Search for notes by fellow students, in your own course and all over the country.
Browse our notes for titles which look like what you need, you can preview any of the notes via a sample of the contents. After you're happy these are the notes you're after simply pop them into your shopping cart.
Title: The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda MArcos
Description: This is a limited edition article from one of the greatest biographers and authors of his time. A work which truthfully unfolds the genuine condition of the Philippines under the rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and their satirically acclaimed conjugal dictatorship.
Description: This is a limited edition article from one of the greatest biographers and authors of his time. A work which truthfully unfolds the genuine condition of the Philippines under the rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and their satirically acclaimed conjugal dictatorship.
Document Preview
Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The Conjugal
Dictatorship
of
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Primitivo Mijares
1976 Edition
Primitivo Mijares
Page 1
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Reprinted by Tatay Jobo Elizes, a self-publisher
...
The
copyright to this book belongs to the heirs, and represented by Perla Mijares,
the daughter, based in USA
...
Reprinting of this book is using the present-day method of Print-on-Demand
(POD) or Book-on-Demand (BOD) System, where prints will never run out of
copies
...
S
...
Mr
...
Marcos denied the attempted bribery but from a
scrutiny of Mijares' testimony, the statement of denial and the circumstances described, the prob ability favors Mijares
...
Marcos denied
mainly the reported bnliery but not the contents of the testimony of his erstwhile
confidential press man
...
Diosdado Macapagal Statement
"If Mijares were not credible, he would not have merited refutation by
Mr
...
MACAPAGAL, former President of the Philippines, in his latest book,
Democracy in the Philippines
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 3
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
About the Author
by Cris D
...
For, really, what will Ferdinand E
...
He was but 12 years old when he came upon the mutilated bodies
of his slain mother, dead from the bayonet thrusts of Japanese soldiers, and
his father, dying from both Japanese bayonet and bullet wounds, in the smoking
ruins of their home
...
While his gunsmith father, Jose, was busy turning out home-made pistols,
called locally as paltiks for the resistance movement, young Mijares served as
the driver or cochero for the family’s horse-drawn rig, carretela, used in the
delivery of vinegar to outlying towns
...
When the Japanese military one day decided to commandeer all the horses
In the town, Mijares persuaded the Japanese to allow him to drive his carretela
home to unload the empty vinegar jars before surrendering his horse
...
After World War II, the four Mijares orphans were distributed among their
mother’s uncles with the girls joining an uncle in Borneo, now Sabah, and the
boys staying in the Philippines
...
He edited the high school newspaper,
was elected president of his graduating class and finished as valedictorian
...
He became a full-pledge reporter the same
day he joined the defunct Manila Chronicle on August 15, 1951, covering all the
major beats
...
He passed the Philippine bar examinations also in 1960
...
He was with
Arsenio H
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 4
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Tibo was both a star witness and active participant in the greatest single
upheaval to hit the Philippines
...
--oo--
Original Cover of the 1976 Edition
Primitivo Mijares
Page 5
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Contents
Author’s Foreword - 7
Acknowledgment - 9
Chapter I - A Summer Night in Washington, D
...
- 10
Chapter II - 'Manila-Gate' - 34
Chapter III - Twilight of Democracy - 48
Chapter IV - A Dark Age Begins - 83
Chapter V - Infrastructure of Martial Law - 111
Chapter VI - The Other Villains - 143
Chapter VII - The Reign of Greed - 157
Chapter VIII - The Unholy Trinity - 176
Chapter IX - Too Late the Hero - 194
Chapter X - The Loves of Marcos - 218
Chapter XI - Philippine ‘Gulag’: A Paralysis of Fear - 227
Chapter XII - The Era of Thought Control - 266
Chapter XIII - American Tax Dollar Abets Repression - 301
Chapter XIV - International Protection Racket - 329
Chapter XV - Spineless Judiciary Legits a Pretender - 339
Chapter XVI - Plans in Perpetuity - 365
Chapter XVII - Whither Marcos? - 389
Photo Section - 411
Author’s Picture
Primitivo Mijares
Page 6
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Author’s Foreword
This book is unfinished
...
I wrote this volume very, very slowly
...
1975
...
A close associate, Marcelino P
...
" (Your book could become stale
...
In whichever way I turned,
I was confronted by the distraught images of the Filipino multitudes crying
out to me to finish this work, lest the frailty of human memory -- or any incident
a la Nalundasan – consign to oblivion the matters I had in mind to form the vital
parts of this book
...
Marcos and his overly ambitious
wife, Imelda, that led to a day of infamy in my country, that Black Friday on
September 22, 1972, when martial law was declared as a means to establish
history’s first conjugal dictatorship
...
I thought that, if I did
not perpetuate this work for posterity, Marcos might unduly benefit from a
Laurelian statement that, when a man dies, the virtues of his past are magnified
and his faults are reduced to molehills
...
Now that it is off the
press
...
But this work now belongs to history
...
Although it finds great
relevance in the present life of the present life of the Filipinos and of Americans
interested in the study of subversion of democratic governments by apparently
legal means, this work seeks to find its proper niche in history which must
inevitably render its judgment on the seizure of government power from the
people by a lame duck Philippine President
...
1975, then I could have done so only
in anger
...
However, as I put the finishing touches to my work, I found myself
expurgating it of the personal venom, the virulence and intemperate language
of my original draft
...
If I had used them, it was with the intention of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 7
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
utilizing them as links to heretofore unrevealed facets of the various ruses that
Marcos employed to establish his dictatorship
...
I have kept my rendezvous
with history
...
I had one other compelling reason for coming out with this work at the great
risks of being uprooted from my beloved country, of forced separation from my
wife and children and losing their affection, and of losing everything I have in
my name in the Philippines — or losing life itself
...
Marcos as his
candidate for the presidency of the Philippines in the elections of 1965
...
I entertain no illusions that my puny work would dislodge Ferdinand and
Imelda from their concededly entrenched position
...
I am hopeful that this work would somehow set off,
or contribute to the ignition, of a chain reaction that would compel Marcos to
relinquish his vise-like dictatorial grip on his own countrymen
...
1976
Primitivo Mijares
Page 8
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Acknowledgment
I would need an additional chapter in a
futile attempt to acknowledge all the help I
received in producing this volume
...
— The Author
Primitivo Mijares
Page 9
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Chapter I
A Summer Night in Washington, D
...
The capital of the United States of America had always incited in me the
inner feelings of love of country, a feeling which I seem to overlook while I am
actually in my own terra firma on Philippine soil; it is as if one is given a sudden
urge of imbibing, and seeking to belong to a vital footnote to, history
...
C
...
S
...
So
it was the way I felt in June, 1958, when, as a young reporter for the now defunct
Manila Chronicle, I first set foot on Washington, D
...
My first trip to Washington,
D
...
was in connection with my coverage of the state visit of then President
Carlos P
...
The thought alone of going to Washington, D
...
, that square mass of land
carved out of the territories of the states of Maryland and Virginia, becomes
awe-inspiring; being in D
...
itself gives one a sense of history
...
C
...
” Indeed, a great many people attempt to
make it to Washington, D
...
not only because they seek to honor America’s
great national heritage, but also because they want to be part of it, in however
small a way
...
In the midst of such heady thought, I was, however, sobered up by
a warning given earlier by former Senator Raul S
...
C
...
C
...
I told Manglapus that I was going to Washington, D
...
in
response to an invitation of a committee of the United States Congress
...
I am not going to perform any heroics
...
S
...
It was Col
...
Manzano (USA Retired), a Bataan war hero whose exploits are
documented by Gen
...
Romulo in his book, “I Saw the Fall of the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 10
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Philippines,” who brought my name to the attention of, and insisted on my
appearing before, the best forum available as of now to any struggle for the
peaceful overthrow of a dictatorship — the United States Congress
...
Manzano is a no nonsense brutally frank man who used to coach soccer
teams in Manila
...
Not given
to unnecessary delays and red tape, Manzano instead has waited for no man
and depended on no one in carrying out his one-man battle against despotism
in the Philippines
...
The man is now waging another heroic battle against a home-grown
tyranny
...
S
...
Manzano even managed to convince television stations in (he
San Francisco area to grant him free air time in refuting single-handedly the
overpowering propaganda of the Manila martial regime in the United States
...
C
...
It was the case I was about to state, and the very decision I have made to
state such case, before the U
...
Congress that gave me a sense of purpose, a
mission for my country, and a sense of entering the threshold of history
...
I imaged
the delegates to the Continental Congress rejecting overwhelmingly in
1776 certain well-intentioned proposals that the former British colonies of North
America embrace a dictatorial form of government for the newly-independent
nation
...
The propitious occasion was, of course, the forced resignation of President
Richard Milhous Nixon on August 9, 1974, under the pressure of an impending
impeachment trial in the wake of the Watergate scandal
...
I was thinking at the time that, whatever condemnation might
be reserved for the ill-fated Nixon presidency, Nixon, alone of all people, acted
heroically to make the American system work by his resignation from the
premier White House post
...
S
...
The conditions in Washington, D
...
and across the continent of the United
States at the time of Nixon’s Watergate crisis suited to a “T” the description of
conditions in the Philippines a few months before September, 1972, as
described by Romulo, in his capacity as secretary of foreign affairs of the
Philippines, before the Commonwealth Club of California on May 24,1973, in
San Francisco
...
” Romulo’s employer in the Philippines viewed and interpreted the
conditions in Manila in a different light, in a most absurd way
...
As for Nixon, he obviously viewed all the
exercises resulting from Watergate, concerted or disparate as they may
have appeared, as a solid indication that America no longer wanted him to rule
for he had lost his moral and legal authority to lead the country from the seat of
the ever-living presidency
...
Indeed, Nixon could have contrived some serious crises, like plunging
America into a new war in Indochina or provoking some economic crises that
might have compelled his tormentors to forget Watergate in the meantime
...
Nixon did indeed agonize over the decision he had to make in bowing to
the superiority and workability of the American democratic system over and
above the personal or ethical interests of one man, be he the President of the
United States or the lowly street cleaner
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 12
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
“Sayang si Nixon, kaibigan pa naman natin
...
e, di, okay
na okay lang siya sa White House
...
If only he had martial law powers
and had the courage like our sir [to exercise the powers]
...
He wouldn’t have to take those abuses [criticisms
from Congress and the American media, among others]
...
”
(Yes, but he doesn’t have such powers under the American Constitution as we
have under ours
...
Marcos and his wife, Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, as they talked about the
difficulties of President Nixon at the hands of Judge John Sirica, and the select
Senate Watergate Committee and the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by
Senator Sam Ervin and Rep
...
Rodino, Jr
...
The scene of
this dialogue was Marcos’ public “study room” where the First Lady had stopped
by after disposing of her own callers for the day in her “Music Room
...
Marcos
...
The smug conjugal leaders of the Philippines knew exactly what they were
talking about
...
In case of invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, or imminent danger
thereof, when the public safety requires it, he may suspend the privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial
law
...
This is because they
have found out rather painfully that the military-backed New Society launched
by Marcos has not drawn significant support among the overseas Filipinos,
much less among the rank and file Americans in the U
...
mainland
...
Mrs
...
21,1972
...
”
Mrs
...
The implication of her
statement was that Nixon knew very well in advance Marcos’ political plans
when the Philippine President “sought” the U
...
President’s clearance to
impose martial law in his country
...
The First Lady claimed that Nixon wanted Marcos’ martial law to work
effectively “because he might find need for a model which he could adopt later
on in the United States
...
Marcos declared
...
Nixon chose resignation and temporary infamy at his St
...
It was the peaceful, orderly and legal manner by which the United States’
system dealt decisively and unerringly with Nixon’s Watergate that made the
eve of the U
...
bicentennial more meaningful; its system of removing an erring
and unwanted Chief Executive becoming the object of hope and aspiration in
desperation among oppressed and tyrannized peoples, like the 45 million
Filipinos now groaning under a yoke set up by a home-grown tyrant
...
C
...
Filipinos look up to Washington, D
...
as their own special capital city, too
...
Momentous events have
taken place in Washington, D
...
that helped shape the destiny of that 7,100island archipelago known as the Republic of the Philippines
...
C
...
See Page 123, printed record of the hearings of the Subcommittee on International
Organizations of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, U
...
Congress, series of 1975
...
S
...
Thus, upon the establishment by General
Wesley Merritt of an American military government in Manila, on August
14,1898, President McKinley, who was girding for a reelection, intoned: “The
Philippines are ours, not to exploit, but to develop, to civilize, to educate, to train
in the science of self-government
...
Numerous missions and resolutions were
dispatched to the United States by leaders of the Philippine independence
movement even as the Philippines enjoyed benevolent American rule, enjoying
the protection of the Bill of Rights as found in the U
...
Constitution
...
S
...
Enacted by the United States
Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D
...
The Tydings-McDuffie Law provided for
the establishment of a Commonwealth Government and recognition of
Philippine Independence on the fourth of July immediately following the end of
the ten-year period from the date of the Commonwealth inauguration
...
Independence was granted the Republic of the Philippines on
July 4, 1946
...
President Franklin D
...
3
...
)
Thus, from 1947 to 1961, the Philippines marked its Freedom Day on July
4
...
Macapagal) reset the day of
Philippine Independence to June 12, the date in 1898 when Gen
...
The Filipino people, however, continue to celebrate July 4 as Philippine-American Friendship Day or
Republic Day
...
S
...
Included in
the proposed additional war damage payments was a personal claim made by
a certain Ferdinand E
...
war material he allegedly supplied the American guerillas in Mindanao during
the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines
...
S
...
The U
...
War Damage Commission had earlier
rejected the same personal war damage claims of Marcos as “fake
...
See Chapter on “Too Late the Hero
...
Marcos who
delivered an emotional oratory denouncing “America’s ingratitude” for the
Bataan sacrifices of Filipino soldiers, like him
...
*5 (*5
...
)
Marcos’ act of “returning”
his war medals to the United States embassy prompted then Senate Majority
Leader Cipriano Primicias, Sr
...
he return those
medals to the U
...
embassy when all but two of them are Philippine decorations
which he obtained only a month ago and 17 years after the war?” In any case,
when Marcos himself became President of his country in 1965, he upheld the
decision of Macapagal and to this day leads his nation in celebrating
Independence Day every 12th day of June
...
C
...
There was
even a time when Filipinos, especially the newspapermen, considered going to
Washington, D
...
a special pilgrimage in much the same spirit that a Filipino
Muslim looks forward to a visit to Mecca in Jeddha, a lifetime obligation
...
C
...
The outstanding
symbol of a Filipino newsman’s achievement in Washington, D
...
is, of course,
Abelardo “Al” Valencia, the first Filipino correspondent of the Associated Press
before World War II, who is now doing some press and public relations work
for the Philippine embassy in Washington, D
...
I imagine that the patriotic feeling that Washington, D
...
awakens in me
when I am within her fold works similarly for most other Filipinos who are awed
by the relevance of the U
...
capital to their own lives as citizens of the
Philippines
...
C
...
, the man
largely responsible in preventing the Commission on Elections from being used
Primitivo Mijares
Page 16
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
by the ruling Liberal party in 1965 in cheating then presidential candidate
Ferdinand E
...
It was also in Washington, D
...
where another Filipino, Napoleon
Lechoco, Sr
...
Romualdez, for 11 hours
to dramatize a demand that his son, Napoleon, Jr
...
*6 In so doing, Lechoco, Sr
...
(*6 Lechoco, a native of Masbate, Philippines, entered the Philippine embassy and held the
ambassador at gunpoint on Nov
...
He said that his son who has been granted an immigrant visa by the U
...
government, was being deliberately blocked in his attempt to leave Manila in retaliation for the antimartial law activities of the elder Lechoco in the U
...
The martial regime capitulated to Lechoco,
Sr
...
There
was the general observation among Filipinos at home and abroad, however, that, if the envoy had
not been a Romualdez, the martial regime would not have yielded so easily to the demands of
Lechoco
...
)
There must be in the atmosphere or conditions that are a monopoly of
Washington, D
...
that would induce men to take actions that, viewed singularly
as such acts, would lead other ordinary men to conclude that such actuations
are foolhardy, such as the actions taken by Rodriguez or by Lechoco, who are
both Filipino immigrants in the United States
...
acted in a
state of sanity in holding Ambassador Romualdez hostage in exchange for his
son
...
C
...
Dean III must have pondered his own
predicament while preparing to blow the whistle on his former boss
...
C
...
I was studying the words I would have to utter for the June 17, 1975 affair
of mine, serenely on that sultry summer night of Washington, D
...
amidst the
comfort of the fairly efficient air-conditioning system of Room No
...
S
...
St
...
W
...
C
...
Tibooo!
Botihss
...
Secretary,” interrupted a decidedly Oriental female
Primitivo Mijares
Page 17
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
voice, so familiar to my eardrums as that of an overseas telephone operator
from Manila
...
I could recognize his
voice inspite of the waterfall-like hissing sound that an overseas telephone
connection makes
...
C
...
The
project in which I was involved at the time had “highest priority” rating because
the principal was the female half of the ruling duumvirate in the Philippines, the
First Lady Imelda R
...
It was not only the consideration of her personality
that made the project of such “high priority”; it was what she wanted to
accomplish that made me and other hirelings of the dictatorship in the
Philippines work in earnest
...
The Philippines’ First Lady was sorely irritated that the
international media have played down her triumphant Peking trip
...
She blamed Information Secretary Francisco S
...
I was asked to help out in the new image-building project for Mrs
...
My mission was to establish in my “private capacity” contact
with the overseas Filipinos opposed to the martial regime in the Philippines
...
C
...
But I was brought all
the way from Manila to handle this particularly messy job
...
Mijares, you have become their Donald Segretti,” quipped
Alejandro del Rosario, city editor of the defunct Manila Chronicle and now
information attache at the New York consulate, as he reported to me on orders
from Ambassador Ernesto Pineda, the consul general to New York, to assist
me in the prosecution of my mission
...
I
was soon joined by public relations practitioner Jose T
...
If my mission had been a sure thing, it just might have been grabbed,
instead of being delegated to me, by Benjamin “Ko-koy” Romualdez, the
favorite brother of Mrs
...
An ambitious, rapacious and insatiable man,
he wants to be known as the Kissinger of the Philippines because he had
Primitivo Mijares
Page 18
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
performed for President Marcos some diplomatic trouble-shooting which, he
said, should place him on equal stature with U
...
State Secretary Henry
Kissinger; but coffee shop wags in Manila have already dubbed him
“Kokoysinger” or “the man who’s got cuckoo-y on his head
...
I
almost did
...
My mission was discussed and cleared beforehand by Kokoy with
President Marcos
...
I
made sure myself, however, that it was really the President’s desire that I fly to
the United States — as I did on October 21,1974 — to arrange a meeting
between the Philippines’ bejewelled and extravagant First Lady and the Filipino
exiles who constitute the overseas opposition to the martial regime in the
Philippines
...
Of course, Leandro Quintana, business editor of
the Philippine News, swears that the First Lady of the Philippines, aside from
doing official chores for Marcos, had been observed by him strengthening her
Israeli connections at the Carlyle Hotel in New York, specifically with an Israeli
violinist
...
Marcos
did not entertain any illusion, much less a desire, such as which Mrs
...
He gave me the impression that he would as a
matter of fact prefer to have a semblance of an opposition from abroad to the
martial regime; also, he wanted a man of Manglapus’ stature to lead such a
movement
...
The emissary was retired Philippine Navy Commander Juan B
...
He instructed me to reiterate to
Manglapus the message he had authorized Magluyan to convey: that
Manglapus could concentrate on graft and corruption among top military
commanders in attacking the martial regime, and that he should also condemn
the old society politicians for driving Marcos to declare martial law
...
At the same time, Marcos also wanted to
prevent possible unification of domestic and overseas anti-martial law efforts
by alienating Manglapus from the sidelined political leaders back home
...
I told him I had already drafted and passed on to Presidential
Executive Assistant Jacobo C
...
The decision to abolish MAC was
made by Marcos on October 15,1974, during a conference which was attended
by Bulletin Today publisher Hans Menzi, Secretary Tatad, and myself
...
It was to have had
certain sinister purposes which not even President Marcos figured out when he
put his stamp of approval to the project; he did not even realize that the amount
of government funds he had approved for the First Lady’s trip would be
multiplied no less than ten times in an arm-twisting method that only an
extravagant First Lady like Mrs
...
Firstly, the contact
with Filipino exiles was to be held out to Marcos himself by the female half of
the ruling duumvirate in Manila that, everywhere Imelda might be, whether she
be in mainland China or continental America, she becomes an instant hit; her
irresistible charms work on heretofore antagonists, opponents and bitter critics
of the conjugally-managed New Society in the Philippines
...
It was to be a ruse, the plan being to make it
appear that the exiles led by Manglapus had sought the kindhearted help of
Imelda in seeking forgiveness for their anti-martial law activities in the United
States
...
It was a ridiculous offer because, as every
student of law realizes, no citizen of a country, excepting those in the diplomatic
service, can be held liable for any act he may have committed outside the
territorial limits of his country even though it be a violation of his country’s laws
...
Marcos was also
going to be beamed to President Gerald Ford in order to compel a decision
on his part to receive the First Lady at the White House, an expected happening
that Imelda and Kokoy figured would complete the scenario that Imelda
Romualdez-Marcos is a hit whether she be with Mao or Ford
...
Marcos, having convinced his brother-in-law that he was the best man to
do it in view of his “strong connections” in the State Department However, when
Kokoy received negative feedbacks on his efforts to make his sister crash into
the White House, he decided that the First Lady should make a big show
of contacting the dissident Filipino exiles
...
However, none of
the tricks resorted to by the First Lady or her sock-less brother ever worked on
Ford
...
There apparently are several reasons for the failure of the continuous
assault by the First Lady on Ford’s White House
...
Despite the visit made by President Ford to the Philippines in December, 1975, the White
House doors are still tightly-closed to Mrs
...
The Ford visit should not be viewed as an
endorsement of the martial regime
...
)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 20
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
One of them is that President Ford is not in favor of lending the prestige of his
office to totalitarian regimes, especially so in the case of countries which have
enjoyed expensive experiments in democracy at the expense of American
taxpayers and which experiments have been brought to naught by the whims
and caprices of home-grown tyrants
...
S
...
S
...
And then, Ford is said
to be wary that a visit by Imelda would necessarily include a chat with Mrs
...
Ford with the ideas of
Imelda on jet-set parties and expensive junkets abroad and on meddling in the
affairs of state
...
The sound of anticipation from the man
speaking at the other end of the line was discernible to me even 10,000 miles
away
...
I recalled that the man who now wants to talk to me was a man who was
almost as thorough and as methodical as the President we both used to serve
...
Marcos’ trip involving the air transportation to New York of a battalion of security agents belonging to the
Presidential Security Command and how they should be shielded from the
media people of New York
...
Marcos
...
Marcos be
made very happy in New York and persuaded to stay there a little longer,
obviously to keep her off his back while the President undertook matters of
utmost concern to his own personal well-being
...
We had direct, unrestricted
access to the heavily-isolated dictator virtually 24 hours a day, although our
entry into the Marcos corridor of power was paved in different ways
...
Marcos on
instructions of my publisher, the late Don Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
The reason
was that, as a political writer, I successfully convinced Lopez that then Senator
Marcos should be backed by the Lopez political-economic power in wresting
Primitivo Mijares
Page 21
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the Senate presidency in 1963 as he (Marcos) was the presidential timber
“best-equipped” to dislodge the incumbent President, Macapagal, in the 1965
presidential elections
...
(*8
...
”)
When Marcos and Lopez broke up their alliance in 1972, I chose to side
with Marcos, and was thus compelled to transfer to Marcos’ newly-established
newspaper, the Daily Express
...
Upon
the imposition of martial law on September 21, 1972, I assumed the role of a
“media czar” for the regime with my election as President of the Malacanangcontrolled National Press Club of the Philippines, my assumption of the
position of chairman of the Media Advisory Council and my being held out
personally by President Marcos as the sole conduit between the military
government and the practicing media
...
I was generally accepted as an ex-officio member of the
Marcos Cabinet, having access to all Cabinet meetings and even closed-door
military briefings
...
It was
my pursuit of the “Devil’s Advocate” role, which Marcos himself assigned
to me in view of my “non-official” status in the Palace, that eventually led to my
disenchantment with the regime
...
Some military officers actually proposed
that I be arrested and placed in the military stockade without prior notice to the
President on charges that I was a former staff member of the defunct Manila
Chronicle
...
To be sure, there were early attempts on the part of the military’s Office for
Civil Relations to bring me within the pale of its emergency jurisdiction over
mass media
...
See Chapter on “Era of Thought Control
...
” At that time, the military just didn’t know the role I was playing for the
martial regime
...
One day in December, 1972, Colonel Noe S
...
I
did consent to see Andaya but only after I had “cleared” my trip with the
President himself
...
It turned out that Andaya wanted me to explain a piece I had written in my
Primitivo Mijares
Page 22
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
column, “PM Views,” which was critical of Senator Gerardo A
...
Andaya said it was “un-New Society”
of me to have assailed Roxas in the manner that I did
...
As a matter of
fact, I told Andaya, a presidential assistant was waiting for a telephone call at
the Palace from the OCR chief so that he could authenticate my claim on who
ordered that the Roxas column be written the way it was published
...
Later, the presidential assistant told me that he added a few more words
to this effect: “It is the President’s desire that you do not waste the time of Tibo
Mijares by asking him to explain to the military what stories the President had
ordered him to write
...
He stressed that it was not the
desire of the OCR to question the orders of the commander-in-chief of the
armed forces
...
I utilized my conference with Andaya to let him and the military know the
nature of propaganda work that I was doing for Marcos
...
I had with me President Marcos’
own handwritten “story ideas which I was supposed to stagger for the
Christmas holidays of 1972-1973
...
I showed the handwritten notes
of the President to Andaya
...
Andaya could only plead with me that I “let us in the
OCR know once in a while” what major news stories I would be farming out on
orders of the President “so that we can coordinate
...
The military, and subsequently the entire nation, were to accept as a matter
of course that anything that appeared under my by-line in the newspapers were
the “thoughts of Marcos
...
Most of the
pieces I had written as news stories or columns about how excellent were the
thoughts, acts and deeds of Marcos were actually dictated by Marcos to me
...
My column was more generally
accepted as “President Marcos Views” and not as “Primitivo Mijares’ Views
...
I started entertaining second thoughts about my support and propaganda
work for Marcos towards the end of the year 1973
...
But it must have been right after December
30,1973, which was the day Marcos’ second and last term in office under the
1935 Constitution ended
...
I decided then that I would have to eventually jump Marcos’ ship
...
I somehow had to make public my rebellion against Marcos’ plan to
become the Philippine ruler for life
...
I
wanted to perpetuate into the records of history the machinations of a man
dead-set on becoming a dictator in his own country
...
Kabasares and asked him to tell
Alex A
...
Cris wrote under his by-line the story of my defection on February 20,1975
...
who had
accompanied me earlier in the evening for dinner at the residence of a friend,
Betty S
...
The only man who could
conceivably call me at that late hour was Cristobal Manalo, former legal counsellor at the Philippine embassy “fired” by Marcos in September, 1972, because
he was an “Iglesia ni Kristo” *10 member
...
A highly-politicized religious sect, established by Bishop Felix Manalo before World War
II, the INK supported Marcos to a man in the 1965 and 1969 elections
...
See also capter on “Twilight of Democracy”
for an account on the battle for custody of the INK radio station complex in Quezon City
...
I must confess though that, during the almost
four months preceding this trip of mine to Washington, D
...
, I have
stood most of the time in morbid fear that a telephone call such as the one I am
now called upon to receive might just intrude into my life
...
For the phone call turned out
precisely to be about that speech I was studying in my room at the Mid-Town
Motor Inn in Washington, D
...
The phone call came at that point in time when, while reviewing my speech,
I was recollecting the circumstances of an earlier visit to Washington, D
...
, and
comparing them with the reason for my current trip
...
The fare I used for my flight from San Francisco to Washington, D
...
was the unused return portion of my plane ticket which was issued to me in
Manila when I left the Philippines on October 21, 1974, to pursue my mission
for the First Lady
...
C
...
Having been informed
earlier that Lechoco was a former newsman, Mrs
...
C
...
It seems that Kokoy who had flown earlier from New York had called up
Primitivo Mijares
Page 24
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the First Lady that he had been unsuccessful thus far in establishing any
contact with “Nap
...
Cendana where members of the support
groups for the First Lady’s New York trip then had converged on hearing about
the siege in the Philippine embassy in Washington, D
...
But before I boarded
the 9 p
...
commuter flight of the Eastern Airlines out of La Guardia airport, I
took time out to place an overseas call to the man who, on this night of June
16,1975, wanted to talk to me by overseas phone
...
Marcos had asked me for his
home phone number at New Manila in Quezon City, presumably to give him a
call and initially mark him for the needed immolation for the predicament that
had befallen her cousin, the ambassador
...
These things flashed so fast in my mind, even as I held my Mid-Town Motel
room phone receiver and heard the Manila overseas operator courteously cut
off the caller from the Manila end: “Just a moment, Mr
...
Sir, this is
an overseas call from Secretary De Vega
...
Mijares?” I answered
hesitantly, but managed to say, “Yes, this is he
...
Mijares
...
”
My overseas conversation with Presidential Assistant Guillermo C
...
The witness, Marcos’ former press censor Primitivo Mijares, was
prepared to tell the uncensored story of the Marcos regime to a House
international relations subcommittee
...
Then an aide got on the phone
and offered him the $50,000
...
Thus Mijares couldn’t
withdraw the $50,000 until the consul general counter-signed the check
...
-Minn
...
Fraser’s office notified the
Justice Department, which is investigating
...
0662-46062 at Lloyds Bank of
California
...
By Mijares’ account, he simply became disgusted with Marcos and
sought asylum in the United States
...
A colonel in Marcos’ presidential guard,
Romeo Ochoco, looked up Mijares in San Francisco
...
He plans
to call it “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda
...
“He said Marcos would talk to me about my
complaints,” recalled Mijares
...
The colonel’s visit was followed by a series of telephone calls from
Ambassador Alconcel, who had heard that Mijares would be a star witness
at Fraser’s hearings on U
...
-Philippines problems
...
” In return, the former censor was
promised that Manila would “help” him
...
Not long afterward, on June 16, he received
a call from Manila
...
“He started out by calling me by my
nickname, ‘Tibo
...
“I told him it would be difficult to back out since I was already under the
committee’s jurisdiction
...
”
Then presidential aide Guillermo de Vega got on the line, according to
Mijares, and began speaking in a mixture of Tagalog and Spanish to
confuse possible wire tappers
...
But if he went ahead with his
testimony, warned the aide, it would be a “declaration of war
...
Two hours before he was scheduled to take the
stand, he received a call from Alconcel imploring him not to testify and
reiterating that the money would be on hand in San Francisco
...
Mijares laid all these crimes right at the door of Marcos, his family and
cronies
...
Now he is trying to convince U
...
immigration authorities that there is a
place in the United States for a newspaperman on the run from
totalitarianism
...
Salzberg, staff consultant to
the House Committee on International Relations, I prepared an affidavit
Primitivo Mijares
Page 26
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
detailing the circumstances of the bribe offer and submitted it to the
committee
...
Executed on July 10, 1975, in San Francisco and verified by Bernard Baylocq, a notary
public
...
That at about eleven ’clock in the evening of June 16,1975, EST,
while I was reviewing my opening statement to be given to the Committee,
I received an overseas telephone call from Manila
...
He told me
he was calling from thestudy room of President Marcos and that the
President wanted to talk to me
...
(Tibo, Sir
[meaning President Marcos] wants to talk to you
...
Baka
madagdagan mo pa
...
”
(Tibo, would it be possible for you not to appear before the Committee? Your
testifying may add more to our problems
...
)
MIJARES: “But, sir, there is no way I can back out now
...
”
PRESIDENT MARCOS: “Here is Gimo (Secretary De Vega) and he has
something to tell you
...
)
SECRETARY DE VEGA: “Tibo, bumatsi kana diyan and Trining will
arrange for you ‘cinquenta’ in San Francisco
...
)
MIJARES: “Mogs, (a nickname I use in addressing Secretary De Vega)
hindi na puede
...
I have to testify
...
I
have already informed the Committee that I am now in Washington, D
...
)
SECRETARY DE VEGA: “Iyong figure ay libo
...
) And you will get another Fifty (meaning Fifty Thousand Dollars)
when you leave the United States
...
We will
send you another Fifty upon your arrival there
...
Pero, hindi kita puedeng
mapagbigyan
...
)
SECRETARY DE VEGA: “I will not accept your negative answer now
...
(Consider this proposal carefully
...
”
MIJARES: “I realize that, and you can be sure l will act accordingly
...
”
SECRETARY DE VEGA: "Sigue na, Tibo
...
) Take care of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 27
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
yourself
...
”
8
...
M
...
M
...
Alconcel, in so many
words, made me understand that he had received instructions from
President Marcos to give me Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000
...
Presuming that I would no longer testify before the
Committee, Alconcel asked me to take the first available plane to San
Francisco so that he could deliver the money to me
...
How-ever, he insisted
that he was going to the Philippine National Bank the first hour that morning
to arrange everything
...
In dangling the $50,000
...
00
for my departure from the United States, President Marcos was obviously quite
sure that he was making me an offer I would hardly be able to refuse
...
I have just been offered mine, and the dictatorial
regime that goes by the false facade of sponsor of a New Society in the
Philippines could sit serene, insured for the price of $100,000
...
Either by oversight or some providential happening, the martial regime of
Marcos miscalculated; it failed to reckon with that little possibility that I might
also be influenced by the high fallutin’ principle that there are things in this life
which are more precious than gold, like the duty and obligation I owe to myself,
my family, my profession, my country and its history
...
He had been assured by his consul general
in San Francisco, Alconcel, that I have softened and ripened for a bribe four
months after my dramatic defection from the Philippine government
...
Ibarra, and he had gathered the
valuable information that I was now living in a state of utter penury, unable to
meet my obligations, let alone my requirements for my daily bread
...
And so, they thought, I was ripe for the picking
...
Having operated as a man and as a leader of men on terms so
unconscionable by any yardstick, Marcos obviously overlooked the possibility
that any man, even I, could harken to the voice of conscience — as I did
...
12 When I
bade Tony goodbye on June 15, 1975, as I prepared to fly from San Francisco
to Washington, D
...
, he gave me a most valued pep talk, thus: “Padre, you
have an appointment with history; our suffering countrymen will emblazon in
bold letters their gratitude to you for what you will do in WashPrimitivo Mijares
Page 28
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
ington, D
...
” *12
(*12
...
Marcos
...
Marcos and Manglapus, behind closed-doors; he demanded that it be
held in public
...
S
...
)
I had already made a choice — even before such choice was ever
presented to me in concrete and tempting terms by that overseas phone call
from President Marcos
...
They were D
...
Soriano and Juan A
...
“D
...
” and “Johnny” had sought me out in late May in San Francisco on
their own, having come in from New York where they negotiated certain
contracts for the Daily Express
...
As a
matter of fact, D
...
and Johnny made it plain that they would respect my wishes
to be left alone if I didn’t want to meet them at all — when they requested that
I be put in touch with them by Ms
...
Over cups of coffee at Naper Tandy’s of the Hyatt
Hotel on Union Square, I assured them that I am still able to keep body and
soul together
...
”
Johnny suggested
...
H
...
I happen to have a “scoop,’ I said, “a big story
...
H
...
They looked at me with just one question
on their faces
...
Of course, D
...
and Johnny both knew this more
than anybody else
...
Although there
were different managements, I knew I was serving the interests of one entity
anyway; President Marcos owns the Daily Express
...
H
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 29
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The Philippine News*13 put it more succinctly this way in reporting on my
defection: (13
...
2027, 1975, page 1
...
He does not have to have a prior appointment — as most people
who want to see the President are required to submit to these days
...
