About A Historical Filipino Hero. This Sample Is About Ninoy Aquino (Essay Sample)

(Student’s name)
(Professor’s name)
History
5 January 2018
Ninoy Aquino
On November 27, 1932, Benigno (Ninoy) S. Aquino Jr. was born to Benigno S. Aquino Sr. and Dona Aurora Aquino-Aquino. His father was a prominent political figure, serving as vice president under the leadership of Jose P. Laurel. His father also held office during the presidency of Quezon. His grandfather, as well, had had an illustrious political career, serving under President Aguinaldo.
Benigno’s parents had their son educated at private schools. He graduated high school at San Beda College, and then went on to attend St. Joseph’s College, Ateneo De Manila, National University, and De La Salle College. He also studied law at the University of the Philippines. Sources say that Benigno intended to attend as many schools as he could, so that he could broaden his opportunities for meeting new people, and maximize his opportunities for building connections, and making new friends.
Benigno was passionate about journalism, as well as politics, and he combined the two fields to form his career path, utilizing these two platforms to achieve his goals. Benigno’s journalism focused on politics, and he was well known for his dynamic articles, speeches, and newscasts regarding the political scenery during that era. Ninoy covered not only the local political arena, but was delegated as an international correspondent to cover high profile developments across South-East Asia. Aquino excelled in his career, and earned a myriad of awards for his outstanding achievements as a statesman, political diplomat, ambassador, author, journalist, host, and lecturer, among others. Several books have been published, dedicated exclusively to printing, and making available to the public, compilations of his most popular and well known speeches.
1954 proved to be a significant year for Aquino. On October 11, 1954, Ninoy Aquino married the love of his life, Corazon (Cory) Cojuanco Aquino. That same year he was appointed as special assistant to President Ramon Magsaysay, and was tasked with taking charge of, and resolving the volatile situation initiated by the Hukbalahap rebel group, led by Luis Taruc. In May of 1954, Ninoy is credited with the unconditional surrender of Luis Taruc, ending the Hukbalahap rebellion, after several months of negotiating a peaceful resolution.
One year later, in 1955, Aquino was elected as the youngest mayor to serve in his hometown of Concepcion, in Tarlac, being only twenty-two years of age at that time. Then, in 1959, at the age of twenty-six, Aquino was elected vice governor of Tarlac Province, the youngest to hold that position, as well. During that same year, he was also granted the position of Secretary General of the League of Provincial Governers and City Mayors. In 1963 he was appointed governor of Tarlac Province, winning the election by garnering the highest majority of votes that a governor had ever sustained in that region. Then, in 1967, Benigno Aquino became the youngest senator the Philippines ever elected, representing the liberal party, while also holding the position of Secretary General of the Liberal Party.
While serving as senator, Aquino wrote numerous bills, helping to pass laws to benefit his nation. Benigno Aquino was an outstanding senator, beloved by his colleagues and peers, as well as by the general population of the Filipino nation. As Ninoy’s career advanced and evolved, he captured the nation’s hearts with his passionate articles and speeches. His people came to know his values, and what he stood for, as he was very articulate in his criticism of what he perceived as flaws within the national government of the Philippines.
At that time, the president of the Philippines was Ferdinand Marcos, who took office in 1965, as president elect of a nation whose government system would be defined as democratic. As such, Ferdinand Marcos could not retain his position as president for more than the allotted time that the legal system permitted for any given president. Marcos was reelected in 1969 to serve a second term as president. To ensure his reelection, Marcos stooped to vote buying and fraud, using six million dollars from the Philippine treasury for personal use, to fund his political presidential campaign. Filipinos were outraged, and held protests and demonstrations.
Ninoy Aquino was a favorite among citizens, and it was assumed that he would replace Ferdinand Marcos once Marcos’ second term was over, since the maximum that any president could legally serve was two terms. Ninoy observed the increasingly dictatorial style of Marcos, and forewarned his nation of what he perceived as the impending disaster that the Philippines would be faced with. Aquino predicted that if left to his own devices, Marcos would end democracy in the Philippines, and take his position as an autocratic tyrant and dictator.
On September 21, 1972, Ferdinand Marcos declared, and implemented martial law in the Philippines. He dismantled Congress, dismissed the Constitution, and silenced his opposers, claiming that martial law was necessary in order to save the country from Muslim and Communist rebels. A day after martial law was declared, in order to silence him and eliminate interference, Marcos had Ninoy Aquino arrested. For seven years and seven months Ninoy was imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio and in Laur Nueva Ecija, spending most of his sentence in solitary confinement. During this time of martial law, Marcos’ wife amassed numerous skyscrapers in New York City, as well as more than a thousand pairs of shoes. Marcos and his wife would regularly seize lucrative private businesses, and give them to their relatives and friends, who then took ownership, and control of the businesses. Marcos and his wife also placed their family and friends in powerful government positions. All of these acts, among Marcos’ other atrocities, led to massive economic problems and civil unrest.
Despite being imprisoned in solitary confinement, Ninoy Aquino never stopped fighting to release the Filipino nation from the clutches and grip of the Marcos regime of corruption. On April 4, 1975, Ninoy initiated his hunger strike in protest of Marcos’ tyranny, sustaining this strike until May 13, 1975. Ninoy’s heal...