10 Interesting Facts About Ninoy Aquino | #6 Ninoy Dated Imelda Marcos

ADVERTISEMENTS

Let’s get to know more about Benigno Aquino, Jr. through these 10 interesting facts about his life and death:

by: Christian Ceniza 

1. Ninoy was the youngest journalist to cover the Korean War.

He was just 18 when he covered the war for the newspaper, The Manila Times. You can see a picture of him as a war correspondent in the old 500 peso bill.

2. He used to be the nation’s youngest Mayor.

He was elected Mayor of Concepcion, Tarlac at the age of 22 in 1955, a year after his marriage. He was surpassed in 2007 by Jono Jumamoy who was elected Mayor of Inabanga, Bohol at the age of 21.

3. He used to be the nation’s youngest Vice Governor.

He was the Vice Governor of Tarlac at the age of 27 in 1959. He was then elected as Governor 2 years later. He was later surpassed by Jolo Revilla in 2013 when Revilla was elected as Vice Governor of Cavite at the age of 25.

4. Ninoy is the youngest Senator in Philippine history.

Elected in 1967 at the age of 34, he faced an underage suit filed in the Supreme Court against him on October 1967. He was successfully defended by Senators Jovito Salonga and Estanislao Fernandez of his underage status.

5. Ninoy was credited for the surrender of Luis Taruc.

At age 21, a young Ninoy Aquino negotiated with Luis Taruc, the leader of the rebel group Hukbalahap. Ninoy was appointed as personal emissary to Luis Taruc by President Magsaysay. After 4 months of negotiation, Taruc surrendered unconditionally to the government.

6. There was a time when he dated Imelda Marcos (then Imelda Romualdez).

Ninoy in an interview described Imelda as “the most beautiful woman”. Imelda said that Ninoy courted her in their youth but when “he met this rich girl he dropped her like a hot potato.”

7. Ninoy went home using the alias “Marcial Bonifacio”.

His petition for passport renewal was denied by the Marcos government so he flew to Singapore and applied for a tourist visa at the Chinese Embassy under the pseudonym Marcial Bonifacio: Marcial for martial law and Bonifacio for Fort Bonifacio, his former prison.

8. He had a death mask created after his death, along with FPJ.

The masks were done by National Artist for Sculpture, Napoleon Abueva. Ninoy’s death mask is less defined than Fernando Poe Jr’s since his face was full of blood and still swelling when the sculptor made the mask.

9. Ninoy was one of the only three Presidential spouses to be murdered.

Pres. Manuel Quezon’s wife, Aurora, along with her daughter and son-in-law were killed in a Hukbalahap ambush in 1949. The other was the wife of Pres. Elpidio Quirino, Alicia Syquia-Quirino, who was murdered along with her 3 children by the Japanese during the World War II.

10. His mutilated face was left uncleaned as requested by her mother.

"Do not clean up the wound that disfigured Ninoy’s face", Doña Aurora told undertakers. Keep his bloodstained jacket. “I want them to see what they did to my son.”

ADVERTISEMENTS