SI NINOY BAGA AY ISANG BAYANI? Si Ninoy baga ay isang bayani? by Noli S. Atienza Kayo po ang sumagot nyan pagkatapos nyo itong basahin. Ang layunin ko lamang po ay ipakita ang aking pananaw at pag-unawa sa naging bahagi ni Ninoy sa People Power na naging dahilan upang magwakas ang Martial Rule at ang pagbawi ng demokrasyang inagaw sa atin ni Marcos. I would like to start with the event na alam nating lahat - the death and martyrdom of Ninoy. People began to move as one and in growing numbers when literally millions through all the hours of the day and night, in rain and in sun, filed past the bier of Ninoy to do him honor. Yes, they came to honor Ninoy and his sacrifice. But they also came to register their silent and quiet protest against such a public act of murder. People by their coming to see Ninoy were saying “NO” to Marcos. In the first and biggest show of people power, they took part in the long funeral march. They lined the streets or marched in the procession. All told, there were two million of them – people power initiated and triggered by the unselfish life and death of Ninoy. Never had people moved with a cause in such huge numbers. There followed spontaneously the formation of many cause-oriented groups, marches, demonstrations, rallies. The "seed that had fallen to the ground and died" bore a hundredfold of critically conscious, fearless, liberated Filipinos. Events unrolled swiftly. There were those many gatherings that followed – mixed groups of red and yellow. Next, the million signatures which convinced Cory Aquino to lend her person and lead in the presidential “snap election” that had been unwittingly called in an hour of pride and arrogance. People were so sure then Cory was going to win. Only massive cheating and violence could prevent her from becoming the PRESIDENT of the Philippines. And when the fact of massive cheating and violence came to light, when Evelio Javier fell to an assassin’s bullet in broad daylight, when the COMELEC tabulators themselves walked out on the COMELEC’s shameless manufacture and manipulation of poll results, then the people, reinforced by the Statement of the Bishops, for a second time gathered in the millions to tell themselves, the whole nation and the world, that Cory their candidate was the duly elected President. They were going to stand by this truth and they are not submitting to Marcos’ spurious show of authority. The rapid sequence of events brought in all of a sudden one other factor that no scenario ever provided for – Mr. Enrile’s and Gen. Ramos’ defection from Marcos. Marcos had ordered the arrest of Enrile. They conferred and decided to take a final stand in Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. They also asked the people to come and protect them. And Cardinal Sin came out openly and called on our people to surround the Camps with their humanity. This sequence of events tells us that People Power did not come about in a day, not even months. It took a good two years and a half since the martyrdom of Ninoy. Now tell me, BAYANI GA SI NINOY?