PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino will lead this afternoon’s commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the infamous Jabidah Massacre in Corregidor.

It was Aquino’s father, the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., who delivered a privilege speech on the Jabidah massacre in 1968 that sparked a Moro revolt.

Aquino will be accompanied by Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in honoring the heroism of the slain Muslim youths by witnessing the groundbreaking ceremony of the Garden of Peace , a memorial to the victims of the bloodbath 45 years ago.

The President is also set to visit the Jabidah Marker for hands of Peace at the special event slated at 1:30 p.m.

The Jabidah tragedy involved Muslim recruits who were brought to Corregidor on Jan. 3, 1968 for training in guerrilla warfare in preparation for “Operation Merdeka,” a top-secret plan of the Marcos administration to invade Sabah, which the Philippines claimed was part of its territory.

Their training officers fired on them before dawn on March 18 after the trainees, belatedly learning of the covert plan, refused to take part in the mission.

Only one trainee survived to tell the tale, Jibin Arula, who reportedly died in a vehicular accident in Trece Martires, Cavite, in 2010.

That singular event triggered the Moros to press for independence in May 1968 and take up arms in 1972, the year the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was founded by then University of the Philippines professor Nur Misuari who had vowed to fight for the establishment of a Bangsamoro republic.