Most of his life, Butz Aquino was happy enough to be known as the kid brother of the star politician Ninoy Aquino, who always took center stage.
Butz Aquino, who had had the voice and physique of an actor, sometimes took roles in local theater productions, as well as film and television projects. But it seemed to be more in the spirit of fun and enjoying the company of friends. He seemed to prefer a more relaxed life that included running his own business dealing in fiberglass products, and getting involved in civic organizations like the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees).
The two brothers belonged to a prominent, large and landowning clan in Tarlac. Early on, Ninoy, who was older by seven years, had been urging him to run for election as provincial governor, but Butz refused. Politics, he said, is “a ballgame of the rich.”
When martial law was imposed in 1972 and Ninoy was imprisoned, his family closed ranks and supported him. The long years of imprisonment was followed by years of frustrating exile in the United States. Ninoy had to watch from afar as the Filipino people suffered and valiantly struggled against the Marcos dictatorship. Then Ninoy took the plunge, took a flight back to Manila, and landed at the Manila international airport on August 21, 1983, where he was felled by government bullets.
Butz Aquino had been at the airport lounge, along with other family members and prominent oppositionists, waiting for Ninoy’s arrival. (And where the waiting crowd often mistook him for his older brother.) When the terrible news first came, Butz refused to believe it, only accepting the reality that his brother had been killed when he saw Ninoy’s body at Fort Bonifacio. He mused: “So this is it? What happened to all his plans, his dreams? Were all his preparations, his sacrifice and suffering, all for nothing?” But Ninoy’s martyrdom poured gasoline on a burning fire. Transformation happened in the Philippines; certainly it happened also in the case of Butz Aquino. After the assassination, Butz got pushed into the limelight, but not only because he strongly resembled Ninoy. “He had his own charm and determination,” a friend said.
This became evident when he founded the August Twenty-One Movement (ATOM) and helped start what was to become the People Power Revolution. He joined other groups as well, such as KOMPIL and BANDILA. ATOM became the vehicle to attract the middle class to join the protest movement against the Marcos dictatorship. Butz and his old friend Reli German, a veteran public-relations man, mobilized their friends who in turn mobilized others. Many owned businesses in the Makati central district, whose employees were allowed (or in some cases compelled) to participate in the rallies and marches that began to grow bigger and more frequent. Now employees who wanted to express their protest could now do it with permission from their employers!
The organizers were careful to avoid instigating violence, but the riot police were usually ready with truncheons and tear gas, sometimes guns too. Butz “was always out there in front, rallying the troops,” German narrates, adding that Butz had been hurt when the rallies grew disorderly but he was adamant in “reclaiming democracy by way of democracy,” as Ninoy’s widow Cory framed it.
Two months after the assassination, ATOM launched an activity they called ROAR: “Run On for Aquino and Resignation” where participants called for justice and Marcos’ resignation while marching or jogging from Roxas Boulevard to Baclaran Church.
The “Tarlac to Tarmac” run was more ambitious and taxing. ATOM launched the run on January 27, 1984, with 300 participants starting out from the Aquinos’ hometown of Concepcion, Tarlac. Several times, they were blocked by police forces. They rested in churches along the way. Nine days and 120 kilometers later, the runners, now numbering hundreds of thousands, ended their protest run at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport where Aquino had been shot dead.
The numbers and breadth of the protest movement kept growing. In February 1986, Butz Aquino was among the first to publicly support the military rebels led by General Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile. He boldly went on air on Radio Veritas to call on ATOM members and all Filipinos who believe in democracy to gather in front of the Isetann department store in Cubao, Quezon City. From there they marched to EDSA.
Aquino later confessed he wanted to run from the military tanks bearing down upon the crowd but pretended to be brave because he saw nuns kneeling in front of the tanks. “Nagtapang-tapangan na lang ako,” was his admission. The hundreds and hundreds of thousands of others who were there also swallowed their fear and faced the tanks. Butz also stayed.After the dictatorship was ousted, and national elections were held in 1987, Aquino ran for senator and won. He authored legislation that championed and furthered the interests of the Filipino peasantry: the Magna Carta for Small Farmers, the Seed Act, and the Cooperative Code of the Philippines. He was one of the 12 senators collectively called the “Magnificent 12” for voting to finally end the unequal military treaty that allowed US bases on Philippine soil. He stayed in the Senate until 1995.
In 1998 he was elected as representative of Makati’s 2nd district, and twice reelected for a total of three terms, until 2007. He was considering running again as senator after that but decided against it upon learning that his nephew, Benigno (Noynoy) Aquino III, was running for President.
Butz Aquino died in 2015. His life’s story proves that ordinary people can be moved to make significant, even heroic, contributions to the people’s cause and welfare, much more than they think themselves capable of, because of their love for country and the quest for justice.
