Ninoy Aquino family museum draws people in Tarlac

TARLAC CITY – Visitors flocked to the Aquino family museum here on Friday (August 21) as the nation commemorated the 1983 assassination of the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. who denounced martial law.

Ninoy was the husband of the late president Corazon “Cory” Aquino and father of the late president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. 

READ: Pangilinan, Aquino: Ninoy’s fight far from over

Article continues after this advertisement

The museum was open to the public for free to honor Ninoy’s 43rd death anniversary. He was shot on the tarmac by soldiers at the airport now named after him. Ninoy had returned home from exile in the United States. His murder triggered protests, led to the 1986 Presidential Snap Elections which was followed by the 1986 People Power Revolution. 

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

The Aquino museum houses the memorabilia and personal artifacts of Ninoy, Cory and Noynoy. 

The main lobby of the museum features enlarged photos of Ninoy at the tarmac, and Ninoy smeared with blood in an open casket, as well as photos of Cory making her oath of office as a president and Noynoy. 

The museum also features Ninoy’s shirt that he was wwaring when he was shot, the yellow dress of Cory which she wore during her oath taking,and the rolleflex camera used by Niboy when he served as war journalist Ninoy during the Korea War in 1950. 

It also displays a replica of Ninoy’s detention cell, with his bed, an old pair of slippers, books and green typewriter and a towel embroidered with “Ninoy Aquino” in cursive. The scene simulates his detention at Fort Ramon Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija when he was in solitary confinement with the late Sen. Jose “Pepe” Diokno during Martial law 

Article continues after this advertisement

There is also a showroom for Cory and Noynoy, a People Power Hall, a separate museum hall labeled the “Meaning of Democracy”, and a hall featuring narratives and photos of Ninoy’s funeral. 

Outside the museum is the car Ninoy used while in Boston, Massachusetts – a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit. This was also featured in Top Gear Magazine Philippines in February 2013.

Article continues after this advertisement

A standee or life sized cardboard cutout of the two celebrated EDSA nuns Sr. Porfiria Ocariza and Sr. Teresita Burias of the Daughters of St. Paul Congregation and a standee of a boy offering flowers to a soldier are also on display there. The kid is Angelo Gutierrez. This photo was featured in the old P500 bill. 

Sr. Eva Andaya,OP, who visited along with the other Dominican nuns in Tarlac said new generations should visit the museum to learn more about history and revisit what happened after Martial rule ended.