Aquino, Benigno

(1932–1983), political leader in the Philippines. Born in Concepcion, Tarlac, as the son of a politician of national fame, Benigno ("Ninoy") Aquino, Jr. became a journalist and came to national prominence when he negotiated the surrender of the Huk rebel leader Luis Taruc in 1954. A reporter for the Manila Daily Mirror, Aquino had been secretly appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay to negotiate with Taruc.

Aquino entered politics and in 1956 was elected mayor of his home town, Concepcion, at the age of twenty-four. He became governor of Tarlac in 1961 and senator in 1967. His marriage to Corazon Cojuangco in 1954 produced five children.

Benigno Aquino in San Francisco in July 1983, just weeks before he returned to the Philippines, where he was assassinated on his arrival in Manila. (BETTMANN/CORBIS)

The leader of the political opposition, Aquino was arrested one day after President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on 22 September 1972. Kept in solitary confinement for eight years, he was put on trial in August 1973 on charges of murder, subversion, and illegal possession of weapons. The trial was off and on for four years, and the sentence of death by firing squad was not carried out.

In March 1980, Aquino suffered a heart attack and was allowed to travel to the United States for medical treatment. After bypass surgery, he accepted a fellowship at Harvard University and became an outspoken critic of the Marcos regime.

When Aquino returned three years later, he was assassinated in Manila as he left the plane. The Agrava Commission that convened to investigate the murder concluded it was the work of a conspiracy of army and air force officers, including General Fabian Ver, Marcos's cousin and chief of staff. Aquino's body lay in state for ten days, in the bloodstained clothes he was wearing when martyred. Millions lined the 30-kilometer route to the cemetery through metropolitan Manila. The procession took eleven hours. His death is seen as the catalyst to the events that led to the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos.

Hill, Gerald N., and Kathleen Thompson Hill. (1984) The True Story and Analysis of the Aquino Assassination. Sonoma, CA: Hilltop Publishing Company.

Joaquin, Nick. (1983) The Aquinos of Tarlac. Manila, Philippines: Cacho Hnos.