Mijares wangled the hand-written “blue pass” because he has to
consult the President on topics for his daily tri-lingual column, “PM Views,”
which had come to be known as “President Marcos’ Views
...
Marcos even strengthened Mijares’ hand by
naming him the MAC chairman
...
Both D
...
and Johnny knew the unique and special role have had to
perform for the conjugal dictatorship in Malacanang
...
This was my scoop,
my exclusive story
...
I set my appointment with history when I
defected from the dictatorial regime of Marcos on February 20,1975
...
I consider this a sacred duty,
the performance of which should put my country’s history in its proper
perspective in order that it can render its just and unflinching verdict on the
power grab pulled by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos in the Philippines on
September 21, 1972
...
H
...
“What we are really interested in
finding out,” reiterated D
...
, ‘‘is that you are okay
...
If I had a terrific story like yours, and if I had the credentials to tell it as
you have, I would certainly do just what you seem determined to do,” Johnny
declared in the true newspaperman’s way
...
”
(*14
...
” However, as it has been
developed as Filipino newsman’s lingo, it means over-embellishment, or complete concoction, of a
news story to make it appear plausible
...
My difficulty is how to confine everything
I know in 500 printed pages,” I quipped
...
H
...
” However, for my friend and now suffering comrade, Antonio
Garcia, my upcoming testimony before the Subcommittee on International
Organizations, of the House Committee on International Relations, was my
fateful appointment with history
...
Earlier, Salzberg informect me
that I would have 15 minutes to read a prepared statement before the
committee, which is chaired by Rep
...
Fraser (D-Minn
...
I realized that 15 minutes would be too short
for me to be able to spell out the lurid details of the story of an evil man’s lifetime
planning to become his country’s first dictator
...
I then decided to look at my forthcoming testimony before the Fraser
committee as an opportunity to make public an outline of the book I have
promised myself upon defection that I would write for posterity, not as a moneymaking venture
...
*15
(*15
...
The figurative meaning is that one who was wallowing in luxury or something good
abandoned it for a worse or uncertain lot
...
In civil law, the children have the right and obligation to take court
action against their own parents to protect their legitime from being impaired by
the improvident spending of their parents
...
I will persevere in this
course of action
...
As Malacanang reporter of the Daily Express (which is owned by the
President’s family), I became among Dictator Marcos’ mere handful of
trusted confidants at the onset of martial law
...
I
saw myself as nothing less than Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph
Goebbels, with oft-times more powers and prerogatives than Marcos’ own
docile, self-serving and egotistical information secretary, Francisco S
...
But I needed no convincing about the justice of FM’s cause
...
With the spreading
violence and upheavals in the old Philippine social and economic structure,
martial law seemed the only way for the salvation of my poor and ravished
country and people
...
But now, also with equal, nay, even more honesty and sincerity, I find I
must sever my bonds with the so-called New Society
...
President Marcos has, wittingly or unwittingly,
consciously or unconsciously, digressed and treasonably betrayed — with
the full and gleeful collaboration of top associates and relatives, mostly inlaws — the avowed objectives that we originally set out to do more than two
years ago
...
”
In due time, I shall have the occasion to bare the gory and intimate
details, as only a trusted (erstwhile) insider could have gleaned, of the
notorious scandal going on in the Philippines that would make Watergate a
drop in the bucket and President Nixon a piker placed side by side with
Marcos
...
What
President Marcos is doing in the Philippines, it has now dawned on me, is
in accordance with a long-studied, methodically prepared plan to take over
an entire country politically and economically for himself, his family and his
cronies, preparatory to setting up an empire
...
Incidentally, I know
for a fact, as I have gleaned from investigative reports to which I have gained
access, that there is no iota of evidence about the Mafia having goofed eight
times in having Marcos killed; much less is there any evidence that would
link anybody now in military custody to any attempt on the life of the
President
...
Since the moment of my decision to severe ties with Marcos comes on
Primitivo Mijares
Page 32
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the eve of the holding of a multi-million peso farcical affair blatantly purveyed
as the Philippine referendum, I must dwell on this point immediately
...
Not
even all the patriotism and honesty of Commission on Elections Chairman
Leonardo B
...
I know whereof I speak
...
Having made my decision to disengage from, and eventually expose the
ills of the Marcos military dictatorship, I must, at the same time, beg the
forgiveness of some good men within the Philippine government for whom I
have nothing but admiration and goodwill
...
This step I now take, knowing that it transcends all personal and official
consideration, risking as I now do even the very lives of my wife and children
in the Philippines
...
Crisostomo D
...
For I must now cry out to articulate the anguished cries of sorrow and
pain of the millions of oppressed and dispossessed Filipinos
...
I might have added — but found it unnecessary to state — that I was
probably naive to think that in the changed situation in the Philippines, as in the
martial law situation, ideals would prevail, not realizing early enough that, as
authoritarian regimes go, the ruling clique must perforce get the lion’s share of
everything
...
”
To my mind, the point that should be grasped is not whether I am a good
or bad man, but whether I tell the truth about the martial regime in the
Philippines
...
I am just here providing some heretofore unknown, but
logically-acceptable links to fit things into the Marcos jig-saw puzzle of perfidy
in my country
...
The amazing
story began a few months ago when Mijares walked out of
Malacanang, the presidential palace, after three years as
Marcos’ confidant and propagandist
...
*1
(*1
...
The New York Daily Post published in its July 3, 1975, issue
an editorial on the same subject, entitled “Manila-Gate
...
C
...
It is a favorite hunting ground for foreign governments in
their recruitment of American senators and congressmen who might be willing
to make trips to their countries where the special guests could be wooed with
wine, women and whatever
...
S
...
S
...
One of those established by Washington, D
...
observers as notorious for
his massive lobbying campaign in the U
...
capital was Dominican Dictator
Rafael Trujillo who had earned such a bad image of corruption and repression
in his country at one time
...
C
...
S
...
One victim of such assassinations was Colonel Yosef Alon, military attache of
the Israeli embassy in Washington, D
...
, who was gunned down on July 1,
1973, by a group of assailants who escaped by car in the Maryland area
...
Philippine lobbying in Washington, D
...
as well as its Trujillo-like penchant
for wooing visiting American officials has not received much denunciatory
notices from the U
...
press
...
It is a fact that the conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda in the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 34
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Philippines is one of the more notorious lobbyists in Washington, D
...
There
was even a time when a Philippine ambassador, now Leyte Gov
...
Marcos, resorted to adobo diplomacy by
regularly distributing once a week to selected American senators and
congressmen, and state department officials adobo *2 to-go
...
Marcos heard about her ambassador-brother’s yeoman intestinal diplomacy in
Washington, D
...
, she even sent Kokoy a Filipino cook to enable him to pursue
and expand his adobo diplomacy
...
A Filipino dish of either pork or chicken, or both, cooked in vinegar and sauce, with
crushed garlic, black pepper and bay leaf
...
S
...
Expenditures running into millions of dollars were unnecessarily
incurred to put up a so-called “spontaneous” one-million crowd welcome
for visiting President and Mrs
...
On one occasion in 1973, the conjugal leaders in Manila broke precedent
by tendering a state dinner, an honor usually reserved for visiting ranking
officials of foreign governments, for Washington Post Publisher Katherine
Graham and a team of staff writers
...
When clippings of the Post’s were telexed to Malacanang,
Mrs
...
The lobbying by Marcos in Washington, D
...
and in Manila for his New
Society among U
...
officials has not chalked up much success
...
S
...
So, he tried on a new tack
— a $100,000-bribe offer
...
That follow-up “Washington Merry-Go-Round”
column read thus:
“EX-AIDE REVEALS MARCOS’ CORRUPTION’’
WASHINGTON — Yesterday we reported that Philippine President
Ferdinand Marcos offered a former confidant, Primitivo Mijares, a $50,000
bribe not to tell the U
...
Congress what he knows about corruption in the
Philippines
...
It is
another Watergate scandal, Philippine version — a story of highcrimes and
misdemeanors, ranging from abuse of power to misuse of government
funds
...
In the memo, he freely
confesses his own dirty work for Marcos
...
Mijares describes
the Marcos campaign as “the dirtiest election ever held in the Philippines
...
The strategy was to create an atmosphere of
disturbance, which called for Marcos’ strong hand to control
...
”
Philippine air force infiltrators allegedly lobbed “heavy explosives in
front of the (U
...
) consular offices,” and “armed forces psychological warfare
units’ conducted bombings on Manila’s water system, city hall and the
bathroom of the Constitutional Convention
...
Marcos on the Maoist People’s Army
...
When a bomb exploded inside a department
store, for example, “a family man who was buying a gift for a child observing
its birthday was blown to bits
...
To improve his press notices, Marcos allowed “heavy borrowings
from the Philippine Bank,” according to the memo, so a toady could buy up
a “media empire
...
from the President’s contingent fund
...
Under the
Philippine constitution, Marcos was limited to two terms, but he had no
intention of retiring
...
He staged “a supposed
landing of combat weapons,” for example, “along the coast of Digoyo
...
”
There was also a faked ambush, Mijares charges, involving a
Philippine official's car
...
With a great show of benevolence, he proclaimed a so-called
“smiling martial law
...
But he also closed down opposition newspapers and jailed
recalcitrant editors and rivals
...
But when the delegates showed a little
independence, the memo states, he “caused the arrest and detention in
military stockades of delegates” and “bribed floor leaders of the convention
with money and favors
...
Benjamin Romualdez
...
’’ Just as John
Dean later confessed his role in the Nixon scandals, Mijares describes how
he ordered the takeover of a newspaper, investigated an Associated Press
reporter, prepared phony stories on revolutionaries and committed other
outrages on Marcos’ orders
...
” The dictator parcelled out to his cronies the licenses to
smuggle in luxury goods and to smuggle out sugar, copra, lumber and
cement, charges Mijares
...
Through front men, according to Mijares, Marcos has taken over
agricultural lands in northern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao
...
Mijares also claims that Marcos has misused some of the $100
million in U
...
aid he gets each year
...
S
...
Yet the U
...
State Department, swears Mijares, has thwarted
Marcos’ democratic opponents by supporting “the Philippine martial
regime
...
News agencies, notably the “Associated Press” and the “United Press International,” flashed their follow up
stories world-wide
...
Among the articles that came to our attention were those written by newsman Dan Gordon*3 and newsperson Molly Burrell
...
(*3
...
*4
...
)
However interesting the story on Marcos’ reprehensible attempt to bribe a
congressional witness turned out to be, there just wasn’t enough space in the
columns of Anderson or in the news stories to cram the intimate and lurid details
of the bribery episode, or the gory reasons for the dastardly attempt of a
foreign chief of state to commit a federal crime on American soil
...
S
...
I could do it in only eight pages of prepared testimony which I
had had to read hurriedly before the Fraser subcommittee, reserving the rest
of my materials in a memorandum of 24 pages which I appended to my
prepared statement
...
This
seemingly inconsequential trouble spot could, however, develop into the
proportion of a Portugal gone Communist in the context of America’s global
defense system
...
It is
about a dictatorial martial regime that has supplanted by paramount force
the republican government of what once was pridefully known as the show
window of American democracy in Asia
...
The tyrant
has clamped down a harsh authoritarian rule with the guns of martial law in
a country that has enjoyed for 72 years the blessings of freedom under a
democracy
...
On Sept
...
This
happened less than two days after the reelected solon had defeated for the
second time the father of this young man
...
”
Thirty seven years to the day after that celebrated murder of a
congressman, or on Sept
...
The martial regime, now turned corrupt, ruthless and tyrannical, is
showing all the signs that have inexorably driven free nations to the
Communist tentacles
...
21, 1935, and the man
who must face a terrible verdict of history for killing democracy in the
Philippines on Sept
...
Marcos
...
Marcos methodically plotted to kill democracy in the Philippines
just because he did not want to be an ex-President at an early age (55), how
he wielded the terrible guns of martial law to instill and maintain a pervasive
climate of fear and repression, and how he continues to entrench himself in
the presidential palace in a bid to reign for life and establish an imperial
Primitivo Mijares
Page 38
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
dynasty in the Philippines shall be the thrust of my testimony today
...
Marcos for the
imposition of martial law
...
I have access in advance to the original copies of
the martial law proclamation and the first six General Orders issued by
President Marcos
...
I became a close confidant of
President Marcos, at times performing the role of a Joseph Goebbels and
wielding greater powers in the propaganda field than his own official
Information Secretary
...
I began to realize that it was nothing but an
infamous design dedicated shamelessly to the establishment by the law of
the gun of an imperial dynasty in the Philippines
...
Marcos,
I do so with the sense of outrage of one who has been so thoroughly
betrayed
...
It
should not take any longer for the armed forces generals and other
influential civil officials still supporting Mr
...
The truth will soon come out, and history will
vindicate me, that the reasons used by President Marcos in imposing martial
law were deliberately manufactured by Mr
...
Initially, the Filipino people dutifully supported Mr
...
We had no
other choice
...
Marcos made the people lapse into a
state of paralysis; he made the terror-stricken populace lose respect for
duly-constituted authorities and confidence in the ability of democratic
processes to maintain law and order
...
1081)
...
Marcos
...
While I went along with a martial regime, I never shook off my training of
22 years as a cynical newspaperman
...
I began to discover after the first year of martial rule that the socalled program of building a New Society was nothing but an ill-disguised
plan of Mr
...
,
in power, by consolidating the political, military and economic resources
of the country under his firm control
...
Marcos, his family and cronies, preparatory to
setting up an empire in Southeast Asia
...
And to achieve his ends, President Marcos plotted to place his country
under martial law as early as 1966, having decided then that he would win
a reelection in 1969 “at all cost
...
Let me go into some specific areas of the martial rule:
1) Upon his assumption of the presidency on Dec
...
Marcos
positioned himself for a long rule beyond the constitutionally allowable twoterm tenure which should have ended on Dec
...
His master plan
called for winning reelection in 1969 “at all cost,” declaration of martial law
“at least one year” before the expiration of his second and last term on Dec
...
2) Having imposed martial law, Mr
...
3) The martial regime is an authoritarian government gone absolutely
corrupt
...
Having proclaimed martial law, he proceeded to bribe,
coerce and/or intimidate the Constitutional Convention members into
drafting a new charter dictated by him
...
5) Realizing after testing the waters that the new Constitution would not
be ratified in a regular plebiscite, Mr
...
6) The New Constitution, on which Mr
...
There was no referendum at
all; the results cited by Mr
...
7) As the media confidant of Mr
...
8) A dictatorial regime as it is, the martial government of Mr
...
9) Aside from plundering an entire nation, the conjugal dictatorship is
likewise misappropriating the various items of United States assistance
(military, economic, cultural, etc
...
Towards the end of my testimony, I will request the honorable chairman
of the committee to allow me to submit a lengthy memorandum, complete
with exhibits, containing detailed elucidations on the points I have raised in
this opening statement
...
If anyone of them can
make an honest claim that he has entered the presidential study room inside
Malacanang without going through security and the appointments office,
then he can speak with some competence
...
They are President Marcos, the First Lady,
Gov
...
Clave and Presidential Assistant Guillermo
C
...
Suffice it to say, at this point, that the faces of martial law I have pictured
to the committee bring to mind a sharp repartee made by the leader of our
independence movement, Don Manuel Luis Quezon, to a spokesman of the
proposition to make the Philippines a state of the United States: “Better a
government run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like Heaven by
Americans
...
In the light of the foregoing, I respectfully suggest that, in aid of
legislation, the committee take into account the following points:
1) Mr
...
He is a
usurper, at best a “de facto” ruler, who holds power in a classic
demonstration of a motto of China’s Mao Tse-Tung (whom Mr
...
”
2) The lack of a designated successor, or a provision in the New
Constitution for orderly succession, in case of Mr
...
3) The Marcos regime, having gone corrupt and betrayed the rising
expectations of a weary people, may soon become easy prey to a real
Communist conspiracy, which is allowed to flourish underground, while
legitimate dissenting groups are mercilessly repressed
...
S
...
In the light of the traditional American policy of fighting its
defensive wars outside the American continent, the Philippines becomes
America’s special concern because it is a vital link in the U
...
world-wide
defense network designed to keep wars away from American shores
...
S
...
6) Freedom-loving Filipinos desirous of overthrowing the dictatorial yoke
of Mr
...
We are not even asking the United States to come to the aid of the
freedom-yearning Filipinos and actively assist them in overthrowing a
dictatorial regime
...
We only ask that the United States stand aside, state categorically that it
does not, and will not, support a dictatorial regime that has by now all the
hallmarks of an incipient Vietnam gone Communist
...
It was this story, so damaging to his claim of
legitimacy as chief of state of the Republic of the Philippines, that President
Marcos tried to prevent me from telling the American Congress and people
...
C
...
The bribe offer followed me all the way back to San Francisco,
thereby establishing a second stage, or perhaps, a second criminal act, in the
attempt of Dictator-President Marcos to stop me from talking about his martial
regime
...
00 as quid pro quo in the following manner:
1) $50,000
...
00, if I, upon compliance with the first condition, would leave the
United States and reside in another country
...
Australia
I rejected the offer and testified as scheduled at 2 p
...
on June 17, 1975,
before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, denouncing the oneman military dictatorship of Marcos in the strongest and most authoritative
language yet used against Marcos in a forum where it really counted so much
...
m
...
Hill; to John Salzberg, staff consultant of the
Subcommittee on International Organizations at about 11 a
...
on June 18,
1975; to Les Whitten, an associate of columnist Jack Anderson, at about 5 p
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 42
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
on June 18,1975; and to Abelardo “Al” Valencia in Washington, D
...
at about
midnight of June 16, 1975
...
The columnists’
investigations, which included telephone calls to the Philippine Consulate
General in San Francisco must have somehow alerted Ambassador Alconcel
to a forthcoming column of Anderson
...
20, 1975
...
00 was drafted and prepared by Ambassador
Alconcel, presumably at the Philippine Consulate General on Sutter Street in
San Francisco, on a consulate typewriter, and delivered to me on June
26,1975, by an employe of the Consulate, Crispin Padagas
...
e
...
This incident came at a time when the policy-making branch of the United
States government had decided to initiate an inquiry into the wisdom of the U
...
govenment’s continuing pouring of millions of U
...
taxpayer money in the form
of foreign aid to unstable dictatorial regimes in Southeast Asia
...
President Marcos realized perhaps belatedly that the Fraser committee
hearing would learn for the first time the gory details of his dastardly act of
betrayal of democracy in the Philippines when he placed my country under
martial law on September 21,1972
...
Lately, he has
come out with a denial of the bribery attempts
...
This is a Latin principle of law which states that the “thing
speaks for itself
...
00, drawn by the Philippine National
Bank Agency in San Francisco in favor of Alconcel, on June 17,1975, and
deposited jointly in a savings account in Alconcel’s name and mine with the
Lloyds Bank California main branch in San Francisco, also on the same day,
which was the day I was to testify on the Philippine Watergate
...
These undeniable events constitute the “res” or the
“thing
...
” Just how the “smoking gun” was discovered
is a matter that one may say was a providential happening
...
That, upon my return to San Francisco, I immediately inquired about
the “bribe money” from my sources, particularly, with the Philippine National
Bank which would be the logical instrument for such a transaction from the
Philippines
...
00) check in favor of Ambassasor Trinidad Q
...
My sources, however, could
not tell me what Ambassador Alconcel did with the check
...
13
...
00 involving myself was
recorded by them
...
14
...
Roger Pahl, who,
luckily for me, was the very same person who handled the transaction of
Ambassador Alconcel
...
Pahl informed me that at an early banking hour
on June 17, 1975, a person who identified himself as Ambassador Trinidad
Q
...
00)
...
The corresponding deposit slip was
made in both our names for the full amount
...
Pahl that I was out of the country
...
Pahl then informed me that the following day, June 18, 1975, the
same person, Ambassador Alconcel, went to the bank again, and changed
the name of our joint account to his own name alone
...
0662-46063
...
That, at about 3:00 P
...
on July 1, after preliminary contact with the
Lloyds Bank of California, I was accompanied by my lawyer, Attorney Gerald
N
...
Esclamado, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the
Philippine News, to the Lloyds Bank of California office at 201 Montgomery
Street, San Francisco, in order to personally inquire about the
circumstances surrounding Alconcel’s $50,000
...
Then and
there, we were able to discuss the matter with the bank’s Operations Officer,
Mr
...
Stanton, from whom we got the following information:
(a) That early in the morning of June 17, 1975, Ambassador
Trinidad Q
...
4905 dated June 17, 1975, for the sum of FIFTY
THOUSAND DOLLARS ($50,000
...
Alconcel”
...
The
check was deposited to a Savings Account which was opened in the name
Primitivo Mijares
Page 44
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
of Trinidad Q
...
The number of the Savings
Account was 0662-46062
...
S-150 (09-74) is attached hereto and marked as Annex “F”
...
0660-46063 IN THE NAME OF PRIMITIVO
MIJARES” (SIGNED) TRINIDAD Q
...
A xerox copy of the signed
endorsement is attached hereto and marked as Annex “G”
...
A Universal Credit slip stamped
“Substitute,” was executed for the sum of $50,000
...
A xerox copy of the
form is hereto attached as Annex “H”
...
Stanton could not find in the records any other signature
card with the joint account name of “Trinidad Q
...
Mr
...
Mr
...
e) That, the amount of FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ($50,000
...
Alconcel
...
Stanton informed me that I have no right to stop any transactions on the
account because my signature does not appear on the corresponding
signature card and that, based on the nature of the endorsement on the
back of the check, the amount can be withdrawn by Ambassador Alconcel at any time
...
It is in truth and in fact a dastardly attempt by a tinhorn Asian dictator to
extend the dirty and ugly hands of Marcos’ dictatorial martial regime into the
heartland of freedom-loving America
...
He wanted to test a new political
theory that he could tamper with sacred and hallowed American institutions
from the seat of his military regime in Manila by obstructing the proceedings of
an investigation by a proper committee of the United States Congress
...
The other apparent
objective of Marcos in offering me a handsome bribe was to silence the
opposition set up by overseas Filipinos to the despotic military rule that has
engulfed the Philippines
...
The most merciful thing that might be said about the bribe attempt is that
Marcos simply wanted to stop me from giving the damaging testimony that I
gave to the Fraser committee
...
After all, Marcos and other past Philippine Presidents have always had their
way with Mother America; U
...
aid in terms of millions of dollars squeezed out
of the hard-working American taxpayers regularly come almost as a matter of
course
...
It seems that Marcos hasn’t realized that the rules of the game have already
been changed
...
His very move was one of
the underlying reasons for the decision of the United States Congress to
conduct an inquiry into the U
...
foreign assistance program, including the dole
out of millions of dollars to the Philippines; the U
...
Congress wanted to determine the wisdom of pumping millions of American taxpayer money into
authoritarian regimes that go against the very objective of foreign assistance,
which is the expansion of the frontiers of freedom and democracy all over the
world
...
He
had the gall nevertheless to assume that I was still his man whom he could
keep away from a congressional witness stand with a bribe offer
...
The United States government has decided to
investigate the bribe
...
The exportation of Marcos’ martial law has an altogether
different objective from the exportation made by Fidel Castro of his Cuban
revolution
...
The Manila government has prepared a “blacklist” of Filipinos residing in
Primitivo Mijares
Page 46
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the United States who cannot return to the Philippines without being subjected
to reprisals for their anti-martial law activities
...
The list includes American citizens of Filipino descent
...
Aspiras
...
Wherever possible, Marcos or his
minions summon relatives of “blacklisted” Filipinos to Manila and order them to
write their kins in the United States to stop their activities against, or their
criticisms of, martial law in the Philippines
...
The glaring example is the
pressure applied by President Marcos on the Filipino-owned travel agencies,
which are raking in on the “balikbayan” project, to withdraw their advertising
from the Philippine News and shift them to the propaganda organs operated by
Gov
...
The shenanigans that President Marcos would still resort to in order to
insure the stability and long duration of his authoritarian regime in the
Philippines are still inconceivable, but, considering his satanic record and
infinite capacity for diabolical cunning, I expect him to go to great lengths
...
The stakes in his New Society could even involve
his own neck and those of the persons collaborating with him, including the
diamond-studded neck of Imelda whose wrinkles have been stretched a la “Ash
Wednesday
...
His bribe offer appears so reprehensible when one takes
note of the fact that Marcos did it to conceal the gory ways by which he went
about dismantling the apparatus of a democratic government set up by the
United States in Asia; it becomes specially condemnable considering that the
bribe offer constitutes an attempt by a tinhorn Asian dictator to tamper with
sacred and hallowed American institutions; it sounds so alarming when the fact
emerges that it was done on the eve of the celebration by the United States of
America of the bicentennial of the launching of the first great American
experiment in democracy
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 47
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The attempt to tamper with a congressional hearing in the U
...
was Marcos’
contemptuous way of saying, “Happy Birthday, America!” It was his assalto *5
to Mother America
...
This is a Spanish word adopted into the Filipino language to mean a party given as a
surprise to a person on the eve of his birthday
...
S
...
Only
Lucifer *6 knows what other schemes Marcos would come up with next to
denigrate my efforts at contributing to the cause of restoration of democracy in
the Philippines
...
It was a matter of common
knowledge in Manila before September 21,
1972, that Congressman Carmelo Z
...
”)
However, Marcos cannot stop my irreversible course
...
I will continue to honor my commitment to history, and
specifically to the journalistic profession in that, having fortunately or
unfortunately walked the corridors of power during a dark hour in the life of my
country and having been privy to the sinister manipulations of a scheming man
and his more ambitious wife, I would perpetuate my knowledge and
observations on this abominable chapter in the history of my country
...
The eastern horizon
was aflame with layers of red clouds, a phenomenon which a Batangas farmer
would undoubtedly interpret as a portent of heavy rains, perhaps stormy days,
ahead
...
In mixed Ilocano and Tagalog,
the two old folks advised my Boyet to go home because they feared that
something terrible was in the offing
...
The phenomenon observed by the
elder Adarnas manifested itself almost throughout the country that afternoon
...
Marcos sat serene in his study, glancing once in a while at the bevy of red
telephone receiver sets which linked his office with military camps all over the
country
...
Then, he
imagined that in whatever direction he would be looking there would be soldiers
sealing and closing down newspaper offices, and radio and television stations;
soldiers knocking at and/or down locked doors and inviting or dragging out
forcibly persons previously listed in an “order of battle” to go with them in a van;
camps filled with men and women who have made the mistake of disagreeing
with him or acting rather headily in seeking to consign Marcos prematurely to
the dung heap of a lameduck presidency
...
Marcos pressed a button in his intercom, and when an ever ready aide
responded to say “yes, sir,” he commanded: “Get me Secretary Enrile
...
” (Those people [without alluding to anyone in particular]
move so sluggishly at a time when I want them to move fast enough
...
(*1
...
Originally named Camp Murphy in
honor of Frank Murphy, last American governor-general in the Philippines, the camp was renamed
in 1962 in honor of the President of the first Republic
...
Arturo Boquiren, agent on duty at the
communications room near the President’s Study Room, in the house of a
“friend
...
ya, ya, the one
we discussed this noon
...
Another day of
delay may be too late
...
Kailangan
seguro ay may masaktan o kung mayroon mapatay ay mas-mabuti
...
O, hala, sigue, Johnnv (Okav
...
and call me as soon as it is over
...
I gained some inkling on the unfolding drama days earlier from
the President himself
...
“Make sure that the Daily Express puts out the situationer on or before
Sunday (September 24, 1972),” Marcos said to me
...
”
As Marcos completed his phone conversation with Enrile, I could not stop
the jitters over my body
...
At this stage, I felt some sense of guilt largely because weeks earlier I had
a lively discussion with my first three children, Perla and Pilita, who were then
high school students at St
...
All three of them and my youngest, Boyet, have mockingly called me a
Marcos “tuta” (lap dog)
...
They
said they were learning early in school and from schoolmates that “the establishment” which Marcos represents can no longer stem the tide of change and
reform as demanded by intellectuals, professionals, businessmen, students,
peasants and laborers
...
For the police and education reporters, it looked like there would be no
sensational stories which they would be able to utilize to shove off from above
the newspaper fold those salsal stories usually pounded out of the typewriters
by the byline-hugging reporters from the Malacanang or the Palace beats
...
But this night of September 22,
1972, there was no scheduled demonstration; there was nary a hint in the police
blotter that any group or groups were forming at the university belt to march
along P
...
Teodorico “Teddy Laway” Santos, a former driver for police reporters
turned police reporter himself for the newspaper with the widest circulation
Manila Times, summed up the activist front for all the police reporters who
usually converge 4 p
...
at the Manila Metropolitan Police headquarters on U
...
Avenue with a call to Crispulo Icban, Jr
...
(The town is quiet)
...
” As a matter of fact, Teddy
...
Brig
...
Gerardo Tamayo, MMP chief, soon joined the police reporters,
shaking his head and muttering: “I don’t like it, boys
...
”
Gerry’s sixth sense as a policeman was loudly telling him this could be the
proverbial lull before a big storm
...
So fresh still in their mind was
the incident involving a father who, while buying a gift for a three-year-old
daughter celebrating her birthday, was blown to pieces by a bomb exploded by
an alleged Communist terrorist on busy Carriedo Street in Sta
...
Families waited, too, for their student-daughters or sons who
might get caught in whirlpools of troubles that demonstrations, whether staged
by students or workers, usually generate
...
Benedicto,
Managing Editor Neal H
...
A vulgar term for meticulousness
...
Aquino, Jr
...
1
tormentor of our then invisible publisher
...
This prompted ever alert
Enrique “Pocholo” Romualdez, the editor-in-chief, to butt in: “Don’t worry,
Marita, we will assign you the biggest cubicle when that guy Yabut
finally yields this entire compound to the Daily Express”
...
Yabut, an early supporter of Marcos who is now all washed up with the
President ever since the killing of Delfin Cueto *3 at the lobby of the
Intercontinental Hotel, had given Marcos his word during the inauguration of
the Daily Express printing plant on May 7, 1972, that he would cede a
vacant lot titled under his name to the President for the expansion requirements
of the newpaper facility
...
Cueto, said to be a half-brother of President Marcos, was a labor leader from Agusan,
who allegedly tried to set up some protection rackets in the affluent suburb of Makati, Rizal
...
”
A few days later, Cueto was gunned down by Makati policemen “in self-defense
...
(Come, look at this
...
Ano kaya, tumakbo kaya si Ninoy sa Sierra Madre? (What
do you think, will Ninoy flee to Sierra Madre?)
...
S
...
(Oh, no, he would run to the U
...
embassy
...
The old residence of the late Mayor Arsenio H
...
Eamshaw in
Sampaloc, from where venom had spouted from the mouth of the irrepressible
mayor who in his lifetime had fought unceasingly against government abuses,
official graft and corruption, and any slight evidence of a creeping dictatorship from Malacanang, appeared quiet, deserted from the outside view
...
He was looking at the time at a handwritten note of Marcos directing
Garcia’s friend and boss at the time, Rice and Com General Manager
Benny Villamor, to issue a permit for the landing in La Union of several
shiploads of rice imported from abroad by Congressmen Jose D
...
Earlier, then Supreme
Court Justice Julio Villamor, father of the RCA chief, warned his son that he
could be sent to jail if he implemented the Marcos directive on the rice
Primitivo Mijares
Page 51
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
shipments which were illegal since only the RCA was authorized to import
cereals
...
Garcia mentally wrote the story for Jose L
...
Garcia thought he would have to add as
“backgrounder” some of the notorious activities that the relatives of President
Marcos, his mother Dona Josefa Edralin Marcos and his youngest sister, Ms
...
Garcia
recalled that in the more recent weeks, mother and daughter Marcos engaged
in virtual “black-marketing” of rice while there was a severe shortage of supply
of the cereal throughout the country
...
” Fortuna was also
badgering Villamor for similar concessions
...
Tuason, Quezon City,
where the Villamor residence was located
...
Villamor was the first state official to be fired by the martial regime
...
Garcia had denounced the use for one year in 1968 and 1969
by Marcos (in his reelection campaign) of 50 brand new Toyota jeeps of the
SSS, which the institution purchased from a corporation controlled by a Marcos
front man, the Delta company, and of the printing press of the system
...
In the case of young Villamor, he decided to dety Marcos in the unloading
of the illegal rice for which the RCA head paid dearly when martial law was
declared
...
This diabolical
smearing of a young Harvard-trained technocrat, scion of a respected justice,
was also in retaliation for the humiliation suffered by Marcos’s mother, Josefa,
and Marcos’s sister, Fortuna Barba, over the repeated denials by Villamor of
their demands for bigger rice allocations for their clients
...
The latest, the Constitutional Convention called in 1970 to draft sweeping
and fundamental structural changes in the government and society, was still
reeling from the unexpected defeat on the floor of a so-called “ban Marcos”
resolution and the surprising victory of the faction favoring the shift of the structure of government from the existing presidential to the parliamentary form
...
See Chapter V for more detailed discussion of this point
...
Although
Quintero was generally hailed as a hero, he eventually found himself the
accused rather than the complainant following a vicious process of dedeglamorization applied to him under the baton of no less than President
Marcos
...
*6 A criminal charge was filed
against Quintero
...
Former President Diosdado P
...
(*6
...
I had to go to Tacloban City in June and coordinate with Kokoy Romualdez and Secretary De Vega
in gathering “dirt” on Quintero
...
Senate and House leaders had
agreed earlier not to adjourn on September 21 as earlier scheduled, but to
gavel the current special session, the third for 1972, to “sine die” adjournment
on September 23 instead
...
It had already disposed of the
major bills assigned to the extra meet
...
Speaker Cornelio T
...
Pareja would have to distribute to the
congressmen during Villareal’s absence
...
The other ranking member of the
delegation, recently-ousted House Minority Leader Justiniano S
...
With Montano on the
same Air France flight to Tokyo in September were newsmen Jesus Bigomia,
of the Manila Daily Bulletin; Amante F
...
Magno, of the Daily Mirror who have wangled through
Congressman Roque R
...
non-revenue airline tickets to join the
delegation to Lima
...
The main
topic was what would happen or what the senators would do, if Marcos declared
martial law
...
Salonga, a
Liberal, sought to attract the attention of Senate President Gil J
...
” "Aw, come now, let’s not
kid ourselves about Marcos, replied Puyat with the ever-present smile on his
face
...
But they did not know just what steps Marcos was planning to take to
perpetuate himself in power
...
Diokno had delivered a few days
earlier a privileged speech warning Marcos that, if he proclaimed martial law in
order to stay in office beyond December 30,1973, he would be violating the
Constitution; Diokno said that the lawful President of the country after high noon
of December 30, 1973, would be whoever is Senate President at the time
...
Aquino, Jr
...
Aquino told
worried senators and newsmen that he believed that Marcos has laid out plans,
and has finally decided, to impose martial law
...
Aquino said Marcos would not dare institute a military regime and run the risk
of facing a hungry nation
...
In the meantime, Aquino
said, he would continue to expose the “fake landing of arms in Digoyo” and
Marcos-trained terror squads roaming the streets of Manila in the hope that
these infrastructures for the imposition of martial law would be dismantled by
Marcos
...
Villegas who had urged him to flee the country
because martial law was in the offing
...
The only difference, Aquino noted, was that
the martial plan which Villegas told the senator about had no code-name, while
the plan that fell into Ninoy’s hands was code-named “Oplan Sagittarius
...
Aquino was prepared, however, to fight the imposition of
martial law up to the last minute; he said that he was not about to oblige Marcos
with the spectacle of an Aquino fleeing to the hills or to a foreign country on a
threat of declaration of martial law
...
As Aquino was regaling Senate reporters with anecdotes, another group of
beat reporters, those assigned to the defense department, were cursing the
DND PIO for “inefficiency
...
They didn’t
realize at the time that the delay in the arrival of the jeeps was intentionally
planned
...
