His friends still call him "senator" although he lost the title with the advent of martial law. Aquino relishes his freedom after years of confinement--he can hardly wait for the next CfIA colloquium or seminar or class. His office has an eerily empty quality, immaculately clean with none of the characteristic academic bric-a-brac littering his desk. His one luxury in the spartan setting is a little tea kettle. He eagerly keeps track of world events, and asks most of his visitors if they think prominent South Korean dissident Kim Dae-Jung "will swing"--a euphemism which even seeps into his speech when he refers to himself. He takes phone calls with an effusive charm and unusual passion. "That was another one of my friends--calling from San Francisco. Everyone I know who can afford it is fleeing the country. I hear you can't get a plane reservation," he says.

But one afternoon this week, Aquino got a call from the head of the Philippines' national airline, who informed him he had a plane reservation back to his homeland--first class--further evidence that Marcos wants him back to salvage order. Aquino shakes his head, pensive. "Marcos knows I can help control the students--my constituency." That might defuse the tension in Manila, since 700,000 inhabitants of the country's largest city are students. He glances at a newspaper. "Bombings in Mindanao--I hadn't heard of problems there. Things are getting out of control."

If Aquino does return to the Philippines, his stop in the U.S. will be just another postcard visit in a career that has taken him all over the world. Born November 27, 1932, he started his professional life as a reporter, covering the Korean War for the Mani la Times ("Those Koreans, they're tough"). He then went to Southeast Asia, covering Vietnam for a couple of years, before becoming the paper's foreign affairs editor. He entered politics as a speech-writer for President Magsaysay in 1954.

In 1955, he became the youngest mayor of Concepcion, while continuing in his capacity as special assistant for foreign affairs to Magsaysay. In 1957, he worked as special domestic adviser to President Garcia before becoming governor of Tarlac province in 1961.

Aquino continued to rise meteorically--he was elected the youngest senator ever, and was voted outstanding senator of the year twice by the Philippine Free Press. He won two presidential merit awards.

But his sterling credentials and widespread popularity did not put him in good stead when Marcos declared martial law. While most leaders incarcerated by Marcos in 1972 eventually were released, Aquino remained in jail. He was charged with involvement with communists and guerillas, and convicted by a military tribunal. His more likely crime was his candidacy for president under the Liberal Party banner.

The long hours in a cell were spent reading voraciously--everything "except articles on the Philippines, they were cut out." He devoured books by the CfIA personnel he has now met as well as Harold Robbins novels. "You can only read the heavy stuff for so long," he says. During that time Aquino came to the conclusion that "the only difference between the U.S. and the Soviet Union is America's moral anger--take away the moral anger, and you have two symmetrical superpowers." He says he feels no bitterness--he will respond to Marcos if the dictator is "sincere in restoring our freedoms."

He will even return to Manila, a city he describes as "worse now than during World War II. There's a bomb scare every ten minutes, and a checkpoint at every bridge." While he says he has "lost his appetite for power," he adds quickly that "I will never turn my back to the call." He is fully aware of the risks he faces. "Marcos can arrest anyone. He even has a device he calls 'preventive arrest.' Now he's paranoid. Frankly, I don't know what he's going to do."