{"id":5863,"date":"2017-03-26T04:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-03-26T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=5863"},"modified":"2017-03-26T13:36:24","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T20:36:24","slug":"an-assassination-martial-law-and-a-revolution-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/an-assassination-martial-law-and-a-revolution-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"An Assassination, Martial Law, and a Revolution, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1983, when Senator Benigno Aquino was assassinated, we were there\u2014not at the Manila International Airport where thousands of supporters waited to welcome their hero back from exile in the United States, but at our home in Manila, watching the sad spectacle over and over and over again on TV.<\/p>\n

We saw soldiers enter Aquino’s plane and escort him out the door and down the stairs. We heard repeated gunshots. And then we saw two bodies lying dead on the tarmac.\u00a0 The crucial minute of the shooting itself was absent. Here’s the chilling video.<\/a><\/p>\n

Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino was a charismatic senator, the leader of the opposition party, the one best hope of a country suffering under the ailing dictator, Ferdinand Marcos. It was widely supposed but never proven that Marcos was behind the assassination.<\/p>\n

Watching the television coverage of Aquino’s assassination and the nationwide sense of anger and mourning brought me back to the sadness and shock I felt when President John F. Kennedy was shot. As with Kennedy\u2019s assassination, there tears and disbelief, and there were commissions that spent months studying everything surrounding the assassination of Senator Aquino.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re in the middle of an earth-shattering event, you don\u2019t look away. Still, I can\u2019t pretend that the experience was the same for us as it was for Filipinos. Ninoy Aquino was not our countryman; he was not our hero and our hope. We were expats, visitors in his country.<\/p>\n

So, I wondered, how did the story of Aquino\u2019s assassination look and feel from inside the heart of a Filipino? As a reader and writer, I believe that if you want to put yourself inside the skin of another person, the best way is to read a great work of fiction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Luckily for me, after Christmas this year my daughter left a book she\u2019d just finished at my house: In the Country <\/em>by Mia Alvar<\/a>. The short stories in Alvar\u2019s magnificent collection give voice to Filipinos living at home and abroad. One of my favorite stories was \u201cOld Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the thirty-nine pages of the story, the reader lives inside the mind of Corazon Aquino, who was the wife of Senator Benigno Aquino and the person who knew him best.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the story begins:<\/p>\n

The old girl\u2019s husband\u2014fifty-one years old, the 165-pound champion (as he likes to put it) of a triple-bypass surgery\u2014tells her on March 1, 1983: \u201cI had an idea, Mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mommy<\/em> is what the old girl\u2019s husband calls her. And idea<\/em> is a generous word for whim<\/em> or flight of fancy,<\/em> the kind of ill-considered impulse he\u2019ll have often and won\u2019t quit till he\u2019s pulled it off (he almost always does, if barely) or failed (more rarely, but with flying colors). Not scheme <\/em>or plan<\/em>\u2014God knows the old girl\u2019s husband can\u2019t be bothered with anything like a plan.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt just came to me,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought I\u2019d run the marathon this year!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If this small taste intrigues you, look for In the Country<\/em> by Mia Alvar in your favorite bookstore or on amazon<\/a>. I think you’ll find it well worth reading.<\/p>\n

Next week in Part 2 of An<\/em> Assassination, Martial Law, and a Revolution, <\/em>I\u2019ll compare my experiences with martial law and a revolution with that of another character in Mia Alvar\u2019s stories.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u00a0 In 1983, when Senator Benigno Aquino was assassinated, we were there\u2014not at the Manila International Airport where thousands of supporters waited to welcome their hero back from exile in the United States, but at our home in Manila, watching the sad spectacle over and over and over again on TV. We saw soldiers enter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[343,743,1340,438,148],"tags":[1491,1494,1245,1493,1107,1492,928],"class_list":["post-5863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-books","category-expatriate-life","category-historical-fiction","category-philippines","tag-assassination-of-senator-benigno-aquino","tag-corazon-aquino","tag-expatriates","tag-ferdinand-marcos","tag-fiction","tag-in-the-country-by-mia-alvar","tag-philippines"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-1wz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2245,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/how-i-got-my-start-as-a-writer\/","url_meta":{"origin":5863,"position":0},"title":"How I Got My Start as a Writer, Part 2","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"August 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Slowly, accidentally. You hear about writers who swear they were born to write\u2014who filled notebooks with stories from the time they could hold a pencil and dreamed that one day they would publish a novel \u2026 or many novels. Well, that wasn\u2019t me. I came to fiction writing slowly and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philippines"","block_context":{"text":"Philippines","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/philippines\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"EDSA-Shaw Overpass, photo by Elmer B. Domingo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/EDSA_Shaw_Overpass-by-Elmer-B.-Domingo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/EDSA_Shaw_Overpass-by-Elmer-B.-Domingo.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/EDSA_Shaw_Overpass-by-Elmer-B.-Domingo.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5883,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/an-assassination-martial-law-and-a-revolution-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5863,"position":1},"title":"An Assassination, Martial Law, and a Revolution, Part 2","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"April 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The phone call came at five in the morning. It was my husband\u2019s secretary. \u201cTurn on the radio,\u201d she said. \u201cMarcos just declared martial law.\u201d That\u2019s how it happens, without warning. For the next two hours, my husband sat on the floor in his shorts and undershirt, switching from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"book reviews","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/gate-001-1024x675.bmp","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/gate-001-1024x675.bmp 1x, http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/gate-001-1024x675.bmp 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11587,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/remembering-martial-law-in-manila\/","url_meta":{"origin":5863,"position":2},"title":"Remembering Martial Law in Manila","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"June 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It was 5 am and we were sound asleep when the phone rang. My husband Eugene was the type who could jump right out of bed in the middle of the night, though. And he did. He leap up and took the call in the rec room. When he didn\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "expatriate life"","block_context":{"text":"expatriate life","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/expatriate-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Marcos and Imelda, 1984","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/512px-Ferdinand__Imelda_Marcos_in_Leyte_1984-10-201-e1750361707186.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9844,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/the-seventh-coup-attempt\/","url_meta":{"origin":5863,"position":3},"title":"The Seventh Coup Attempt","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"March 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"You would think that after failing six times, the plotters would have given up. But they didn\u2019t. Maybe there\u2019s something about the excitement of the whole thing that appeals to certain people. Whatever their reasons were, the seventh coup attempt was the biggest and most deadly of them all. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "attempted coup"","block_context":{"text":"attempted coup","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/attempted-coup\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Manila-typhoon-001-e1504980172943.bmp","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5947,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/journal-entries-on-a-coup-detat\/","url_meta":{"origin":5863,"position":4},"title":"Journal Jottings on a Coup d\u2019\u00e9tat","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"April 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I have stacks of steno notebooks, a.k.a., my journals. Writing in them has been my way of paying attention to the world around me and saving my observations for the future. In recent years I haven't been journaling much. On the other hand, I am making good use of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "books"","block_context":{"text":"books","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/journals-2-e1491353351810.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7518,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/waking-to-a-national-emergency-and-a-declaration\/","url_meta":{"origin":5863,"position":5},"title":"Waking to a “National Emergency” and a Declaration","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"January 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know which woke me, the jangling ring of the phone or my husband leaping out of bed, his whole body on alert. As he spoke, his answers sounded curt and serious. \"Who was it?\" I asked when he hung up. \"Bing.\" His secretary, a Filipina who, I came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5863"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5937,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5863\/revisions\/5937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}