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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/cory-noynoy-aquino-legacy-sm.webp" alt="Corazon and Noynoy Aquino" />
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<p>
To many Filipinos, these violent incidents constitute a burden not only on the Aquinos but even on the next administration which could be as heavy as our problems in the South China or West Philippine Sea.
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<p>
Cory served as our 11th president from 1986 to 1992. After the lapse of 18 years, her son Noynoy was elected into the presidency, from where he will mercifully be discharged on June 30, 2016. Cory Aquino knew nothing about running a government; like his late mother, the son does not know much either, and seems to be shadowed by violence from his first days in office.
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<p>
On Jan. 22, 1987, some 10,000 to 15,000 farmers marched on Mendiola Street, a few hundred meters outside the gates of Malacañang, demanding the full fruits of land reform, as earlier promised by Cory. Many of these were farmers from Hacienda Luisita, the 6,453-hectare sugar estate owned by Cory's original (Cojuangco) family, said to be bigger than Makati and Pasay City. The police opened fire on the marchers, killing 13 and wounding 39 others, while some 20 members of the police sustained minor injuries.
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<p>
The massacre provoked such an outrage that former Senator Jose Wright Diokno and former Justice Jose Benedicto Luna Reyes, two of the country's most outstanding nationalists, resigned as chairman and vice chairman respectively of the presidential committee on Human Rights—-a severe blow on the Cory administration. A citizens' commission was created under former Justice Vicente Abad Santos to investigate; this recommended the prosecution of all commissioned officers of the Western Police District and Integrated National Police field force who carried arms at the time.
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<h3>
The coup attempts, too
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<p>
In the meantime, Cory had other instability problems. Between 1986 and 1987, there were six minor coup attempts against her. These were prompted by her soft treatment of the communists and corrupt elements in government, and her questionable legitimacy as president. She had become revolutionary president upon the fall of President Marcos, but she continued in office without having to go through an election, after the revolutionary government was abolished.
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<p>
The biggest coup attempt was staged on Dec. 1, 1989 by the Reform the Armed Forces Movement and allied units under the combined leadership of then Colonel (now Senator and Vice Presidential candidate) Gregorio Honasan, Gen. Edgardo Abenina and retired Gen. Jose Ma. Zumel. The government was saved only by the intervention of the US government, which provided Marines ground support around the US Embassy, and air support from USS Enterprise and USS Midway.
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<p>
On Nov. 16, 2004, state forces again opened fire on a farmers march on Hacienda Luisita, killing 12 farmers and two children, and wounding hundreds. This happened under the Arroyo administration, but it still involved the Cojuangco-Aquino's oligarchic interests.
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<h3>
PNoy's turn
</h3>
<p>
On August 22, 2010, the two-month-old PNoy presidency had a hostage-taking crisis inside a tourist bus at the very heart of Manila. Seven Hong Kong tourists and one tour guide were killed, and 13 others were injured before the hostage-taker was finally killed in an inept operation, which was really for the books. Aquino was reported to have watched the operation on TV from a nearby Chinese restaurant.
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<p>
From Sept. 8 to 15, 2013, Aquino, assisted by then DILG Secretary and now LP presidential candidate Mar Roxas, commanded an operation of several thousand military men and police against a couple of hundred poorly armed fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front, who had come to Zamboanga City allegedly to raise the flag of "Mindanao independence." This came to be known as the siege of Zamboanga.
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<h3>
Mamasapano
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<p>
The MNLF contingent, commanded by Habier Malik, seeing how badly outnumbered and outgunned they were, reportedly tried to sue for peace. They asked for a truce so they could vacate the area without any bloodshed. This was refused. So except for Malik who was reportedly wounded while escaping, the entire MNLF contingent was extinguished, while 10,000 homes were gutted down, and over 100,000 people were displaced.
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<p>
On January 25, 2015, on the occasion of Cory's 82nd birthday, PNoy flew to Zamboanga ostensibly to inspect the housing projects for the displaced victims of the earlier siege. In reality, it was to monitor by remote control Operation Exodus, the special operations under his direct command, involving the Special Action Force commandos of the Philippine National Police, in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, where they were supposed to "neutralize" two high-value terrorist targets, for which the US government had put up a bounty of $5 million.
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The combined legacy of mother Cory and son Noynoy Aquino