THIS DATE, June 12, marks the 122nd anniversary of the Philippines’ declaration of independence from foreign rule and it is but fitting that after more than three decades of the Aquinos in power, our country is finally free from the yellow ribbon and all that nonsense.
We are, for all intents and purposes, finally rid of that accursed yellow ribbon and the shit that goes with it, particularly the Aquino family and their cronies who owe allegiance and loyalty not to the Philippine flag but to some yellow ribbon.
Today also marks the more than a month – and counting – of freedom from that purveyor of garbage on the air waves, ABS-CBN.
The “cult of the yellow ribbon” ironically was born after the death of the Aquino family’s self-proclaimed hero whose purported heroism was rammed down our throats for more than three decades.
The late Benigno Aquino Jr. a.k.a. Ninoy Aquino/ M arcial Bonifacio was not a hero; at best he was just another opportunistic politician who entered politics to fulfill his personal ambitions at all cost. He was the classic demagogue who spent his time as an elected public official making himself look good while his political rivals look bad, using the classic “I’m the good guy and he’s the bad guy” card.
His so-called heroism was forcibly imposed upon us by this act: “Ninoy Aquino Day” a national non-working holiday in the Philippines observed annually on Aug. 21 commemorating the assassination of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
The holiday was created by Republic Act 9256, which was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on February 25, 2004, twenty-one years after his death and eighteen years after the People Power Revolution., and was sponsored by Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
As you can see, the ultimate motive is patronage politics, paying debt to the “cult of yellow ribbon devotees” and not to honor a “hero” who had done something great for the natives of this archipelago. Take a look at the proponents of this law; they are the ultimate politicians and patronage politics experts.
And what about the man they imposed upon us to honor? What had he done for the country and the natives?
Ninoy Aquino was a congressman and a senator and during his time as a member of both legislative bodies not a single bill or law was passed coming from him.
If that sounds familiar, he had a son and namesake, more popularly known as Noynoy Aquino, who also was a congressman and a senator and who spent 12 years there and also not a single bill or law passed to his name.
The late Ninoy Aquino spent his time in the Senate doing privilege speeches one after the other denouncing then President Ferdinand Marcos, grandstanding to make himself look good and Marcos look bad. But really, those speeches only benefited himself as they were all in aid of election and not of legislation.
Ninoy Aquino vehemently opposed then President Marcos for two things: he wanted to become President of the Republic and Marcos was his main stumbling block, and the lease from the government of Hacienda Luisita was about to expire and President Marcos already served noticed that it would not be extended and the government wanted it back.
For the uninitiated, a short background on Hacienda Luisita:
Ninoy helped broker the purchase of Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare sugar plantation and the biggest hacienda in the country, for his wife’s family in 1957. He later on became the hacienda’s administrator.
In return for the family agreeing to distribute Hacienda Luisita’s land to small farmers by 1967, the purchase received preferential treatment from the Philippine government, which included a loan package from the Philippine Central Bank and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
However, the family successfully resisted the distribution of land to small farmers, including during the period of Marcos government (1965-1986). According to London School of Economics Professor Dr. James Putzel who did extensive research on agrarian reform in the Philippines, the controversies that would hound the hacienda for decades can be traced to the family’s efforts to retain control of the land long after the deadline for land distribution passed in 1967.
Now, you see why it was imperative upon Ninoy Aquino to bring then President Marcos down just like why his nincompoop son who later on became President also had the late Chief Justice Renato Corona impeached? Yeah baby, it was all about Hacienda Luisita.
In 1984 when Ninoy Aquino was in the United States, the interest of natives on the opposition against President Marcos faded, the country was peaceful, and the natives became complacent.
Really, with the Manila International Film Festival or MIFF, “bomba” and “pene” movies entertaining the natives and Club Coco Banana for the trendy social climber, Ninoy Aquino and his motley crew were largely forgotten.
Ninoy Aquino needed to spark the natives’ interest in his cause and what better way to do it than by coming back to the Philippines.
There were talks that the “assassination” was self-inflicted and went awry; he was not supposed to die, only wounded and from his hospital bed he would rally the natives for a final push to bring Marcos down.
Somehow Ninoy Aquino stumbled as he was going down the stairs from the plane; the amateur “assassin” fired simultaneously as he stumbled, hitting his head instead of the shoulders as was the plan.
Now what gives credence to this? His wife became President of the republic using his bloody corpse as election propaganda and later his son also became president, yet they never did anything to find and go after Ninoy Aquino’s killer or killers./PN
