Former president Benigno Aquino III on Sunday night made a surprise appearance at the Pray for 8 Concert held at the Lapu-Lapu Shrine at the Luneta, an effort by martial law victims to urge the Supreme Court justices to vote against the Duterte administration’s move to bury the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).

Aquino arrived with his former Cabinet secretary Mar Roxas. They were accompanied by Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.

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All three were in white shirts, following the chosen fighting color of the organizers.

Asked if he felt the people were already abandoning the color yellow, Aquino replied that by choosing the color white, the people are emphasizing that the fight against the Marcos burial at the LNMB “is not a fight only between two families.”

Aquino reiterated that the fight for democracy was not only between his family and the Marcoses, saying that many families sacrificed during the dictatorship in the struggle to regain the country’s freedom.

Aquino’s father, opposition leader senator Ninoy Aquino, was assassinated in 1983 that became the tipping point for the people to rise against the dictator. Yellow became the political color that represented the fight for democracy, but it was also deeply associated with the Aquino family.

The former president said he was not breaking his moratorium to keep silent for a year by attending the concert.

“I’m just here as part of the audience,” he said.

Aquino and Roxas stayed for less than an hour.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide on the petition against the Marcos LNMB burial on November 8.

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