Photo/Illutration An electronic screen shows a picture of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as troops participate during a change of command ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo military headquarters on Aug. 8 in Quezon city, Philippines. (Pool Photo via AP)

The passenger jet landed at Manila International Airport a little after 1 p.m. on Aug. 21, 1983.

A man who had returned to his country for the first time in three years from the United States, where he had been living in self-imposed exile, was shot dead immediately after he started to step down the ramp.

It was the moment when Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, who was a Philippine senator, was assassinated. The country’s law enforcement authority announced that Aquino was gunned down by a security guard who was a communist. But the claim later turned out to be a fabrication.

It was not until seven years later that 16 soldiers, including the perpetrator of the murder, were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. But many key facts about the killing of the Philippine politician, including who masterminded it, remain unknown to this day.

The assassination of Aquino, the leading political enemy of then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, marked the beginning of the end to the dictator’s 20-year rule of the Southeast Asian nation.

Marcos was ousted in a wave of protests against his dictatorship, led by Aquino’s widow, Corazon, who ran in the 1986 presidential election. Following the downfall of his authoritarian regime in what was known as the People Power Revolution, Marcos and his family fled their country to Hawaii.

The late Shintaro Ishihara, who died in February, had a close personal relationship with Aquino, who was the same age as the Japanese writer. The day before he was killed, Aquino spoke with Ishihara over the phone and said, “There seems to be a plan to assassinate me.”

Aquino also said, “This will probably be our last conversation,” according to Ishihara’s autobiography, “Watashi to iu otoko no shogai” (The life of a man that was “I”), which was published posthumously.

In the past, successive Philippine presidents had issued messages on Aug. 21, which was designated as a national holiday to commemorate the death of Aquino, who returned home fully aware of the danger to his life to restore democracy after two decades of dictatorship. What about this year?

The country’s new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who was sworn in in February, is the son of the late dictator and admires his father as a hero.

Memories of oppression and violence during the Marcos regime are fading as the country’s people face the bitter reality of a widening gap between the haves and have-nots. To move forward, the nation needs to pass down its memories of a dark chapter in its history to prevent a return to that era.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 21

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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