China Airlines Flight 811 (1983)

On August 21, 1983, on the apron of what was then Manila International Airport, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., a former Philippine senator, was assassinated with a gunshot to the head. 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 called a snap presidential election. Corazon Aquino was a candidate, and though she did not win, she became President anyway when Marcos, concerned by the ensuing People Power Revolution, resigned, and fled the country.

Although it is widely believed, including by his family, that Aquino was assassinated on the orders of Marcos, this has never been conclusively proven. An investigation instigated by Marcos shortly after the assassination resulted in 25 military personnel and one civilian being charged with murder; all were acquitted by the Sandiganbayan (special court). A second investigation, during the presidency of Corazon Aquino, led to a retrial of 16 military personnel, all of whom were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision, and rejected later motions by the convicted soldiers for a retrial. One of the convicts was subsequently pardoned, three died in prison, and the remainder had their sentences commuted at various times. The last convicts were released from prison in 2009, the same year in which Corazon Aquino died.

Background

Ninoy Aquino began his political career in 1955 first by becoming the mayor of Concepcion, and would go on becoming vice governor of Tarlac in 1959, governor of Tarlac in 1961, and (then the youngest) senator in 1967. During his first years as a senator, Aquino began speaking out against President Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos in turn saw Aquino as the biggest threat to his power.

Aquino was supposed to run for president in the 1973 elections when Marcos declared martial law on September 23, 1972 (although post-dated as September 21, 1972). On that night, Aquino was imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio, and in 1973, Aquino was falsely charged of murder and subversion. Aquino would first refuse to participate in the military trial citing "injustice", before going on a hunger strike, only for him to go into a coma after 40 days. The trial continued until November 25, 1977, when Aquino was convicted on all charges and was sentenced to death by firing squad. However, Aquino and others believed that Marcos would not allow him to be executed as Aquino had gained a great deal of support while imprisoned, and such a fate would surely make him a martyr for his supporters.

In early 1978, Aquino, still in prison, founded a political party named Lakas ng Bayan (or "LABAN") to run for office in the interim Batasang Pambansa elections. During the campaign, Juan Ponce Enrile (then minister of National Defense) accused Ninoy Aquino of having connections with the New People's Army and the CIA, prompting Aquino to appear on a nationally televised interview on March 10, 1978. All LABAN candidates lost to candidates of Marcos' party, amid allegations of election fraud.

On March 19, 1980, Aquino had a heart attack in prison, and in May 1980, he was transported to the Philippine Heart Center where he had a second heart attack. Aquino was diagnosed with angina pectoris and needed triple bypass surgery; however, no surgeon would perform the operation out of fear of controversy, and Aquino refused to undergo the procedure in the Philippines out of fear of sabotage by Marcos, indicating that he would either go to the United States to undergo the procedure or die in his prison cell. First Lady Imelda Marcos arranged for Aquino to undergo surgery at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and he would be released from prison on humanitarian grounds to leave with his family for Los Angeles on a Philippine Airlines flight on May 8, 1980. After the surgery, Aquino met with Muslim leaders in Damascus, Syria, before settling with his family in Newton, Massachusetts.

Aquino spent the next three years in self-exile in the U.S., wherein he worked on manuscripts for two books and delivered several lectures and speeches critical of the Marcos government across the nation. As Aquino was to return in 1983 as stipulated in his conditions for his release, Jovito Salonga, then head of the Liberal Party, said about Aquino: