Assassination of Ninoy Aquino

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On August 21, 1983, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., a former Philippine senator, was assassinated with a gunshot to the head on the apron of what was then Manila International Airport. Aquino, a longtime opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., had just returned from three years of self-imposed exile in the United States, and was being taken to a vehicle which would return him to prison. Also killed was Rolando Galman, accused of murdering him. In 1967, Aquino was elected to the Philippine Senate. As a Senator, he was sharply critical of Marcos. In 1972, shortly after martial law was declared by Marcos, he was imprisoned on falsified charges; he was only released in 1980, when he had a heart attack. He spent the next three years near Boston before deciding to return to the Philippines. Aquino's assassination is credited with transforming the isolated opposition to Marcos into a national crusade, and, in tandem, with thrusting Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino, into the spotlight. In 1986, Marcos...

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