Aquino, Benigno Simeon, Jr. (1932-1983), was a Filipino political leader and an opponent of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino was assassinated on Aug. 21, 1983. The murder shocked the Filipino public. His widow, Corazon Aquino, served as president from 1986 to 1992. Their son, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, served as president from 2010 to 2016.
Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr., was born on Nov. 27, 1932, in Tarlac on the northern Philippine island of Luzon. His father was a politician and landowner. The young Aquino was nicknamed “Ninoy” by his friends. He became a journalist at the age of 17. In 1950, he was a foreign correspondent for The Manila Times, reporting on activities of the Philippine Expeditionary Forces in Korea. In 1954, he married Corazon Cojuangco, the daughter of a rich landowner of Tarlac. Aquino became governor of Tarlac province in 1961. He was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967. He became the leading rival of President Marcos. Marcos declared martial law in 1972, and Aquino was soon arrested. He remained in prison for eight years. In 1977, he was condemned to death. But in 1980, he was released from military prison to undergo a heart operation in Dallas, Texas. He remained in self-imposed exile with his family in the United States.
In 1983, Aquino decided to return to the Philippines. He wanted to persuade Marcos to relax his authoritarian rule. As Aquino descended the steps of the airplane at Manila International Airport, an assassin killed him with a bullet in the back of the head. No one was convicted of his murder, but many people blamed the Marcos government. In 1987, the airport was renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor.
