Duterte, democracy icon Ninoy lack similarity – Aquino family

Former President Rodrigo Duterte jokes to photographers as he holds an Israeli-made Galil rifle at Camp Crame in suburban Quezon City northeast of Manila, Philippines on April 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

MANILA, Philippines  — Democracy icon Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.’s return to the Philippines and former President Rodrigo Duterte’s bid to return to the country amid his crimes against humanity case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) lack similarity, the Aquino family said on Monday.

According to an official statement from the family, a study of the country’s history would show that Aquino was treated far differently compared to what Duterte is experiencing now.

Duterte, currently under the custody of the ICC in The Hague in The Netherlands, was supposedly discouraged by his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, from returning to the Philippines as he may suffer the same fate as Aquino.

Aquino was killed on August 21, 1983, after marking an end to his self-imposed exile to the United States.  The former senator was a staunch critic of then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Former Senator Leila de Lima also does not see any similarity between Aquino and Duterte’s situation, saying that the latter only wants to escape accountability for his case before the ICC.

Duterte was slapped with crimes against humanity charges at the ICC for the alleged extrajudicial killings in his administration’s war against illegal drugs.

According to de Lima, Duterte is only being melodramatic whereas Aquino made his trip back to the Philippines in August 1983 in an effort to restore democracy.

“Ninoy Aquino returned to the Philippines knowing it could cost him his life. His courage was for the nation, for democracy, for the Filipino people. Duterte’s drama today is nothing but a desperate attempt to escape accountability,” de Lima said.

“Justice isn’t swayed by melodrama, only by truth. And history will always know the difference,” she added.

This is not the first time that Vice President Duterte referenced Aquino in hitting back against the Marcoses.

On November 25, 2024, after being criticized for her threats to President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Vice President Duterte said she agrees with the Chief Executive’s views that ordinary citizens can be targets of assassinations since the Marcoses were behind Aquino’s assassination.

“Oo, ‘di ba pumalag nga ang buong bayan nang pinatay ng pamilya nila si Benigno Aquino? (Didn’t the people fight back when they plotted the assassination of Benigno Aquino?),” Duterte told reporters on the sidelines of the House committee on good government and public accountability hearing.

READ: VP Sara fires back, tags Marcoses in Ninoy assassination

The Aquino family said the Marcoses have to be held accountable for what happened during their late patriarch’s two-decade rule, but they noted that Ninoy’s advocacy has been through peaceful struggle, with the rejection of “any threat of violence or assassination.”

On the Facebook page for the late former President Benigno Aquino III, son of the democracy icon, the Aquino family reiterated that Ninoy was a known believer in peaceful methods to criticize the government – a belief that he carried until his death in 1983.

READ: Aquino family: ‘We firmly oppose any threat of violence, assassination’

The statement came after Vice President Duterte referred to the assassination of Ninoy at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport – which is now known as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport – to up her criticism of the current Marcos administration.

In the 2022 elections, President Marcos and Vice President Duterte ran under a single ticket dubbed as the Uniteam, achieving a landslide victory against the Aquino-endorsed tandem of former Vice President Leni Robredo and former Senator Francis Pangilinan.

In less than three years since its inception, the Uniteam suffered a complete collapse with the Marcos and Duterte camps engaging in a word war.

The House, composed of Marcos allies, launched a probe into Vice President Duterte’s alleged anomalous confidential fund expenses while former President Duterte accused Marcos of being a drug user.