History, however, is not static. For instance, many of the heroes of yesteryears, like Mao Tse-tung, Che Guevara, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Saddam Hussein have been stripped of their perfection; unflattering but vital facts about them, previously suppressed in the names of national security and ideological infallibility, have been declassified and incorporated into their updated biographies, revealing their cruelty, errors and foibles. Even popes have not always been held sacred; Pope John who reigned in 1415 was convicted for various scandalous acts, including adultery, incest and sodomy.


Similarly, Ninoy deserves demystification. For decades, little-known facts about him have been surfacing, but have not been given attention by those who prefer to remember him almost like a messiah during his lifetime and as a certified martyr upon his assassination. In every person, there is some measure of bigotry, a refusal to consider new truths that do not conform to one's values and beliefs. Thus, have the myths about Ninoy that survived and grown at the expense of truth and those whom he is offered to as a role model.


The people deserve to know all the truth about Ninoy; not just facts selected to keep his image incredibly flawless or consistently heroic. All heroes (and pseudo-heroes) have their failings and dark secrets, and Ninoy definitely has his share.


The book, <a href="https://goo.gl/0IuBIr" class="news_link" target="_blank" title="Book">A Country Imperiled</a> - Tragic Lessons of Distorted History, that Cecil Arillo wrote and published by Amazon, one of the World's largest publishing houses, attempts to objectively delve into Ninoy's involvement in the shaping of our story as a people, motivated singularly by the purpose of proclaiming the truth. The Truth and Justice Foundation (TJF) accurately recounted historical events as discussed in the book with enough care so as not to distort reality.

<h3>
"Bloody" August 21
</h3>

This date, every year, continues to evoke mixed emotions in the Filipino mind. Now declared as a national holiday known as “Ninoy Aquino Day,” August 21 was mainly remembered for the death of former Sen. Aquino Jr., as he was shot dead at the tarmac of old Manila International Airport upon returning from his self-imposed exile in 1983.


A few years back in 1971, August 21 also tainted the country's history with bloodshed, as the bombing of the Liberal Party's Miting de Avance in Plaza Miranda claimed nine lives and injured a hundred others, including many prominent Liberal Party politicians.


Year after year, rallies are held to commemorate these events, and to perpetuate indignation against the late President Marcos, the convenient scapegoat for both of these violent incidents.


Yet, other than Marcos, the common denominator in these events was Ninoy himself. His core roles in the historical unfolding of these incidents make August 21 a memorable and significant date in
our history.

<h3>
Hero or villain?
</h3>

There are facts strongly indicating that Ninoy knew in advance of communist leader Jose Maria Sison's plot to bomb Plaza Miranda in 1971, and went along with it. Ninoy survived, without a scratch, to tell another tale.


Many intriguing facts really do point to Ninoy's knowledge about, and of the circumstances leading to, the Plaza Miranda bombing. One of these was that Ninoy personally called on some of his party mates not to attend their party's important preelection rally. Another is that he was seen at the Jai Alai gaming complex (a convenient cover or alibi?) at the very time that the rally was going on. This was apart from another social function that he allegedly attended during this very same period.


In the ensuing period, former communist ranking leaders Reuben Guevarra, Ariel Almendral and Victor Corpus exposed the involvement of Sison in the bombing, bringing forth damning evidence that the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army, and not Marcos, was the perpetrator of this dastardly act that was called by some observers as “the most shocking political crime the country had ever seen.”


The Senate's Blue Ribbon Committee in 1988 investigated the bombing incident following the Guevara-Almendral-Corpus exposé, but halfway into the inquiry the Senate suddenly became quiet.


In 1989, however, then-Senate President Jovito R. Salonga, who lost one of his eyes in the bombing and had more than a hundred grenade shrapnels in his body, ordered the reopening of the Senate inquiry after telling colleagues that President Marcos was not behind the bombing.


Sometime in July 1998, Salonga reiterated this same conclusion before a rally in Malate, Manila, conducted by the Marcos Loyalists in front of the Saint Paul's College—that President Marcos had nothing to do with the Plaza Miranda bombing incident, thus, corroborating the statements of his own contemporaries who also sustained serious wounds and other forms of injuries during the bombing incident.


Curiously, the murder of Aquino, 33 years ago, remains unsolved notwithstanding the fact that his wife Corazon and son, Benigno S. Aquino III, became presidents with vast powers to solve the crime.



Sources: 

<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
Ninoy Aquino: Demystified by Cecilio Arillo, August 22, 2016 (<a href="https://goo.gl/f6VS65" class="news_link" title="Source" target="_blank">http://goo.gl/f6VS65</a>)
</li>
</ol>



(Most of this article is adapted from the source listed above. We are unable to grant permission for any kind of reproduction of this article other than social media shares.)

Hero or villain - how well do you know Ninoy Aquino?