The War Against the Memory of Benigno Aquino Jr.

Remember during a UNITEAM rally in Tarlac the organizers put up a tent blocking a statue of Benigno Aquino Jr.?

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/02/22/look-makeshift-shed-blocks-ninoy-statue-at-uniteam-rally

A makeshift shed at a UniTeam rally in Tarlac City on Saturday was put up where the monument depicting former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. stood, blocking the the front view of the statue.

Aquino was a staunch opposition figure during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, father of presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Jr., the UniTeam standard bearer.

Tarlac is the known political bailiwick of the Aquinos.

Part of the shed covered the monument from head to the waist, while a tarpaulin poster of Marcos Jr. and running-mate Sara Duterte-Carpio blocked the waist down. 

As of posting time, organizers did not say why they set up the structure in the area.

Let's not pretend that was an accident especially in a nation that knows the power of statues. They are not dead stone. Filipinos practically worship the St. Niño and the Black Nazarene statues with lavish festivals every single year and attribute miracles to each.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Nazarene

The icon is renowned in the Philippines and is considered by many Filipino Catholics to be miraculous; its mere touch is reputed to cure disease. It attracts homage from numerous devotees, who bear it in mass processions.

Filipinos know the power of symbols. What was done to the statue of Benigno Aquino Jr. was nothing less than desecration. That is why after the campaign was over and the tent removed the statue was effectively reconsecrated.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1577760/wreaths-offered-at-disrespected-ninoy-statue

Wreaths of flowers were offered to the statue of the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino on Sunday, a day after his image was “disrespected” when it was covered by a tent and a tarpaulin during the grand rally on Saturday of the tandem of presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte at Tarlac City plaza and sparked an online backlash.

People clad in pink, mostly members of Robredo People’s Council (RPC) in Tarlac backing presidential aspirant Vice President Leni Robredo, laid flowers on Aquino’s monument and that of the adjoining statue of his wife, the late former President Corazon Aquino, after the disrespectful incident.

Pink and yellow ribbons were tied in the flowers with lace bearing “Ninoy, hindi ka nag-iisa (you are not alone).”

Tarlac was the home province of the late senator and chief rival of the elder Marcos, who once declared that the Filipino “is worth dying for.”

The statue of Senator Aquino, whose assassination in August 1983 became one of the catalysts that led to the People Power Revolution in Edsa in 1986 that toppled the strongman rule of Ferdinand Marcos, was covered by a tent during the Marcos Jr.-Duterte UniTeam political grand rally.

“They could have just held it in another venue or at least, put the tent beside the monument, but not in front,” said Tarlac historian Xiao Chua.

“It might have been unintentional, or just plain lack of common sense on the part of the organizers, but it was an unfortunate slap to the province’s historic legacy and furthers the politically divisive climate with deep implications,” Chua added.

Several Tarlaqueños and martial law survivors cried foul at what they called “disrespect,” not only to the Aquinos but also to those who suffered under the martial law regime.

Tarlac City Mayor Ma. Cristina “Cristy” Angeles, who was present during the rally, has told her critics to “move on.”

“Ignore those who criticize. It’s time for forgiveness and healing, we will unite,” Angeles said told reporters on Saturday.

Wreaths of flowers were not just placed around the statue, they were offered to the statute. Big difference. These people know that statue represents a man who said Filipinos were worth dying for and then did exactly that when he returned home despite knowing his death was a certainty. Does anyone think Ferdinand Marcos would have died for Filipinos? The man sought to raise an army to invade the Philippines and take back power!

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/marcos-tapes-invasion-philippines-a00289-20210504-lfrm

Tarlac City Mayor Cristina Angeles knows exactly what she is saying. She saying, "Shut up, we don't care what you have to say." She does not care about forgiveness. She has already come out supporting Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte. 

