President Benigno S. Aquino III on Friday attended a Mass dedicated to his father, the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., and uncle, former lawmaker Agapito “Butz” Aquino.
Father Manoling Francisco celebrated the Mass at the De La Salle Green Hills for Ninoy Aquino, whose 32nd death anniversary was commemorated on Friday (August 21).
Butz Aquino, whose cremated remains were at the De La Salle Chapel, died last Monday (August 17) due to complications from various ailments.
The President was accompanied by Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Secretary Francisco Pangilinan, and Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Roland Llamas.
Viel Aquino-Dee and Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, the President’s sisters, were also present.
August 21 is a non-working holiday commemorating the assassination of Ninoy Aquino on August 21, 1983.
Aquino was a prominent critic of former president Ferdinand Marcos. When Marcos declared Martial Law in September 1972, Aquino was one of those imprisoned.
While in prison, he continued to campaign for democracy and even stood for election.
In 1980, he suffered two heart attacks and was permitted to seek medical treatment in the United States, where he remained in exile for about three years.
On August 21, 1983, while he was being escorted off the airplane at the Manila International Airport following his arrival from the US, he was shot dead.
The assassination led to a political upheaval in the Philippines and in 1986, after a snap presidential election, his widow Corazon Aquino was elected president.
Butz Aquino, Ninoy’s younger brother, played a significant role in the 1986 EDSA revolution.
As a legislator, his legacy includes the Magna Carta for Small Farmers and the Cooperative Code of the Philippines.
Butz Aquino also served as a member of the House of Representatives. PND (as) |