Mikee Remembers Her Uncle Ninoy
by Rogelio Constantino Medina, The Philippine Star, September 20, 1997

At a young age, Mikee Cojuangco was already aware of what was happening in the country. She says she was only nine years old when her Uncle Ninoy Aquino died. Just very recently, the nation commemorated his 14th death anniversary.

"I just came from a family reunion on August 21, 1983, the death anniversary of my grandfather. Others fetched Uncle Ninoy at the airport," vividly remembers Mikee.

She continues: "We, the younger ones, were left in Dasmarinas Village, Makati. When my cousin’s mother went home, my cousin asked the whereabouts of Uncle Ninoy. Then her mom said. ‘He was assassinated!’ We were shocked. We couldn’t do anything but listen to the news on Radio Veritas."

For Mikee, it was different for a nine-year-old concerned about the welfare of the country and current event.

She also recalls that two years before her uncle’s brutal death at the tarmac during Marco’s dictatorial rule, they visited her Uncle Ninoy in Boston, Massachusetts.

"I was only seven years old. Batang-bata pa ako non. But Uncle Ninoy was serious to me. He didn’t treat me like a child. Whatever he thought about politics, he discussed it directly whether I understood what he said or not. I really value the fact that he treated me like an adult. We were really taken good care of. He had plenty of ideas. He was so deep. I was so inspired," Mikee says.

Then her Aunt Cory, Ninoy’s wife, became the first woman president of the Philippines.

Mikee, who is oftentimes seen with Mikey Macapagal Arroyo (Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s eldest son) since they are both active in KAMPI’s youth sector, has inherited from her mom, Tarlac governor Margarita "Ting-Ting" de Los Reyes-Cojuangco, an undaunted and nationalistic spirit.

"I joined protest rallies with my mom during the Marcos dictatorial regime," she reveals. "But when they started using teargasses, I wasn’t allowed anymore to join the rallies. May mga rally pa rin akong pinupuntahaan pero hindi delikado."

She says her mom Ting-Ting is a very strong woman.

"Matapang ang mommy ko. Masipag at lahat ay gagawin niya para sa bayan," she says with a sincere smile.

Indeed, Ninoy didn’t die in vain. As Mikee quote Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, "A nation lives by its myths, it takes every higher ground because there are men who have shown the way, ready to do battle with the foes of freedom. And in the case of Ninoy, ready to die because as he said again and again: The Filipino is worth dying for."

Concludes Mikee: "We should not forget the Filipino people who displayed the moral courage to do what they thought as right regardless of the consequences, especially when the going was rough, for the sake of freedom and democracy."