A statue of martyred Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. was blocked during a presidential campaign rally in Tarlac City Saturday of the son of his nemesis, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is out to reclaim the presidency for the family after 36 years, photos showed.
The Ninoy Aquino statue was placed right behind a white tent for reporters covering Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s, blocking its frontal view. The foot of the statue was cordoned off inside the media tent.
"Bastos", Filipino for rude, was trending on Twitter with 10,500 posts as of 1:30 p.m. Twitter, as Filipinos online criticized how the statue was covered, and in Ninoy's home province at that. "Ninoy" was also trending.
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After PNoy's Death, What's Next for the Aquino Name in Politics?
Ninoy Aquino was imprisoned during martial law and was forced into exile in the U.S. He was assassinated upon his return to the country in August 1983, sparking the People Power revolution that ousted the Marcos dictatorship three years later.
The bloodless uprising, which inspired democratic movements around the world in the late 1980s, installed Ninoy's widow, Corazon "Cory" Aquino as president in 1986. Fourteen years later, their only son, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino III was elected president.
However during the term of Noynoy Aquino's successor, Rodrigo Duterte, the narrative on social media villified the Aquinos for failure to deliver on the promises of People Power while praising the Marcos years as the Philippines' so-called golden age.
Duterte also authorized the burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Bongbong Marcos is running on a platform of "unity" while refusing to engage his opponents in debates on the human rights abuses and the estimated $10 million that were stolen from public coffers during his father's iron-fisted rule.
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