Just as Aquino was saying his long goodbyes to the Senate reporters,
Puyat having adjourned the Senate session to enable members of the chamber
Primitivo Mijares
Page 54
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
to attend the various bicameral conference committee meetings scheduled for
late that evening, an aide of the Tarlac senator rushed to his side with a
typewritten note
...
The
Times reporter has just phoned in a story that Secretary Enrile’s party was
ambushed by unknown gunmen near some bushes along the Wack Wack Golf
and Country Club
...
He was not inside his official car at the
time of the ambush
...
And the report states
that a check on slugs recovered from the bullet-riddled car showed that the
ammo matched those recovered from Digoyo in Palanan, Isabela
...
That guy Marcos must be escalating things
...
I’ll look into this, and I will
get in touch with you guys later
...
Only in one case was a culprit found: a Constabulary sergeant assigned to the
Firearms and Explosives Section of the Philippine Constabulary confessed
responsibility for the bombing of Joe’s Department store in Carriedo, in Sta
...
5,1972
...
and the Daily Star Publications, on August 30; of the City
Hall of Manila, on September 8; of the water mains in San Juan, Rizal, on September 12; of the San Miguel building in Makati, Rizal, on September 14; and
of the Constitutional Convention area at the Quezon City hall on September 18
...
Out in the city streets, blue-painted cars and buses marked with the words
“METROCOM” in dull red letters cruised near the buildings of Manila’s
newspaper, radio and television stations, this time filled with troopers from the
Philippine Constabulary Metropolitan Command
...
Three weeks earlier, when the Metrocom exercises were first noticed, people
were led to believe that the troopers were sent to provide security, especially
for the Daily Express, against vandalism by violent demonstrators
...
Only this night, the Metrocom vehicles were
not showing signs of pulling away from their assigned areas for the usual trip
back to Camp Crame
...
The “Big News” top
announcer Jose Man Velez and Channel 9’s “Newswatch” at 8 p
...
have
announced the news of Enrile’s ambush
...
But
Marcos was certain those scheduled news programs would go through as
planned
...
He thought that something might
have gone awry with the nest of emergency telephones right beside him; why
didn’t anyone of them bring in the call he had been waiting for?
The nest of red telephones were Marcos emergency link to the country’s
military installations, including the offices of the defense secretary and the
armed forces general headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo
...
The equipment
had U
...
markings; they must necessarily be so, because they were bought
with American taxpayer money from American suppliers; they were part of what
was known as continuing U
...
foreign assistance program to the Philippines
...
S
...
The justification was that the Philippine President needed instant
communication facilities for all the various regions to oversee the peace and
order campaign as well as the vital national economic development projects all
going on at the same time
...
Soon, one of the phone rings, and Agent Boquiren, audibly excited, shouts
simultaneously into the intercom to announce that Secretary Enrile was on the
line
...
Okay, Johnny, implement my proclamation
...
Be sure you get Aquino,
Diokno and Roces
...
I will be up all night to monitor
direct reports from other areas
...
” “Good night, sir!”
Enrile replied
...
Ver about the ring of steel that must be thrown around the
Palace, and they reviewed the number of escape plans to be followed should
the undertaking just signalled into execution by Marcos go awry and require,
therefore, Marcos’ involuntary flight out of Malacanang or the country with his
family and official retinue
...
With that signal, President Marcos let loose a shocker as he placed the
entire Philippines under martial law
...
But the really shocking fact was that the act didn’t seem to
shock the members of Congress, particularly the opposition Liberal party
leaders, lending credence to the belief that most of them knew about it
...
In my testimony before the Fraser committee, I capsulized the initial days
of the proclamation of martial law in the following words:
President Marcos announced formally at about 8 p
...
on Sept
...
m
...
22,1972, by way of effective implementation of a martial law edict
(Proclamation No
...
21,1972
...
17, 1972
...
” Former Executive Secretary
Rafael M
...
Salas said these are Marcos’ “experience with domestic politics
in the Ilocos, where there are two methods: violence or money and his
experience in Congress, where there are really no rules
...
”
The deceit employed by Marcos in the imposition of martial law was in the
implementation of Proclamation No
...
Marcos also displayed the same callous contempt for the elementary
requirements of democratic rules on prior publicity of presidential acts affecting
the liberties of the people when he suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus on August 22,1971, in the wake of the grenade-bombing of a Liberal
party rally at Plaza Miranda towards midnight on August 21, 1971
...
m
...
889 from which
Marcos’ secret police derived authority to round up alleged subversives
...
Having consolidated, and made certain of, the support of the
government armed forces, Marcos assumed all powers of the state and placed
all government agencies and instrumentalities under his personal control,
including the Judiciary
...
General Order No
...
22,1972
...
Those involving the validity, legality or constitutionality of
Proclamation No
...
2
...
*8 The salary
increase was effective October 1, 1972
...
General Order No
...
Dated Sept
...
)
As a one-man ruler, Marcos suddenly developed amnesia
...
30, 1965, he
translated his election to the presidency as a “Mandate for Greatness
...
” The
New Society, Marcos declared, will come into being with the people having a
new sense of discipline, uprightness, and love of country
...
In addition, the people have had to
contend with the spectacle of a martial rule that paved the way for:
1) Shutdown of, and imposition of government control over, all media and
other means of giving out information;
2) Arrest and detention, in most cases without charges or complaint, of
thousands allegedly involved, wittingly or unwittingly, in a conspiracy to
overthrow the government
...
30, 1973,
student leaders, professors, intellectuals and union organizers
...
3) Placing of all public utilities under military supervision;
4) Banning of mass action in rallies or demonstrations, of criticisms of public
officials and of the inalienable right of workers to strike and picket
...
6) Imposition of curfew from 12 o’clock midnight to 4 o’clock in the morning,
reduced later to from 1 o’clock in the morning to 4 o’clock in the morning
...
8) Suspension of the departure of Filipinos abroad, except on official
mission
...
Why is this? The principal reason is the desire of the Filipino to say
the thing that pleases, and he assumes that Americans are enemies of
independence
...
)
The terrible truth is that, after those series of bombings and violent
demonstrations, few people doubted other stories of escalating Communist
activities, however implausible they may have seemed to leaders like Aquino
and the skeptical newspapermen
...
The people were sick,
tired and weary in the wake of those unsolved bombings, riots, ambushes, graft
and corruption, inefficiency and official chicanery
...
1081 drove
the people into a passive attitude towards martial law
...
The timing of the imposition of martial law was heavily dependent on
Congress being in session and Senator Aquino being available for the planned
arrest
...
His thinking then had something to do with his plans for the
Constitutional Convention
...
He was No
...
Marcos was particularly agitated early in the morning of September 22,
1972, when he was informed about a story coming out in his own Daily Express quoting Aquino’s threat to escape Marcos’ martial law dragnet, if he is
not arrested within the first few hours
...
Thus, the Enrile ambush had to be staged so that Aquino could be caged
...
m
...
Aquino had the full 40 minutes to flee to some temporary haven
from Room 1701 of the Manila Hilton where he was meeting with
other members of a Senate-House conference committee on an omnibus bill
amending the Tariff Code
...
Behaving
in the best traditions of people at war buying insurance just in case their
side at the moment did not achieve complete victory, the offerors were
Secretary of Defense Enrile himself, then Press Secretary now Information
Secretary Francisco S
...
Romeo Gatan, chief of the Rizal
Constabulary Command
...
Just how those goodwill messages
were relayed to Aquino, the three did not tell me
...
The nagging question still is, why didn’t Aquino take advantage of the
warning that martial law had been declared and that he was going to be
arrested
...
Another theory is that Aquino, along with other political leaders,
erroneously assumed that, even if Marcos declared martial law, there would
still be a free press to make heroes and martyrs out of those who would be
detained by the soldiers of Marcos! How little background they have on the
capacity of Marcos for overkill operations
...
Tolentino, Senators Ambrosio S
...
Teves and John H
...
Veloso,
among others
...
At about 11 p
...
, Aquino started receiving telephone calls, and each time
he got through answering a call, he would turn pale for a few seconds before
becoming his usual bouncing self
...
m
...
Martial law has been declared
...
Emerging
from the bathroom, Aquino addressed his colleagues: “Gentlemen, Marcos has
just proclaimed martial law, and I am being arrested
...
But, I told Col
...
I promised him that my boys won’t fire at him
...
I hope and
pray that the dark night descending upon our beloved country would come to
an early end
...
”
In disbelief, Senator Padilla remained seated and kept saying, This cannot
be, this cannot be, as he puffed endlessly at his pipe
...
Before Aquino could satisfy all questions, Col
...
Gatan
apologized to the members of Congress for his intrusion, as he handed Aquino
a brown envelope which contained a xerox copy of an “arrest and detain” order
signed by Enrile
...
A
massacre right then and there could have immediately ensued, but Aquino was
quick to shout to his bodyguards: “Tahimik lang kayo, mga bata!” (Take it easy,
boys
...
“Not anymore, sir
...
” Gatan replied
...
Radio Newscaster Ronnie Nathaniels was waiting anxiously to inform his
DZHP radio audience on the 2 a
...
broadcast that Senator Aquino had been
arrested by government troops
...
Metrocom
troopers entered his studio shortly before 2 a
...
and told everyone to “go home,
martial law is on
...
m
...
Concio, a television directress and younger sister
of Senator Aquino
...
Alvarez immediately, slipped out of his rented U
...
Village apartment,
which had also served as a common office for himself, and fellow Convention
Delegates Sotero H
...
He hid out in the house of a
friend for several days, but informed Convention President Diosdado
Macapagal that he was alive and well
...
Instead of turning himself in, Alvarez collaborated with some fellow
Convention delegates in the production of an underground propaganda
newssheet right in the City of Manila
...
On learning about the “shoot to kill order,
Alvarez turned down repeated overtures from his own political ally, Isabela
Governor Faustino Dy, and Delegate Celso Gangan, that he surrender
peacefully and support Marcos in the Constitutional Convention
...
He
made good his exit from the Philippines via that route in late November, 1972
...
”
The arrest of Aquino at the Manila Hilton was to be duplicated in a thousand
other places all over the country wherever those persons listed in the AFP
“order of battle” may be found; some of them were forcibly dragged out of their
homes as in the case of Luis R
...
The arrests started on
the late night of September 22 and continued for several days as some of the
military’s quarries were either absent from their homes or have temporarily
eluded arresting teams
...
As a matter of fact, the
entire exercise of martial law was absolutely unnecessary, if the objective were
only to fight off the pockets of rebellion going on in the countrysides
...
A team of PC-Metrocom troopers, acting on orders issued by Enrile and by authority of the President, sought to
padlock the INK-owned Eagle Broadcasting Network which operates radio
station DZEC and a television station under construction within the INK
compound
...
And the INK guards would not dare wake up the religious
supremo at the ungodly hour of 3 a
...
Neither would the heady Metrocom
troopers wait for word from any god, except Marcos
...
And they tried
...
Sure enough, the Metrocom raiders, apparently thinking that the declaration of martial law had scared
the daylights out of the INK guards, sought to assault the fortress, but they were
held at bay
...
The INK guards had by
this time not suffered any major casualty, except superficial wounds from the
bad aims of the Metrocom soldiers
...
Enrile, who was at his war room at Camp Aguinaldo monitoring precisely
Primitivo Mijares
Page 62
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the kind of incidents as the one in progress at the INK compound, gave orders
that the re-enforcing troopers should stay beyond range of the guns of the INK
guards until he himself could arrive at the scene of the only armed resistance
to martial law
...
The INK guards
were not resisting the entry of Metrocom troopers to protect the radio station
...
By the time Enrile reached the INK compound, angry Metrocom troopers
have already accounted for 12 dead INK guards
...
Using a bullhorn mounted on top of a Metrocom car, Enrile approached the
INK guard under a white flag of truce
...
Stop shooting
...
The military has come to close down your
radio station
...
If you
don’t lay down your arms, we will finish you off with all the might of the armed
forces of the Philippines
...
Under a flag of truce, the two talked, and the INK radio
station was eventually sealed and taken off the air
...
Former
Ambassador Amelito R
...
Mutuc’s name, along with several thousand others, was included in a socalled custodial detention list prepared by Marcos and the military high
command
...
They were to be taken into custody by the military upon
the imposition of martial law, not because they are subversives, but to prevent
them from agitating, or organizing themselves, against the new order
...
None of the members of Congress or the delegates
to the Constitutional convention tagged for arrest ever tried to escape
...
As a matter
of fact, one of the “most wanted” men, Joaquin P
...
No leader of consequence wanted to leave the country during a monthperiod before September 22 even in the face of convincing proofs that Marcos
was sculpturing the rapidly deteriorating situation to justify a declaration of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 63
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
martial law
...
They
believed then that martial law would give them the colorful scenario to become
national heroes
...
It was going to be a priceless badge of honor to be arrested by the military when
martial law is declared
...
Laurel, Jr
...
, one of the foremost champions of civil liberties,
roundly criticized the President
...
”
Laurel cried: “Let the President declare martial law! Let us close this
Congress! Let the strong survive!”
Thus, during the first few days of martial rule, Laurel would shout at his
favorite hangout on Roxas Boulevard within hearing distance of heady military
officers: “Why doesn’t Marcos, a dictator whom I helped rise to his present
status, order my arrest now? Why is he punishing a Laurel this way?”
Laurel and the other political leaders critical of Marcos were so oblivious of
the warnings raised by the leading Philippine weekly newsmagazine, the Free
Press, 20 months before September, 1972, that Marcos was contriving a
situation to justify a declaration of martial law
...
Issue of Jan
...
The Philippines would be divided
into Marcos collaborators and those who love liberty and are branded
misguided elements (as during the Japanese Occupation) and declared
enemies of the Marcos state, x x x
“Life under a regime of martial law or a Marcos military dictatorship would
be little different from life during the Japanese Occupation
...
Nevertheless, a number of prominent Filipinos who were also in the “order
of battle,” priority “A,” were able to leave the Philippines before Sept
...
”
Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
Salvador Araneta, social thinker and proprietor of the FEATI Institute and
Araneta University, left for the United States to visit his daughter
...
He was one of
the outspoken critics of President Marcos in the Convention
...
, left Manila on Sept
...
He
did not want to leave because Cebu City, whose mayorship he assumed on
Jan
...
“I was told by the Blessed Virgin to leave the country,” Serging recalls with
piety
...
The cardinal suggested that a bath in the blessed waters at the
Shrine of the Most Blessed Virgin in Lourdes might cure the numerous physical
infirmities he suffers as a result of the bombing at Plaza Miranda
...
See Chapter on “Infrastructure for Martial Law
...
C
...
He was still in Los Angeles when martial law was declared
...
Besides, they have vast private interests in the Philippines to protect
...
Only one of the more prominent leaders who had left Manila before the
advent of martial law seems comparatively satisfied that he got out when he
did
...
Villegas who now lives in Portola Valley with
his family
...
Villegas assumed the premier post at Manila’s City Hall upon the death of
colorful Mayor Lacson on April 15,1962
...
However, he failed
to win another term in the 1971 elections, losing his post by a slim margin to
Congressman Ramon D
...
Villegas attributed his defeat to the emotional
backlash of the Plaza Miranda bombing
...
However, Tony returned posthaste to Manila a fortnight later when his
father, Epifanio T
...
The former mayor demanded
that charges be filed against him by investigators instead of vilifying him for the
grenade-bombing by innuendo in press releases
...
During his fight to protect his name, Villegas got A-1 information from his friends
in the defense and intelligence establishments that Marcos was about to
declare martial law
...
Jr
...
He finally took
the members of his immediate family out of Manila on August 24, 1972 — four
weeks before martial law was declared — and brought them to the United
States
...
He was
out of Manila barely 24 hours when word reached him in his Tokyo Hotel that
Marcos had finally done it
...
Pacita said that the soldiers would not believe
that Raul had left for Tokyo in the afternoon of Sept
...
Manglapus’ initial reaction was anger at Garcia for having “forced” him to
leave and consternation that he was out of the country when martial law was
declared
...
Fortunately, no Manila-bound plane was flying
out of Tokyo as Haneda had received word that the Manila International Airport
had been closed to all air traffic — by Philippine air force supervisors assigned
to secure the port of entry for the martial regime
...
25,
by which time overseas telephone communications have also been restored,
he telephoned Pacita and advised her that he was on his way back home
...
“But there is no resistance battle to join here,“ Mrs
...
“All your fellow politicos and allies in the fight against Marcos have been jailed;
others are either cowering in fear, waiting to be arrested at any time, or have
openly pledged their support to the martial law regime!”
It turned out that, during the 36-hour isolation of Manila by overseas
telephone and telegraph facilities from the outside world, Mrs
...
The almost unanimous advise
given was that Manglapus, lucky enough at having eluded arrest, should
proceed immediately to the United States and organize the overseas opposition
to the Marcos martial rule; they opined that any parliamentary resistance to the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 66
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
regime would have better chances of succeeding, if world attention could be
drawn to the power-grab pulled by Marcos
...
“Are you sure this is their collective advise?” Manglapus demanded to know
of his wife
...
I will do it
...
S
...
”
Manglapus then proceeded to Honolulu where he prevailed upon two
American citizens of Filipino descent who were campaigners in his earlier bid
for the Senate to make a trip to Manila and arrange for the escape of Pacita
and her children
...
S
...
Manglapus and company once they have left the
Philippines surreptitiously and reached the safety of a third country
...
This was the second time in the life of
this selfless man that there was to be no hesitation in sacrificing himself for his
loved ones if no other choice were possible
...
Monaghan related how Raul refused to flee even after being
repeatedly warned that the dreaded Japanese military police were on the way
to arrest him for publishing an anti-Japanese underground newspaper
...
”
Manglapus was picked up by the Japanese soldiers, tortured in the
dungeons of Fort Santiago in Manila, and was given a choice to do propaganda
work for the enemy — or die
...
Manglapus was court-martialed and sent to prison
from where he escaped in August, 1944, to join the guerrillas in the hills
...
Manglapus may have been touched by the readiness of Garcia to leave
his own family, then safe in San Francisco, and the argument of his long time
aide and political associate that Manglapus was indispensable to the
organization of a movement for the restoration of Philippine freedom in view of
the lack of Filipinos in the U
...
with sufficient stature willing to fight Marcos
openly
...
Actually, it was Garcia who sold the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 67
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
original idea of the program to Manglapus, which included speaking
engagements and conferences with Filipino groups in the United States for
the purpose of drawing their support to the infant Christian Social Movement in
the Philippines
...
He also wanted to stick it out in the Constitutional
Convention, where he was the chairman of the Committee on Suffrage and
Electoral Reforms, so that he could continue his opposition to “further invasion”
by Marcos of the charter meet
...
But Manglapus’ refusal to leave for the U
...
had already
caused two postponements of his programmed speaking engagements
...
” Tony told an irritated Manglapus to “leave now and
fulfill your speaking engagements
...
S
...
These people are potential contributors to the
campaign chest of the CSM
...
Manglapus reminded Garcia that martial law was imminent
...
“Well, you can always come back!” Garcia put in the clincher that finally led
Manglapus to assure Tony that he would leave for the U
...
within 48 hours
...
S
...
It was when Garcia finally teamed up with Manglapus in the United States
that the plan to set up the “Movement for a Free Philippines” began to take
shape
...
However, he decided to stay behind for just a few days in order to
attend to the final details of his plan to set up a packaging plant in Quezon City
...
This man who
had given Marcos hell in the media during the 1965 presidential elections
and should have been arrested on the night martial law was implemented
escaped through the MIA on a special passport on account of a comedy of
errors on the part of confused airport personnel
...
Earnshaw street when he
learned of the imposition of martial law
...
During the day, he intentionally entered Camp
Aguinaldo on the pretext of having been summoned by the chief of the Judge
Advocate General’s office, Brig
...
Garcia, who has been associated for almost a decade
with Manglapus as the closest aide to the brilliant senator and one-time
presidential candidate, thought wisely that the army headquarters at Camp
Aguinaldo would be the last place Metrocom troopers would search for the alter
ego of Manglapus
...
Garcia
did the free publicity job for Nanadiego several months before the imposition of
martial law upon the request of a Nanadiego nephew
...
O
...
Aware that it was only a matter of time when he would be arrested and
thrown into jail together with those who had, at one time or another, wrote
stories critical of Marcos, Garcia kept pestering Nanadiego, who did remember
Garcia’s gratis et amore work for him, for an exit permit which at that time and
for two months after that could only be granted by Secretary of Defense Juan
Ponce Enrile
...
Crisol, who both knew about his close links to Manglapus, coming into
the office of the JAGO head together with all the ranking generals of the martial
law regime
...
Anyway, after waiting for several
days under sun and rain and standing in the mud outside an army
building together with hundreds of others also seeking exit permits, Nanadiego
handed Garcia his passport, saying that it had been signed
...
Garcia concluded that Nanadiego simply wanted to get
rid of him knowing that an unauthorized signature would not be honored at the
airport anyway or that Nanadiego fell for the “matter-of-life-and-death” story
about the Garcia children being sick in the United States and left alone at home
while Mrs
...
(Garcia’s wife was promptly removed
from her position and ordered to go home with her entire family after it was
ascertained that Garcia had indeed escaped from the Philippines)
...
Garcia brought
his two small travelling bags, which he was later to claim to airport officials
contained confidential government documents after cleverly checking them in,
and booked passage to Hongkong, a route which he decided would not arouse
the suspicion of the military
...
Garcia waited until it was almost boarding time before he showed his ticket
and checked in his two small bags to give the ticket agents no opportunity to
verify the story that he was on a rush confidential mission for the army and thus
Primitivo Mijares
Page 69
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
had no time to obtain the Enrile signature and clearances from the Office of
the President of the Philippines, the National Bureau of Investigation and the
Department of Commerce and Industry
...
Since he turned out to be the only passenger leaving Manila that day, the
airline personnel were happy to find something to do and so promptly
dispatched Garcia’s bags to the waiting plane after having been assured by
Garcia that he had all the necessary clearances
...
That was when Garcia set into play his planned bluff and bluster act, setting
off a comedy of errors that enabled him to escape
...
The airline people were so relieved to have their
problem taken off their hands that they promptly waved Garcia on to the
immigration counter upstairs
...
But he knew that to sheepishly back away would make matters
worse so he tried his last card
...
He ordered the officials to check with the office of the President at
Malacanang and asked to speak to General Nanadiego knowing full well that a
recent arson at the MIA had made all telephone lines inoperative
...
They produced copies
of Enrile’s decrees that only his signature was to be valid on passports
...
When Garcia told the officials that they would bear the responsibility if he
missed his flight and the possible loss of the documents already on the plane,
the immigration people played Pontius Pilate by requesting Garcia to check
with the military authorities at the transit lounge of the burnt out airport
building a mile away and to come back for the immigration approval if the
military said okay
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 70
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Garcia’s well calculated move to check in at the last moment and the
ensuing hassle over his lack of the required signature produced the delay he
had hoped would deny airport officials the time and equanimity of mind to verify
his story
...
The ground stewardess, probably harassed by the pilot to get that
solitary passenger delaying the flight up on the aircraft, told Garcia to get on
board quickly
...
Up to this day, there
is no record in the Philippines of Garcia having left the country
...
The Garcia odyssey must be rated as one of the great
escapes from the Marcos dictatorship not only because of its almost
just-like-in-the-movies circumstances but more so because the man who made
that hegira was to again make hell for Marcos and those promoting his regime
abroad
...
His astute analysis of our plans and intentions frustrated
the trap Kokoy strategists had set for Manglapus that would have discredited
and wrecked the Movement For a Free Philippines
...
In a way, the vigilance of Garcia precipitated my own gradual and
smouldering inclination to break with the Marcos dictatorship
...
That was supposed to be first of
a series of face-to-face meetings between a panel of MFP officials and
representatives of the Marcos administration to discuss terms and conditions
for a possible meeting between Manglapus and Imelda
...
He was later to tell me
after my defection that he believed I was becoming disillusioned with Mr
...
Like Garcia, Col
...
By that time, Adevoso, who has been
accused of allegedly conspiring with Sergio Osmena, Sr
...
When his friends in the military
establishment, whom he had contacted, obtained assurances for him that he
would be allowed to stay in a hospital under arrest, Adevoso yielded to an
emissary of Secretary Enrile
...
Granada, of the Manila Chronicle, and Luis D
...
However, their more
distinguished colleagues who belonged to that exclusive band known as the
“gang of Marcos critics,” notably Teodoro M
...
, publisher of the Free
Press; Napoleon Rama, senior staff writer, also of the Free Press and delegate
to the Constitutional Convention; Amando Doronilla, newly-named editor of the
Manila Chronicle; Maximo Soliven, columnist of the Manila Times; and Amelita
Reysio-Cruz, of the Manila Daily Bulletin; Jose Mari Velez, newscaster of
Channel 5; Rosalinda Galang, of the Manila Times; Rolando Fadul, of the
Taliba; Go Eng Kuan, of the Chinese Commercial News; Veronica Yuyitung,
wife of deported Rizal Yuyitung; Rogelio Arienda, radio commentator; and
Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo, Taliba columnist, fell quickly into the Marcos martial
law dragnet
...
Diokno was arrested at 3 a
...
at his Roxas Boulevard
residence
...
When he sought
my advice, through an intermediary, on what he should do, I said: “If Ernie is in
the Greater Manila area, he should surrender to the Constabulary because the
team assigned to get him might become trigger-happy with each unsuccessful day of looking for him
...
James G
...
But what puzzles the newsmen’s tribe in Manila is the arrest of Ruben
Cusipag, of the Evening News; Roberto Ordonez, of the Philippines Herald; and
Manuel F
...
Cusipag was a vociferous habitue at the National Press Club; so with Ordonez
...
Ordonez had at one time done an in-depth series of articles on
units of the New People’s Army operating in the Bicol area
...
” Why not, the NPC wags would shout, hasn’t the
martial regime made humor-mongering a punishable offense?
While most of the Manila newsmen are trying to bear up to the difficulties
under the martial regime, one strong-willed intellectual has steadfastly refused
to compromise with the dictatorship
...
This man, Antonio Zumel, former two-term president of the NPC and
versatile day-off reliever in the editorial staff of the Manila Daily Bulletin, bears
watching
...
Tony’s elder brother, Col
...
Young Zumel was once openly
denounced by Marcos for alleged links with a group of arms suppliers to the
NPA
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 72
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
On the night martial law was declared, Zumel was as usual having a late
night drinking spree at the NPC bar
...
m
...
23, after which he invited some of the boys to
transfer with him to Taboy’s “Cinco Litros,” a small bar at Ermita whose owner
could sing lewd songs even in polite society
...
On the way, he told his colleagues, including Bobby Ordonez, that martial
law has been proclaimed
...
“Please take care of the fare,
Bobby,” he said addressing Ordonez
...
I hope we will meet when the dawn of freedom breaks
...
Till we meet again!” Tony faded into the
night
...
I know that
he is very much alive
...
Lacaba were apprehended with printing paraphernalia for the
underground press
...
I am confident Tony will
continue to elude other teams
...
He was followed by then incumbent NPC President Eddie B
...
Instead of returning to
Manila, Monteclaro denounced the martial law government and proceeded to
the United States to seek political asylum
...
However, I collaborated long enough with Marcos to
convince myself that the imposition of martial law was just a stratagem
employed by the President to perpetuate himself in power
...
Juan Quijano, the incorruptible lawyer of the
Philippines Free Press and lawyer-later-publisher of the Chinese Commercial
News, and newscaster Fred Espaldon of DZMT and Channel 5, hacked away
at Marcos for what they termed as a “power-grab
...
He and Quintin
proceeded to the United States in December
...
Espaldon, on the other hand, went on record in the West Coast as the first
Filipino to go on the air and submit to press interviews assailing the Marcos
power grab in the Philippines
...
“We expected martial law to be resorted to by Marcos,” Espaldon declared
in one of his radio-TV interviews, “but there is really no justification for it
...
”
Having issued that kind of fighting statement, Espaldon felt that his student
visa in the U
...
was not good enough
...
Again, he went on record as “the first” Filipino to seek political
asylum from the Marcos dictatorship
...
As the man who denounced the “Con Con” payola, Pamatong was high on
the list of persons to be arrested upon the declaration of martial law
...
” They were deported to the Philippines via Palawan
...
Somehow, Pamatong and Martinez got a letter through to the Philippine
Consul in Singapore
...
They were issued Philippine passports to enable
them to go back to the Philippines
...
Pamatong and Martinez chose the United States and
Canada, and then the U
...
official documented them as refugees for Canada
— not the U
...
However, enroute to Canada, Pamatong and Martinez obtained
a permit to spend a few days in the United States
...
Martinez
now works as a secretary to former Senator Sergio Osmena, Jr
...
Of course, the U
...
embassy in Manila knew about it
...
However, no other man outside President Marcos knew the exact time and date
when martial law would have to be declared
...
After all, Marcos already
knew that Ambassador Byroade knew that the Philippine President was
all set to impose martial law
...
President Marcos summoned Byroade for a luncheon
conference on September 22
...
However, I partook of my lunch together with Agent Boquiren in the
communications room near the Study Room when Marcos told me earlier in the
day that he was having a closed-door luncheon conference with the American
envoy
...
Most of the time Secretary Enrile would also be around, and occasionally so
would Undersecretary of Justice Efren Plana, who was former defense
undersecretary
...
m
...
Ever since I joined the
Marcos-owned Daily Express as its Malacanang reporter, it had become my
duty to discuss with the President what stories I would write, and subsequently
share with the other Malacanang beat reporters, which could be beamed to
Congress, the opposition quarters and other sectors to prepare their minds for
the imposition of martial law
...
When I found the official Study Room still empty, I went
inside the communications cubicle where I saw that Agent Boquiren had neatly
arranged the presidential papers consisting mostly of memoranda and notes
which had come in during the night and early in the morning from Cabinet
members and other quarters
...
Baka may mapulot ka na magandang ibalita sa column mo
...
You might be able to pick out some materials for your
column)
...
Boquiren left me alone to read through a paper that
could give me the biggest story of my newspaper career, although I realized
then and there that I wouldn’t be able to write it for the next day’s paper
...
But now I find myself writing the story for the first time, not in my memoirs,
but in this document, this instrument of my fighting faith, my own written
contribution to history, which I am confident will neither be the first nor the last
...
It
was addressed to the President, naturally
...
22, 1972, started with this line: “In
connection with your scheduled conference this noon with U
...
Ambassador
Byroade, may I remind you that the matters outlined herein below, as we have
discussed yesterday, should be emphasized by you xxx
...
The memorandum made an outline of what the President was
to tell Byroade were the vital justifications for the imposition of martial law
...
S
...
However, the
presidential line suggested by the Enrile Memorandum for the Marcos-Byroade
conference was not an unusual orchestration of the President by a subordinate
...
It
is not known just who among the Palace assistants started the practice of
orchestrating the President
...
De Vega
...
I assumed then — and I confirmed this subsequently —
that the President hardly departed from the outline of the Enrile Memorandum
...
(*11
...
)
The President chose to be deliberately vague about the timing of the
imposition of martial law, giving Byroade only the impression that he might do
it within the coming weeks, but not earlier than the next week
...
S
...
The message would have been clear to Byroade: that interference
by American troops from Clark Field or Subic base with the imposition of martial
law will be repelled by Philippine troops, trained and equipped by the United
States
...
S
...
The incident occurred just a
few days after receipt by the Presidential Security Command that there were
unusual troop activities within the Subic navy base
...
S
...
“Sir, can we now write the line that you had informed Byroade that you
are going to impose martial law?” I asked the President
...
’’(Don’t say that yet
...
“Let me see,” the President looked at the
ceiling and then facing me, started the story for the day
...
You must stress that point that I have already utilized
the first two options to no avail
...
“Why don’t we just announce it, sir
...
“Oh, yes let everyone be forewarned that I am about to impose martial law
...
“It’s the timing that is important as far as we are concerned
...
) And try to work out the story with Secretary Tatad
...
The way Marcos addresses his Cabinet members and other ranking officials of his
administration, either orally or in writing, is the gauge of his temper respecting that official on any
given day
...
” He usually called him “Kits” and the other ranking officials also by their
nicknames, even in his handwritten notes to them, to indicate that they were in good standing
with him
...
)
I wrote the story without any help from, or consultation with, Tatad
...
It was
an SOP (standard operating procedure) which I had imposed on Tatad ever
since I began representing the Daily Express in the Palace beat
...
The spectacle of Tatad briefing newsmen on presidential stories I have
dished out to them in advance became the talk of the coffee shops
...
But since martial law was going to be
good for the United States, it was good enough for Byroade
...
The gusts blowing across the islands of a political-aflamed Philippine
archipelago in the late 60’s and early 70’s were not of such velocity as to
constitute a justification for the imposition of martial law
...
Marcos observed and studied the emergence of an organized and militant
movement for change; he took note of the fact that the movement brought about
a loose coalition among intellectuals, professionals, small businessmen,
students, peasants, laborers and employees, and even elements heretofore
inactive in the political field, i
...
the seminarians, priests, nuns and Catholic
school students
...
With increasing support from the elite of the two
major political parties and the influential media, the movement generated
nationwide support through massive demonstrations and teach-ins
...
A significant victory of the coalesced groups came during the elections
for delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention; about one-third of the
delegate seats were won by progressives and independents who later formed
a potent bloc to push through sweeping and fundamental structural changes in
the government and society
...
e
...
It attended to the much-needed
politicization of the people in democracy
...
Bruno
Hicks, an American Franciscan missionary deported later by the martial regime
who now lives in Stockton, wrote:
“I saw more and more Filipinos getting into the political arena
...
”
Father Hicks then asks: “Could this have been the reason why martial law
was declared: because democracy was just beginning to work (and) the
grievances of the masses were finally getting organized, getting aired, bringing
pressure to bear on the political institutions?”
As Marcos took note of the “pressure” brought about by the reform
movement, he even sought to ride the crest of the new wave
...
I recall a number of occasions when the First Lady, Imelda, would
despairingly talk of how the new coalition of progressive and independent
elements seem to present a formidable threat to the plans of the First Family to
Primitivo Mijares
Page 78
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
stay in power
...
Marcos started tossing his own theories and ideas on the burgeoning
movement for change during an informal session with some of his Cabinet
members following the accreditation in Malacanang of a newly-arrived
ambassador of a foreign country
...
m
...
After the accreditation ceremony, the President
sits down informally with members of his official family
...
In any meeting of the
President with his subordinates, only Marcos may speak lengthily on anything;
the others may interrupt with only one or two short sentences, unless he has
an anecdote to relate that is calculated to make the President laugh
...
True, he
stated, the confrontation started by the reformist groups with the government
was becoming dangerous, posing a threat not only to the party in power, but to
the entire Establishment
...
A Cabinet member, who has never been known for being tactful, boldly
asserted that the demands of the demonstrating groups focused exploitation of
the Philippines by American business interests and on the need to restrict the
United States on the use of its military bases in the country
...
The President cut him off
...
The President pointed out that
there was a real possibility that the U
...
would get out of the Vietnam war,
thereby requiring greater protection for the U
...
naval and air bases in the
Philippines as insurance against probable expansion of Soviet power in Asia
...
S
...
And Japan, which
is being urged by the United States to expand in Asia so that she can share in
the protection of the area from Soviet expansionism, needed favorable business terms also in the Philippines
...
Then the tactless Cabinet member became pertinent for Marcos’ purposes;
it was as if he himself was following a script prepared by whoever drafted the
President’s own script for the day
...
President, is martial
law so that you can continue your good work for this nation; we need martied law to protect the two-party system; and we need it to protect the Republic
Primitivo Mijares
Page 79
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
from the rebels
...
S
...
S
...
Sometimes known as the “secretary for air pollution” because he would butt
in on any subject under discussion in any Cabinet meeting, this particular
Cabinet man was all of a sudden the darling of Mr
...
However, Marcos played it cool and coy
...
But he has driven home his point; he had
delivered his message to the Cabinet, and the other people outside Malacanang whom they would be calling the moment they stepped out of the Palace
gates
...
