Benigno Simeón "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.,[c] QSC, CLH, KGCR[1][2][3][4] (/əˈkiːnoʊ/, locally [bɛˌniːɡ.no ʔɐˈxiː.no]; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac.

As the situation in the Philippines worsened, Aquino decided to return to face Marcos and restore democracy in the country, despite numerous threats against him.

His death revitalized opposition to Marcos; it also catapulted his widow, Corazon, into the political limelight and prompted her to successfully run for a six-year term as president as a member of the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) party in the 1986 snap election.

After four months of negotiations, he was credited for Taruc's unconditional surrender[13] and was given a second Philippine Legion of Honor award with the degree of Commander on October 14, 1954.

He assailed the Cultural Center, the first project of First Lady Imelda Marcos as extravagant, and dubbed it "a monument to shame" and labelled its designer "a megalomaniac, with a penchant to captivate".

By the end of the day, the country's broadsheets had blared that he labelled the President's wife, his cousin Paz's former ward, and a woman he had once courted, "the Philippines' Eva Peron".

At 9:15 pm, at the kick-off rally of the Liberal Party, the candidates formed a line on a makeshift platform and were raising their hands as the crowd applauded.

[20] Many historians continue to suspect Marcos as the culprit behind the incident, as he is known to have used false flag attacks as a pretext for his declaration of martial law at that time.

[21][22] Historian Joseph Scalice, however, has argued that while the Marcos government was allied with the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) in carrying out bombings in the early 1970s,[23] "the evidence of history now overwhelmingly suggests that the Communist Party of the Philippines, despite being allied with the Liberal Party, was responsible for this bombing, seeing it as a means of facilitating repression which they argued would hasten revolution.

[12] On November 25, 1977, the Military Commission found Aquino, along with NPA leaders Bernabe Buscayno (Kumander Dante) and Lt. Victor Corpus, guilty of all charges and sentenced them to death by firing squad.

While initially agreeing to the boycott due to "the government already [having] the forces in its command and the entire machinery of politics which [they] do not have," Aquino later changed his mind and opted to take part in the elections to have the chance to "talk to the people," having been imprisoned for almost six years at that point.

[32] On March 10, 1978, he was entitled to one television interview on GTV's Face the Nation, hosted by Ronnie Nathanielsz with panelists Enrique Romualdez of the Daily Express, Reynaldo Naval of the Times Journal and Teddy Owen of Bulletin Today.

In addition, Aquino refused to submit himself to Philippine doctors, fearing possible Marcos "duplicity"; he preferred to go to the United States for the procedure or return to his cell at Fort Bonifacio and die.

Making up for the lost time as the family's breadwinner, he toured America; attending symposiums, lectures, and giving speeches in freedom rallies opposing the Marcos government.

[36] In the first quarter of 1983, Aquino received news about the deteriorating political situation in his country and the rumored declining health of President Marcos (due to lupus).

Moreover, his years of absence made his allies worry that the Filipinos might have resigned themselves to Marcos' strongman rule and that without his leadership the centrist opposition would die a natural death.

But I cannot be petrified by inaction, or fear of assassination, and therefore stay in the side..."[39] His family, however, learned from a Philippine Consular official that there were orders from Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to issue any passports for them.

Despite the government's ban on issuing him a passport, Aquino acquired one with the help of Rashid Lucman, a former Mindanao legislator and founder of the Bangsamoro Liberation Front, a Moro separatist group against Marcos.

[40] He eventually obtained a legitimate passport from a sympathizer working in a Philippine consulate through the help of Roque Ablan Jr., who was then a congressman for Ilocos Norte.

The Marcos government warned all international airlines that they would be denied landing rights and forced to return if they tried to fly Aquino back to the Philippines.

Anticipating the worst, at an interview in his suite at the Taipei Grand Hotel, he revealed that he would be wearing a bullet-proof vest, but he also said that "it's only good for the body, but in the head there's nothing else we can do."

About 1,000 security personnel had been assigned by the Marcos government to ensure Aquino's safe return to his detention cell in Fort Bonifacio, but this did not prevent the assassination.

[49][50] After the assassination, the opposition ran for the Regular Batasang Pambansa under the United Nationalist Democratic Organization (UNIDO) and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP–Laban) against the ruling Kilusang Bagong Lipunan of Ferdinand Marcos.

[59] Jovito Salonga, then head of the Liberal Party, referred to Aquino as "the greatest president we never had",[60] adding: Ninoy was getting impatient in Boston, he felt isolated by the flow of events in the Philippines.

[60]Although Aquino was recognized as the most prominent and dynamic politician of his generation, in the years prior to martial law, many regarded him as a representative of the entrenched familial elite which to this day dominates Philippine politics.

However, during his seven years and seven months imprisoned as a criminal, Aquino read the book Born Again by convicted Watergate conspirator Charles Colson and it inspired him to a rude awakening.

He emerged as a contemporary counterpart of Jose Rizal, who was among the most vocal proponents of the use of non-violence to combat a repressive regime at the time, following the model of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.[62] Some oppositionist students who were active in the fight against the Marcos administration, including now-opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros, recount that at the time they had originally thought of Aquino as just another "traditional politician," but began to acknowledge he was more than that when he took the risk of returning to the Philippines, and ultimately paid for his choice with his life.

Aquino was also among the first to be honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, a monument dedicated to those who opposed the Marcos dictatorship, alongside fellow former senators Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada.

According to him, his religious awakening began after reading Evangelical Christian author Charles Colson's 1976 book Born Again, during his solitary confinement under the Marcos regime.

Then-Senator Raul Roco, who was part of Aquino's Senate legal staff, portrayed him for the 1997 film Ilaban Mo, Bayan Ko: The Obet Pagdanganan story.