To commemorate the death anniversary of former Benigno ‘Ninoy’ S. Aquino, Jr., “August twenty-one of every year is hereby declared as the Ninoy Aquino day which shall be a national nonworking holiday.” This is according to Republic Act No. 9256 that was signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Feb. 25, 2004, the 18th commemoration of EDSA People Power Day. The law mandates the EDSA Commission to “plan and implement appropriate ceremonies for the observance of Ninoy Aquino Day.”
Over the past 39 years since he was assassinated on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983, he has been honored by the Filipino nation in various ways, the most prominent of which was the renaming of the country’s international gateway to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Today, NAIA has become one of the most popular acronyms in the lexicon of Juan and Juana dela Cruz.
The renaming of the airport was in accordance with the Republic Act No. 6639 that was enacted on Nov. 27, 1987, the late senator’s 55th birth anniversary. The eighth Congress was the first to be convened under the 1987 Constitution. It lapsed into law without being acted upon by his widow, then President Corazon C. Aquino.
Ninoy Aquino’s portrait also appears on the ₱500 bill that was reintroduced as part of the country’s currency on Aug. 21, 1987, his fourth death anniversary. The highlights of his career are shown in the ₱500 bill in a collage of various images: as a journalist for the Manila Times, mayor of his hometown Concepcion, governor of Tarlac, and senator of the Republic, during which he authored the Study Now, Pay Later education program. It also includes his famous quotation, “The Filipino is worth dying for,” under which is signed his nickname Ninoy. His signature is also shown, along with a typewriter with his initials and a dove of peace.
Perhaps the most well-known monument honoring Ninoy Aquino is the one that stands at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati City, the country’s financial and business center. This spot has served as a venue for political rallies following his assassination in 1983 and up to the triumph of People Power in 1986.
In 2015, President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Republic Act No. 10662 naming a 16.6-kilometer segment of the national highway along the Iloilo Diversion Road/Iloilo Capiz Road as Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Avenue. Official archives show that Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., as chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works, sponsored the committee report concurring with the House Bill on the naming of the major thoroughfare.
Above and beyond monuments and artifacts, the heroism of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino lives on in the hearts and minds of millions of Filipinos for his deep and abiding love for country and people.