The thing is these people keep on punching and punching and punching and spewing lie after lie after lie. Martial law was the Golden Age, Marcos made the Philippines a better place, Cory Aquino was worse than Marcos, Benigno Aquino was a self-aggrandizing social climber who worked hand-in-hand with the NPA. Any discussion of the facts gets shouted down by the trolls, and I don't mean fake social media accounts but awful people in general who make up the core of Marcos revisionists, who don't want to hear it and will shout and shout and even drag you through the mud besmirching you with false accusations such as being a member of the CPP-NPA. And Tarlac City Mayor Cristina Angeles dares to say, "It’s time for forgiveness and healing, we will unite?" What a load of garbage. This is war.

Specifically it is a war against the memory of Benigno Aquino Jr.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1173661

A party-list lawmaker is urging the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to redesign the current PHP500 bill featuring former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former President Corazon Aquino with a "more nationalistic symbol" for the "unity of the country". 

 

Duterte Youth party-list Representative Ducielle Marie Cardema filed on May 2 House Resolution 2566, which urges the BSP to remove the "divisive Ninoy Aquino image" in the PHP500 banknote and replace it with a more unifying nationalistic figure. 

  

"The image of anti-Marcos leader, Ninoy Aquino, has been placed in the 500 peso bill and caused so much divisiveness in the Philippine populace because more than half support the Philippine leader whom Ninoy Aquino fought with politically," Cardema said in her resolution. 

  

"The BSP recently removed real wartime heroes like General Vicente Lim, Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos, and Girl Scout of the Philippines founder Josefa Llanes Escoda from our 1,000 peso bill even though they fought foreign invaders. They were replaced with a more nationalistic and a powerful image of the Philippine eagle," Cardema said.

 

"What more for a personality like Ninoy Aquino who only fought politically against a fellow Filipino who is also revered by more than half of the Philippine population," she added. 

  

Cardema said her previous proposal to change back Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to Manila International Airport has been welcomed by the majority of Filipinos, thus arguing that it would be acceptable to remove the "divisive image" from the PHP500 bill.

 

"Proof of the desire of many Filipinos to correct this political blunder is the public outcry to rename the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Manila International Airport," she said.

The image of Benigno Aquino Jr. on the P500 bill is divisive? Says who? Who looks at the P500 bill and gets so triggered and angry looking at his face? It's literally a piece of paper whose value is tied to the US dollar. There might as well be a middle-finger on the front and giant bald eagle on the back because it would be just the same. So cut the talk about the need for nationalistic symbols on a piece of paper whose value is determined by a foreign nation. 

Cardema's proof that people don't want Aquino on their money is because some people support changing the name of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. This lady is a member of the dubious Duterte Youth party-list. Duterte only got 16 million votes. There are many people who dislike the man and what he has done to the nation. She should lobby her party-list to change their name. It's the same logic.

Are there not enough problems in the Philippines that this lady thought it fit to file a bill to change the name of the airport and to call for redesigning the P500 bill? Yes there are!

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1173428

Informal settlement remains a “very serious” problem in the Philippines, President Rodrigo R. Duterte said Sunday.

“Nobody but nobody can solve it except the Filipino and ‘yung workers sa government nakatutok talaga (workers of government who are really focused on it),” Duterte said during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Pampanga Provincial Hospital-Clark in San Fernando City, Pampanga.

Informal settlers are a huge problem throughout the nation. But I don't expect Duterte Youth party-list Representative Ducielle Marie Cardema to think about a solution to such a hard issue. No, she's too busy trying to erase the memory of Benigno Aquino Jr. from this nation. And she is not the only one. There are plenty of politicians, pundits, and blowhards who would love to see Benigno Aquino Jr. and EDSA wiped clean from everyone's memory. We see this every year on Benigno Aquino Day and February 25th when EDSA is commemorated as those who oppose the man call him a fake hero. Just Google "Benigno Aquino fake hero" and many articles will show up. 

The deliberate falsification of history is what's really going on here. It's the same as what has been happening in the USA as statues of Confederate generals and other "problematic" men have been toppled by rioters, school boards have decided to change the names of schools, and the entire history of the USA has been rewritten via the New York Times' unhistorical and laughably false 1619 Project. It's erasing history. 

And what will replace that history? Lies. Lies about the Golden Age of the Marcos years.