He had
plans all by himself to exacerbate the revolutionary situation
...
Verily, the myth is now closing down on Filipinos at home and abroad that
the declaration of martial law in the Philippines was caused in part by the failure
of American-style democracy to cope with the growing pains of development in
a country dominated by vested interests and oligarchs
...
Martial law, therefore, was more than just a vehicle for a power-grab,
confession or failure or lack of capacity, to handle the open bargaining process
so necessary to Philippine political and economic development
...
*13
Now Marcos wants his imposition of martial law known as a “democratic
revolution
...
Salas,*14 found an occasion
to ridicule the President’s posture as a revolutionary by stating in an interview
with Quijano de Manila, pen name of former Free Press staff writer Nick Joaquin, thus: “How can Marcos call it a ‘democratic revolution’? Does he mean it
was not a working democracy before? Revolution means change; usually it
comes from below
...
The
terminology is unfortunate
...
” *15
(*13
...
*14
...
The first time Salas visited Manila under the martial regime in July, 1974, he was
assigned an armed forces major as “military aide” who was actually an intelligence officer who
reported directly to Marcos and Imelda on the movements and “local contacts” made by Salas
...
Aaia-Philippines Leader, issue of April, 1971
...
Just a year before the imposition of martial law, the
prestigious Rand Corporation surveyed the Philippine situation on commission
from the U
...
Agency for International Development
...
“The political system appears to be stable and generally responsive to the
desire of most people
...
“The economy appears to be performing better than commonly thought and
is spread broadly across the country
...
“Crime is not a national problem
...
”
4
...
”
The only emergency condition that existed on or about mid-1972 revolved
around the personal and political fortunes of President Marcos and his
ambitious and insatiable wife, Imelda
...
Influential leaders of the two major political parties, including
ranking leaders of the President’s own Nationalista Party, were openly talking
about how Marcos and his wife would have to be made to answer to the people
and the courts of law and equity for the unabashed abuse of power, and
the rampant graft and corruption that pervaded the Marcos I and II
Administrations
...
00) DOLLARS
...
Imelda had
already been meddling in the exercise of the powers of the presidency,
including her unashamed use of public funds
...
Marcos then mustered enough
courage to put his foot down on Imelda’s ambition while they were cruising on
board the presidential yacht, RPS 777, around Manila Bay, in the latter part of
June, 1972
...
Later, Marcos announced that his wife had suffered a
miscarriage and blamed it all on the unfair criticisms on Mrs
...
It was also a time when Marcos felt that all the frustrations of his political
career was coming his way; there were the merciless criticisms by his political
opponents and even from his own party, the untrammeled and ever-increasing
crescendo of assaults on his integrity by the free-swinging Philippine news
media
...
Damn the legal niceties, damn democracy and
free speech, he thought
...
An entire
lifetime freed from the shackles of guarantees of civil liberties was needed;
Marcos must have his vengeance
...
Even from the single consideration that Marcos must
carve out a nice niche for himself in Philippine history, there was a pressing
emergency situation; the tightening noose of circumstances showed that,
unless Marcos took some drastic steps, the inevitable verdict of history
on Marcos, as of 1972, would be that he was nothing but a scoundrel
...
At its worst, Watergate was a fumbling attempt at
espionage to insure an election campaign over-kill by President Nixon’s
campaign strategists and a subsequent attempt at cover-up
...
My own assessment that martial law was resorted to by President Marcos
as a means of perpetuating himself in power and covering up for his
malfeasance and nonfeasance during his corrupt and abusive I and II
presidency in Malacanang is borne out by various quarters
...
gave his own angry insight into the sanctimonious claim of Marcos
that he imposed martial law only as a means of saving the Republic from its
enemies
...
Marcos says he declared martial rule to establish a New Society
...
“Mr
...
This new Constitution ordains a drastic
change from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government
...
We
have a parliamentary government without a parliament
...
“Mr
...
Yes, the rule of the few has been eliminated
...
“Mr
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 82
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
“Lest we forget:
“It was during his incumbency, as early as 1966, when documented rake
offs from public works contracts reached into the millions, when he encouraged
the proliferation of private armies and the smuggling by his political henchmen
of high-powered weapons with impunity, when 26 Muslim ‘Jabidah’
volunteers were murdered in cold blood in Corregidor, when our Republic
nearly got embroiled in a foreign adventure with a neighboring state to secure
a ‘power of attorney’ granted by the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu to Mr
...
“It was during his incumbency when our currency was debauched and
devalued by an unprecedented 58% as a result of wanton election spending
‘overkill’ in 1969
...
Marcos squandered almost P900 million to reelect himself
as per the findings of the Senate committee on finance
...
“It was during his incumbency when despairing youth took to the streets to
denounce his abuses and misrule, when several idealistic young demonstrators
were mowed down in cold blood while some others were picked up during the
night by agents of the law and disappeared forever
...
“It was during his incumbency that a Constitutional Convention was openly,
flagrantly and shamelessly subverted with fat ‘payola’ envelopes, triggering a
massive expos^ of lurid pay-offs in the very precinct of Malacanang
...
Marcos declared
martial rule, jailed the independent and opposition leaders who opposed his
wishes in the Convention and rammed through a Marcos Constitution in record
time
...
Aquino, Jr
...
The long dark night that descended on the Republic has now disgorged its
monstrous two-headed offspring in the dictatorship of Ferdinand E
...
1 wife, Imelda
Romualdez-Marcos
...
But this is merely a resort to semantics
...
1
wife not only enjoys the privileges, but also wields with greater gusto and
irresponsibility the powers, of the dictator
...
m
...
Several hours before the scheduled announcement of martial
law on the air, Marcos directed Press Secretary Francisco S
...
Veteran radio announcer Vero Perfecto
was originally tapped by the President to do it, but a jealous Tatad ordered Vero
to “get lost
...
Marcos, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution as Commander-inChief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, do hereby proclaim that I shall
govern the nation and direct the operation of the entire Government, including all its agencies and instrumentalities, in my capacity and shall exercise
all the powers and prerogatives appurtenant and incident to my position as such
Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces of the Philippines, x x x” *1
(*1
...
1, dated Sept 22, 1972
...
In the exercise of
legislative powers, Marcos promulgated Presidential Decrees containing the
vital resolutory portion stating that they “shall be part of the law of the land
unless ordered repealed or amended by me or by my duly authorized
representatives
...
However, realizing that the judicial
system was too intricate for him to be able to exercise judicial functions to the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 84
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
exclusion of the Supreme Court and other inferior courts, he permitted the
Judiciary to "continue to function in accordance with its present organization
and personnel, and shall try and decide in accordance with existing laws all
criminal and civil cases
...
1081 itself
and "any rules, orders or acts issued, promulgated or performed” by him or his
duly authorized representatives
...
General Order No
...
22, 1972
...
Although the judiciary was allowed some degree of “independence” in
handling “non-political cases,” Marcos still exercised judicial powers directly
and indirectly; in the first method, through military commissions which he
created to try civilians and whose sentences he must First approve before they
can be carried out *3 and in the second means, through his influence over
members of the Supreme Court *4 and through his power, under the Palacedictated 1973 Constitution, to remove every member of the judiciary, from the
lowest to the highest, at will and even without cause
...
Presidential Decree No
...
7,1972, as amended by PD No
...
*4
...
”
*5
...
See also Letter of
Instructions No
...
)
By his assumption of all powers of government unto himself, Marcos
became an absolute dictator, denying participation by the people, through their
elected representatives, on matters that shape their life and their very
livelihood
...
Marcos has no intention of relinquishing the absolute rule he has imposed
in the Philippines
...
” The
whole plot of Marcos is to rule in Malacanang long enough for him to be able to
prepare his son, Ferdinand, Jr
...
” DictatorPresident Marcos misses no opportunity, however, to insist that the painful
decision he had made to place the country under martial law to “save the
Republic” and solve, through a government by martial law, the nation’s abiding
and persistent political, economic and social problems
...
In another breath, however, he would attempt to hold out false hopes by
making a concessionary statement that martial law was never conceived as a
permanent fixture in Philippine polity, although he would continue to impose it
Primitivo Mijares
Page 85
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
beyond the simple need of restoring order, to meet the other and even more
important imperative of reforming society
...
Of course, I knew whereof I was speaking, but I was not prepared — and
neither am I now — to beg anybody to believe me
...
One such event has already materialized in the first
concrete confirmation by deed on the intent of President Marcos to set up an
imperial dynasty in the Philippines
...
Marcos’ wife, Imelda, yesterday took her first
political post, as governor of Metropolitan Manila, a new government unit
with 4
...
The position will give her political exposure second only to her husband
and increase the possibilities of her succeeding him in the presidency
...
Six days ago, the President rejected a movement to draft Mrs
...
Mayors
and prominent businessmen had asked her to head the area government
because they said it needed a figure of national stature
...
Marcos told the audience of politicians at the ceremony in the
presidential palace, “Not a single one among us can afford to beg off and
just watch the metropolis decay and die
...
”
The move was strongly supported by newspapers either controlled or
edited by Mrs
...
P
...
*7
Before his wife spoke, Marcos signed the decree creating the
Metropolitan Manila Commission for the Greater Manila Area
...
“Political Job: Big Step for Mrs
...
7, 1975
...
Enrique “Pocholo” Romualdez is a nephew of Mrs
...
)
Even this early, Marcos has already seen fit to hold out Imelda as his wouldbe successor, just in case he is incapacitated to discharge his dictatorial duties
while his only son by Imelda is yet too young to assume the powers of
government
...
It is an emerging fact that in the reasonably near future, Marcos’ assumption of
a crown and scepter would become a clear and definite reality
...
A greater proof of Marcos’ irreversible plunge towards the establishment of
a royal dictatorship in the Philippines is his resort to the ancient and historic
“barangay” system of government of the early Filipinos
...
The first time Marcos made use of the “barangay” concept of government
in January, 1973, “to sound out the people” on his martial law and on the newlydrafted Constitution, he immediately made the system work as in the days of
yore
...
These days Marcos talks in glowing terms on the modern
meaning of the “barangay” concept of government, saying it is a system where
the people have full participation in government; obviously, full participation in
what he wants them to do
...
It was far from being a democracy
...
This is Imelda’s cup of tea, too, for it will sustain her desire
to be known as one who sprung from the noblesse oblige, not from very poor
beginning as traced by Carmen Navarro-Pedrosa
...
“The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos,” by Carmen Navarro-Pedrosa
...
Romulo,
her Extravagant foreign trips and jet-set parties in the Philippines and
elsewhere are all scandalous expressions of a hurried desire to institutionalize
as soon as possible the regime of a royal family, with the' distinct element of
the female half exercising equal powers with the male counterpart
...
This will be an initial soft-sell to
explain the “barangay” authoritarian rule of Ferdinand and Imelda in Manila; it will be the official cover for the Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and
Imelda
...
Then as now, there are five castes, namely: 1) the royalty, known as
the lakan (king or queen), 2) the warrior or datu class, 3) the religious leaders,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 87
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
4) the freemen, and 5) the slaves
...
Imelda definitely covets the title and position of Ferdinand
...
, from ever
gaining any slot in the line of succession to the presidency, and for propping up
her favorite brother, Kokoy, as one of the important Palace guards — against
the Ilocanos
...
Known as the
“mandirigma” in ancient times, this class is now made up of the entire public
armed forces of the Philippines, the principal enforcers of the martial
law edict
...
He declared: “The
proclamation of martial law is not a military takeover
...
”
However, if one looks at the behavior of the members of the armed forces,
he cannot but come to the conclusion that the AFP people are behaving like
they were a conquering army
...
Nevertheless, Marcos has awarded loyal officers and units
with defined territorial jurisdictions to administer — and plunder — when they
are not engaged in any action for the preservation of the royalty
...
In the modem
Philippines under the conjugal dictatorship, it is designated as the Presidential
Security Command, whose chief is Major General Fabian Crisologo-Ver
...
However, one of its major tasks is to serve
as a “watchdog” on the armed forces, notably the ranking command officers
like Major General Fidel V
...
The mere existence of the Palace security command serves as a constant
reminder to all other armed forces units and their commanders that, even under
a martial regime where the military is supposed to be supreme, they are not
supposed to aspire to anything beyond serving the interests of the commanderin-chief
...
In ancient days, the “imams” were charged with the
responsibility of regularly calling upon the deity to preserve the good health of
the royal family
...
Members of this group were known in early times as the maharlika or
timawa, or free men who were in the good graces of the king and queen
...
This group now constitutes the rest of the Filipino
people who belong to none of the four higher castes from the royalty down
...
They are: 1) aliping namamahay or slaves without fetters who must work the
lands and enterprises of the higher castes, pay taxes and carry out the
directives flowing from the seat of power as they work for their own livelihood,
and, if they are lucky, to have some of their men recruited into the warrior
class; and 2) aliping saguiguilid, or second-class slaves, which correspond
under present conditions to the political prisoners
...
The principle under which the slaves have to work the lands and properties,
including the various enterprises, of the royalty and the freemen or timawas is
that everything in the country is owned by the King and the Queen, although
both King and Queen prefer to make the people understand that what they have
all belong to the State
...
There are strong doubts right now whether the
various religious groups in the Philippines, i
...
, Catholics, Protestants or
Muslims, would be willing to serve more than the spiritual needs of Marcos
...
As a matter of fact, the archbishop of
Manila, Msgr
...
Sin has proven to be a greater pain in the neck for Marcos than his
immediate predecessor in the Manila archdiocese, the late Rufino Cardinal
Santos
...
” Presidential Assistant Jacobo C
...
“Oh, yes, Jake, they go to worship at the
Cosmopolitan Church *9 where Senator (Jovito) Salonga preaches more
regularly than you do on Sundays,” the Dictator quipped, unable to conceal his
irritation
...
Located along Taft Avenue in front of the Phil
...
)
President Marcos is not given to making idle pronouncements; his
appreciation of the “support” of the Aglipayan church for martial law and his
Primitivo Mijares
Page 89
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
displeasure on the behavior of the majority religious sects were portentous of
ideas lurking in the dark recesses of his mind
...
The Marcoses are descended from the founders of
the Aglipayan church in the Philippines
...
Aglipay shot to national prominence in the wake of demands within the
leadership of the Revolutionary Government in 1899 for the Filipinization of the
Catholic Church
...
Aglipay
agreed with and wholeheartedly endorsed a plan of Apolinario Mabini, the
brains of the Malolos Congress, for the organization of a church administered
by Filipinos
...
Aglipay accepted the position of Supreme Bishop of the new
Church
...
Quezon, the standard bearer of the NacionalistaConsolidado
...
Aguinaldo was the third contender for President, carrying
the banner of the Popular Front
...
The thoughts and ideas of Marcos about the Aglipayan church has some
historical moorings, therefore
...
After all, the thinking of Ferdinand and Imelda
show their heavy penchant for adopting the ways of British royalty which they
want to be the model for their own royal reign in the Philippines
...
Four of the major “reform” measures programmed by Marcos for his New
Society were of such delicate nature as to offend the finer sensibilities of the
religious, specifically the Catholic Church
...
Marcos has already put the first two into the statute books, the first by
Primitivo Mijares
Page 90
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
decree that paved the way for the launching of a floating casino at Manila Bay,
and the second through the martial law Constitution, although he has
suspended its implementation and is holding it as a Sword of Damocles on the
Catholic church
...
A
draft of the Divorce Decree was ordered by the President to be prepared and
submitted to him as early as 1973
...
What benefit, politically or personally, would a divorce
decree bring unto King Ferdinand? One can always hark back to the days when
Marcos was repeatedly promising actress Dovie Beams *10 that he will divorce
Imelda and make the Hollywood lass the first American First Lady of the Philippines
...
(*10
...
)
The installation of a new First Lady in Malacanang, whether Imelda is still
alive or not, is not inconceivable at all
...
Stealing into the night is a forte of King Ferdinand
...
The man from Batac was so unlike the dearly beloved President Ramon F
...
The night holds a thousand evil plots for Marcos
...
It was on a dark night in 1935, as established by a Philippine trial court, that
then young Ferdinand, using a rifle stolen from the armory of the University of
the Philippines, gunned down Nalundasan who had just won an overwhelming
election victory for the second time in a congressional election in Ilocos Norte
against Mariano Marcos, father of Ferdinand
...
It was also on a dark night in humid Washington, D
...
where Marcos
brazenly sought to extend the dirty and ugly hands of his martial rule in the
Philippines to prevent a witness, with an offer of a $50,000
...
S
...
It was a daring attempt by a tinhorn Asian dictator to tamper with sacred and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 91
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
hallowed American institutions
...
And now — at least temporarily — Marcos holds sway in the seat of power
which he had violently grabbed with his spectacular No
...
Their court is in the City of Manila
and their headquarters is Malacanang
...
As they make the Philippines endure what is
probably the worst dictatorship Asia has known, Ferdinand and Imelda make
laws at will, frighten masses of people into abject submission, contemptuously
and callously imprison thousands who oppose them
...
When I appeared before the Fraser committee on June 17, 1975, in
Washington, D
...
, I underscored the following points on the role of the First
Lady, Imelda, in what is now vulgarly known as the conjugal dictatorship
established by the most powerful ruling duumvirate ever to grace the map of
Southeast Asia:
IV
...
He moved for stability
...
Marcos did was to order the closure of the unwary
and unresisting media establishments (newspapers, radio and television
stations)
...
2) Then, in accordance with a prepared order of battle, his troops fanned
out all over the country to arrest and detain his political opponents, business
rivals, militant student and labor leaders, critical newspapermen, columnists
and radio commentators
...
Marcos’ political
benefactor, Rep
...
Ablan, Jr
...
Marcos and her equally vindictive brother, Gov
...
4) President Marcos signed Letters of Sequestration (unpublished) for
the seizure of the properties of his critics and political opponents, and
business rivals, on the pretense that these properties were used as
“instruments of subversion
...
Most of the seized estate and properties have been taken over for free,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 92
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
or bought for unconscionably low prices, by cronies of the President and his
brothers-in-law
...
A number of generals control
the flourishing smuggling in of luxury goods from abroad and smuggling out
of premium export products, e
...
sugar, copra, lumber, cement, etc
...
DICTATOR FOR LIFE
Having delivered the fatal blow against democracy and having
consolidated his martial regime, President Marcos then took further steps to
insure his authoritarian rule for life
...
Even at this stage of martial law, Mr
...
2) Bribery, intimidation and coercion of the members of the
Constitutional Convention to force them to approve the final draft of a
proposed New Constitution which installed Mr
...
3) Staging of a mock referendum from Jan
...
4) Calling of other referendums as often as he wanted to in order to
show his political opponents at home and the outside world, particularly the
United States government and press, that his continuing martial regime had
the clear mandate of the people
...
The central theme is the creation of an aura of
mysticism around the person of Mr
...
6) Maintaining a tight grip on the country’s economy by making sure that
all major business transactions or the formation of new and big corporations
carry his stamp of approval, or that they are undertaken with the
participation of his front men, in-laws and cronies
...
Marcos expects to turn in
favorable reports on the martial regime to the State Department
...
9) President Marcos plans to sanitize his authoritarian regime by making
a hollow gesture, perhaps in 1976 or 1977, of lifting martial law, but actually
Primitivo Mijares
Page 93
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
retaining the restrictions adopted when martial law was imposed
...
”
10) By terrorizing the personnel of the entire civil arm of government,
including members of the judiciary on the local government level, by
requiring them to submit their courtesy resignations under Letters of
Instructions Nos
...
Then, those who are from time to time deemed
“notoriously undesirable” are either by direct action of the President, or upon
recommendation of their immediate superiors and with the approval of the
President, notified that their resignations have been accepted
...
Whenever a suit is elevated to the high
court challenging the martial regime’s legality or any acts of Mr
...
Justices of the high court always get the message loud and
clear that they are being told they could lose their jobs at any time
...
The only kind of freedom available
to the Philippine press at this time is freedom to sing praises to the
President, the First Lady and their anointed followers, what with ownership
of media confined to the President’s front men, cronies and brother-in-law
Romualdez
...
I could
do it then because I could always state that “the President will hear about
this
...
14) Increase of the salaries and allowances of the armed forces
personnel by 150 percent over the pre-martial law scale, while the civil
servants are grudgingly given a P50
...
15) cost-of-living allowance per
month
...
00 ($1
...
16) Expansion of the corps of Palace guards from its pre-martial law
strength of just a battalion (Presidential Guard Battalion) to a full-sized
Presidential Security Command
...
The commander of the Presidential Security Command is also
the chief of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) which set
up a national secret police
...
Mr
...
18) Restrictions on travel abroad by Filipinos, especially those who
could talk or write against the regime
...
Marcos’ proclamation of martial law
...
20) Refusal of Mr
...
XXX
CONJUGAL XI
...
1) The First Lady dips her fingers into the public till with greater ease
than the President himself
...
2) The First Lady has her own office in Malacanang located right next
to the Presidential Studv Room, known as the “Music Room” where she
receives her callers
...
3) Like Evita Peron, her idol, the Philippines’ First Lady has established
a foundation to which funds may be contributed for every major project
...
” It sounds like a loose
translation of Evita Peron’s “La Razon de mi Vida,” or “My Mission in Life
...
Marcos and Mrs
...
The First Lady scrutinizes and exercises veto power over appointments
and major decisions of the President
...
”
The appointment in 1969 of the incumbent Secretary of Information was
forced on the President by the First Lady and her brother, Gov
...
That’s the reason when, on one occasion the First Lady tried to agitate for
the removal of the information secretary because the poor Cabinet man
Primitivo Mijares
Page 95
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
could not stop the adverse publicity against the First Lady in the international
press, the President shot back: “I have always known his (the Cabinet
man’s) incompetence, but you recommended him to me!”
XXX
It was fairly evident from the time Marcos assumed the presidency of the
Philippines for the first term beginning December 30,1965, that Imelda would
not be stopped from sharing powers with the country’s chief executive in what
would be known as the conjugal presidency
...
Imelda herself encouraged talks about her unwarranted meddling in the
exercise of the powers of the presidency
...
Cabrera, former editor of
the defunct Manila Chronicle where he used to write a weekly column, titled
“Inside Malacanang,” once wrote a Sunday piece on Imelda sharing powers
with her husband, and making a forecast that the Marcos-Imelda rule in
Malacanang would approximate the romantic Joint Reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella of Spain
...
Marcos even gave the editor a personal telephone call,
thanking him for the write-up and informing him that she was sending him a
new set of world history books to help the journalist dig up some historical basis
for the forthcoming joint rule of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
...
The First Lady suggested that
the Chronicle editor might try a series of columns in more serious tones; she
recommended that parallels in the lives of Imelda, Eva Braun-Hitler and Evita
Peron be traced and publicized by Cabrera
...
Marcos!” Cabrera protested
...
The heavy article came very much later from the pen of a veteran
Malacanang reporter, Vicente F
...
Ty
...
Marcos for unwarranted meddling in affairs of state
which the Constitution specifies that only her husband, President Marcos, can
undertake
...
Those he
mentioned were Mrs
...
Aurora Aragon Quezon, wife of President Quezon; Mrs
...
Laurel, Sr
...
Esperanza Osmena, wife of President Sergio Osmena, Sr
...
Trinidad L
...
Roxas; Victoria Quirino-Gonzales, daughter
of President Elpidio Quirino; Mrs
...
Magsaysay, wife of President
Magsaysay; Mrs Leonila Garcia, wife of President Carlos P
...
Eva Macapagal, wife of President Macapagal
...
Marcos is not only helpless in stopping Imelda’s
Primitivo Mijares
Page 96
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
dogged determination to share the powers of the presidency, and now the
dictatorship, with him
...
*11
(*11
...
that he was goaded
by Imelda into declaring war against the Lopezes in 1971 because she had caught him philandering
and the only way he could appease her was to yield to her demands at the time, which happened
to be her desire to crack down on the Lopez empire
...
However, everyone concedes that Marcos could not have achieved
his goal of ascending to the presidency of his country merely by his own
masculine devices
...
1 king-maker; this is one important
consideration that Imelda became so important as to occupy a shared rulemaking not made available to any First Lady before
...
One must attribute the successes of Imelda in
bringing up the conjugal dictatorship to her own wiles
...
Imelda came out
of obscurity and penury from the sleeping barrio of Olot in Tolosa, Leyte
...
Lacson, an event
that gave clear causes for tongues to wag about the Cassanova adventures of
the colorful mayor
...
At about the time that Imelda was plunging herself deeply Into the conjugal
presidency in the late 60’s, a box office movie hit, “Anne of a Thousand Days,”
was on a roadshow in Manila
...
It was what
Cardinal Wolsey quipped when warned by alarmed Palace functionaries that
Queen Anne Boleyn was getting to be too powerful to the point she might edge
out all other aspirants to the throne of King Henry
...
“Yes, but Marcos is putting power between Imelda’s legs and abdicating
his historical role,” chorused the senators during a lull in their sessions
...
The trend set by Imelda of sharing powers with her husband caught on
down the level of local governments and even in Congress to dramatize the
establishment of small dynasties of politicians in the provinces
...
Then Congressman Tito M
...
Governor of
Batanes province Jorge Abad made his wife the congressperson for the
province
...
Josefina Belmonte-Duran who got elected to the congressional district of Albay upon the
demise of Congressman Pio Duran, and of Congressperson Magnolia
Wellborn-Antonino, daughter of an American schoolteacher, winning a
senatorial seat after substituting for her husband, Senator Gaudencio E
...
But the biggest dynasty in the Philippines is still that of the Marcos-Imelda
tandem
...
5 million inhabitants of metropolitan Manila is “all in the family
...
The news story was published by the San Francisco Examiner on November 27, 1975,
under the by-line of Arnold Zeitlin, AP Manila bureau chief
...
Other members of the families are scattered prominently through
government and business
...
Part of the pattern of Filipino life is doing business with relatives, not only
because they need jobs, too, but because they can be trusted more easily than
strangers, social scientists say
...
Through marriage, Filipinos have built extensive financial empires with
lines running from the sugar business to industry to the ownership of banks and
insurance companies, almost all run by family members
...
Jaime C
...
”
When President Ferdinand Marcos swore in his 46-year-old wife on
November 6 as first governor of a new integrated metropolitan Manila, she
joined her younger brother, Benjamin ‘Kokoy’ Romualdez, governor of Leyte,
her family’s central Philippines home province, and Elizabeth Marcos-Keon,
Marcos’ sister, who is governor of Ilocos Norte in northern Luzon, the Marcos
family’s ancestral home
...
The 58-year-old President’s relatives are fewer than his wife’s
...
Pacifico Marcos, is head of the Philippines’ medicare program and has been
suggested as health secretary in his brother’s Cabinet
...
Another uncle, Modesto Farolan, is Philippine ambassador to Indonesia
...
Gen
...
Ramos, is a West Point graduate who
commands the constabulary
...
Another cousin of Mrs
...
P
...
The Express and the Times-Journal, controlled by Gov
...
Marcos as Manila governor
...
Francisco Romualdez, his
brother-in-law and presiding officer of a military tribunal
...
Edon Yap, married to Mrs
...
Among Imelda’s varied activities in actively sharing the powers of the
dictatorship, she enjoys most the task which gives her the illusions of a woman
with vast pretensions of being a world diplomat as she goes about her royal
hegira
...
All these trips have
been quite expensive and extravagantly financed, what with the First Lady
spending money in certain places like money was going out of style
...
Carlos P
...
The goberna-diktadura *13 realizes that old
man Romulo is just too big a diplomatic giant for her to eclipse right away
...
The value of Romulo had long been
recognized by Marcos so that the President had resisted attempts of the First
Lady and Kokoy Romualdez to have the aging world statesman replaced as
foreign secretary by Imelda herself
...
(*13
...
)
Of course, Romulo has had to make his own accommodations and
personal compromises with the martial regime
...
This has enabled him to make the proper and timely 180 degree
turn that he must take, if necessary, under the tried and tested principle of
flexibility
...
To date, he has delivered only one significant speech in favor of martial law
...
However, he has never
stopped issuing statements whenever he is abroad in praise of President
Marcos and his dictatorship, although somehow these statements surprisingly
move out only through the Manila circuits of the “Associated Press” and the
“United Press International,” a system of mass communication that seems to
indicate that the Romulo praises for Marcos are only for the consumption of the
government-controlled Manila media to be beamed exclusively to the Dictator
...
Mrs
...
On the other hand, it is really Romulo who should express some concrete
form of protest to the usurpation by Imelda of the functions of the foreign
secretary
...
To the
consternation of Mrs
...
I had a mind to ask President Marcos at the time why he had to approve
the trip of Romulo to eastern Europe at about the time that the First Lady would
be visiting Peking
...
Marcos to China in
order not to unduly antagonize the Soviet bloc countries in eastern Europe
...
She suspected that the Romulo trip was a plot to upstage her and
make Romulo share with her the newspaper in charge for the Philippines
...
Mrs
...
A new announcement was then made to the effect
that Mrs
...
The First Lady had learned the
usefulness of a diplomatic illness; she never went to the hospital; she never
had any infection of any kind, at that time
...
The strength and power of Imelda as the un-expendable female half of the
conjugal dictatorship is anchored to the fact that the First Lady has so
conditioned the mind of President Marcos that the Apo is nothing without the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 100
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
No
...
This is one big reason that the First Lady almost always can have
her way, whether it be a demand that she be dispatched to this or that
coronation or to be allowed to engage in some lavish and bacchanalian festivity
in Manila or abroad
...
In any case, both suggestions are proving to be very
expensive for the Filipino taxpayers
...
“I serve as the lightning rod who could blunt or draw away fire from the
President,” Imelda once told a small group that included myself, Clave, De
Vega and Tuvera
...
In a word, both the President and the First Lady have convinced
themselves that Imelda is Marcos’ strength and weakest point; without her, he
would be an easy prey or target to any ambitious groups, be they supported by
the CIA and/or by U
...
Ambassador William Sullivan or not
...
Marcos made a calculated leak that she suspects that
Secretaries Enrile, Romulo and Tatad might be involved in a triple alliance to
knock her off so that Marcos would subsequently become easy prey to their
conspiracy to install themselves in power
...
Marcos declared
...
Then, suddenly the President was through with his Lebanese visitor
...
“Magaling mag analyze ang First Lady
...
Come on, I am very hungry!)
Marcos cut in
...
And let us include (Executive Secretary Alejandro)
Melchor
...
”
One day, not long after that Palace talk on the conspiratorial group, the
foreign press produced a spate of criticisms against the First Lady for her
staging of an expensive 1974 Miss Universe Pageant while the Filipino people
are wallowing in misery and want
...
The First Lady interpreted the Tatad memo as an application of
the Tagalog saying: “Na sa kalabaw ang hataw, nasa kabayo ang latay
...
Imelda judged correctly that she was the object of the Tatad criticism but the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 101
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
information secretary went about the round-about way to avoid the ire of the
First Lady, thinking apparently he would get away with it
...
Instead of just taking it out on Tatad, the First Lady blamed the conspiracy
of Enrile, Romulo, Melchor and Tatad, saying it was part of a continuing plot to
get rid of the President’s “first line of defense
...
Aspiras, Secretaries Clave, De Vega and key officials of the
Department of Tourism, at her Music Room, she repeated her accusations
against the conspiratorial group of Enrile, Romulo, Melchor and Tatad
...
Marcos held the resignation under
advisement
...
Tatad could be an authoritative source of confirmation or emphasis
for the contents of this book, if he should ever have the chance to behave like
a true newspaperman beyond the reach of the martial regime
...
Watching out for potential threats to the stability of the conjugal rulers is
another important function the First Lady has imposed upon herself
...
The assignment of Sullivan as replacement of Byroade in Manila has been,
and continues to be, regarded by the ruling duumvirate with grave suspicion
...
S
...
They feel that Sullivan was
purposely assigned to the Philippines at a time when both the Parity Rights
provision and the Laurel-Langley agreement were expiring by July 3, 1974
...
As a matter of fact, he is all smiles when he goes to the Palace
...
Marcos so uncomfortable when Sullivan is around the
Palace
...
S
...
Mrs
...
So unsure and suspecting are the Marcoses about Sullivan that, from the
first day of the envoy’s arrival in Manila up to this time, they decided that he
should be tailed, and his every movement watched and reported immediately
to the National Intelligence and Security Agency, the command center of Marcos’ secret police
...
Some of
Sullivan’s clerks in the U
...
embassy also report to General Ver’s office
...
o,o, si datu Puti
...
Marcos remarked one day
...
yes, yes, the white datu
...
)
The ruling duumvirate believe that even now Sullivan is laying down the
infrastructure of his real assignment in Manila — to engineer one day a coup
d’etat against Marcos when he gets the signal that the Dictator is no longer
useful to military and economic objectives of the United States in the
Philippines
...
He
was a right hand man of State Secretary Henry Kissinger who is generally
believed to have given the go-signal for the coup d'etat against President
Allende in Chile
...
It was a bloodless coup d’etat believed to have
been the handiwork of the CIA working through Sullivan
...
On his own volition,
Marcos extended the life of the Parity Rights and the Laurel-Langley Agreement
by one year
...
*14
(*14
...
)
While Marcos capitulated to the still unarticulated demand of Sullivan, he
nevertheless resorted to breast-beating on the matter of the expiring Parity
Rights and the Laurel-Langley Agreement
...
S
...
Marcos declared during a press conference that the martial law regime was
reexamining its foreign policy with a view to cutting off the apron strings that tie
the Philippines to the United States and would diversify its foreign policy to
establish ties with the Communist countries
...
S
...
Then, as if to add another dire message for good measure, Marcos retired
on the dot — not a minute longer than his mandatory retirement age — one of
the few remaining decent officers in the public armed forces, Lt
...
Rafael
Ileto, AFP vice chief of staff and heroic Huk fighter in the category of the late
Colonel Napoleon Valeriano
...
But it was understandable
...
He is definitely a good soldier
...
Ileto refused to
be drawn into any plotting for the imposition of martial law
...
When martial law was declared, Ileto was
placed under virtual house arrest for several days
...
Thus, he was
never invited to join the “Inner Seven” and the “Outer Eleven,” which are groups
of ranking armed forces officers referred to in flattering tones by the President
as “the military junta, advising me and for which I carry out orders
...
He sees to it that the military does not neglect
its main task of maintaining the stability of the conjugal rulers in Malacanang
...
This is the Presidential Security Command,
which is headed by Gen
...
Members
of the PSC are occasionally sent out on combat missions to Mindanao, the
Bicol region and Isabela in order to maintain their combat proficiency and to
gain added field experience
...
He also has a weakness for nightclubs and hostesses, and the collection of
wherewithal for his future security
...
“He cannot do it alone!” protested Tony Clifton of Newsweek in writing
about how Marcos has substituted his one-man puny judgement for those of
many (members of Congress) in solving the various problems of the country
...
It is just
impossible, and their fumbling attempts at excluding others in solving the
nation’s problems and other affairs of state are wreaking havoc on the country,
its government and people
...
*15
(*15
...
12, 1974
...
After receiving the admonition, the tendency of the shaking and worried
bureaucrat would be to freeze action on any matter pending in his office
...
He and the thousands of
other state employees have been required to file their resignation under the
terms of Letters of Instructions Nos
...
Sometimes it’s the male Dictator himself who would call a bureau director
or Cabinet head to give direct instructions on how a particular policy should be
implemented or followed through
...
Clave dutifully transmit to the official
or state employee concerned
...
Wala pang sinabi si Mam,” (Don’t do that
yet
...
When the orders come from Kokoy Romualdez, these are usually
transmitted by either Airport Manager Luis Tabuena or Immigration
Commissioner Edmundo Reyes
...
The bureaucrats would
rather commit the sin of inaction while waiting for further word from the higher
ups
...
Aside from housing the offices of the
Philippine Consulate General, and renting out some office spaces to favored
parties, like the Bataan Travels (which is owned by a crony of President Marcos,
Dr
...
