seven years after the murder of opposition leader and former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., his daughters say the search for the brains behind his assassination is over, and that the Aquino family has already achieved justice. Ma. Elena “Ballsy” Cruz and Aurora “Pinky” Abellada, elder sisters of President Benigno Aquino III, say it's time to move on. The two, however, stressed that their brother may not necessarily share their views. “For me, that's so long ago,” said Abellada. “We know who did it. Many of them are dead; let's move forward. I don't know if human rights advocates will get angry, but for me, you cannot hold these ill feelings for long because in the end it's you who will suffer.” “For me, it's over. As far as I'm concerned, it is a closed book already because we know who's behind it. I mean, I've made up my mind insofar as who planned it,” adds Cruz, the eldest of the president's siblings. But for the rest of the country, the assassination of Ninoy will remain one of the nation's biggest unsolved mysteries. In his column “Hindsight,” writer F. Sionel Jose wrote Noynoy Aquino an open letter with unsolicited advice: “Now that you have the muscle to do it, go after your father's killers. Blood and duty compel you to do so. Cory was only his wife – you are the anointed and only son ...” But Cruz and Abellada, interviewed by The Probe Team before Noynoy's inauguration, said they would rather see their brother dedicate his time and efforts to nation-building to improve the lives of the majority, rather than to finding their father's killers.
