Thread by @krixiasINQ

Here at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, where several groups are set to stage a "history fair" commemorating the life and legacy of former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr.

Aquino, once foremost critic to the late dictator Marcos Sr., was assassinated this day in 1983.

Several youth, civic and ML survivor groups have set up different exhibits here showcasing timelines, photographs, or documents relating to martial law. Their goal is to correct falsehoods and distortions about the era that saw thousands dead, arrested or disappeared.

Also here is state agency Human Rights Violations' Victims Memorial Commission with a model of the proposed martial law museum, which is set to be built on UP grounds. There is no clear update on its progress under a Marcos admin.

Related: newsinfo.inquirer.net/1337779/martia…

At exactly 1 p.m., Project Gunita played the raw footage from Aquino's last interview in the airplane that brought him home from self-exile in the US. "Assassinations are part of public service...if it's my fate to die by an assassin's bullet, so be it."

As Aquino was escorted by a military team out of his plane, the video recorded the chilling, off-camera instructions of someone repeatedly saying “Pusila! Pusila!,’’ the Visayan word for ‘’kill’’ and the signal for the Aquino murder to proceed.

The August Twenty-One Movement (ATOM), which was formed after Aquino's assassination by his brother Butz, address the crowd: "People ask us: are you still relevant when you're all super-seniors? (I) say yes...and I am thankful that the youth recognize our work's importance."

Former senatorial aspirant and lawyer Luke Espiritu, who touts Aquino as his personal hero, gives a fiery speech: May trapo bang nagbubuwis ng buhay? [Nireresurrect] nila si Apo Lakay—ang dapat iresurrect natin ay ang (legacy) ni Aquino."

We learn that the architect who helped design the Freedom Memorial Museum, Mark Pait, has passed away recently and was buried today, on the 39th anniversary of Ninoy Aquino's death.

Historian Xiao Chua takes the time to remind people of the importance of history and national memory, and reminds people that while Filipinos commemorate Aquino's death today, "PH history must not be reduced to these two families only (Aquino/Marcos)."