When Ambassador
Alconcel was still actively officiating as consul general in San Francisco, he
wanted to finish the re-modelling of the proposed Philippine Center
...
Image the stagnation in the country because nothing can move or be
moved without specific direct instructions from the conjugal dictatorship
...
In just a very short period, the dictatorial martial regime has thus
succeeded in stultifying a once functioning government, if erratically or
dishonestly, into an unresponsive bureaucracy
...
For lack of anything else to do, and to insure their ingratiation with the
ruling duumvirate, the local executives and even the Cabinet members had
made it their important concern and chores to attend to the beautification
campaign of the First Lady and her more expensive impact projects, like the
Heart Foundation, Nutrition Center, etc
...
The unceremonious ouster of Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor from
all his government positions just because he steered a collision course with
Imelda, the governor of Greater Manila, by opposing the over-development of
the metropolitan area, is still fresh in the minds of all officials serving under the
conjugal dictatorship
...
Not that he has not
considered the water requirements of Davaoenos a priority project However,
the important requisite that Malacanang should give its guidance to Santos on
Primitivo Mijares
Page 105
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
who should get the juicy award of the construction job has not yet been
indicated by the Palace
...
So the work piles up
...
In some instances, local government officials have also found it advisable
to address a little courtesy communication to Secretary of National Defense, or
the local provincial commander that such and such projects have been
addressed to the President for clearance
...
And Secretary Clave and,
for a time, the late Secretary De Vega, whose duty it is to reduce the work load
of the Dictator “so that he does not kill himself working,” necessarily have to sit
down on those unnecessary communications from the local officials
...
Some of his actions are obviously not in tune
with the national desire for a return to normalcy
...
Either by choice, or by the machinations of Imelda and Kokoy, with witling
or unwitting assistance from the military leaders, Marcos is now effectively
isolated from the world, the Filipino people and reality
...
He can only go to these places after they are heavily secured by the elements
of the Presidential Security Command some of whom are also in the payroll of
Imelda as her own spies on Marcos
...
This has prevented Marcos ever leaving the country ; or,
making only brief visits to nearby Asian neighbors as when he had to make a
state visit to the Chinese mainland last June
...
In the case of the visit with Suharto, the Malacanang press office took great
pains to announce that the trip from Davao to Menado was just as short as
taking a trip from Manila to Tacloban City
...
The major reason for Imelda’s “grounding” of her male counterpart in the
conjugal dictatorship is at once clear
...
The “de factor” status attained by the conjugal dictatorship in the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 106
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Philippines should be the only explanation for the confusion of the public and
private functions of the President and the First Lady
...
When it comes to the needs of Imelda
...
She draws funds for her
expensive impact projects and extravagant trips and jet-set parties abroad from
the President’s discretionary fund, from the so-called Marcos Foundation, or
from any government office or financing institution
...
Her expenditures for the lavish Palace parties are no longer
subject to government auditing as in the days before martial law
...
By her extravagance, Imelda not only empties
the public till most of the time, but she even encourages further resort to graft
and corruption by subordinate officials
...
The Miss Universe Pageant held in Manila in July, 1974, proved to be
nothing but a monument to Imelda’s penchant for extravagance and high
international living
...
The Cabinet slyly instigated Information
Secretary Tatad into prodding the international press to inquire about the
funding for the pageant, reaping for the First Lady a spate of news stories (in
foreign newspapers, of course) so critical of the First Lady’s sponsorship of a
beauty pageant when her countrymen are wallowing in abject misery and
poverty
...
The extorted funds
were used to augment the “minimum allocation” so widely publicized in the
controlled press as the only expenditure of the Philippine government for the
MUP-Imelda extravaganza
...
There were also
gargantuan expenses incurred by the Department of National Defense and the
governments of Manila and suburban cities and towns for the security forces
and hospitality arrangements provided for the beauty contestants
...
”
President Marcos just didn’t know how much was really spent for and in
connection with the Miss Universe Pageant
...
5 million) was spent for the Imelda extravaganza
...
Well, actually the First Lady didn’t squawk
when the President appropriated only a small amount from the government
coffers for the pageant
...
And she conducted her fund-raising with the expertise of
a special forces trooper
...
Answering press criticisms inspired by the Tatad
memorandum, Aspiras declared that, in terms of world-wide publicity and
goodwill generated by the MUP for the Philippines, “the P40 million we spent
for the pageant was worth it
...
Marcos collected not less than P100 million
from government and private sectors for the MUP
...
Even provincial and city governments were given quotas on how
much they would contribute to the kitty of the MUP
...
00 they were directed to raise as their respective
quotas
...
If the collection went up to P100 million and the cost of the MUP was only
P40 million, where did the rest of the money go? There is only one answer
because there is only one collector in the Philippines today
...
She has somehow convinced the Dictator that her
irresistible charm always worked like magic on things and people so that she
can accomplish so much with so little
...
Here is where the First Lady plays tricks on the President — at least on this
aspect of the conjugal dictatorship
...
On almost all the projects that she had
undertaken, Imelda always had made it appear that she spend only the minimum amount, although she actually overspends just to produce results which
the President would figure he would never be able to produce himself for the
budget allocated by him
...
The Cultural Center, the Folk Arts
Theatre, the Heart Foundation, the Nutrition Center, etc
...
I would estimate that, if the normal expenditures for one project is made
known to the President and to the public as consisting say Pl million, Imelda
would normally push it through at a minimum cost of F5 million
...
The effect is that government financing institutions are
coerced into raiding their fiduciary funds to meet Imelda’s quota and other
revenue-raising offices, like the internal revenue and customs bureau go back
to the “tong collection” system to raise funds, while the businessmen are
forced to pass on the Imelda quota to their hapless customers in the form of
increased prices of goods
...
She would simply ask
Marcos for an official allocation and then make him feel that whatever he
authorizes would be more than enough
...
Marcos to New York to inaugurate the
Philippine Center was presented to the President as a simple trip involving only
herself and Fe Aquino
...
The 1974 trip of Imelda also made use of the C-130 Hercules cargo plane
given by the United States as part of the foreign assistance program to the
Philippine government
...
The establishment of a network of Philippine Centers in major cities abroad
is a most expensive scheme devised by the First Lady to provide her with the
excuse to gallivant around the world
...
The projects themselves are quite expensive, especially because she
attends to them personally
...
In the case of the Philippine Center in New York on Fifth Avenue, this
window-less symbol of the closed society that martial law has established in
the Philippines was designed for anything but the Filipino community in the
eastern seaboard
...
It was supposed to house the representatives of all government offices in
New York, but the DPI man, Alejandro Del Rosario, doesn’t even have a table
space in the entire set up
...
The basement is for a restaurant
run by Nora Daza as ordered by Imelda — to prepare the food for Imelda’s
parties there
...
But hasn’t Imelda conditioned the mind of the
President that it would be dangerous for him to venture outside Asia? So, the
suite is for Imelda
...
I have not seen the other Philippine Centers in Canberra and Hongkong
...
The Philippine Center in San Francisco is yet to be touched
...
Perhaps, his successor, Minister
Romeo Arguelles, would be able to make things move, since he is reputed to
be a protege of Kokoy Romualdez
...
So much hope was built up upon the proclamation of martial law; so much
so that messages poured into the Palace in hopeful tones expecting real better
days for the ravaged country
...
Many sectors sent him obsequious congratulation; there
were allusions that, at last, “this nation will really be great again
...
Marcos publicly responded by saying that, with God’s guidance and the
people’s continuing support, he would carry on the weighty responsibilities
thrust upon him to establish a New Society
...
” And yet, this early — is it too late? — he has
fallen into the disrepute which, he recalled, was the lot of the revolutionary
leaders of 1896: they could not make an honest revolution
...
The only thing that I might say of Marcos is that, perhaps, he entertained
the thought that he could go against the tide of history
...
Marcos used to tell us that he had studied thoroughly — and taken steps
not to fall into — the mistakes that led dictators before him to their doom
...
Mankind, in its slow, imperceptible and unerring ways, has rejected through
the ages the use of martial might to reform society
...
While martial law was publicly held out by Marcos as a vehicle for
restructuring the social, political and economic problems of the country, Marcos
found them so grave and deeply rooted, and decided to abandon the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 110
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
reformation task in favor of simply creating a dictatorship that Imelda has turned
into a conjugal authoritarian rule
...
While Marcos pledged to eliminate graft and corruption, these ills of the socalled old society has even assumed an even more serious proportion under
the New Society, falling into the pattern that “power corrupts, and absolute
power corrupts absolutely
...
The Philippine situation brings to mind what that foremost Filipino educator,
Don Camilo Osias, said of the administration of another Ilocano, the late
President Elpidio Quirino (of Ilocos Sur, also in northern Philippines)
...
Laurel, Sr
...
”
However, the conjugal dictatorship will not be content for long about their
present domain in the Philippines
...
They believe it
is a sacred duty mandated by the martial law Constitution
...
It read:
“The national territory comprises the Philippine archipelago, with all the
islands and waters embraced therein, and all the other territories belonging to
the Philippines by historic or legal title, including the territorial sea, the air space,
the sub-soil, the sea-bed, the insular shelves, and the other submarine areas
over which the Philippines has sovereignty or jurisdiction
...
”
(Italics supplied)
...
The answer is that Imelda
knows one vital principle of the Philippine civil code which she thinks is of
appropriate usage to her: that anything brought into, or acquired during,
the marriage is conjugal
...
Weeks before Marcos rang the curtain down on democracy in the
Philippines, the whiff of revolution was sharp and unmistakable
...
The pace was
dizzying
...
Few knew that Marcos had been exploiting the unfolding revolutionary
drama
...
He was
doing it with a fine Hitlerian hand that would make the burning of the German
Reichstag the job of a piker
...
It was done
behind the back of people who trusted him, people who rallied to him and who
relied so much on him to bring to reality a dreamy campaign slogan that “This
nation can be great again
...
But there were visible crowd-pleasing infrastructures, too
...
Public works and “green
revolution
...
The beginning infrastructure for martial law was actually laid down by
Marcos as early as the first day of his assumption of the Philippine presidency
on December 30,1965
...
And the conjugal dictatorship shaped up at about that time, too
...
Thus, the “Blue Ladies” *1 would
get bored listening to Imelda talk about the enormous problems of the
country which no President can solve in eight years
...
”
(*1
...
Led by Mrs
...
With victory, the female campaigners formed an exclusive
group, styling themselves the “Blue Ladies
...
Marcos as early as his student days in the University
of the Philippines
...
They were Marcos’
Primitivo Mijares
Page 112
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
favorite classmates, Ambassador Roberto S
...
They
were all Upsilonian fraternity brothers of Marcos
...
The “Upsilon Sigma Phi” at the University of the Philippines was the most prestigious
fraternity thereabouts
...
He would
talk about his youthful ambition for a strong man ruler for the Philippines during
his spare hours on Saturdays, about noon time, and Sundays, after the six
o’clock evening mass at the Malacanang reception hall
...
It was just inconceivable that any
of the presidential assistants — Clave, De Vega and Tuvera — would abandon
their own personal infrastructures on weekends to be with the President
...
I was a seven-day week newspaperman
...
I took advantage of his leisure moments to shoot the breeze with him;
pick his mind, so to speak
...
”
I am still puzzled up to this time though why Marcos really gave me much
of his time
...
He wanted to know from me if the
people really approved of the state of things under a martial regime
...
” He would
also talk about future plans of the regime in jig-saw pieces, not in their entirety
...
He would ask questions, or talk
about ways of dealing with people who still oppose the martial regime, or
declare the necessity of doing certain things
...
Although I discovered so much out of my closeness to the President, it has
exacted a toll on my family life
...
The trip led to my defection and forced separation from my family
...
I could not have
told her then that I was being driven by an irresistible urge of history to pick the
mind of Marcos — even spy on him or pry into his secret files as I did — in order
that I can reveal to posterity the full and unexpurgated story of the perfidy that
Marcos had foisted on the Filipino people
...
During those weekend sessions I had with him, the President would talk on
any number of things, including the ambitions and incompetence of most of his
Primitivo Mijares
Page 113
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Cabinet members, or the rapacity of the husband-wife team of Juan Tuvera and
Kerima who want to be bigger newspaper oligarchs than either Benedicto or
Kokoy
...
Then U
...
senior law student Marcos, according to the President’s own
account to me, wrote a legal thesis to comply with the requisites for graduation
on the wisdom and necessity of a regime of “constitutional authoritarianism” to
husband the economic and political development of the Philippines
...
Although
he harped on the theme of “constitutional authoritarianism” in his legal thesis,
Marcos recalled, what he actually had in mind as a student was exactly what
he had established as a New Society in the Philippines
...
“I know what’s on your mind, Tibo,” he smiled at me as I knitted my
eyebrows and prepared to say something about a military dictatorship
...
It will be worse than sharing the
powers of government with a Congress
...
I had another thought
coming up
...
It would have been impudent of me
to have stated that he would be further diluting his powers to share them with
the martial leaders since martial law has compelled him to put up a conjugal
dictatorship with Imelda
...
His
U
...
classmates, especially Benedicto and Noning Ocampo, recalled that
Marcos actually subconsciously conditioned himself for the eventuality that a
woman would one day share whatever political powers he might have
...
P
...
Auroroa Quezon, elder daughter of then President Manuel Luis
Quezon
...
It was not only Baby Quezon that young Marcos had eyed
...
Carmen
belonged to the politically powerful clan of the Ortegas in La Union; a bona fide
member, not just a poor relation
...
Marcos has never been candid to anyone when it comes to his future
political plans
...
However, there were occasions when he spoke
plainly and clearly
...
For instance, in a meeting with members of the armed forces general staff
48 hours before he ordered the implementation of the martial law proclamation,
Marcos declared: “We will be a disciplinary authoritarian government, although
Primitivo Mijares
Page 114
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
at the beginning it may be necessary to make concessions, to entrench the
democratic revolution, which we will style the New Society, solidly in power
...
The
events have borne out my interpretation of his statement
...
I have to do
some quick interpretation of the thoughts of Marcos on the assumption that I
would have to write a column or mews story on any particular pronouncement
of the President
...
In that same conference, the President also outlined his thoughts this way:
“We will inculcate the masses of our people with the spirit necessary to travel
the heroic path on which they must be led
...
Our information officials should be able to
start devising means of communications with the people sans media
...
”
At the time, all the plans of Marcos for a military-backed take-over of the
Philippine government from his virtually lame-duck and expiring constitutional
presidency were well on the way to being fully implemented
...
BEYOND CONSTITUTIONAL RULE
Upon his assumption of the presidency on December 30,1965, Mr
...
Mr
...
” He won it with "goons, guns and gold” in the dirtiest election ever
held in the Philippines
...
Marcos’ over-spending of public and privately-supplied
funds for his over-kill “win at all costs” reelection campaign, and puny
attempts of the opposition candidates to match this with their meager
resources, the Philippine economy suffered in 1970 from aft oversupply of
money in circulation
...
90 to $ 1
...
85 to $1
...
The country’s credit standing
with the World Bank plunged to an all-time low
...
3) Packing of the Supreme Court with his own handpicked jurists by
the time he declares martial law
...
Marcos took over the presidency, he figured that in a span
of six years, NINE (9) of the ELEVEN (11) seats in the Supreme Court would
become vacant, hence he could pack the high tribunal with his own men
...
Marcos and lent a semblance of legality to his
Primitivo Mijares
Page 115
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
declaration of martial rule and to his subsequent actuations whenever they
were challenged in the high court
...
4) Control of the military establishment
...
Marcos took over the presidency on December 30, 1965, he
appointed himself as his own Secretary of National Defense in a clear and
unmistakable move to harmonize the thinking and complexion of the military
establishment with his martial law plans
...
But he was also aware of
the provisions of the National Defense Act which retires officers after 20
years of service with the military
...
The military
has been and continues to be the cornerstone of his regime
...
No less than then Speaker Jose B
...
took official cognizance
of the abnormally heavy armed forces recruitment from among the Ilocanos
...
Laurel nettled Mr
...
The explanatory note of the Laurel bill
necessarily exposed in bold figures the President’s packing of the armed
forces with his fellow Ilocanos
...
Aquino, Jr
...
Marcos’ packing of the military
establishment in a Senate speech as “the Ilocanization of the armed forces
...
Traditionally, officials of provincial, city and municipal governments are
subject to the control of the national government
...
The elections of 1967 and 1971 were a “dry-run” and a “re-run”,
respectively, of the “goons, guns and gold” elections of 1969
...
Marcos subsequently got Mr
...
It is interesting to note that there is
local political rivalry between congressmen and governors
...
Marcos
exploited this rivalry for the ends of his regime
...
In their
positions, the Marcos cronies, always careful to remind people they were
squeezing that “20 percent goes to the boss,” collected “kickbacks” on juicy
government contracts and/or “commissions” on loans granted by such
lending institutions as the Philippine National Bank, the Development Bank
of the Philippines, the Government Service Insurance System and the
Social Security System
...
PLOT THICKENS
During his first six and a half years in office, President Marcos
continuously altered and improved his “contingency plan” for reigning
beyond December 30,1973, by fabricating incidents, or exacerbating crises
which offered themselves to him without presidential instigation in order to
destroy the people’s faith in their existing form of government and thereby
weaken their opposition to, or accept as an only viable alternative to a
nationwide anarchy, the imposition of martial law
...
In 1970, Congress was rocked by a so-called “fund transfer scandal
...
Mr
...
But it seems that there had been an unequal
and unfair distribution of this money windfall even among the ruling
Nacionalistas
...
Mr
...
Jose
Leido, Jr
...
The press naively collaborated in this effort by giving publicity to
the scandalous allowances enjoyed by the congressmen, but not to the
responsibility of President Marcos for having illegally transferred the funds
from the executive department to the legislative department in the first place
...
Leido, was
made, upon the imposition of martial law, Secretary of Natural Resources
which controls all oil exploration leases and mineral resources
...
2) Riding on the crest of a wave of dissent by the militant students,
workers, intellectuals and religious elements, Mr
...
3) Using legitimate demonstrations, President Marcos had military
personnel infiltrate the ranks of demonstrators to explode bombs in their
midst and to instigate the demonstrators into committing acts of violence
and vandalism
...
4) Launching by armed forces special psychological warfare units of a
series of terror-bombings — later blamed by Mr
...
In a bombing incident on busy Carriedo street in downtown Manila, a
family man who was buying a gift for a child observing his birthday was
blown to bits by a bomb exploded right inside a department store
...
”
Senator Aquino was preparing a documented expose on the criminal
authorship by a special military unit of the series of terror bombings when
martial law was proclaimed
...
Aquino
would deliver a privileged speech on the Senate floor in the afternoon of that
day to expose the Malacanang-ordered terror-bombings as part of a plot to
clamp a martial rule all over the country
...
b) Defeat of a so-called “ban Marcos” provision in the new Constitution,
which would have disqualified past Presidents, including especially Mr
...
The objective in seeking the prostitution of the Convention, for which
so much has been spent, was clear: To avoid an anticipated accusation that,
having been banned from seeking the premier post under the new
Constitution, President Marcos imposed martial law to hold on to power
...
Benedicto, with heavy borrowings from the Philippine
National Bank which Mr
...
Failing with bribery and cajolery and other enticements into making the
militant media tone down their criticism of the Marcos II administration,
President Marcos caused the expansion of Benedicto’s small Kanlaon
Broadcasting System into a major radio-television complex
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 118
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The Benedicto tri-media aggressively mouthed the administration; all its
companies paid part of the salaries of employees as “additional allowance”
coming from the President’s contingent fund
...
Clearly a diabolical attempt to wipe out the entire
leadership of the opposition LP, the grenade-bombing killed 11 persons and
wounded 93 others
...
Marcos continued to raise the Communist bugaboo
...
However, by May, 1972, he was again
availing of the Communist bogey, saying the rebels merely went
underground during the period of suspension of the “writ” and surfaced
anew, stronger than before, when the “writ” was restored
...
Incidentally, the shipment of arms purportedly
purchased for Gen
...
Mr
...
Having been shown by Secretary of Defense Enrile with a few
mimeographed newssheets captured in a PC raid on a lair of the NPAs in
Bo
...
He said they were revealed in
the captured “Tarimsing documents
...
Finally, by faking an ambush on the official car of Secretary Enrile
at about 8:45 p
...
on September 22, 1972, to provide the final excuse for
the implementation of the martial law proclamation (which he signed on
September 21, 1972)
...
Although Marcos had dreamed of the authoritarian rule early enough, he was
understandably in no position to do anything until he could assume the No
...
Before he could make it to
Malacanang, however, Marcos had had to hurdle two major obstacles, among
others, from the direction of two Visayan personalities, namely, Manila Mayor
Arsenio H
...
On both occasions, it was Imelda who saved the day for Marcos
...
The colorful Manila mayor notified
Nacionalista party leaders that he had compiled a “dossier” on Marcos which
should help the NP candidate, Dr
...
Ferdinand was then up for reelection to his third term in the House of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 119
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Representatives
...
The mayor also had not forgotten that Marcos had married
Imelda
...
Diokno
...
Romualdez, a
First cousin of Imelda
...
He thought perhaps that this time he could settle an old score with the Visayan
...
However,
Imelda pleaded with her husband to abandon his own plans of dealing with
Lacson
...
Not long
afterwards, a beaming Mayor Lacson told City Hall newsmen, including myself,
that there will be no bombshell against Marcos; Imelda had talked him out of it
...
The second obstacle came shortly after Marcos had clinched the NP
presidential nomination in November, 1964
...
Lopez belonged to the NP “old guards,” and his becoming Marcos’ running
mate would firm up the support of the Lopez economic-political bloc headed
by Don Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
“No, no,” Lopez declared to two
emissaries dispatched by Marcos — Speaker Jose B
...
and former
President Carlos P
...
He said he was quitting, period
...
On the threshold of victory, he would not allow
any further obstacle
...
Yes, the natural choice was Imelda
...
Which she did when the old Politico went up
to her suite at the Manila Hotel on November 17,1964, instead of allowing
Imelda to call on him to beg for the acceptance by Fernando of the vice
presidential slot
...
No one of the techniques of Marcos in
executing his plans or implementing his decisions is an end unto itself
...
All are synchronized into an unremitting
campaign by which he seeks to expand his operations to achieve his objectives
...
In setting up the process for the eventual imposition of martial law, Marcos
proved himself to be a consummate plotter
...
There is method in his madness; there
is methodical madness in his unending drive for power, longer power, matched
only by Imelda’s insatiable greed for more wealth
...
Just as Watergate was peanuts compared to the Marcos-espoused
Philippine scandal so was the Segretti operations *3 a child’s plaything
compared to the measures undertaken by Marcos to subvert the political
process ever since he captured the Philippine presidency
...
Donald Segretti was an aide of U
...
)
The entire detailed plan for the imposition of martial law was a national
contingency plan
...
He set the
preparatory process in motion when he himself assumed the Cabinet portfolio
of defense secretary
...
To be sure, there were more men
who could have run the department more efficiently than Marcos himself under
normal conditions
...
He could not afford any deviation,
or hesitancy that could conceivably be shown by a disinterested secretary of
defense
...
Cleverly, he disguised his plans
as the contingency plan to cope with any emergency that might arise in the
country owing to economic difficulties and the unsettled conditions of peace
and order as influenced by external and internal factors
...
They were also “informed” that
Marcos had sent out pensionadoes to study “crisis governments” around the
world
...
Marcos’ assumption of the DND portfolio and his activities as defense boss
should have been a sufficient forewarning to the country’s leaders who have
greater respect for democratic ideals
...
But the country’s leading politicians were pre-occupied with
standard political activities
...
They hardly gave
any thought to the danger that Marcos had started to create for them in
particular and for the entire country in general
...
While
he took up the contingency plan with the ranking armed forces generals, who
were not his appointees, Marcos quietly consulted with junior officers who
were “his men
...
Macapagal to use the men in uniform to beat Marcos
...
Marcos made
them understand in 1966 through 1969 that they would be the “star” officers of
the armed forces who would travel the “heroic path” with him when the country
has become ripe for the authoritarian regime envisioned by him
...
tried to ape Marcos
...
He figured that, by 1973, his “friends” would hold the
balance within the AFP to prevent his being cheated in his bid for the
presidency
...
The martial law plan of President Marcos did not have any codename,
contrary to the general belief in the Philippines even before the advent of
Proclamation No
...
When Senator Aquino exposed the martial law plan as
“Oplan Sagittarius,” Marcos grudgingly admitted that one of the steps
envisioned under the contingency plan was the imposition of martial law as the
occasion might demand
...
The big question was
when and how it was going to be imposed
...
” One of them was former Mayor Villegas, who
forewarned Senator Aquino on August 19, 1972
...
Villegas left for the United States a week later
...
Aquino was referring
at the time to the heavy flooding of Manila and the rice-producing areas of
Central Luzon
...
Maybe a few months later!”’ the wonder
boy of Philippine politics declared diffidently
...
” Aquino called in the press and talked about his discovery
of the martial law plan, omitting details for the moment
...
There was consternation in the Palace that the martial law plan had leaked
out at a time when Marcos was not prepared to implement it
...
” He did admit that the so-called “Oplan Sagittarius” was one of
several dummy contingency plans intentionally leaked out by him to test the
secrecy of the nation’s operational plans for an emergency and to detect any
source of leakage on “state secrets” to Senator Aquino
...
” He even let the word out that he had some particular
persons in mind as having leaked out the dummy plan to Aquino
...
Gen
...
Ileto, the West
Point graduate who was then deputy AFP chief of staff; Brig
...
Jose L
...
Jimmy Zumel, a junior presidential aide and
brother of rebel propagandist Antonio Zumel
...
The moment Aquino mentioned the codename “Oplan Sagittarius,”
Marcos immediately determined the source of the leakage of his martial law
plan
...
One of the best kept secrets of the martial law planning of Marcos was that,
when he had finalized the plan and he had come to a decision to impose it, he
distributed the copies of the plan in sealed envelopes to the military officials
and leaders of the intelligence community
...
The first letter of each code-name corresponded to
the first letter of the surname of the recipient
...
Marcos Soliman, a Pampango who was the chief of
the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA)
...
Thus, ranking
officers of the armed forces did not have to commit mental dishonesty when
they denied the existence of “Oplan Sagittarius
...
However, they did acknowledge to newsmen
that the contingency plan was the martial law plan itself
...
A few days after the declaration of martial law, Soliman, a relative of Mayor
Villegas, was reported in the press to have died of a heart attack
...
” The general public noted,
however, that the President did not issue a message of condolence to the
general’s family
...
In preparation for the scheduled September 20 Aquino blast on “Oplan
Sagittarius,” Marcos called in the members of the AFP general staff to a
conference in Malacanang at about the time Aquino would forewarn the entire
country, especially the subversives, on the details of “Oplan Sagittarius” and
thereby tip off persons scheduled for the mass round-up
...
”
Earlier, in the morning of September 20, a Wednesday, the President
instructed me to prepare a story for advanced distribution to the reporters
covering the Malacanang beat
...
The message
in the story was clear
...
It was Francisco de Leon, of the
Manila Chronicle, who correctly read the meaning of the story
...
Domingo M
...
m
...
Marcos called a rare press conference
...
He revealed that he and the military commanders have met and
assessed the worsening peace and order situation, and they have agreed that
measures in effect then would be vigorously pursued by the armed forces to
reestablish peace and order
...
Tatad was having his
vengeance against me for my “usurpation” of his functions as press secretary
...
m
...
Although he also “killed” the story which I had given him, De Leon
wrote the following day a news analysis for the September 22 issue of the
Manila Chronicle, Op-Ed page, stating categorically that martial law was in the
offing
...
I decided to stay behind
in the Study Room when the President terminated the press conference
...
On his way to his inner Study Room, he
beckoned to me to give me what I wanted
...
Aquino withheld the details of “Oplan Sagittarius
...
The imposition of martial law could wait another 24 hours or so
...
Started on
December 30,1965, those activities were reliant, however, on Marcos’ winning
a reelection in 1969
...
Former President Macapagal, reviewing Marcos’ strategy in that 1969
reelection campaign, sighed to his confidants: “If I had spent but just 10 percent
of the public funds President Marcos used for his election campaign in 1969, I
could have beaten him, hands down
...
She could have garnered the same credit in
the 1969 Marcos reelection campaign but for the trinity of guns, goons and gold
which outshone her towards the last weeks of the election drive
...
It would take a simple declaration of martial law “at least
Primitivo Mijares
Page 124
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
one year” before the expiration of his second four-year term on December 30,
1973
...
He had to insure that he would be
able to function under a cloak of legitimacy, however flimsy the veil of legality
might be
...
The spineless Supreme Court of the
Philippines has, as a matter of fact, over-dressed the martial regime with
legitimacy
...
The backdrop of the Supreme Court’s virtual go-signal to Marcos to declare
martial law in the Philippines acquires a darker color when one recalls the
landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on the Miranda case
...
S
...
S
...
The
Philippine Miranda was already a by-word among Filipinos even before
the case involving him cropped up
...
Plaza Miranda is a two-acre public plaza in the heart of the City of Manila
...
Cruz in
downtown Manila
...
The biggest political rallies are usually staged in
this square
...
However, Plaza Miranda was not only a political forum
...
The plaza is usually reserved
by City Hall authorities for the 48-hour period preceding All Saints’ Day for
special vendors who fill up the square selling wreaths and candles for
those who have to visit the cemeteries
...
Cruz put up entertainment shows every night for
the public
...
Plaza Miranda gained notoriety in 1947 when a depressed barber, named
Julio Guillen, lobbed a hand grenade at an improvised platform where then
President Manuel A
...
In 1949, a man who wore dark sunglasses even at night stole the Plaza
Miranda stage to become an all-time crowd-pleaser with his colorful language
...
Lacson and he was the undisputed idol of Plaza Miranda
until his death on April 15, 1962
...
Magsaysay
...
Marcos found an altogether different use for Plaza Miranda
...
And it was as a consequence of the
failure to decimate the LP leadership that Marcos moved to cover up his
culpability, and thereby spawned the Philippines’ own “Miranda case” in 1971
...
Plaza Miranda literally exploded on the face of the nation in the evening
(about 9:30 p
...
) of August 21, 1971
...
Senator Aquino and other LP stalwarts, in addition to the
official candidates, were scheduled to address the rally
...
Roxas, who claims to have discovered
several pure-gold statuettes of Buddha among treasures buried by retreating
Japanese soldiers in Benguet, Mountain Province, was going to speak at the
Liberal Party rally
...
Pio is an uncle of the President
...
The more succinct indictment was uttered by former House Speaker Jose B
...
who,
a few months earlier, had been deposed as House chieftain on orders of
Marcos, when he declared: “Anak ng Buddha!” It was a corruption of the
strongest condemnation a Tagalog can make of his fellow man
...
He did make a significant threat on his tormentors
...
”
Thus, when two Vietnam-war type fragmentation grenades were lobbed
and exploded on the stage where the entire LP leadership, except Senator
Aquino, was present on that fateful night of August 21,1971, the immediate and
unavoidable suspicion fell on Malacanang as the culprit
...
However, the “crisis management” expertise of Marcos got into the act
faster even than the Plaza Miranda grenade-throwers
...
The announcement of, and the explanation for, the suspension of the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus within a few hours of the Plaza Miranda
bombing, and the mass arrests effected throughout Sunday came more than
36 hours later
...
Marcos told a
press conference in the Palace at 3 p
...
on August 23, 1971, that he had
suspended the writ following the Plaza Miranda grenade-bombing
...
Marcos recalled that the same agents had been warning him about the
existence of a “July-August terror plan” of the NPA
...
“The feedback I got was that the Plaza Miranda bombing was the beginning
of the implementation of the July-August terror plan,” Marcos declared
...
He then proceeded
to explain that the writ had to be suspended in order to make it easier for
government law enforcement agents to question the suspects on the case and
to neutralize “misguided elements” who are still bent on lending aid and comfort
to the “enemies of the Republic
...
The military is now in
custody of these persons
...
To this day, no one has been charged specifically with having
participated and/or engineered the grenade-bombing
...
Gen
...
Garcia,
chief of the Philippine Constabulary, in a story on an interview he gave the
Journal of Commerce of New York
...
”
“In conclusion, the peace and order condition in the Philippines, now and
in the immediate future, is such as not to shake at all the stability of our existing
democratic institutions — political, economic, social and others
...
“It can safely be stated that peace and order in the Philippines can stand
favorable comparison with other countries in the world
...
Yan, armed forces chief of staff, also came out with a
statement that the grounds for the imposition of martial law did not exist
...
Marcos
caused the floating of rumors that incumbent Manila Mayor Antonio
J
...
After all, both
Aquino and Villegas were not in the rally; Aquino was on his way to the rally
from a late evening baptismal party when the grenades were thrown on the LP
stage
...
Ablan, Jr
...
Marcos and Dona Josefa
...
Teresita, at the College
of Notre Dame, and his son, Antonio, Jr
...
He had just landed in Tokyo on his way back
to start his reelection campaign when he received a message on the Plaza
Miranda carnage and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus
...
Gen
...
Tamayo, chief of the Manila police department,
reported that all law enforcement agencies in the Greater Manila area, not
excluding the PC Metrocom, were caught by surprise by the incident
...
Upon his return to Manila three days after the incident, Villegas ordered an
intensified investigation of the incident, but the MPD was hamstrung actually by
another Marcos pre-emptive move by which the NBI was to handle the probe
...
The MPD could not make a conclusive
investigation on its own
...
It was a sharp reversal of all pre-Plaza Miranda polls
...
Among those
Liberals who profited from the sympathy vote was Congressman Ramon D
...
Villegas decided to cool off in the United States
...
1,
1972, the day Bagatsing was inaugurated as the new mayor
...
14,1972, when he was warned that
Bagatsing had Marcos cancel the parole of convicts Maximiano Magat and
Benigno Urquico, two of Villegas’ boyhood pals from his Tondo days, and
investigated in pursuit of the theory that Villegas commissioned the two to do
in Bagatsing during the August 21 rally
...
No
charge was ever filed in court on the Miranda carnage against anybody
...
Col
...
The theory, claim or rumor that Villegas plotted the Miranda bombing and
had two “imported goons” from Muntinglupa in itself renders it implausible
...
Vicente Raval, a Marcos man, when he could have very
well offered such a job to any inmate at the city jail, which was under the control
of the Manila police under Villegas as mayor
...
Although he is in the United
States on a treaty investor’s visa, he considers himself a political refugee
...
He said he
expects to return when the Philippines “is freed from a dictatorship to which I
have been opposed and to which I have rendered civil disobedience by not
paying any income tax or availing of the tax amnesty offer of Marcos
...
His answer was: “Padre, mahirap na lang mag-salita
...
) But you might take a cue from the still unsolved murder of Manong
Floring
...
Crisologo, of Ilocos Sur, who was shot in the back while receiving Holy Communion
inside the Vigan church one Sunday afternoon in November, 1970
...
Floro had berated both
Marcos and Ver for grabbing the lion’s share of the proceeds of the tobacco
monopoly, while he who must face the guns of his political enemies while
attending to the mechanics of the monopoly is being treated as a minor
Primitivo Mijares
Page 129
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
partner
...
His
subsequent reward was the silence of the grave
...
In my casual talks with members of the presidential
security unit in the afternoons when Marcos would enjoy his siesta, I gathered
that the killer of Crisologo was “silenced” while trying to collect his “fee”, and
that the same fate had already befallen the Plaza Miranda bombers
...
To this unit also belonged Colonel Romeo
Ochoco, an air force officer, who led the explosives-hurlers at the United States
embassy compound in April, 1972
...
It seems
that they were left to their own devices on how to execute their assignment
...
The pre-emptive strikes of President Marcos on the Plaza Miranda incident
worked out very well
...
The news
stories on the suspension of the writ crowded out of the front pages of the
newspapers statements of the opposition blaming Marcos for the carnage
...
