(Eagle News)–Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday, Aug. 21, recalled former Senator Ninoy Aquino and the country’s “patriots” she said made the ultimate sacrifice for the country to be free again.
In her message commemorating Ninoy’s 36th death anniversary, Robredo described Ninoy as “one of the courageous few” who died for the country.
She said this as she dismissed what she said were attempts from “certain quarters” to “dismiss the significance of Ninoy’s sacrifice, or worse, to question the validity of the movement it inspired.”
“These days, there are those who insist, out of self-interest or ignorance, that the Marcos regime ‘was not so bad after all,’ pushing a revised version of history that is not only dishonest but dangerous,” she said.
Robredo said “the simple truth,” however, is that Ninoy “was a Filipino who gave his life for his country.”
“His love for his homeland was blazed brightly through long years of imprisonment, of exile, and in the end, of martyrdom,” she said.
She said Ninoy, however, was not alone, as there were “both the nameless and the heralded, who gave of themselves so that we could be free,” like Ninoy.
“In this remembrance, we express both our deepest gratitude for the sacrifices made on our behalf, and, perhaps more significantly, our persistent commitment to defend the freedom they won back for us,” Robredo said.