The family of the late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. said that moving the day meant to commemorate his death does not change what he did for the country.

The family's statement was in response to President Marcos' Proclamation No. 665 which moved the observation of Ninoy Aquino Day from Aug. 21, Wednesday, to Aug. 23, Friday, to promote holiday economics.

In a statement, the Aquino family said moving the date to commemorate Ninoy's martyrdom does not erase his legacy.

"Moving a day of commemoration will not diminish the fact that Ninoy died fighting for the country and the people he so loved and his death sparked a revolution that ended Marcos Sr.'s authoritarian rule," they said.

Ninoy Aquino Day, which falls on a Wednesday this year, is a special nonworking day under Republic Act (RA) No. 9256. It commemorates the assassination of former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. in 1983. He is best known as a senator and a critic of the previous Marcos administration.

Aquino, the husband of the late President Corazon Aquino, was one of the first to be arrested and imprisoned for trumped-up charges of murder, illegal possession of firearms, and subversion when martial law was declared. He was allowed to run in the 1978 elections.

After suffering two heart attacks in 1980, the Aquino family, as arranged by the former First Lady Imelda Marcos, flew to the US for his procedure. However, he was assassinated upon his return to the country in 1983.

Two years after his death, Filipinos managed to oust the Marcoses through the historic EDSA People Power Revolution.