Marcos the methodical politician smiled, hardly
betraying a sign of grief over the Miranda massacre
...
The added bonus was not entirely unexpected
...
Eventually, 39 of those arrested filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus
with the Supreme Court, placing at issue Proclamation No
...
Leading the challenge
to the validity of the suspension of the writ was Teodosio Lansang, a Philippine
College of Commerce professor who escaped to China and then Russia when
then President Elpidio Quirino suspended the writ for the first time in 1950
...
Garcia
...
Gen
...
*4
Other detainees followed the Lansang suit
...
The Supreme Court canes brought up bj way of challenge to Proclamation No
...
R
...
L33964, D33965, L-33973, D33982, Lr34004, L-34013, L-34039, L34265
and L-34339
...
By that
time, the high court was already dominated by Marcos appointees, namely,
Associate Justices Fred Ruiz Castro, Enrique M
...
Makasiar and Antonio P
...
Chief Justice Robert
Concepcion and Associate Justices Arsenio Dizon, Jose B
...
(JBL) Reyes and
Calixto O
...
Castro,
Teehankee, Makasiar and Barredo were known as “independently proMarcos operators,” while Fernando had ingratiated himself with the civil
libertarian group made up of Concepcion, Dizon, JBL and Makalintal
...
By a
unanimous decision that shocked the nation, the high court upheld Marcos
...
S
...
Once described as “the rock of our liberties,” the high court
chose, via the Plaza Miranda cases, to deliver the liberties of the Filipino people
to a nascent dictator
...
It was their decision on
the Lansang cases that more than anything else assured a cloak of legitimacy
to the intended declaration by Marcos of martial law
...
Thus,
when the martial law proclamation (No
...
*5
(*5
...
”)
The Philippine Miranda case did not come so easily to Marcos
...
889 was handled by a tough lawyer, Jose W
...
So, Marcos himself played the active role in winning
the case before the high court
...
For Marcos that was normal
...
Marcos conveyed his warning
that the very stability of the Republic was at stake in the Lansang challenge
...
He reminded the justices that his term was
expiring in 1973, but reversal by the Supreme Court of his action would
weaken the Office of the President, whoever might be occupying it by 1974
...
*6 Fernando worked directly on Chief Justice Concepcion and
Associate Justices Dizon, JBL Reyes and Makalintal
...
Justice Fernando angrily denied this during a symposium at the University of San
Francisco on Golden Gate Avenue
...
When I subsequently contacted him by telephone at his
suite at the Sheraton Palace hotel on Market, where he had booked in the course of a few days’
stop-over in San Francisco, he talked softly to me and practically begged me to correct that
portion of my book
...
I was almost tempted to excise this portion of the book, but I reminded myself that the records
show that the decision on that case was “unanimous” and that Femando’s own brother-in-law,
practising lawyer Norberto Quisumbing himself had openly talked about the role played by the
good Justice in the making of that Supreme Court decision
...
Slyly, he conveyed the message through
Fernando that he would make a total lifting of the suspension of the writ a few
days after the Supreme Court shall have handed down a verdict upholding
Proclamation No
...
The message was loud and clear
...
That would then
deprive the justices of an opportunity to show their support for Marcos and of
the President of a favor to be repaid by him
...
How else could the Supreme Court justices account for the
fact that they relied so heavily on so-called intelligence report or evidence
compiled by the army and submitted as basis for the presidential decision to
suspend the writ’s privileges?
Of course, champions of the Concepcion Court would most likely point out
that the decision itself on the Lansang case opened a legal door of recourse for
those arrested and detained under the suspension of the writ
...
This sounded more like
the Supreme Court’s own way of warning Marcos that he should comply with
his commitment to lift the suspension of the writ as soon as the high court shall
have upheld Proclamation No
...
It was Senator
Lorenzo M
...
He threatened to file
another case in court questioning the continued suspension of the writ
...
31,1971, as
his New Year greeting to the Filipino people that he was restoring the writ
throughout the country, effective as soon as the Quezon City Court ruled on the
question of the legality of the arrest without warrant of persons accused of
violating the Anti-Subversion Act
...
The government was merely
waiting for the court to decide, he explained, so as not to make the decision
Primitivo Mijares
Page 132
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
academic before it could be handed down
...
11, 1972, thus making the restoration of the writ
also effective that date
...
The sinister aspect of the Supreme Court decision on the Lansang case is
the fact that the 1935 Constitution provided that the President, “in case of
invasion, insurrection, or rebellion, or imminent danger thereof, when the public
safety requires it x x x may suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,
or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law
...
The high tribunal did not bother
to state, however, whether the rebellion or insurrection that goes on in the
country is the kind that calls for drastic measures as the suspension of the Bill
of Rights, or whether it actually jeopardizes public safety
...
(The law may be harsh, but it is the law)
...
Marcos did take into account the significance of the high court decision in
relation to his martial law powers under the Constitution
...
1081, he quoted freely from the judicial findings
of the high court in the Lansang vs
...
He had decided to exploit
and make hay out of the Supreme Court
...
In the Lansang decision, the Supreme Court declared that it “cannot
hesitate, much less refuse — when the existence of such rebellion or
insurrection has been fairly established or cannot reasonably be denied — to
uphold the finding of the Executive thereon, without, in effect, encroaching upon
a power vested in him by the Supreme Law of the land and depriving him to
this extent of such power, and therefore, without violating the Constitution and
jeopardizing the very Rule of Law the Court is called upon to epitomize
...
889
...
This was actually the most unsettling feature of the Lansang
decision
...
The star witness in the Yuyitung hearings was an army officer who faked
his name on the witness stand
...
He unscrambled
the military abracadabra by stating that the sign “A-l’’ meant reports gathered
Primitivo Mijares
Page 133
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
by the army intelligence’s “most reliable agents
...
Even the Immigration Commissioner who presided
over the hearings “A-l” reports
...
The army “A-l” report charged that Quintin Yuyitung went to Sapang Palay
in Bulacan, north of Manila, to teach dwellers there Mao thoughts
...
The army intelligence reported
that Quintin lectured at the University of the Philippines on the virtues of
communism
...
P
...
He was invited there to be a resource person and asked to
provide his expertise on Chinese history
...
The
student leaders mentioned in the reports were called to the stand
...
The
charge that Quintin financed the student demonstrations was so silly that even
the reporters present didn’t bother to report it
...
It was proved during
the hearing that it was the Philippine Historical Society that initiated the fund
drive and the funds collected by the Chinese Commercial News went into the
construction of a medical clinic in Sapang Palay run by religious sisters
...
After all the army “evidence” collapsed, the military authorities produced
another report, an afterthought, that Quintin was a private banker collecting
money from the Chinese in Chinatown to be sent to their relatives on the
Mainland
...
David set his camera to take his picture
...
Such “A-l” report became the basis of the Supreme
Court’s headlong rush to hand over the civil liberties of the Filipino people to
Marcos
...
In the Lansang cases, the Supreme Court
swallowed hook, line and sinker the so-called army intelligence reports
...
While the Supreme Court admitted the “overwhelming evidence” of Marcos,
it did not even bother to take judicial notice of a very official statement of the
President that would have at least cast doubt on the “evidence” then offered to
support the suspension of the writ
...
He said then:
“Last year, we broke the backbone of the Huk or HMB movement in Central
Luzon with the capture of Faustino del Mundo, alias ‘Commander Sumulong’,
and Florentino Salac, alias ‘Commander Ponting,’ and with the death of Pedro
Taruc, HMB chief, during a gunbattle with government troops
...
We
captured several NPA commanders and forced that organization to go into
further hiding
...
”
Initially, the Supreme Court showed a sign that it might just muster enough
courage to strike down the suspension of the writ
...
Castaneda
which was an offshoot of the suspension by then President Elpidio Quirino of
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus under Proclamation No
...
In the old decision, the Supreme Court washed its hands off
the suspension of the writ by Quirino and assigned sole responsibility to him for
the consequences of his acts
...
The Montenegro decision was bad
...
However, in reversing the Montenegro doctrine by inquiring very
superficially into the grounds availed of by Marcos for Proclamation No
...
What the Concepcion Court certainly did was to put its
stamp of approval on Marcos’ suspension of the writ, while not committing itself
on whether the President’s grounds for suspension were right or wrong
...
Had the Supreme Court reaffirmed its old decision and said that it had no
say, that it might not inquire into the grounds for the President’s suspension of
the writ, invoking the doctrine of separation — of absolute separation — of
powers, Marcos would have had to face adverse public opinion about his act
alone
...
And thus, the cases that grew
out of the Miranda bombing became an ugly and terrible reversal of the U
...
Miranda case
...
Laurel, Jr
...
A political opponent,
but always a comrade in their unending struggle against presidential threats to
civil liberties, Congressman Justiniano S
...
The ouster of Laurel and Montano was a well-executed Malacanang plot
...
Laurel and
Montano were accused by their respective party colleagues of allocating the
lion’s share unto themselves — not necessarily for their own personal
enrichment
...
Villareal, of Capiz province
...
They would have convened Congress on Jan
...
As so well figured out by Marcos,
Villareal was not made of the stuff of a Laurel or Montano
...
It
was even maneuvered by the so-called “Marcos Liberals” among the 17-man
Liberal group in the House of Representatives
...
By a count made by a House reporter, Feliciano H
...
Mitra, Jr
...
Yap, Raul Daza,
Moises Escueta, John H
...
Felipe voted to depose the “Tatang,” one vote shy of the nine
required
...
However, when the counting was being conducted by Osmena,
Mitra sidled up to him and “ordered” him to report nine as having voted against
Montano
...
The Laurel-Montano ouster was not the beginning of the fall from public
disregard of Congress as a governmental institution
...
Rivalry or competition from another corridor
of state power was something Marcos told himself he would not be able to stand
for long
...
He himself had set the tone of corruption in
Congress when he held power therein as Senate President for more than two
years
...
As early as that period, he
was already destroying Congress, at least his half of it, as an institution
...
In his “State of the Nation” address before a joint session of
Congress in January, 1970, he boasted about the improved peace and order
situation, while he warned that the general situation was like a “social volcano”
that was about to erupt
...
Demonstrators, egged by agitators, and harassed by the
Constabulary riot control troopers, threw their placards at the President and the
First Lady, missing them by a hair-breadth as they prepared to enter their
limousine
...
What followed was the so-called “Battle of Mendiola”
which pitted young boys and girls, armed with bamboo sticks and stones, facing
Armalite-wielding “shock troops” of Marcos from the Presidential Guard
Battalion
...
*7
(*7
...
But
very few knew that Marcos was instigating the unfolding revolutionary drama
...
The psy-war
experts staged, or instigated, violent demonstrations with only slight variations
in time, alternating between 5 p
...
and 9 p
...
They established a pattern of
early evening demonstrations, which in later months became more violent, with
“demos” resorting to vandalism
...
While Marcos was fighting his legal battle in the
Supreme Court on the constitutionality of his suspension of the writ a pipe of
the NAWASA (National Waterworks and Sewerage Authority) was badly
damaged by a home-made bomb, the gardens of two Nacionalista solons,
Senator Jose J
...
, were
damaged by explosives thrown by unknown hands
...
None was
even bruised during that “terroristic” bombing allegedly by the subversives
in the Greater Manila area
...
“The army psycho experts,” quipped senatorial candidate and Rep
...
, “should at least have seen to it that a dog or puppy got hurt in their bombing
operations of the gardens of NP solons to give some plausibility to their ruse
...
While Marcos’ psy-war experts and “shock troops” were “implementing” the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 137
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
alleged Communist “terror plan and succeeding in creating a situation of
extreme anarchy in Manila to justify the declaration of martial law, two major
developments in the Constitutional Convention somehow derailed Marcos’
plans
...
This became known as the ban Marcos resolution
...
...
Without a shift to the
parliamentary system, Marcos would be barred from further seeking reelection
to the premier post of the land under the terms of the 1935 Constitution
...
If Imelda loses, the two of them would
be out of power; if she wins, Marcos would be the unhappiest ex-President
...
If the ban resolution should be approved and
Marcos declares martial law as the only means to stay in power, the resort to
that drastic move would be completely devoid of any semblance of legality
and thereby appear as a naked power-grab
...
Marcos would have none of the plans of the Constitutional Convention
...
At about that time, an old and respected delegate, a retired Ambassador,
began exposing a Convention “payola” launched in Malacanang Palace on
January 6, 1971, by no less than President Marcos and the First Lady
...
Quintero was so maligned that
he later on found himself facing charges instead of the bribe-givers
...
The perceptive presidential assistant got his due recognition from the First Lady
sometime in November, 1972, during a conference between the President and
the military leaders
...
The First Lady interrupted the
meeting to quip: Pasalamat kayo at mayroong Gimo de Vega
...
” (You people should be thankful that we have a
Gimo De Vega
...
)
The maneuver of Secretary De Vega in defeating the ban-Marcos move
and obtaining Convention approval of the shift to the parliamentary system was
simple enough: massive spending to buy off wavering delegates and to stay
Primitivo Mijares
Page 138
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
“bought
...
He had the full authority of
President Marcos and the First Lady to draw any amount he needed from the
“special fund” set up for him by Internal Revenue Commissioner Misael P
...
In fairness to De Vega, he accounted for every centavo he disbursed to the
delegates-for-sale
...
It was said at the time that Quintero received an empty envelope in
the presence of the President in Malacanang on January 6, 1971
...
Lousy with money, the delegates would squander their ill-gotten wealth
in the plush restaurants and nightclubs, some in the legally-tolerated casinos
along Roxas Boulevard
...
The delegates were paid in full for
selling their votes to Marcos
...
The ban Marcos resolution was really a most popular proposal
...
All logic pointed to the ban-Marcos
resolution’s approval
...
Like the ban-Marcos proposal, the proposal to retain the presidential
system stood a strong chance of being approved overwhelmingly
...
” Later, they were joined by 97 more delegates
...
But the anti-Marcos forces lost in the final vote because of the cockiness of
delegates like Jose Mari Velez, the over-confidence of others like Sedfrey
Ordonez
...
They failed to reckon with the corrupt
mind and unbridled appetite for money of the unprincipled delegates and the
vast resources made available by Ferdinand and Imelda to De Vega
...
Five days
after the Supreme Court handed down its decision on the Lansang case, on
December 11,1971, Marcos summoned 1,000 newly-elected officials to listen
to his lecture on the alleged Communist plans for the rural areas
...
”
“It is now obvious that the subversives are implementing the original
program of the Communist Party of the Philippines to erode the faith and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 139
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
confidence of the people in their leaders and government so that they will no
longer resist the Communists,” the President said
...
The Supreme Court also opened itself to Marcos’
full exploitation upon the promulgation of the Lansang vs
...
There was only one more dramatic thing to do before Marcos would declare
his well-infrastructured martial regime
...
Some flavor
of mystery had to embellish the tale of a revolutionary situation gripping the
country
...
This time the psycho war
apparatus of Marcos geared itself for the most difficult task in “crisis
management” of the country
...
First, it was a submarine
...
The report about the mysterious submarine allegedly came from Col
...
The cargo allegedly discharged by the unidentified U-boat
consisted of some 200 passengers, firearms and other supplies
...
Gen
...
Ramos, PC chief, made a flying visit to Palanan,
but failed to get confirmation on the alleged submarine landing
...
Then came another intelligence report also from Palanan
...
The name “Karagatan”
appeared to have been painted over the words, “No
...
The “mystery ship” unloaded shortly
after midnight of July 4 military hardware, including the latest type of automatic
weapons, and other supplies
...
” The seaborne
patrol found the vessel seemingly abandoned because there was nobody
aboard
...
It was surmised that the
members of the ship’s crew were in the process of unloading the cargo when
the PC seaborne patrol arrived at the scene and unwittingly disrupted the
unloading operation
...
The volume of fire from the beach was such
that it could have been delivered only by a force much larger than the seaborne
patrol
...
”
Meanwhile, a PC combat patrol led by Lt
...
While Aglipay
Primitivo Mijares
Page 140
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
and his men were reconnoitering the area, they were fired upon by unidentified
armed men whom they immediately presumed to be NPA guerrillas
...
A report from Bng
...
Tranquilino Paranis, commander of
Task Force Saranay, said that the PC patrol found scattered along the beach
some raincoats, hundreds of empty sacks, food supplies and documents in
Chinese characters
...
Aglipay along the beach
...
One of
the helicopters was fired upon as it approached the combat area and one of its
rotor blades was hit by ground fire
...
Manecio
Reventar and Domingo Lagos, was able to limp back to its base in Echague,
Isabela, where the headquarters of Task Force Saranay are located
...
There was no sign of any casualty on the part of the alleged NPA
rebels, despite the government claim that the NPAs retreated to the forests in
disarray
...
It was claimed that the guns captured by the government forces bore no
patent number, no name or manufacturer, and no country of origin
...
They were obliterated at special headquarters set up by elements of the
Presidential Guard Battalion in Digoyo to where the weapons were taken direct
from the AFP Supply Center
...
They were assigned to do the “planting” job
...
Paranis
...
Some of the “Digoyo veterans” among the PGB personnel have talked to me
about their Palanan adventures
...
PGB troopers who “ambushed” Enrile on Wack Wack Road in
Mandaluyong, Rizal, used ammo taken from the same stockpile that was made
available for the “Digoyo operations” to lay down the final excuse for President
Marcos’ declaration of martial law in the Philippines
...
The project was, in a sense very successful
...
The Philippines’
worst storm season in 50 years inflicted serious damage to agriculture,
communications and homes
...
This involved the projected
armed aggressive involvement of the Philippine government in the efforts of the
heirs of the Sultan of Sulu (Kiram family) to recover the rich Sabah territory from
the Federation of Malaysia
...
The projected aggressive recovery of the
disputed territory could itself create an emergency situation for the entire
country to constitute a sufficient reason for the proclamation of martial law
...
At the time, he was envisioning the former British
crown colony as the Philippines’ own glorious colony, to form part of an empire
over which he would rule personally for life and through his son, Ferdinand,
Jr
...
The Borneo recovery program was codenamed “Project Jabidah
...
But the worse was yet to come
...
Subsequently, the government of the Federation of Malaysia, which
had infiltrated “Project Jabidah”, without having to blow the cover of its
infiltration agents, was accorded the most official confirmation on the program
of Marcos to invade, with Muslim special troopers, and eventually annex Sabah
with the Philippine Republic
...
and the subsequent
investigations conducted by congressional committees
...
This came at about the time when the Mindanao Independent
Movement was formed, with Datu Udtog Matalam as the moving force
...
Now that the internal problems involving the Muslim Independence
Movement have tied Marcos’ hands, there is less emphasis on his plan for a
union with Sabah
...
As it is, the military cannot even cope
with the rebellion of the Muslims
...
The entire
plot seems like a nightmare, but other dictators have had equally wild dreams
before
...
Marcos
with having, at the discerning age of 55, pulled the trigger that snuffed out the
life of democracy in the Philippines by his declaration of martial law on
September 21, 1972
...
To be sure, Marcos is already compiling volumes
addressed to historians to show that his decision of September 21,1972, was
a “great and heroic” one for the Philippines
...
”
In his second book
...
And
yet solely and completely responsible as I am for this decision, I cannot escape
the sense that events, the thrusts of history, and even the will of the people,
somehow guided my hand to the deed
...
It was a challenge to the country’s leadership to
avail of the bargaining process so necessary in a democratic society to harness
all the energy coming from the various sectors of the national fabric
...
He chose the path of authoritarianism,
with an eye single to perpetuating himself in power
...
Indeed, there were many facets of Philippine life that “guided” Marcos’ hand
to declare martial law
...
1 woman — to clamp down a
dictatorial rule over the Filipino people
...
It was and is still the central problem of the
nation
...
However, no President before Marcos ever thought of callously
exploiting this situation to justify a resort to martial law
...
In other areas of national life, there was much to be desired
...
The courts were slow, too technical and sometimes
Primitivo Mijares
Page 143
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
corrupt
...
The students and labor leaders had taken to demonstrations
and rallies and marches, marked by inflammatory rhetoric and sometimes
marred by violence
...
A President impatient to get things done his way viewed this inter-play of forces
and interests as exercises in non-government
...
Admittedly, the undue concentration of wealth in the hands of a few was at
the core of the entire gamut of problems facing the nation
...
Social order has been a myth in some regions ever since the end of World
War II
...
Gun-smuggling
was an open scandal
...
A
remarkable aspect of the political process in the Philippines is that the principal
issue in every national election since the Philippines became independent in
1946 was “graft and corruption
...
Though there were some political figures whose integrity could not be
doubted, the run-of-the-mill politician was neither credible nor respectable
...
Even delegates to the sovereign Constitutional Convention called to
introduce sweeping and fundamental structural changes in the government and
society proved no better than the politicians in Congress
...
The “freest press in Asia” which became the distinction of Philippine mass
media was irresponsible and corrupt
...
Owned by oligarchs and vested interests, pre-martial law mass
media were definitely used by their owners and publishers to espouse political
views and preserve or expand political and economic interests
...
and his brother, Fernando,
presidential aide Hans Menzi, the Sorianos (Jose and Andres), and the
Elizaldes
...
Benedicto with
funds borrowed from the Philippine National Bank, of which Benedicto was
president at the time the huge borrowings were made
...
As for the working press, a
number of newspapermen were known to be on the payroll of ranking officials
in government and of key figures in private business
...
While insuring their economic security, most newsmen,
however, managed to render distinct public service by directing the spotlight on
multi-million peso deals and big-time rackets which seemed to proliferate with
every new Administration
...
The “freest press in Asia” no doubt contributed greatly to the forces that
goaded Marcos to run berserk and declare martial law
...
He was that bad
...
The din of
criticism against Marcos was deafening
...
He wrote:
“I will let the citizen-reader judge for himself whether the supreme end
of free and untrammeled criticism, the illumination of events and the
search for truth, is served by these remarks from a column in the Manila
Chronicle:
‘Finally, Mr
...
‘First of all, if Mr
...
Marcos realizes that the Filipinos value
freedom of speech as much as they value life and if they did not surrender
this to the succeeding Spanish, American and Japanese conquerors, they
certainly will not surrender to him
...
‘As President of a supposedly civilized Republic, Mr
...
As a lawyer, he knows
the value of a dossier, and he knows that to use it against any man is
simply to threaten him
...
the moral responsibility for the nameless disgrace that fell on
the Filipinos the other night must be traced to none other than President
Marcos
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 145
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
‘
...
’ x x x
“There are other instances, so innumerable that I can pick a few at
random:
‘On the other hand, how can he bear being President — and the most
hated or despised man in the country
...
And if he smelt to the nation, how
could he close his nose to the odor? One of the punishments of hell so
vividly described in spiritual retreats, which aim at grace through terror, is
the subjection of the damned to all the Gadawful smells that the fanatical
imagination can conjure up
...
‘
(Philippines FreePress)
“Or:
‘President Marcos is not an ordinary politician
...
The duo are crazed with an
almost Sybaritic dream for power and material benefits
...
He is Juanito Gullas
...
Ben Roxas, a photographer, was one of those killed in the
Plaza Miranda grenade-bombing
...
” *2
(*2
...
Amado Araneta who now lives in exile in New York
...
They did for Marcos in 1965 and 1969 the
very things that, in 1970 through 1972, the Malacanang occupant interpreted
as a conspiracy to overthrow the Republic
...
Perhaps, the greater intensity of their pronouncements and actuations were
called in view of their perception that Marcos won’t give up Malacanang easily
— and now he doesn’t want to give it up at all
...
All these groups rallied behind his battle cry “This Nation Can Be Great
Again
...
When the diverse groups which supported Marcos started either collecting
the Marcos IOUs or pressing him for the vital government reforms needed to
make the nation great again, the President cried that they were either in
rebellion or were constituting themselves into pressure groups around the
presidency
...
And the sentiments that the Office generates depend on
favors that it confers
...
”
Marcos tried hard to throw off the accusation that he was an ingrate in his
relationship with Don Eugenio Lopez
...
And the first thing Marcos and Imelda did was to nail down
Eugenio Lopez, and his brother, Vice President Fernando Lopez, “the biggest
oligarchs among oligarchs blocking government reforms
...
So, they
simply went about twisting Marcos’ arm for government concessions so
necessary for the expansion of their politico-economic empire
...
Quid pro quo was the principle by which Marcos started operating from the
vantage point of the presidency
...
He was not adverse
to granting government concessions provided that he got a substantial kickback later on
...
The Lopezes would have none of this give and take arrangement
...
Even
Eugenio (Geny) Lopez Jr
...
“No,” Geny once said, “we should not yield any more to that s
...
b
...
The President confided to Secretary Clave that
he was declaring war on the Lopezes
...
Marcos had to resort to this because
he knew very well that the Malacanang reporters would deal with Clave in
digging out background materials for the Palace onslaught against the
Lopezes
...
The thrust of the onslaught against the Lopezes was going to be a take-off
from the attack which a former President, Diosdado P
...
In 1962, Macapagal pinned the label of “vested
interest on the Lopezes
...
e
...
He would borrow the lines of Aristotle and Plato
Primitivo Mijares
Page 147
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
to the effect that oligarchy and democracy are conflicting forms of government;
that the historic conflict between oligarchy and democracy is over political
privileges of wealth, the rights of property and the protection of special interests
...
Marcos would harangue the Lopez oligarchy’s pursuit of a political
culture in the country that equates freedom with self-aggrandizement, and the
politics of participation, so essential in a democracy, with cornering of privilege
...
He would crucify the Lopezes for
utilizing the mass media as a weapon to make government a convenient
scapegoat for the social economic ills of the country which the oligarchic society
had spawned in order to blackmail the presidency for more and greater
privileges and concessions
...
There was nothing that either Clave
or I, or the two of us combined, could do to make the two giants call off the
headlong confrontation
...
What followed are miscalculations after miscalculations on the part of both
antagonistic parties
...
Marcos didn’t
figure on the Vice President exemplifying the Spanish delicadeza by resigning
...
The Lopezes resorted to the time-tested weapon of using their tri-media
establishment to mercilessly attack Marcos for what he really is — a corrupt,
abusive and arrogant political President
...
Marcos
...
Actually, the initial Marcos blast and ensuing follow-up
assaults on the Lopez bastion by Marcos were pressed on the President by his
meddling wife
...
However, Imelda was insistent
...
The Marcos onslaught against the Lopezes
was, therefore, an act of propitiation for the many sins committed of infidelity
against Imelda in the pursuit of Ferdinand’s desire for the satisfaction of his
genitalia
...
Originally, Marcos figured that the Lopezes would
Primitivo Mijares
Page 148
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
raise the white flag, or at least beat a hasty retreat
...
Marcos issued reams of denunciatory statements through the Malacanang
press office
...
The most he could really do against the Lopezes was to
send internal revenue agents and government auditors to look at the business
books of the Lopez enterprises
...
The mass media would no longer swallow his line; his credibility had
sunked to its lowest ebb
...
Imelda bluntly charged that
Joaquin “Chino” P
...
It was, of course, a shallow accusation
...
Actually, the group was
made up of jobless persons carted by Congressmen Francisco G
...
De Vega
...
It was a useless show of force that cost Congressman
Reyes no less than P10,000
...
00) to organize
...
I hold no brief for the late Filipino tycoon; I don’t owe him that much to serve
as his defender
...
In the numerous speeches that Marcos had delivered in the various
Lopez-sponsored affairs (to which he demanded that he be the guest speaker),
the President invariably praised the old man for expanding the country’s
industrial horizons “without borrowing a single centavo from the government
...
1 in Sucat, Paranaque, Rizal
...
” He stressed that it is a measure of what a group of
Filipino investors can do
...
where there is
less government financial participation and the firm, pursuing its own
development through the reputation of its management and the institution,”
Marcos declared
...
2 on December 3, 1969, the inauguration of the Asian
Primitivo Mijares
Page 149
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Institute of Management on December 9, 1969, and, much later on May
15,1972, on the occasion of the inauguration of Meralco’s Snyder Station No
...
But Marcos may even have been biased in favor of old man Lopez when
he had nothing but praise for the man from whom he owed so much political
debt
...
Stephen H
...
It read:
We honor today a Harvard alumnus whose life of achievement has
brought credit to his university in a great variety of ways
...
In an age when so
many occupants of leadership positions throughout the world are being
accused of irrelevancy and anachronism, and when the world’s youth are
faltering for lack of acceptable role models, his story brings a unique
message of inspiration
...
We, and he, have worked with the
whole man, the basic integrity, the unifying forces that vitalize and render
even more effective the human performance
...
In context of the present-day problems of the under-developed
countries of the world and of the discontent that rages in them because of
the seeming unconcern of business and industry for the welfare of the
working man, two pages in the life history of this man have special
meaning for us
...
And there he and his brother, now the Vice President
of the Republic of the Philippines, revolutionized landowner-laborer
relations on sugar-cane plantations by paying the highest wages in the
industry and by extending to workers and their families better working
conditions, modem housing, free medical care, and free education for their
children — an example which other landowners in the area were soon to
follow
...
In more recent times, he has led a group in acquiring the Manila
Electric Company from its original American owners
...
During this
decade also, employer-employee relations at Manila Electric have never
been closer than at any earlier time, reflecting the admiration and affection
felt by officers, employees, and laborers alike for a leader who, they know,
has their welfare and that of their country always as his chief concern
...
Not
only has he sent the first three of his four sons to Harvard to absorb
knowledge from the same source that helped to nurture and to shape his
own character, but also, as a generous and enlightened employer, he has
afforded and he continues to afford, that same opportunity to study at
Harvard to the promising young men in his employ
...
His only condition for making that gift was that the
institute have a special relationship of mutual support with the Harvard
Business School
...
This man has a fierce pride and an abiding love for and faith in his own
race
...
He has earned this
role by a life-time of personal courage and fearlessness in espousing
causes which were not always orthodox and which were frequently
unpopular
...
He does not fear to tangle with the highest leaders of his
government whenever their policies or actions cease “to promote and
protect the general welfare
...
For these efforts and for his
capacity to listen patiently and to counsel sagely, his countrymen, have
called him “the Conscience of Presidents”
...
Most of his contributions to society and to
education are anonymous; and many more would be if he had his way
...
His family life is a reflection of the same high principles and Christian
values that pervade his professional life
...
His love of family is exceeded only by
Primitivo Mijares
Page 151
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
his love of country and his love of God
...
A universal
humanitarian and a true twentieth century Filipino — he whom we honor
today has already honored Harvard more — Don Eugenio Lopez
...
“Tignan natin kung gaano katigas ang amo mo, Tibo,” (Let us
see how tough your boss is, Tibo
...
In those times, it was always beneficial to see the First
Lady in her Music Room
...
”
The Marcos-Lopez war didn’t do either side any good
...
And given the circumstances of
normal run of political fighting under a democratic atmosphere, it was almost a
certainty that Marcos would run out of time in the fight
...
In the end, it was Marcos who was forced to capitulate to the Lopezes
...
for a breakfast conference
...
The following day, I wrote a story of the Daily Express, entitled “Together
Again” after a famous song
...
He had his brother-in-law, Leyte Gov
...
Kokoy meekly started the
approach by asking Del Rosario if he could have lunch one day at the famed
Meralco “Starlite” restaurant, on the 14th floor of the Lopez building in Pasig,
Rizal
...
When Romualdez went over to the Starlite Restaurant for lunch, he brought
along with him the two Marcos children, Ferdinand Jr
...
When Don Eugenio Lopez Sr
...
He likewise suggested to Del Rosario that he might invite the ambassadors of
peace from Malacanang to pass by his office on the 13th floor on their way out
...
The details of the Paranaque
breakfast conference and the visit to Vice President Lopez were arranged and
on that very day Romualdez raised Malacanang’s white flag of surrender to the
Lopezes
...
However, Marcos told a different story about that meeting when the time
Primitivo Mijares
Page 152
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
came for him to tell it without being contradicted publicly by the Lopezes
...
”
,
The implication of the belated Marcos explanation was that the Lopezes
were preparing to fund the alleged conspiracy of the rightists, the centrists, the
leftists and all other sectors of society to seize state and political power
...
To borrow his own words, the efforts at effecting a reconciliation with the
Lopezes was only a ruse designed by Marcos to make his intended declaration
of martial law go without opposition from the Lopezes
...
Besides, Marcos really
wanted to put everybody off guard preparatory to his imposition of martial
law
...
Marcos likewise wanted to win over to his side the Lopez loyalists within
the Constitutional Convention
...
There were other pressing forces that “guided” the hand of Marcos to
declare martial law
...
They constituted the weaknesses and strengths of
Philippine democracy
...
He merely looked at his former colleagues in Congress and the
wealthy people who financed the campaign of 1965 and 1969 as crooked
politicians and rapacious oligarchs, respectively
...
His
respect for the high tribunal went only as far as its willingness to go along with
Justice Laurel in reversing a trial court decision convicting Marcos for the
murder of his father’s political opponent
...
The manipulations of the Convention delegates led Marcos to
conclude that there was no other way he could retain political power except via
the expediency of martial law
...
When the Constitutional Convention came into being in 1971, Marcos
pinned his hopes on this constituent assembly to extend his occupancy of
Malacanang
...
Marcos would then be able to continue at the helm of
government as the Prime Minister
...
However, some irresponsible delegates carried their “hate campaign”
against Marcos to the extreme
...
The proposal was clearly directed
against Ferdinand and Imelda and it was labelled as a “ban Marcos resolution
...
” The proponents of the “ban Marcos” move
figured that there must be a clear and definitive ban on the Marcoses under the
nascent new Constitution
...
The filing of the “ban Marcos” resolution proved to be the last straw for the
President
...
Martial law is the last resort of a government under siege
...
The Convention had to be manipulated to
approve the shift to the parliamentary form of government and to disapprove
the ban Marcos resolution
...
De Vega
handled the dirty operations for Marcos
...
History will be able to record in its finality and proper perspective that the
ambitious politicians, rapacious wealthy and the Marcos-haters actually did
democracy a disservice in the Philippines
...
The vitriolic and
underhanded criticism lobbed at Marcos by presidential aspirants and his
enemies constituted one more of the nails that sealed the coffin of democracy
in the Philippines
...
They
were so thoroughly divided on the approach to ending Marcos’ tenure in
Primitivo Mijares
Page 154
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Malacanang, disunited on the objectives, and had their own selfish personal
political objectives to serve
...
It was not beyond
Marcos to do just that
...
After all, Marcos
is only another mortal like all politicians (in spite of efforts of his propaganda
office to deify him); he will also fade and die
...
The ambition of the man was certainly to stay a little longer
in Malacanang
...
Aquino Jr
...
If Marcos had been allowed to rule
constitutionally a little longer, would Aquino, Geny Lopez, Serge Osmena and
all those others who have languished, or are still languishing, in filthy military
stockades and the rest of the oppressed Filipino people have to suffer their
present deprivations? Would I have found it necessary — as I do now — to go
into self-exile, abandon my family and friends in the Philippines to turn out this
book on the conjugal dictatorship that never should have been?
But when Marcos himself was jolted into an awareness that he was
thoroughly hated by his people as expressed in the demonstrations of 1970 and
in the ban Marcos resolution of 1971, he felt like a cornered rat
...
He had hoped that an accommodation within the Constitutional
Convention to make him continue at the helm of the ship of state as Prime
Minister would stay his decision to clamp down a martial rule over his people
...
So, he opted
to squat in Malacanang under the protective mantle of martial law
...
It was also demanded verbally by student
leaders of a demonstration that turned into the infamous “Battle of
Mendiola” on Jan
...
In a very dishonest effort to meet the demands halfway, Marcos issued a statement through Press Secretary Tatad that neither he
nor his wife would seek office in the 1973 elections
...
A key factor that emboldened Marcos to impose martial law was his
“overwhelming” reelection victory in 1969
...
Whatever the cost, it was a reelection that Marcos precisely needed
to declare martial law on his seventh year in office
...
Marcos had a built-in advantage that neutralized any strong
fight to his reelection bid
...
