message of what crime and punishment must be. They are convinced the killers had suffered enough and they took it upon themselves to decide it's time to set convicts free. In so doing, they have been dismissive of the injustice endured by the Aquino family, the Galman family, and the nation that Ninoy left behind. (Photo Credit: dead_mullen)=0=

Reynaldo Galman & his mother Lina

Reynaldo Galman, the son of Rolando (believed to be the fall-guy in the Aquino assasination) condemns the pardoning of the 10 convicted killers who continue to point to his father as Ninoy's murderer. The brains of the Aquino-Galman murders remain unkonwn.

After more than two decades, many of the principal players who could have shed light on the heinous incident are either ailing or have died of natural causes. The 10 soldiers of the Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM) tasked to provide security to Ninoy have upheld the official Marcos story which pointed Rolando Galman as the killer. Many Filipinos think Galman was indeed a fall-guy to cover up for a greater conspiracy to kill.

Reynaldo Galman could only recall his suffering after he lost his father. His mom Lina Galman was abducted by unidentified men and disappeared without a trace soon after the airport murders. He lived as an orphan, became a nurse, then later worked in the Middle East. =0=

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Labels: Cory Aquino, Justice, killings, murder, Ninoy Aquino, Rolando Galman, Totie Mesia

Ninoy Aquino: undimmed, forever young & at play

8/22/2008 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post

"They shall not grow old
As we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them
Nor the hourglass condemn
At the going down of the sun

And at the rising of the sun
We shall greet them in our hearts
Undimmed, forever young and at play
In the fields of the Lord.”

----Warrior King: The Triumph & Betrayal of An American Commander in Iraq (Sassman, Nathan Lt. Col., Martin Press, NY, 2008, p.293)

“It is even more clear to me now that Ninoy was never really mine or my children’s to lose; he has always belonged to the people he chose to serve and to die for,” former Pres. Corazon (Cory) Aquino said of her husband Benigno (Ninoy ) Aquino whose 25th year of his assassination is being remembered this year.

Ninoy Aquino came home from exile in August 21, 1983 from Boston, USA as the prime political adversary of then Pres. Ferdinand Marcos and wife Imelda Marcos. Upon arrival in Manila, he was escorted by military men and minutes later he was gunned down in the tarmac. Years of investigations of the gruesome killing failed to unmask the top people behind the murder. A lone gunman Rolando Galman, killed with Ninoy at the airport, was blamed for the murder. Ninoy’s martyrdom sparked a series of mass actions and protests against Marcos, forcing him out of Malacanang Palace and ending his dictatorship with Imelda.

Today, trying to bring back her health from treatments for colonic cancer, Cory faces new wounds of the ignominious murder whose real mastermind(s) and killer(s) are still on the loose. As the memory of the bloody shooting fades in the memory of the country, the culprits who escape judgement under the law, have gone old or have died of natural causes.

The Marcos family has been “rehabilitated” with the passage of time, rejoining Philippine politics as though nothing so nefarious and brutal ever happened. The case of Ninoy and the conspiracy behind it have been a metaphor of the Filipinos’ lack of trust in the court system. It speaks of the countless murders left unsolved in the country. Not only is justice slow, it’s riddled with corruption and nepotism that favor the rich and powerful. =0=

Labels: Corruption, death, Ferdinand Marcos, hero, Imelda Marcos, Justice, Manila, murder, Ninoy Aquino, Philippines, politics, Pres. Corazon Aquino, Totie Mesia

UP Ibalon Bicol

Reading Ninoy Aquino's letter

The forgotten Reynaldo Galman & his disappeared mother Lina

Pardon and (In)justice: Ninoy’s killers freed

Ninoy Aquino: undimmed, forever young & at play

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