Filipinos Should Never Forget Ninoy's Sacrifice

Filipinos should always remember the sacrifice and martyrdom of the late senator Ninoy Aquino, whose assassination 42 years ago today restored the country's democracy, former Manila congressman Lito Atienza said yesterday.

- By DELON PORCALLA

"We must always remember the lessons of Aug. 21, and vow to never again allow our democracy to be taken away from us! We, as Filipinos, must never forget the relevance of Aug. 21 in our country's history," Atienza said.

"On this day, millions of Filipinos were awakened from their dark slumber. They began to rise up as one and fought to remove the dictatorship, leading to the bloodless People Power Revolution where we regained our freedom and democracy," he added.

Atienza, a former three-term Manila mayor who also served in the National Housing Authority during the presidency of Aquino's widow Corazon, also remembered another important event in Philippine history, the infamous Plaza Miranda bombing in 1971.

"The Plaza Miranda bombing on Aug. 21, 1971 started the dark period in our country's history with the declaration of Martial Law soon after and the rise of the dictatorship," he recalled.