30,1973
...
Osmena would certainly have to seek reelection to a second term
...
And then, by 1970, after Marcos’ inauguration as President for the second
time, all the presidential aspirants from both sides of the political fence
immediately classified Marcos as a crooked lameduck President
...
The others
just started hitting Marcos to gain publicity, or to promote their presidential
ambitions over the carcass of Marcos
...
”
Marcos even began to encourage speculations through the press and
among his Nacionalista partisans in Congress that he was preparing to impose
martial law
...
Drawn by the bait, the opposition hacked away mercilessly on Marcos for
planning martial law for the country
...
It turned out to be a wrong gambit
...
Marcos had by that time allowed the clock on his “crisis management” in the
country to tick away the hour of martial law
...
parliamentary
affair in the Constitutional Convention
...
For more details, see Chapter on “Infrastructure for Martial Law
...
They became so heady with an imaginary decapitation of Marcos
...
The immediate voting was precisely what Marcos
himself wanted
...
Moving into battle with Marcos on the convention floor, the opposition
Primitivo Mijares
Page 156
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
partisans erroneously judged that the concerted voices of the Manila Times,
the Manila Chronicle, the Philippines Free Press, the Weekly Nation and the
Graphic and other mass media who had joined the chorus denouncing Marcos’
inexorable march towards dictatorship would provide them with the needed
votes
...
The headlong rush into what the opposition partisans thought would be an
arena for a spectacular decapitation of Marcos as a power in Philippine politics
turned into a rout — eventually signalling the demise of democracy
...
A digestive interpretation of this philosophy easily
reveals that the regime in developing a feudal factory system that would enable
just a few families to run the Philippines as a private business
...
However, the same coercive and extortionate process has produced
overnight a new oligarchy
...
The new oligarchy is made up of the ruling
duumvirate themselves, their relatives, their cronies and a few favored military
commanders
...
By dictatorial decrees promulgated by Marcos, the
working class had been stripped of Its right to free self-organization and to
strike
...
The very few who could bask in the reflected notoriety of the conjugal
dictatorship have become the noueau riche as they mustered the levers and
uses of power made available by the guns of martial law
...
Contrary to the pledge of the martial regime to
“democratize” mass media ownership, today the ownership of newspapers and
other periodicals, radio and television is concentrated in different but fewer
(*1
...
”)
hands
...
Other captains of industry who have learned to
kow-tow to the new regime remain as firmly at the helm today, as they were
before martial law
...
The latter term
means “New Collection
...
” The Philippines is
an archipelagic state converted overnight by the conjugal dictatorship into a
huge concentration camp for dissenters
...
There has never been any sincere attempt to provide a philosophy for the
much-ballyhooed New Society
...
Once in a while, Marcos finds time to talk about the needs of the people
in a dramatic show of his knowledge of intestinal philosophy — an intestinal
philosophy solely dedicated to the speculatory and unjust enrichment of the
ruling duumvirate, members of their families and cronies, including a few
military commanders
...
The “dramatis personae” have changed, but the “modus operandi” based
on the principle of selfish self-interest has not
...
In so doing, they commit more
mistakes
...
In short, they are blundering ahead selfishly to destroy the country in a
fashion that says to the rest of the Filipino nation: “Listen to what I say, but don’t
watch what I do
...
In the first place, they must
safeguard and defend the interests of foreign investors with whom they must
work to reallocate unto themselves the country’s resources
...
The oligarchic structures were not only
necessary, but also inevitable, because they are the instruments in the interplay of economic forces that must amass and consolidate wealth which, in turn,
must produce the profits and public taxes
...
” The editorial declared:
Indirect evidence that martial law has not ended corruption in the
Philippines has been provided by the government itself
...
Martial law has been in force in the Philippines for three years
...
Yet the announcement said the new housecleaning was needed ‘to
check misconduct in government and to restore declining public
confidence in public office’
...
It all sounds familiar to persons acquainted with the innumerable
crusades against government corruption in the post-World War II
Philippines
...
The truth probably is that there was some decrease in corruption at
the outset of martial law in reaction to the mass dismissals that were made
possible by Marcos’ assumption of total power
...
Dictatorship in the Philippines, as elsewhere, has made it easier to
deal with corruption because the bureaucrats have lost their protection
against arbitrary dismissal
...
Thus the
elimination of corruption depends solely on the administration itself
...
But with the press brought to heel and Congress closed, there is no
way to bring such cases to light if Marcos chooses to protect the offenders
...
With the political
opposition suppressed, there is no one to prevent the President from
acquiring as much illicit wealth as he chooses
...
(Italics ours)
...
That could set the people to wondering what they gave
up their liberties for
...
I have my serious doubts on the determination of the President to
“eradicate ‘misdeeds that have shaken deeply the faith of the people in
government’
...
Marcos had not shown any sign that he would shed off his
cocoon as a “promising man
...
I warned Marcos that the real New Society was
not taking shape at all
...
At the time, I thought I should really give it to him
...
I figured that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
would be able to escape Malacanang, and perhaps the Philippines, to enjoy
their billions of ill-gotten wealth among the discarded royalties of Europe and
Asia
...
I reported that the people think they are mere smoke screens to cover
up the plundering of the country by Marcos and Imelda themselves, their
relatives and cronies
...
They also coined high-sounding acronyms, like PLEDGES, PROD
and COPE
...
“Prod” meant Presidential Regional
Officers for Development, while “Cope” were the Coordinating Officers for
Program Execution
...
Marcos originally bargained with his political enemies through
intermediaries
...
Those who cooperated were temporarily allowed to go about their businesses
...
The initial motivation of Marcos in these moves was to strengthen his
position in power and weaken the influence of his political opponents
...
But, as his regime aged, Marcos could not
content himself anymore with divesting his political foes of the economic wealth
which they could later utilize again to fight the dictator
...
The clique has also taken over the various enterprises of Osmena
...
When I was still in Manila and moving within the inner circle of the ruling
clique in Malacanang, Imelda would tell us (De Vega, Clave and me): “Hindi
natin maaaring pakawalan si Geny Lopez habang may nalalabing kayamanan
pa ang mga Lopezes
...
Baka gamitin na naman nila iyan laban sa atin
...
They
must divest themselves first of their economic power
...
) This was before the death of Don Eugenio Lopez and the acquisition
by Kokoy of the $300-million Meralco on a downpayment of $1,500
...
Upon the advent of the Marcos administration in 1965, business tycoons
Primitivo Mijares
Page 160
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Lopez, Osmena and a few others felt the pinch of a new principle of economics
invented by Marcos and Imelda
...
The reasoning of Ferdinand and Imelda was that they
had dispensed so many favors to these business enterprises by way of loans
and other concessions from government institutions
...
They were
publicly accused of allegedly wielding their economic and political power to
amass greater wealth
...
Don
Fernando told Marcos one day to “go to hell, I won’t share with you the work of
a lifetime, the product of blood, sweat and tears of my family for free
...
The steel magnate was forced to flee the country
...
He didn’t do it for himself this time though
...
Always
with an eye to providing legitimacy to even the most illegal operation, Marcos
effected the seizure in a most subtle way (even under martial law standards)
...
” *2 These were the Jacinto Steel, Incorporated,
Jacinto Iron and Steel Sheets Corporation, J&P Shipping Corporation, Beatriz
Marketing and Trading Corporation, and Ferro Products, Incorporated
...
(*2
...
35, dated October 28, 1972
...
They were the
colonels, majors, and captains who took over the executive positions in the
Jacinto enterprises
...
On June 17,1975,1 submitted the following capsule report to the Fraser
committee of the House of Representatives on the systematic plundering of the
country:
VI
...
1) President Marcos now thinks and acts in terms of establishing an empire
...
2) As an integral part of the program to organize an imperial dynasty, the
martial regime is developing a feudal factory system that would enable just a
few families to run the country as a private business
...
Only President
Primitivo Mijares
Page 161
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos, or his anointed front men, cronies and in-laws may venture into
profitable business enterprises, with foreigners or with the use of government
credit
...
The one-year period enabled his front men and in-laws to fan out and enter into
purchase agreements with American citizens divesting themselves of holdings
in agricultural, mining and public utility firms in the Philippines
...
5) The leaders of the martial regime and anointed families/cronies
monopolize the media industry
...
7) President Marcos owns the controlling stocks, through his front men, of
course, in the major private commercial banks
...
8) In early 1973, Mr
...
Hundreds of agricultural and business
enterprises were foreclosed by virtue of this decree
...
Marcos in the 1969 elections
...
However, when the economy floundered in 1970 because of
an over-supply of money in circulation, President Marcos ordered further
releases on the approved loans stopped — thereby forcing the borrowers to
neglect or abandon their projects and default in their repayments
...
In one case involving the Pampanga Sugar Milling Company, an offer of an
independent Filipino group was turned down by the Philippine National Bank in
favor of an offer of Roberto S
...
The
independent group wanted to purchase the mill outright; in the case of
Benedicto’s offer, the PNB would continue to pump money into the Benedicto
management of the milling company
...
The 24-man Philippine Senate would not ratify the treaty for 13 years in
view of widespread fear that it would hand over to Japan on a silver platter what
Primitivo Mijares
Page 162
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the former enemy country sought to win by force of arms during World War II,
i
...
the economic domination of the Philippines
...
10) Military personnel have been allowed to take over the rackets of
members of Congress and the protection rackets run by local policemen at
soaring rates proportionate to the inflationary trends
...
The crime syndicates have been
wiped out, most of their more notorious leaders have been jailed
...
This time groups of military personnel, unable to share
in the graft of their commanders, engage themselves in syndicated kidnapping
for ransom, arson, murder, car-napping and robbery hold-up
...
Aside from heavy participation in a number of mining companies, which he
naturally acquired for free with the use of the vast powers of the presidency,
Mr
...
13) Mr
...
Almost immediately after he declared
martial law, the President signed a decree easing the heretofore strict
requirements of Philippine laws on oil exploration within the country by foreign
drillers
...
Before any such contract is signed (with appropriate
ceremonies in Malacanang), the personal equity participation of the President
through front men is first assured
...
Marcos is in the free trade zone
...
Pablo P
...
Under the guise of dispersing industries from overcrowded Manila, the
President signed a decree requiring the transfer of big industrial firms,
especially garments and embroidery mills, to move to the free trade zone
...
Through a series of
manipulations disguised as an aggressive foreign trade program,
the President now controls through Roberto S
...
These export products
are acquired by several national exporting centers from Filipino producers at
50 percent of the prevailing world prices
...
Marcos is a treasure hunter
...
But the source of his wealth, Mr
...
Incredible as it may
sound, the claim had some truth in it, although it may not have been the
fabled buried treasure of Yamashita
...
It did so while screening all applications for permits
to hunt for buried treasures in any part of the country
...
He eats his
simple Ilocano food and with his own hands
...
Why are President Marcos and Imelda then behaving as if they own the
entire Philippines?
First, because it is their decision and unto-the-death wish that they stay in
power for as long as they are alive
...
They are possessed with a messianic complex;
Third, as a result of the second, they suffer from a paranoia that they are
really loved by the people and that the people will not take for a ruler anybody
but the Marcoses;
Fourth, as a consequence of the second and third reasons, they feel that
they took a bold step for which they are now risking their very necks, and those
of their children, for the benefit of the people
...
At the same time, they must take steps to
protect themselves from the enemies they have made because of the
“sacrifices” they are making for the people
...
How true
...
It is the President who must devise eventually the formula that
respects the Constitution even if they involve multi-million dollar scandals
...
The tenor of the conversations that take place in Malacanang behind the
President’s study desk when a business deal or proposal which calls for
government exposure in terms of funding or concessions goes this way:
“Mr
...
“Oh, huh,”
“The company is asking for this and that
...
”
“What do you think, Mr
...
” (He calls for Fe, asks for the memorandum, but quickly
suggests that Fe is inefficient about these things
...
This is a typical script in the Palace, to get somebody to accept the
blame for any failures that might be traceable to the President
...
Do you think it would be all right to include anymore?”
“Bakit naman panay Intsik (o Hapon) iyang mga iyan?” (Why are they
mostly Chinese [or Japanese]?)
“Mabuti seguro
...
isama mo sina (he gives the names)
...
And, sir
...
”
Such is the subtlety of Marcos in “demanding” his equity from huge
corporations being formed; he waits until his equity is offered to him
...
Marcos, she is an unrefined arm-twister, and demands in direct
unequivocal terms what she wants
...
When a deal is elevated by Mrs
...
Only recently, a Filipino engineer obtained a grant from the U
...
AID
(Agency for International Development) for a comprehensive aerial
photogrammetry of public lands and forests in the Philippines
...
Unaware of the Palace “protocol,” he simply wrote the President that he
has been granted a multi-million dollar funding by AID to undertake the
photogrammetry project
...
Not long afterwards, the engineer was summoned by the First Lady to her
Music Room in the Palace and given a lecture
...
This seems quite understandable
...
S
...
She would have wanted to present the photogrammetry project
to the President as her achievement
...
The grabbing of the Lopez properties by Benedicto and Kokoy Romualdez
is something that the dispossessed won’t easily forget or forgive
...
And so it is with the heirs of Don Eugenio Lopez, it seems pertinent to recall at
this point that it was the Lopez money that contributed to their own tragedy
under martial law
...
I would like to quote at this point a report submitted to the United States
Congress on the acquisition of the Lopez assets by Marcos’ friends and
relatives
...
and Sergio
Osmena III has served to bring to light another result of the martial law of
President Ferdinand Marcos and his closest advisers, including his wife,
the beautiful Imelda Romualdez Marcos
...
who sold Marcos to the conservative convention
...
(Voted upon separately, Lopez
out-polled Marcos in both 1965 and 1969
...
It is with that
third goal we deal here
...
Furthermore, it was “old” money, grounded in sugar cane and
rice
...
the fortunes were increased by branching out into industries
including the newspaper and the radio and television network
...
organized group of investors as “Meralco” to purchase the
Manila Electric Company from American ownership
...
The stock went public,
but the Lopez interest was still sufficient to maintain management control
— in fact, it had never been questioned
...
Later the
facilities were taken over by the Times-Journal owned by Governor
Benjamin Romualdez, brother of Mrs
...
The contract of lease itself was
not based on a free negotiation
...
With the publisher in prison and the
other two owners — Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
The confiscation of the media network, ABS-CBN, was cruder
...
, president of the company (and other
officials) the government ordered all ABS-CBN stations closed down
...
Marcos)
...
Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
By 1974 the takeover by
KBS of the further facilities was simply by order of Defense Secretary Juan
Ponce Enrile
...
Unlike the
Chronicle and ABS-CBN, Meralco Securities Corporation (the holding
company for Manila Electric) was a publicly-held company with the Lopez
family as the largest bloc of stock
...
and Governor Benjamin Romualdez (brother
of Mrs
...
” The senior Lopez had been told by Romualdez and
his aides that if he would execute this agreement, his son “Geny” would
be released
...
Lopez signed
...
Gabaldon signed for
Meralco Foundation, Inc
...
The stock purchase agreement is replete with formalities, providing for
a down-payment of $1,500 (sic) upon closing and a series of payments on
promissory notes for some $6,000,000 over a period of years
...
It
has been reported that the Meralco Foundation is purchasing a jet airplane for
approximately $1 million (in addition to three already owned — used by the
Marcoses), thus reducing the cash flow
...
Government control of the utility rate structure has also been used,
according to Lopez, first to threaten Meralco with bankruptcy and then to enrich
the participants in the new “foundation
...
5% to 20
...
Meralco Foundation responded in an article in the Manila Times Journal
(lessee of the Chronicle facilities) on January 18, 1975 that Lopez had asked
to sell the family stock
...
” That was suggested on February 19,1973
...
The imprisonment of Eugenio Lopez, Jr
...
The following is the text of the interview that Lopez gave to the newsman
Benoza as published by the Philippine News on January 2, 1975:
MR
...
Lopez, on November 29,1973, you signed a “Stock
Purchase Agreement” on behalf of Benpres wherein all of the MSC shares
held by Benpres were sold to a certain “Foundation”
...
MR
...
Do you feel the
purchase price is a fair price?
MR
...
The agreement is only a
document which enables the Foundation to take over our family’s holdings
of MSC
...
The agreement states that the net principal amount
of $5,700,000 plus interest is payable over a ten-year period with the first
payment due 30 months after the “closing”
...
This simply means that payments
will be made to me if the Foundation has excess funds after all
other obligations, expenses, etc
...
Since the income of the
Foundation is controlled by the Foundation itself and by the Philippine
Government through its control on the electric rates of MECO, it is very
simple to regulate the “cash flow” so that there will never be any excess
funds to pay Benpres
...
MR BENOZA: You mean that you gave away Benpres worth several
million dollars to this Foundation?
MR LOPEZ: Well, this is what the agreement basically specifies; here is a
copy of the actual signed agreement for your own study and verification
...
It was one of the
agreements wherein our family was giving up our multi-million dollar
assets in exchange for the life and freedom of my imprisoned son and the
safety of the rest of my family residing in the Philippines
...
LOPEZ: The important negotiations were conducted by Governor
Benjamin Romualdez, the brother of Mrs
...
However, these
negotiations were not on the terms of the agreement; I had agreed with
Primitivo Mijares
Page 168
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Governor Romualdez that he could take over all of the assets of Benpres
at no cost in exchange for the freedom of my son and the safety of the rest
of my family
...
When I signed the agreement in
Honolulu on November 29,1973, it was the first time I ever saw it
...
Gabaldon, the President of the Foundation,
saw it, just before it was signed
...
BENOZA: We noticed that Mr
...
Who
are they?
MR LOPEZ: Mr
...
Mr
...
On January 23, 1975, the Philippine News published this second interview
of newsman Benoza with Don Eugenio:
MR
...
LOPEZ: What he did was really very simple
...
Specifically, on May 29, 1972, the Public Service Commission approved
an increase in rate of 36
...
However, after martial law was declared, Marcos reduced
the previously authorized increase from 36
...
9%
...
As a result, Benpres actually
defaulted in its payments for the first time in its history
...
BENOZA: Are those reduced rates still applicable today under the
new Meralco management and ownership?
MR
...
After the Foundation took over Meralco, Marcos
increased its rates by more than 100%
...
They are now
paying more than double what they were paying under our management
...
BENOZA: Mr
...
” What
is your opinion of this claim?
MR
...
Marcos is trying to deceive
...
L
...
Marcos last July 2, 1974, all
of the catering personnel of the Meralco employees’ restaurant and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 169
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
cafeteria, together with most of the restaurant facilities (silverware,
glassware, china, etc
...
Marcos
...
Marcos’ invited guests
...
Marcos’ guests
...
Quintana also mentioned that in addition to the three planes which it now
owns, Meralco has ordered a new private 9-seater pure jet aircraft costing
about one million dollars
...
Obviously, the plane will be used not for
Meralco purposes, but mostly for the First Couple’s and that of their
friends
...
Benoza, can you ask the Foundation officials under what
section of the Articles of Incorporation of the Foundation are the Marcoses
and the Romualdezes allowed to use the facilities of Meralco when they
are not even officially officers of the corporation? Remember that all of
these costs are actual burdens being shouldered by the poor Filipino
masses who use electricity
...
It is a classic story of a man’s
inhumanity to man
...
The little saga of the Vice President began when he received word that his
elder brother, Eugenio, Sr
...
He decided he must
see his “dying” brother before the latter goes to the great beyond
...
The Vice President, it seems, sent a telegram to the President asking for
an audience so that he could seek permission to leave for the United States for
what might be a last meeting with his sick brother
...
There he
explained his predicament to me
...
I did not get an immediate “feedback” from the President
...
To insure that he would not utter any
derogatory remark against the New Society, I suggested he should state in the
letter that he would be willing to have me accompany him on the trip
...
Alconcel
to check on the state of health of Eugenio Lopez
...
And I did see him in the company
Primitivo Mijares
Page 170
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
of Airport Manager Luis Tabuena
...
” (Leave the Lopezes to their
doom
...
In the meantime, a friend
who has been acting as the Veep’s contact man with me, informed me that
because of the tension of waiting for the Marcos clearance, the Vice President
collapsed in his home one night
...
At the risk of being accused of showing an unusual interest in the passport
application of the Vice President, I approached the President again
...
The following day I sought out Kokoy at the coffee shop of the
Intercontinental Hotel and told him about what the President had told
...
I then called up the
house of the Vice President to say that Kokoy would see him that day
...
I found out three days later, when I submitted to Kokoy the prepared
statements he sought from me, that Kokoy had not seen the Vice President at
all
...
I even tried to guess at the time that it was possible Kokoy wanted to renew
or extend his option to buy the ABS-CBN network from the Lopezes
...
Then it happened all of a sudden
...
The President disauthorized me publicly from continuing
the investigation
...
See Chapter on “The Era of Thought Control
...
The statements which I prepared were subsequently issued by the Vice
President abroad
...
The New Society of Marcos and his gang is a society of the noveaux riche
...
And yet they
succeeded in taking over lock, stock and barrel, the properties of the Lopezes
and of other established affluent families in the country
...
Benedicto on the properties of the Lopezes is one of the more notorious ever
known
...
The more notorious front men of the President in various spheres of
economic plunder are Benedicto, in addition to media, for the Japanese
business; Rodolfo Cuenca, for the various infrastructure projects; Ricardo
Silverio, for the car and appliances manufacturig field; Gilberto Duavit, for
organizing mining ventures; Eusebio Agonias, for grabbing mining claims
previously staked out; Director of Mines Juanito Fernandez, who works in close
cooperation with Agonias on direct instructions from the President; Ralph
Nubia, who also fronts for the First Lady, in setting up business within the
Chinese community; Lucio Tan, who works closely with Deputy Commissioner
of Internal Revenue Conrado Diaz, for the tobacco business; Joselito Yao, for
the drug business; and Tantoco, for the Rustan conglomerate
...
Such an idea must be
rejected altogether
...
An all-seeing big brother, Marcos is on top of all
things
...
No one can guarantee that the crooked deals of Kokoy, Benedicto, et al
happened beyond the scope of Marcos’ comprehension
...
The capture of the Lopez empire is a classic case in point
...
My compadre, Pete S
...
It turned out that the Lopezes were ready
to sell all their holdings in the Meralco and ABS-CBN companies to the
government of the martial regime
...
Marcos, in turn, told me to inform Fernando
Lopez that the definite response would have to await the arrival of Kokoy
...
I never took up the matter again with the President, since it did not
concern my area of operations in the first place
...
I deduced by then that
Marcos had already directed him to handle the Lopez offer to sell out
...
”
Although Kokoy operates for, and by authority of, President Marcos, I am
sure he would not pass up some golden opportunities to be in business for
himself to expand his ill-gotten wealth
...
Every new company set up in the Philippines must cough up “gratis et
amore” from 10 to 25 percent of their equity holdings to Kokoy
...
In smaller areas of operation, Kokoy holds the shares in his own name
...
The gratuitous equity usually demanded
is 25% to 40% from domestic firms, and from 10% to 25% of foreign owned
companies
...
But in comparison to the insatiability of the Romualdez
group, the relatives on the side of the Marcoses and the Edralins appear as
poor relations
...
Fortuna, “Baby” MarcosBarba, Ferdinand’s youngest sister, Alfredo “Bejo” Romualdez, et al for
amassing wealth by the outright naked use of power to grab existing and
prospering business enterprises from their legitimate owners/possessors
...
Not only that
...
Within the Central Bank of the Philippines and the Department of
Agriculture, the “franchise holder” is Alita Martel, a younger sister of Imelda
...
This is one reason Marcos has been unable to fire Secretary of
Agriculture Arturo R
...
Alita protects him
...
B
...
Now, the new fronton will operate in full competition with the JaiAlai of the Madrigals
...
The younger brother of Imelda, Alfredo, a commander in the Philippine
Navy, has his own allocation of areas to be plundered
...
To him was awarded an entire national
shipping enterprise
...
Of course, BASECO was funded with
loans extended on liberal terms, upon direct authorization by Marcos, by the
National Investments Development Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned
Philippine National Bank
...
This was done by the issuance of an unpublished presidential
decree
...
The original statute specified that no portion of the Free Trade Zone may be
segregated from the reservation unless the area to be segregated is covered
by a Torrens Title
...
Small farmers whose lands within the Free Trade
Zone are covered only by “informacion posesoria” have been unable to win any
grant similar to Bejo’s
...
This field yielded millions of pesos of
campaign funds for him in 1969
...
The tragedy of the agro-industrial field, which Marcos and his gang are now
exploiting, started in the 1969 elections
...
Anybody with
any agricultural or industrial enterprise could borrow huge amounts from the
Development
Bank
of
the
Philippines,
the
Philippine
National Bank, the Social Security System and the Government Service
Insurance System
...
Approval of the loan application meant an
immediate release of 50 percent of the amount applied for
...
The proceeds from this loan “kickbacks” provided a major source of the
electioneering funds of Marcos
...
The
overspending brought about an oversupply of money in circulation, bringing the
Philippine economy to near total collapse
...
Marcos was also compelled to “freeze” the release of
the remaining 50 percent of the loans approved before the elections by the
government financing institutions
...
In no time at all, the
projects so ambitiously started were either abandoned or suffered for lack of
additional operating capital
...
The unkindest blow came when martial law was declared
...
385 providing for automatic foreclosure
of all mortgages where the mortgagors have been delinquent in their payments
to the government financing institutions
...
As the government financing institutions foreclosed on the mortgages, the
relatives of Ferdinand and Imelda, and their cronies got busy gobbling up the
re-possessed properties
...
The new
corporation found it easy to open doors at the DBP, PNB and SSS to restructure
the indebtedness of the thousands of rice mill owners whose properties Bejo’s
Primitivo Mijares
Page 174
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
corporation started acquiring
...
He was more crude
in his operations
...
By such an arrangement,
Benedicto assured himself of continuous funding of his management by the
PNB
...
This despite the fact that a French-backed
Filipino corporation had offered to buy the Pasumil and relieve PNB forever of
sinking in more in the enterprise
...
Anos Fonacier organized, with the backing of
Tourism Secretary Jose D
...
During a Malacanang conference on the Bay View Hotel
take-over by Fonacier’s group, President Marcos personally directed that
Aspiras’ balae,*5 Jose Teodoro, be included among the investors in the hotel
management firm
...
A daughter of Aspiras got married to the son of Teodoro
...
Military commanders have their own areas of responsibility
...
Gen
...
Ver, commander of the Presidential Security Command and
director general of the Marcos secret police, in the smuggling of luxury items
from the coastal area of Bataan, Zambales, and the Ilocos
...
Some of them are Presidential Executive Assistant
Jacobo C
...
De Vega
...
Ramos,
Constabulary chief, as the only relatively clean ranking officer of the armed
forces
...
Ramos is especially irked by the
activities of Benedicto and Kokoy, and the graft in the Department of Public
Information
...
At times, they have had to swallow their pride and
junk principles to obey the orders of President Marcos himself, the First Lady
and Kokoy Romualdez
...
I did appreciate his position while I was still
working for him
...
He could not dismiss
a Cabinet member and run the risk of being exposed by his own man on his
own graft and abuse of power
...
This is
what happened in the case of Secretary Tanco whose department was split into
two, one for agriculture and another for natural resources
...
Somehow,
Benedicto is nearing approximation of the degree of sophistication which
the unholy trio had perfected in their insatiable drive for wealth, and more
wealth from their bleeding countrymen
...
In May, 1974, the President unilaterally extended the Parity Rights for
Americans in the Philippines
...
S
...
)
In another area, at almost about the time that the “American
theatre” was left open for Kokoy’s exploitation, Marcos made the Japanese
theatre of investment available to his business front man, Benedicto
...
Before
this was done, however, Benedicto obtained his authorizations to corner
for himself and the President all the arrangements by which Japanese investors
might be allowed to avail of the “most favored nation” treatment in the lucrative
Philippine market
...
The plans are being executed with precision
...
“They cannot take their wealth to their grave
...
The magnitude of thievery in which Marcos and his gang are engaged may
never be assessed
...
(*6
...
Quasha (1972), 46 SCRA 160; Constitution, Article XVII, Sections 11 and 12
...
Luzon Stevedoring vs
...
XIV,
Section 5
...
Marcos
...
A law graduate too scared to take the bar examinations, errand boy of
newspapermen then being spoiled by ambitious politician Ferdinand E
...
This is the trinity of power in Malacanang under the martial regime of
Marcos
...
Some day, Kokoy will seek to rule at the
expense, physically, of Ferdinand R
...
Bongbong is the
second child and only son of the loose union of Ferdinand and Imelda
...
One of the factors Marcos considers in mind when he continually reminds
his abusive and arrogant Cabinet members that the regime has not yet
sufficiently stabilized itself is the ever present threat of Imelda and her brother,
Kokoy, carrying out their plan to shove Marcos out of his tenuous Malacanang
pedestal
...
They are moving rather cautiously now in the guise
of “doing everything for the greatness of “Da sir”
...
All indications seem to point to a timetable that the sister-and-brother team
might be working for their own joint rule of the Philippines, 1) in the event of
Marcos’ sudden demise through causes sans human intervention, or 2) when
they perhaps might be able to knock off Marcos and rule on their own
...
The plotting by Imelda and Kokoy on the “throne of bayonets” that Marcos
has established in Malacanang is not without historical precedents
...
Imelda and Kokoy are also developmg (jointly again) the image of a
topnotch sister-brother team adept at diplomatic trouble-shooting team,
although they seem to have separate, but similar culturally-motivated objectives
in going to New York three or four times a year
...
”
On the home front, the Imelda-Kokoy operations also form parallel lines
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 177
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
So the gambit becomes evident
...
Or, they might feel one day that they are strong enough to knock off
President Marcos so they can advance the timetable of their take-over of the
reins of government
...
Kokoy is developing his strength among the governors and city mayors by
his handling of the mock referendum for Marcos
...
But I do maintain that the Imelda-Kokoy dream is impossible
...
Their strength lies in Marcos’ strength
...
A number of Ilocanos are just waiting for the demise of President Marcos
to get their hands on Kokoy
...
One of them is former Congressman Roque S
...
And, in the United
States, Dr
...
Alconcel, are damn mad at Kokoy for his behavior towards the Ilocanos
...
That is the reason they make it a point to
intrigue against every Ilocano of consequence who might be showing signs of
leadership, or who may be capable of contesting their own plans to succeed
Marcos
...
Ramos, chief of the Philippine Constabulary
...
They have their
own plans of neutralizing Imelda and Kokoy in the event of Marcos’
sudden demise
...
Being one of the
just about five persons outside his immediate family who could see the
President at any time, I was looked up to by most Cabinet members who could
not enter the Palace without being called by the President as a reliable
“informant” on the “weather in the Palace” (i
...
what the mood of the President
is, or what inside dope they could possibly use for their own aggrandizement)
...
One Cabinet member with whom I kept a regular luncheon
date was Secretary Enrile
...
1 implementor of the martial edicts of the dictator, and therefore
the No
...
Enrile just cannot swallow his pride and
accept the fact that a woman and her brother could be sharing the vast powers
of the dictatorship with President Marcos
...
How long can the President stand for this government of
laws, in-laws and outlaws?” Enrile asked me one day when we were alone
together in his conference room, his executive assistant, Rolando de la Cuesta,
and senior aide, Col
...
, having just stepped outside to attend to
some other matters of the defense establishment
...
But the resentment he has against the First Lady
and Kokoy was very revealing; it was of such depth and magnitude that he
could just engineer the assassination of the two members of the Unholy Trinity
...
I even supplied him a list of “possibles” among the AFP ranking
officers, and even members of the Presidential Security Command, who might
be sympathetic to Enrile in his expressed madness at the two officious
members of the Unholy Trinity
...
It has always been that way with us when I pass on information to
him — he would not tell me about the counter-action unless it directly
concerned my department
...
Marcos and Kokoy would have opposition
on whatever plans that they might have concocted for themselves in the event
of his demise
...
” Enrile questioned her competence to be just that to
him
...
Besides, she should
watch her movements, especially when she is abroad
...
” Enrile exploded
one day
...
He voiced his own suspicions that Kokoy
is working through Presidential Assistant Guillermo C
...
On
this point, Enrile turned on De Vega, stating that he was surprised at De Vega’s
posture of hostility towards him
...
Marcos to get the President to
“make them presents,” grant concessions or yield in violation of established
policies on certain contracts involving multi-million peso deals
...
The wealth of the in-laws of the President and his cronies is treated extensively in another
chapter of this book
...
Edon Yap, et al) have their own corps of spies which has only one mission: to
spy on Dictator Marcos to find out which woman he had taken, or plans to take,
to bed
...
The bearer of the “bad news” usually
waits for such time as when he or she had a fat government deal which only
the President can approve or disapprove
...
Marcos for the favor of having the President
approve the deal in mind as quid pro quo for the vital piece of information
furnished the scorned queen of the Palace by the Pasig
...
In addition, would the President kindly favor
a “neglected” brother or sister with the approval of this particular government
contract? A cornered President then reluctantly makes his peace offering, and
to get her off his back and to cut off her nagging, yields to her importunings in
favor of the brother or sister
...
In the beginning, I treated the Enrile story on how the First Lady and her
brothers and sisters terrorize Dictator Marcos into yielding to their demands
with some degree of skepticism
...
Later, I personally confirmed
this particular situation of “terrorism” perpetrated on the Dictator by the
Romualdezes
...
Tabuena have also told me about
this situation, but in a boastful manner as if to brag that they were privy to some
of the mischiefs of their chief, Kokoy
...
For instance, about two months before martial law was proclaimed, Imelda
boarded a Philippine air force Fokker plane for Tacloban City at about 8:30 a
...
On that particular day, several important people were scheduled to be received
by Marcos
...
At about
10:00 a
...
the First Lady suddenly materialized in the Palace, and quite
naturally, started looking for her husband — who was nowhere to be found; or,
so the Palace aides told the First lady
...
m
...
As the President was giving an audience to a visitor
from a foreign country Mrs
...
The
President, alert that he must undertake some peace offering, called out to her,
saying: "Darling, come and meet the representative of
...
"Gago! Hindi pa ako nakakaalis" (Stupid,
I haven't even left yet!) shouted the First Lady, evidently meaning that Marcos,
the lover boy, had not even bothered to wait until she was definitely on her way
to Tacloban City before going about his sexual therapy with another woman
...
What De Vega meant was that the President got caught
again with his pants down by the secret police of Imelda
...
in a patronizing manner, confided to me the Study Room
incident
...
I said I knew about the First Lady’s
discovering another case of infidelity on the part of her husband, but not
Kokoy’s part in it
...
Tatad recounted that Kokoy and his
agents spotted the President’s whereabouts (in a most unlikely place obviously)
at about the time the First Lady was barely 10 minutes airborne enroute to
Tacloban City
...
It was just an incident, one of those things for which a man, the son of his
father, really must be crowned
...
He was (and still is illegally this time) President, with scheming inlaws who use their sister, Imelda, after driving her to anger, to extort
concessions from the ruler who is supposed to be dictating things to the other
45 million oppressed Filipinos
...
In other aspects of government, however, one may observe the members
of the unholy trinity working in harmony and close cooperation that one is liable
to forget the fact that Imelda and Kokoy have a Sword of Damocles hanging
over the head of Marcos at all times
...
For instance, Imelda and Kokoy mastered the
politics of revenge, conducted in a very crude manner
...
Both Imelda and Kokoy have a common proclivity to wreak vengeance on
people who had at one time or another oppressed or sneered at their lowly
beginnings; they would force these people into a situation of eating off their
palms
...
Kokoy has made it his personal business to exact vengeance on
the newspapermen who used to shout at him when he was doing errands for
Marcos the candidate by now making them work as his lowly employes in the
newly established Times Journal
...
Salak, Bernie de Leon, and Julie Yap-Daza,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 181
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
among others
...
