Exclusive (w/photos) by Raïssa Robles —

Thirty-one years ago on August 31, millions of Filipinos formed a funeral cortege that stretched miles and miles across the nation’s capital to bury a man who had come home, foolishly thinking he could convince an aging dictator to loosen his grip on power.
That man, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., was treacherously shot dead as he was led down a flight of stairs from the aircraft he had arrived in. His feet never even touched the ground.

Ninoy’s murder in a tightly secured area while surrounded by soldiers ironically had a strange effect on the Filipino psyche. It freed many Filipinos from the constant fear of living under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.