Photos from AP, Cherie Querol Moreno
DALY CITY, Calif. – Time and again, Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara receives a welcome reminder of her brother’s enduring legacy, as she did Friday, Aug. 21.
Every year at this time, the younger sister of Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. wonders whether anyone beyond her immediate family will join the traditional liturgy she and her husband, Ken Kashiwahara, offer to commemorate the day “Ninoy” was assassinated upon returning to his homeland.
More often than not, she gets a reminder that no, her martyred brother is not forgotten, and yes, he lives in the hearts of those for whom he gave up his life 43 years ago.
‘Friends
meeting Friends of Ninoy’
Ken and Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara (center, front row) – joined by relatives, allies and compatriots including Goya Navarrete, Donny Deleon, Ernie and Mila Llorente, and Consul General Arnel Talisayon – gather after Mass marking the 43rd death anniversary of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. Photo by Cherie Querol Moreno
“We do not send out invitations, you see,” she told USNewsRank how the event she had dubbed “Friends meeting Friends of Ninoy” unfolds. “If someone remembers the significance of the date and calls to ask what we’re doing in observance, then we give the information: We hear Mass and exchange well wishes.”
Last weekend, the turnout at the annual Mass comforted the Kashiwaharas yet again, as sympathizers filled the pews in the chapel of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Daly City, California.
Among the attendees was new Consul General Arnel Talisayon, who sat quietly in the back row. His presence went largely unnoticed until he received Communion and returned to his seat. He later greeted the Aquino Kashiwaharas and other community members.
At least seven active and retired journalists attended, calling to mind Aquino’s early career as a newspaper correspondent. Coincidentally, the Prayers of the Faithful included an appeal for the Fourth Estate “and all who seek and proclaim the truth: that God may protect them and strengthen them in their mission.”
Many of the Aquino Kashiwaharas’ contemporaries have passed on or now live elsewhere, but some Bay Area advocates for good governance attended despite health challenges to reunite with longtime colleagues.
Recent surgery, for example, did not deter Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM) activist Goya Navarrete from joining the assembly. She also spread the word, to come and be inspired by Aquino’s example.
“If Ninoy were alive today none of the controversy going on in the Philippines would be happening,” said Navarrete, referring to ongoing plunder charges confronting high level public officials. “Filipinos need to remember that public office is for serving the people, not themselves, as Ninoy did. We need someone like him to stand up and reject shameless corruption.”
Family legacy
The attendance of Aquinos born long after the assassination reflected the family’s legacy of patriotism and justice.
“Forty-three years after Lolo Ninoy’s death we continue to be moved by his sacrifice and deep love for our country,” said Gaby A. Concio, Aquino Kashiwahara’s granddaughter. “Every year, we look forward to sharing stories of his life and the experience of Martial Law across generations.”
Concio was born in California and educated in Manila. A Millbrae resident, her attendance was “a way of reminding ourselves and our community here in the US to be courageous and to keep loving our country and the Filipino people,” Concio told USNewsRank.
Her brother Cem Quinto equally appreciated the significance of the occasion. “Being able to attend this memorial felt being enveloped in the history of Ninoy Aquino and the people nearest and dearest to him,” said the Manila-born Gen Zer who moved to the Bay Area four years ago.
Cem and Lana Quinto (from left), Khalil Canlas, Gaby Concio and Diego Deveras honor the Aquino family legacy of patriotism and justice. Photo by Cherie Querol Moreno
“Despite me only being old enough to remember him through the history written and spoken by the generations before me, memorials like this help remind me of the lived pain and grief of the history that can often be taken for granted,” explained the psychology senior at San Francisco State University.
Special love
In his impassioned homily, Father Marvin Felipe said Ninoy “planted a seed in my heart.”
Felipe was a teen in 1983, “focused on prayer, formation and my vocation,” when he learned the meaning of selflessness from Aquino.
Father Marvin Felipe says Ninoy “planted a seed” in his heart. Photo by Cherie Querol Moreno
“Perhaps none of us fully understood how that tragic moment would shape our nation or how it would shape people like me,” he said. “But looking back now, I realize that Ninoy’s sacrifice planted a seed in my own heart: a special love for the Philippines and a conviction that faith must never make us indifferent to the suffering of our people.”
Longtime Aquino allies who consider the annual Mass for Ninoy an essential tradition arrived early.
A legacy of courage, democracy
“It is an honor to stand with the Fil-Am community as we commemorate Ninoy Aquino’s life and legacy,” said Ernie Llorente, retired deputy city attorney in San Francisco.
He and his wife Mila admire Aquino for having “embodied everything good about us: our courage, our hope, our goodness, and our unwavering love for our country that define Filipinos everywhere.”
For them, “Ninoy is, and will always be our true hero. His legacy lives on.”
Human rights activist Donny Deleon feels exactly the same way.
“Ninoy knew he might die, but he came home anyway. He was gunned down on the airport tarmac, but his death awakened a nation and helped bring down the Marcos dictatorship,” said the San Francisco resident.
The progressive organization Akbayan member explained why his childhood role model’s “courage still matters.”
“We now see Trump embracing dictators, attacking democratic allies, and weakening accountability. Democracy does not disappear overnight. It dies little by little when people remain silent,” he told USNewsRank.
“Ninoy gave his life for democracy. The least we can do is defend it,” De Leon concluded, asserting how Aquino’s example should guide Filipinos wherever they are.
Ninoy’s final journey home
In his customary reflection after the Mass, retired ABC News correspondent Ken Kashiwahara, who sat beside Ninoy on the China Airlines flight, recalled their final conversation as the plane landed in Manila.
Ninoy “thought [Ferdinand] Marcos [Sr.] would place him under house arrest,” but Kashiwahara told him “he would be going back to prison.” Ninoy then asked his brother-in-law to “go to his house and bring his belongings to Fort Bonifacio.”
Ken Kashiwahara (at podium) recalls his brother-in-law smile upon learning supporters were waiting to greet him. Photo by Cherie Querol Moreno
Before going into self-exile in the US after receiving permission to undergo heart surgery, Aquino had been imprisoned at Fort Bonifacio for more than seven years.
As the plane approached its assigned Gate 8, Kashiwahara caught a glimpse of a “crowd of supporters waiting to greet” Ninoy, who “couldn’t see outside the window.” Kashiwahara then told him what he had seen.
“His face lit up with that broad smile of his. He knew then that he had not been forgotten,” Kashiwahara said. “Just as today, if he saw you, I know he would be just as pleased knowing that 43 years later he still has not been forgotten.”
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