Noy thanks Rody, calls for justice in EJKs
Believing the praise was heartfelt, former president Benigno Aquino III thanked President Duterte for honoring the sacrifices of his father Benigno “Ninoy” Jr. yesterday during the commemoration of the late former senator’s 34th death anniversary.
Aquino hoped Duterte would remind himself of his own words about Ninoy Aquino every now and then.
The former president also called on Filipinos to continue to be involved amid reports of extrajudicial killings in the country as he emphasized that lives sacrificed should not be in vain and that justice must be served.
Joined by his family, friends, Vice President Leni Robredo, senators, former Cabinet members and supporters clad in yellow in the commemoration at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque,
Aquino also said the country still has to deal with many problems before it can finally move forward.
“What’s painful is that it’s been 34 years… Are we dealing with (the) same problems? For as long as we live, there will be problems, but the problems should be changing, the problems we are tackling must be decreasing and, hopefully, some will completely disappear,” Aquino told the crowd.
“If there will be new problems, we should still be able to show that we are progressing as a nation,” he added.
Aquino’s father was assassinated at the then Manila International Airport tarmac on Aug. 21, 1983 after years of being a fierce critic of the Marcos dictatorship.
Three years later, a peaceful people’s revolution occurred and installed Aquino’s mother Corazon as president.
The former president said he could empathize with the families of those who died because the Aquinos suffered, too, when his father was killed.
The mastermind of his father’s assassination remains unknown to this day.
Aquino said his father once felt that he was alone. At this time, he said people could choose to be like the three monkeys who heard, saw and spoke nothing – or do something.
“Now, there are people who are fighting. There are people we elected to protect the interest of the nation. But maybe, sometimes, fear prevails… They should not be alone. They should also feel that there are many who are ready to help them not in the past but more so at present,” he said.
He added that everyone must be able to tell the younger generation that they did their best and the right thing to make the Philippines a better place.
Painful
Aquino cited the case of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, who was killed during a drug operation in Caloocan City on Wednesday.
Aquino found the details reported in newspapers “shocking,” especially the part where witnesses said Delos Santos was begging the policemen to stop beating him because he would still have to take a test the next day.
He said he could understand that President Duterte must be fair to everyone and balance all sides; thus, a credible and speedy investigation must be done to determine what really happened.
Aquino also has questions that he hopes the Senate, which is set to probe the issue, will ask.
The former chief executive shared the pain that his grandmother Aurora Aquino felt when his father was killed, and showed an old photograph of her with then senator Lorenzo Tañada as she received the news.
Aquino explained he remembered those moments after reading about Delos Santos’ mother, an overseas Filipino worker, who wailed that parents should not be burying their children.
He said his grandmother, who never got sick even during the most trying times of their lives and had become their source of strength, cried profusely and told her daughter-in-law Corazon that it was painful when her husband died, but more so when it was her son.
“When we lose (someone), we search for justice… for those responsible to be held accountable,” Aquino said.
The justice system, however, has not changed significantly 34 years after their own tragic experience for him to say that things were really no longer the same.
Aquino said he has no evidence to prove that the killings happening nowadays are state-sanctioned but he stressed it is the government’s obligation to protect its citizens and go after those who violated the law.
He said the extrajudicial killings could not be tolerated given the value of each life. What is important, he said, is that “there are deaths, there are those who killed them, the killers must be pursued and made to suffer the necessary punishment.”
Honor Ninoy’s martyrdom
Meanwhile, senators yesterday asked Filipinos to honor the martyrdom of the late former senator Ninoy by fighting impunity and protecting democracy as the Duterte administration wages its war on drugs that has so far claimed the lives of thousands of suspects.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that if Ninoy were alive today, he would have been at the forefront of the fight against police impunity and the government’s consent to it.
Ninoy would have also rallied every Filipino to protect the democracy and the freedom that other heroes have fought and died for.
“Let us not dishonor Ninoy’s sacrifice by trivializing human life. If Ninoy were alive today, he would have been the first to speak against the bloodbath in the name of war on drugs,” Drilon said.
“If Ninoy were alive today, he would have condemned the death of a teenager, a son, a child, a mother and a father. Ninoy valued life as much as he valued freedom,” he said.
Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, a nephew of the late senator, said his uncle stood up during the violent and oppressive regime of the Marcos dictatorship when ordinary Filipinos did not have a voice nor obtained justice.
“Now, violence is again prevailing. How many more will suffer and be killed before our countrymen wake up?” Aquino said in a statement.
“There will be many more like him if we won’t unite to stop the violence and abuse of those in authority,” he said, referring to Delos Santos.
Liberal Party president Sen. Francis Pangilinan said extrajudicial killings that were rampant during the elder Aquino’s time have come back under the administration.
He said the killings are not the solution to eradicating drugs but a strong and effective criminal justice system.