As for Imelda, her obsession is to make the rich families who ignored,
despised or shied away from her when she was not yet the First Lady of the
land pay for their impudence by now forcing them to pay obeisance to her as
the Lady Dictator of the Philippines
...
Lopezes, Aranetas,
Cojuangcos, Felicianos, et al
...
After all, she is now more wealthy than all of them put
together
...
All these, she would claim, mean that the people have nothing but love and
admiration and adoration for her
...
Imelda would not acknowledge
the big role played by the Lopezes in the capture by Marcos of Malacanang
...
(Your
bosses did not really help us
...
Imelda insists that she was the vital difference in that heated
1965 election battle between President Macapagal and challenger Marcos, and
because she is being disputed, nay belittled by the Lopezes, she would show
the real power of a woman whose efforts the Lopezes were doing everything to
denigrate
...
Imelda and Kokoy realize that they cannot rely on
the armed forces for support to any Ilocano leader of consequence in a postFerdinand power struggle — for the simple reason that 70 percent of the
manpower of the public armed forces are Ilocanos
...
As a matter of fact, a question included in the February 27
(1975) referendum asking the people to indicate their position on whether they
would want to empower the President or not with the task of appointing local
officials after the expiration of their term on December 31, 1975, was the
handiwork of Kokoy
...
who formed
the draft of the questions for the referendum for submission by President
Marcos to the Commission on Elections
...
Subsequently, at the instigation of Kokoy,
Dr
...
265)
which created a 12-man performance audit team headed by, of course, Rono,
to make recommendations to the President on who among the local officials provincial governors, city and municipal councilors — should be re-appointed,
or replaced, and who should replace those to be canned
...
That is the kind of report that would suit
the ambitions of Kokoy to gain control of the local governments — away from
the Ilocanos and the military officials who would swing to the Ilocanos in the
event of the President's demise
...
When Kokoy
is in the United States or anywhere else, nobody, but nobody, not even Marcos
can call him
...
"Don't call me, I'll call you!" is the apparent posture of Kokoy
...
Kokoy is moving in rather hurriedly on local governments and other
sensitive government offices, like the General Auditing Commission, the
Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue
...
Kokoy's influence right now with the civil arm of government is quite
enormous already, and he seeks to expand such influence further by the
methodical use of his vantage position and qualities as a compulsive intriguer
...
He acquired such influence because he had succeeded
in leading government officials to believe that, if they did not cooperate with
Kokoy, Imelda would go after them
...
Salientes was known as the "businessman" of the
defense department by reason of the fact that he is the over-all arms and
equipment buying official of DND
...
Salientes pointed out that another company
had earlier offered a lower quotation for the DND requisition
...
The ruthlessness of this third member of the unholy trinity in Malacanang
Primitivo Mijares
Page 183
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
is known all over the country
...
Teodoro F
...
The most surprising thing about it all is why Valencia has to
stand Kokoy
...
"
Kokoy, however, reserves some real harsh treatment for the former
hirelings of Ted Lewin
...
Kokoy feels he can never fully avenge himself on Lewin's hirelings
who threw him out of the Lewin-run supper club along Roxas Boulevard
because he could not settle his gambling debts
...
And in doing so, he had somehow betrayed, the little regard which
he has for his brother-in-law, Ferdinand, in moments when he wanted to
impress people around him on the power he could wield, Kokoy would tell them
that he could get Marcos to "do anything I want
...
Hawak namin ''yan sa bayag
...
We hold him by the balls
...
However, in-law Kokoy has managed to run circles around
the President because he has developed an SOP for the agents and security
people on duty to implement when Marcos looks for him
...
Another is that — he does not want to
be caught with his pants down in New York
...
I didn't
realize that the President's brother-in-law, who amasses wealth by squealing
on the philandering of Dictator Marcos to the First Lady, has a harem in New
York until my trip to that city in October-November, 1974
...
Kokoy's harem is supported by public funds, presumably part of it
coming from the American taxpayers themselves who contribute to the tune of
ONE HUNDRED MILLION ($100,000,000
...
Kokoy has a girl in every major Philippine office or agency in
the United States; they are at his beck and call whenever he travels to their
respective areas
...
One of them is a girl estranged from her husband in Manila who
sometimes serves as an assistant to Fe Roa, the First Lady's girl Friday,
whenever Mrs
...
The punning most often
expressed among us who were working with and/or for Kokoy is that the girl
was a doubly "good secretary
...
"It's morning already sir" to Kokoy
...
Kokoy also has two girl friends in the Philippine Consulate General in New
Primitivo Mijares
Page 184
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
York, one of them also a married woman, both of them are personally protected
by Ambassador Ernesto Pineda, the consul general, as part of his duties for the
sock-less governor of Leyte
...
The girl, who used to be a receptionist in one of the big hotels in
Manila, came to New York to work at the restaurant of Nora V
...
But the more notorious affair of Kokoy in New York is his involvement with
Mrs
...
F
...
Baby is the daughter of a millionaire now in
self-exile in the United States, and also residing in New York
...
F
...
Kokoy and Juliet met at the Lyceum of the Philippines where
they both took up college courses
...
F
...
He does not even take pains to shield this
affair from Filipinos in New York
...
F
...
Pichy is usually accompanied by her
American boy friend when she goes out with the Kokoy pair, obviously fearful
that Kokoy would not hesitate to annex her into his New York harem
...
Kokoy cut him off, saying: "You don't pay, the
Filipino people pay for my expenses anywhere!"
Kokoy and Baby A
...
do not make any bones about their illicit relationship
...
Kokoy even sleeps in
Baby A
...
's apartment when he does not feel like taking Baby A
...
to his
luxurious suite at the Hotel Carlyle
...
F
...
A
...
's
husband usually visits Baby and her five children at Christmas time, and Kokoy
just did not have that foresight to avoid Baby's apartment at that time
...
It is the immorality of their, respective lives, their bankrupt morals, that bind,
as a matter of fact, the three members of the unholy trinity in Malacanang
...
Marcos, it started from the time he decided to
snuff out the life of Julio Nalundasan, followed by his bitterness over his murder
trial and the realization that he had failed to commit a perfect crime in shooting
down Nalundasan
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 185
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
In the December 1975 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine what had long
been rumored in the Philippines was finally confirmed
...
She was listed along with Queen Elizabeth of England, Queen Juliana of
The Netherlands, Christina Onassis of Greece, the Duchess of Alba, Madeliene
Dessault of France, The Begum or widow of Aga Khan, Barbara Hutton, Doris
Duke and Dina Merrill
...
" between
champagne
...
That Imelda Marcos is indeed one of the world's 10 richest
women, she herself has not denied
...
Manglapus, leader of the Philippine opposition in the United States,
succinctly reported that "If Imelda is the richest woman in the world today it is
because Marcos is the biggest thief!"
Indeed, if Marcos is the biggest thief, then he must also be the richest man
in the world today
...
It traced Imelda Marcos' history, ancestry, and fabulous rise from the gutter
to wealth and fame, complete with official records, eyewitness accounts, and
family photos
...
She is now living in exile in England, like a few other Filipino
journalists who have incurred the wrath of the Marcoses and who are now also
living in exile abroad
...
Her baptismal certificate at the San Miguel
Cathedral was unsigned by the parish priest
...
Imelda's family tree goes back to her grandfather Daniel Rongialdez of
Pandacan, Manila, who married Trinidad Lopez of Ermita, Manila
...
Norberto had a son Norberto Jr
...
S
...
Of the three sons, Vicente, or Imelda's father, was the poorest or the least
known of the Romualdezes
...
Her father's first wife, Acereda, of Leyte had died and left him
five children - Vicente Jr
...
Later Vicente married Imelda's mother
...
Under this mixed situation, Imelda's father was caught in the crossfire of
family squabbles between his dominant children by the first marriage and his
wife and children by the second marriage to which Imelda unfortunately
belonged
...
Inevitably Imelda's parents themselves quarreled, later became estranged,
forcing her mother to move out of their house at General Solano in San Miguel,
Manila, and live in its garage
...
Imelda underwent this kind of life as a child sustained only by dwindling
allowances from her father and what little her poor mother could earn outside
despite her bad physical condition
...
From this situation, Imelda, in effect, never enjoyed the love of a father, the
warmth of home, and perhaps not even the personal care of her mother who
was always trying to make a living
...
caring for her,
and attending to her needs
...
Complicated by her emotional distress, the poor woman finally
passed away
...
That was in 1938 when Imelda
was only nine years old
...
too
...
He brought
with him his two sets of orphaned children by his two marriages
...
What ran in Imelda's mind then, under such miserable family situation, was
to be revealed years later when she grew up to be a woman
...
After she acquired her BSE degree from St
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 187
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
At this time, she was said to have a rich Chinese boyfriend
...
Rep
...
Now a ripe woman, Imelda first worked as a salesgirl at the P
...
Domingo
Piano and Music store at the Escolta in Manila
...
Her duty also included singing the lyrics of musical pieces
to prospective patrons
...
Lacson of Manila, he sponsored her
candidacy for "Miss Manila" but she lost to the representative of the
International Fair, Norma Jimenez
...
As a compromise, it was amended with Imelda being awarded the
consolation prize of "Muse of Manila" title
...
Inevitably she had some suitors
...
He was tall, dark, and with deep set eyes
...
Ariston studied at the Fountainbleu School of Fine Arts in France and was
estranged from his wife, but Imelda accepted him as her steady boyfriend and
they dated
...
She was assigned to the Intelligence Division
...
While off duty, she served as a governess and girl Friday of the Daniel
Romualdezes
...
Romualdez to
Congress to fetch her husband
...
Ferdinand Marcos of Ilocos Norte, met at the capitol building's cafeteria on the
basement floor
...
As narrated in his biographical book, For Every Tear A Victory, Marcos had
himself introduced to Imelda by fellow-Rep
...
"Would you mind standing up?" Marcos requested Imelda
...
He stood back to back with her, measured
their heights with his hand, and verified that he was at least a half-inch taller
than her — on low heels and unpiled hair
...
The next day at her Central Bank office desk she received two red roses
— one in full bloom and the other in tight bud
...
It said: "Everything is so rosy
...
" When her office mates saw
the roses they teased her
...
Without her knowledge then, the young Marcos was actually employing his
now famous blitzkrieg tactics
...
Eleven days after they had met and following a whirlwind courtship,
Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Romualdez were married in Baguio City before
Judge Jose Maria Chanco
...
They could not be wedded there because he was not a Catholic,
having been born an Aglipayan
...
So arrangement was hastily made to have Congressman Marcos, at the
late age, be formally converted to Catholicism
...
Thus Imelda Marcos, whose own baptismal certificate was unsigned by the
parish priest in San Miguel Cathedral Church in 1929, became the wife of a
man whose baptism was made out of convenience
...
Is it any wonder then that when Imelda Marcos became the First Lady of
the Land, and now wife of the First Filipino Dictator, she would also lead a highly
questionable life?
Is it surprising also that although she started very poor, an ill-starred
daughter of a sick and heart-broken woman who once lived in a garage, worked
as a salesgirl, would now be what she is today - one of the world's richest
women?
As a footnote to Imelda Romualdez-Marcos' rise from rags to riches, it is
pertinent to mention here, in order to get a glimpse of her true character as a
person, what happened after she became First Lady
...
It was like a triumphal
return
...
The stranger approached her, wanted to greet her, if only for old time's
sake
...
But Imelda did not recognize her, or refused to recognize her
...
Then there was Adoracion Reyes, a voice teacher at the Philippine
Women's University in Manila, who used to coach her when she was studying
how to sing
...
But when she became First Lady did
Imelda recognize her? No
...
After all, Imelda
owed her a favor
...
But Imelda said no
...
Her grave at North Cemetery in Manila up to now reportedly remains
unmarked and unmourned
...
Selznick's American Civil War epic "Gone With the Wind,"
did she vow then, "I swear I'll never go hungry again!"?
However, Imelda is not content with self-assurance that she would never
go hungry again
...
For instance, during the wedding of Princess Anne, to which Imelda
wangled an invitation, the First Lady wanted to wear a diamond tiara atop her
head, but she was told that she could not because she was not of royal blood
...
In her mad desire to behave as a royal-blooded conjugal ruler of the
Philippines, Imelda makes it a point to attend all coronations of minor kings and
other discarded royalties
...
Witness this newspaper account:*2
(*2
...
)
THE PEARL OF THE PHILIPPINES
The chic thing to do just now is to nip off to Manila to visit Madame
Imelda Marcos, wife of the President of the Philippines, who's wildly
generous, if she likes you, and the very essence of hospitality
...
) After a stay like that, you leave the
Islands humming the scenery
...
Henry Ford II, otherwise Christina, Imelda's bosom buddy
...
“Reporter’s Notebook: Nepal Coronation Lured the World’s Partygoers – Invited or Not
...
)
If the coronation was a theatrical drama
...
But the two figures who virtually upstaged him were
Prince Charles and Mrs
...
The striking wife of the Philippine
President arrived here with an entourage that included a secretary, a
military aide and a bodyguard, as well as Mrs
...
Barnards, who had been in the Philippines for the opening of a hospital for
heart surgery
...
Marcos' flawless tactics for keeping herself firmly in the spotlight
...
"She's certainly keeping Charles
amused," said a British correspondent
...
Marcos
abruptly decided to take a walk
...
They were soon joined by
Prince Charles, and the photographers used up rolls of film
...
Marcos always manages to arrive at the
right moment, the most dramatic time," said the wife of one senior
diplomat
...
" (Italics supplied
...
San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 1975, page 22
...
Ferdinand Marcos, wife of the Pres
...
The Marcos group arrived in four government jets, one of which flew back
to Manila to pick up food for her group
...
Marcos were "abrupt" decisions, he has another thing coming
...
Marcos are pre-programmed as image-building moves; even the way she
should dress up or move her hands and wave on given occasions are wellrehearsed
...
Marcos appearance at the inauguration of the
Philippine Center in New York on November 14 was well programmed
...
Kokoy Romualdez, Secretary of Tourism Jose D
...
Barangan, Col
...
We
came up with the following draft of a "strategy" to neutralize the Manglapus
demonstration:
Talk Strategy with Picketers
Friends would be strategically located on the East side of the street
...
We will try to keep their attention away from the action across the street if
necessary
...
Contact News Executives
News stations would do a story of Pre-Opening, Pre-Interview and
Opening especially with the involvement of so important a personality as
we are discussing
...
The mere mention of "at the opening there might be some clowns
with pickets" told in a straight forward manner and with security thrown in
for good measure, might completely divert their attention away from the
picketers to only the main story -- The opening of the building
...
The Opening -- If ribbon cutting outside between 4 pm and 8 pm is still the
desired approach, supplemental lighting would be required for the dusk
and dark event
...
Newsfilm crews on a daily basis use "sun gun"
equipment
...
Newsfilm crews would use
...
Adding Screen of Vegetation
Adding large pots (same type as directly across the street) with; Philippine
National Vegetation for the event would screen off the main event from the
picketers across the street
...
Bus Screen
Get permission to park special charter buses for dignitary arrival and
departure in front of the building
...
In so small a place hard to do especially if the same people keep coming
back
...
They would wine, dine and whatever visiting media people
...
Elizabeth Day
...
Day made to the Philippines,
while I was still with the martial regime, I know that her transportation and hotel
expenses were paid for by the Philippine government, specifically by the
Department of Public Information
...
Marcos
...
Day produced on President Marcos was a form
of propitiation or offering by Romulo to salvage his faltering image before the
conjugal dictatorship
...
Day, a close and intimate friend of Romulo, went to
the Philippines with all expenses paid by the government on the
recommendation of Romulo
...
Day be made a house guest of the conjugal dictatorship
...
In any case, she was billeted in a
...
Kokoy made sure that the Department of Public
Information would foot Ms
...
Kokoy assigned me to attend to the requirements of Ms
...
I decided to make the good secretary of
foreign affairs jealous or suspicious, at least
...
Day had an 11
a
...
appointment to interview the First Lady, I prevailed upon Ms
...
I told her that
traffic was awful this particular time of the day and that she might be late for her
appointment with the First Lady
...
Day and I have gone ahead of him
...
Romulo panting his way up the stairs
...
Day's tape recorder from me and said he would carry it for Beth
going into the Music Room for the interview with the First Lady
...
Day
...
Marcos
...
In
fact, I might write it myself from memory," Gen
...
As
a matter of fact anybody can write about what the First Lady said to Ms
...
The truth, however, was that Ms
...
She only wanted to talk to the President and Mrs
...
Romulo never told either the President or the First Lady about the real
purpose of Ms
...
But she was candid about it to me
...
Since he had also consented to an interview by Ms
...
"Ms
...
Following the President's cue, Secretary Tatad then telephoned
Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Manuel Collantes to tell him that CPR was to
be "kept busy on something else somewhere" at the time of the interview
...
Tatad told Collantes that it was the desire of
the President that he pass on the assignment to the unknowing secretary of
foreign affairs - just to keep him away from the Palace during the day of the
interview
...
Day
...
Day or that he just decided to
be prudent for which he was noted
...
first sentry gate, if he had tried to get into the Palace that day
...
Ever the adjustable diplomat, Romulo came up to the Palace on
another occasion to inform the President casually that he was deep at work on
Miss Day, convincing her to write a full-length book on the New Society
...
Day was billeted at the Manila Hilton - all expense paid by
the DPI again - as she gathered materials for her book, which was later on
published under the title of Philippines: A Shattered Showcase of Democracy
...
Marcos has done nothing right for the Filipino people
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 194
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos is just a tinpot dictator whose lust for power knows no limit
...
Democracy, to which Marcos
pays lip service every now and then, is headed into a mist of might-have-been
...
Not anymore since the advent of Marcos
...
He has lied himself blue in the face to achieve a desired rhetorical
effect
...
And yet, because he is not an avowed Communist, Americans are willing
to take wildly optimistic assumption of his sincerity and intellectual honesty
...
Lacson
...
"Di puta gid, yawa
...
o
...
) If that guy ever becomes President,
God save the Philippines!" swore the irrepressible Lacson, the best mayor
Manila ever had and the best President the Philippines never had
...
Luchi belonged to that rare variety of
politicians' wives whose sense of delicadeza told her to maintain a prudent
distance between her bedroom and the Office of the Mayor of Manila
...
Unmindful of Luchi's questioning, Lacson continued his early morning
monologue, "That bastard is crazy, if he thinks that people have forgotten that
he killed Nalundasan
...
I
know it, I was a part of his defense panel"
...
“Yes, hija, that pug-nosed
killer of Nalundasan had the gall to come here and proposition me into teaming
up with him for a crack at the leadership of this country"
...
Magsaysay,
when Ferdinand E
...
Earnshaw Street in Sampaloc, Manila
...
"Yes, padre, I will subordinate myself to you
...
" Lacson quoted Marcos as having stated to him during their
conference at Lacson's underground den at his M
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 195
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
"Oh, no, wait a minute
...
I really would want to serve this country
as President one of these days
...
I love life, too, and I want to live a little longer, while serving
my people
...
In these days of the telescopic sight,
my God, I may hardly have the time to take my oath as President before my
own Vice President guns me down with that deadly aim of yours
...
"
"Padre, puro ka biro, eh
...
Let's forget the past mischiefs)", cut in
Marcos
...
I will not do anything which
would in any way help you become President of this country
...
You can become President of this country only
over my dead body!"
Lacson was still fuming mad over the Marcos proposition long after the
Ilocos Norte congressman had left the M
...
"Salbahe talaga itong si Marcos
...
Just because I was ahead of him with Imelda, he wants to get
even with me in a most complicated manner!" Lacson would declare
occasionally in recalling the Marcos visit to his house, and with a mischievous
look on his Visayan face, would add: "Of course, if I should be President, and
Marcos is my No
...
" *1
(*1
...
At the time, he was already being
groomed by the Nacionalista leadership to become the party's presidential candidate in 1965, while
incumbent President Macapagal was being egged by Marcos to make good his pledge to support
Marcos for the Liberal party presidential nomination
...
The shot that catapulted Marcos for the first time into national notoriety was
fired, according to a trial court, on September 21, 1935
...
Nalundasan was a perennial political rival of the father of Ferdinand,
Mariano Marcos
...
Nalundasan was elected
...
In
the general elections, Julio Nalundasan and Mariano Marcos resumed their
political rivalry and were opposing candidates for assemblyman in the same
district
...
In
the afternoon of September 19, 1935, in celebration of Nalundasan's victory, a
number of his followers and partymen paraded in cars and trucks through the
municipalities of Qirrirnao, Paoay and Batac, Ilocos Norte, and passed in front
of the house of the Marcoses
...
The parade was
described as provocative and humiliating for the defeated candidate, Mariano
Marcos
...
Newly-elected President Manuel L
...
Quezon
subsequently sent a special team of prosecutors headed by then Fiscal Higinio
Macadaeg to handle the prosecution of the accused in the killing for the crime
of murder
...
Marcos and Quirino Lizardo
...
*3
(*2
...
He is currently a judge of the court of first
instance branch in Baguio City and sits as board chairman or member of several mining and
industrial corporations organized upon the imposition of martial law and which appear to be
operating profitably
...
)
(*3
...
They are J
...
Cruz, one time
press secretary and now ambassador to Cairo, and Roman Cruz, Jr
...
)
A brilliant lawyer, the late Vicente Francisco, headed the defense panel
...
Lacson and Estanislao A
...
At that time, Marcos was a law student
at the University of the Philippines and, after preliminary investigation, was
detained at the llocos Norte provincial jail
...
*4
(*4
...
He opposed Marcos originally in the Presidential elections of 1965 and then in the
Constitutional Convention, but he later accepted an appointment to the Supreme Court where he
became one of the more ardent spokesmen of the Marcos dictatorship
...
Young Marcos was a member of the U
...
rifle team
...
P
...
Kalaw, Jr
...
Among the accused, only young Ferdinand Marcos had access to
the U
...
armory
...
When Marcos signified his intention to
appeal
...
Guerrero who was then with the office of the Solicitor General, to handle
the government side
...
With a bar topnotcher
Primitivo Mijares
Page 197
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
defending himself on a murder conviction by a trial court, and the most brilliant
orator of his day, Leon Ma
...
Then as now, the feeling of people who had access to the matters brought
into the record is that Marcos could not have escaped imprisonment, however
lenient a court would have tried, for the murder of Nalundasan
...
Laurel, a native of Tanauan, Batangas, but a
long time resident of the district of Paco in Manila, was a member of the
Supreme Court when the high tribunal calendared the Marcos murder case for
hearing and decision
...
Justice Laurel's
behavior raised some quizzical eyebrows, but smiles of understanding later
pervaded sessions on young Marcos' case as some members of the court
gathered it that old man Laurel was simply taking fatherly posture on young
Marcos
...
Keon, and Fortuna M
...
At least, President Marcos and the First
Lady, Imelda Romualdez-Marcos, have this characteristic in common
...
And to stretch comparisons, neither does the
first born of Ferdinand and Imelda have the features of her brother, Ferdinand,
Jr
...
Did not
Marcos himself direct his own biographers to point out how sharply different he
was from Mariano Marcos? "To Ferdinand, Mariano was a restless, caged and
frustrated man," Marcos of the Philippines states on page 27
...
"
Aside from whatever fatherly feelings which Justice Laurel had for young
Marcos, a feeling which he displayed anew for the young man from llocos Norte
during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, there were other
considerations that readily found acceptance amongst a skeptical people, even
President Quezon himself
...
Laurel figured in a much similar
fiasco, a case of homicide
...
Actually, the
young lass favored another young man, and to force the issue, Laurel
embraced the girl while the latter was taking a stroll with the other young man
at the town park
...
About a week later, Laurel attended a
party where the girl and her young man were also present
...
Laurel stood his ground, drew
a "balisong" (Batangas fan knife) and stabbed the fellow, killing him
...
He appealed to the Supreme
Court
...
Malcolm, dean of the College
of Law, University of the Philippines, had just been appointed to the Supreme
Primitivo Mijares
Page 198
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Court
...
P
...
Laurel had always acknowledged his debt
to society in this respect, and when the Marcos case came before him on
appeal at the Supreme Court, he saw the opportunity to repay his debt -privately to Marcos
...
Laurel thus
went individually to all the members of the Supreme Court and pleaded in tears
for the acquittal of young Ferdinand
...
The difference is that,
while Laurel led his country heroically during a most difficult time under
Japanese occupation, Marcos has decided to plunder an entire country which
had given him a new lease on life
...
The death,
or killing, of certain persons provided the solutions to most of Marcos' problems
...
The first case of a man's death favoring Marcos was Nalundasan's
...
The still baffling death of Mayor Lacson is another
...
As a
matter of fact, Lacson could have been elected President in the 1965 elections
...
Even after Marcos had won the Nacionalista presidential nomination in
November, 1964, he was still in a very precarious position within the NP itself
...
1964
...
favored Marcos anew
...
As the party's presidential
nominee, Marcos instantly became the NP titular head with the Amang dead
...
had
succeeded in creating for himself the image of "The American boy," former
President Dwight D, Eisenhower died
...
When he returned to the Philippines, Marcos said, he was "Nixon's
boy
...
Crisologo himself was rebelling against Marcos's domination of the
tobacco monopoly in the North
...
The assailant was
reported eliminated right after the shooting while trying to collect his fee
...
However,
Marcos had difficulty convincing the former President to support his proposal
Primitivo Mijares
Page 199
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
to shift the form of government from the then existing presidential system to the
parliamentary system
...
The real motivation for the Nalundasan murder can only be truly gleaned
into at this time — in the light of Marcos' own declaration, Marcos had nurtured
his dream of becoming a dictator of the Philippines as early as his U
...
days
when he would tell Leonilo "Noning" Ocampo, Felicisimo Ocampo and Roberto
S
...
For his part, Marcos
said he would look for a girl coming from a rich and politically-powerful family
so he can short-circuit his travel to power
...
Noning Ocampo was to comment wryly later, “E yon pala ay isang salesgirl
lang ang kailangan to become President,” (For all his planning, Marcos needed
only a salesgirl to help him become President!) For his tactless statement,
which had been relayed to the Palace by Imelda's spies and courtiers, Noning
Ocampo has never been forgiven by the First Lady
...
When the father was defeated by Julio
Nalundasan, Marcos obviously saw what could have been a political eclipse for
the Marcos family
...
This was his first display of the "overkill''
type of operation for which he has acquired notoriety
...
When people
would talk about politics, the conversation would invariably turn to
Nalundasan's murder, and end with a joking statement that one should be
careful about his political enemies, "baka ma-Nalundasan ka
...
And it seems to have possessed Marcos himself
...
On one
occasion, Arsenio H
...
Marcos, then both freshmen
members of the' House of Representatives, were engaged in a debate over
President Quirino's suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,
when Marcos showed his mannerism of the trigger-finger pointed towards
Lacson
...
Speaker
...
Speaker, I demand protection from the chair!"
"The gentleman from Manila should explain his demand for protection
...
Speaker, I demand protection from the gentleman from Ilocos Norte
who reminds me, every time he points his trigger finger at me, of the murder of
Nalundasan
...
) before the
entire hall and the gallery burst into uncontrolled laughter
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 200
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos is a sophisticated con man
...
And his so-called magical or charismatic power
were nothing but the ability to utter basic truisms to the right persons at the right
time
...
Marcos was not going to be the President of the Philippines on December
30, 1965
...
By 1962, he was a colorful man, but no
one was considering him seriously for the presidency in 1965
...
But most everybody
considered him a dangerous man, having been a convicted murderer of
Nalundasan
...
And the Nacionalista
candidate was going to be colorful Manila Mayor Lacson
...
At that time, President Macapagal was running amuck against the
Lopezes
...
Marcos recognized at the time the
invincibility of the Lopez politico-economic machine
...
The professional kingmakers that they were, the Lopezes, aside from
seeking Macapagal's downfall for the harm done them, wanted to really find a
candidate they could catapult to the presidency
...
Others were similarly asked
...
I told the old man Lopez that
Marcos was the man who could beat Macapagal
...
Roberto S
...
"No," said
Benedicto and Teehankee almost in unison, "Marcos killed Nalundasan
...
We should not have a murderer in Malacanang
...
"
Benedicto and Teehankee were supported by almost all of those present in the
conference, among them being then Senate President Pro Tempore Fernando
Lopez, economist Alfredo Montelibano, Manila Chronicle editor-in-chief
Ernesto del Rosario, and fellow political writers Ernesto 0
...
I argued alone in favor of Marcos
...
Manila Chronicle General Manager Rafael Salas received the same
instructions
...
Later on, when then Senate Pro Tempore Fernando Lopez found out
about my working for Marcos, he demanded that I be fired from the Manila
Chronicle
...
However, on direct instructions from his father, then Chronicle
publisher Eugenio "Geny'' Lopez, Jr
...
When his uncle (Fernando)
lost the NP presidential nomination to Marcos on Nov
...
The ascension of Marcos to the highest position within the gift of the
Filipino people gives us license to take a close look at the character and manner
of life of the man
...
"
This was the most applauded line in the speech of Manglapus, considered
the Philippines' best orator in many languages and former foreign secretary,
during the third annual convention in Los Angeles of the Movement For A Free
Philippines of which he is the president
...
"
On May 11, 1975, eight months before the Cosmopolitan expose of the
incredible Marcos wealth, John Marks, co-author of the best selling book "CIACult of Intelligence," stunned an audience of scholars attending a seminar at
the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago with the revelation that as early as
1969 Marcos had already amassed "stolen funds ranging from not lower than
several hundred million US dollars to two billion US dollars!"
Marks, former assistant in the bureau of intelligence and research under
Ray Cline in the US Department of State, told his audience in Chicago that he
was risking legal sanctions and jail by revealing the psychology profile prepared
by the CIA on Marcos which he saw while he (Marks) was still with the State
Department in 1969
...
The Marks expose elicited from the audience, according to newspaper reports
from Chicago, "whistling and head-shaking spiced by remarks such as Marcos
could easily make two billion American dollars before martial law with all those
supposed checks and balances, one can imagine how much he and Imelda are
able to milk from a Philippines now under their total control
...
Marcos is such that he even pocketed the 300 million yen
(one million dollars) that the Japanese government sent as gift to the
Philippines in reparation for the killing of Filipino civilians by Lt
...
From all indications, Marcos may indeed be the biggest thief in the world
but this well deserved title is nothing compared to the hoaxes and frauds he
has perpetrated and continues to perpetrate on the world
...
In the archives of official records in Washington, D
...
are the papers of the
multi-million dollar fake war damage claim filed by Marcos demanding payment
for cattle he claimed he supplied starving American and Filipino troops during
World War II in the Philippines
...
Marcos and his wife, Imelda, had also tried to pull a fast one on the
newspapermen from all over the world then covering Pope Paul's visit to the
Philippines by concocting the story that it was Marcos, using a "karate chop,"'
who saved the Pontiffs life from the knife of a Bolivian would-be assassin
...
But the biggest fairytale from Marcos that the world seemed to have
swallowed hook, line and sinker is his claim to be the "most decorated Filipino
soldier of World War II who single-handedly delayed the surrender of Bataan
by three months and saved Australia and New Zealand from Japanese
conquest
...
He
has bloated apparent minor war exploits into a great saga
...
Probably from over-confidence or plain stupidity,
Marcos' own Department of Public Information in September 1972 published
and distributed to libraries all over the world the official pictorial biography of
Marcos showing that the dictator, in fact, received his medals "for wartime
exploits" in 1962, fully 21 years after the war
...
The late Macario Peralta, an authentic war hero
who was then serving as Secretary of National Defense, told newsmen that
Marcos had asked President Macapagal for the decorations because,
according to Peralta, Marcos needed the awards as props for his reelection
campaign to the Senate
...
A notorious forger
from the National Penitentiary was utilized to sign the signatures of deceased
American and Filipino army officers who were supposed to have testified to
Marcos" "war-time exploits'' before they died
...
To protect the persons involved by Marcos in the fraud from
reprisals in Manila, I am withholding their identities in this book
...
Meanwhile, at great cost to his already impoverished country Marcos has
caused to be struck for worldwide sale gold coins honoring himself
...
Marcos, who this year celebrates his tenth anniversary as
President of the Republic of the Philippines
...
"The Philippines’ most decorated war hero, President Marcos won nearly
every medal and decoration the Philippine and American governments could
bestow on a soldier, including the US Distinguished Service Cross which was
personally pinned on the Filipino hero by General Douglas MacArthur
...
There is no report, paper, article or book on World War II about or by any
of the generals who fought that war in the Pacific
...
Wainwright,
Willougby, Whitney, Fertig or even Carlos (I saw the Fall of the Philippines)
Romulo, now the propaganda man of Marcos, which either supports the claims
of Marcos nor mentions him at all, directly or indirectly, in spite of Marcos'
claims to have delayed the surrender of Bataan by three months and to have
single-handedly saved Australia and New Zealand or that had he
...
Wainwright, after whose death the Marcos biography said recommended
Marcos for the Congressional Medal of Honor (see page 139 of Marcos of the
Philippines), included almost everybody who played a role in Bataan in his
(Wainright's) war memoirs
...
Significantly
...
On page 174 of
Rendezvous with Destiny
...
Marcos in a foxhole for exceptional gallantry
in action
...
"
The question is how could MacArthur attribute an accomplished feat to Marcos
when the great American general was supposed to have been saying this in a
foxhole with the battle of Bataan still going on?
What Marcos himself confirms is that during the Japanese occupation, he
was under the care and protection of Jose Laurel, the Japanese puppet
government president who of course was the supreme court justice who fought
for the acquittal of Marcos on a murder conviction on rather astonishing
reasons, including the eyebrow-raising technicality that there were no more
witnesses that Marcos should not go to jail because of his intelligence
...
Equally eye-opening are the accounts that Marcos openly used a
Japanese staff car, accompanied by two colonels of the Japanese-sponsored
Filipino army and himself (Marcos) in the full uniform of a Japanese Philippine
Constabulary officer, travelling all over Luzon unmolested and unchallenged by
the Japanese military
...
All this mystery raises the question: what is there in Marcos' record during
the war which makes him invent outrageous fairy tales to prove to all the world
that he is really the patriotic and courageous man he claims to be?
Marcos himself admits that he escaped liquidation many times by the
guerrillas who believed that he was a Japanese spy, a reputation rather strange
for one supposedly known throughout the Philippines as the super hero of
Bataan
...
issue of the Philippine Daily Express, Marcos
told columnist Teodoro F
...
"
The fact is that nobody heard of Marcos as a war hero until the appearance
of his biography
...
Immediately after World War II, when Filipinos talked about their heroes,
the names mentioned were Villamor, Basa, Kangleon, Lim, Adevoso and Balao
of the Bessang Pass fame
...
In chapter seven of his biography, Marcos’ evaluation of his role in the
Pacific war was that he fought it all himself
...
In a very real sense, therefore, the
refusal of Ferdinand Marcos to admit he was beaten made a contribution to the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 205
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
war that was of enormous consequence to the world
...
The entire battle of Bataan took exactly
three months, from January 9, 1942 to April 9, 1942
...
As a matter of fact, there is no mention of Marcos
by MacArthur in any writing, article, paper, or book which would be anomalous
if indeed Marcos is to be taken at his word
...
This
was done
...
”
Curiously and with great insult to intelligence again, the Marcos book which
claims that the papers citing him for the Medal of Honor were "lost in the last
days of Bataan
...
S
...
After inflicting and also suffering, severe casualties, he and his men fought their
way back to the USAFFE lines at Pilar-Bagac on 26 January, 1942 (six days
later)
"By his initiative, his example of extraordinary valor and heroism, courage
and daring in fighting at the junction of the Salian River and the Abo-Abo River,
he encouraged the demoralized men under him
...
under orders
to move southeast
...
With this heroism beyond the call of duty and utter disregard for
personal safety and extraordinary heroism, he prevented the possible rout of
the USAFFE troops then withdrawing to the USAFFE Bataan second line of
defense
...
Notice how the words "Bataan might have fallen sooner", which are
supposed to be MacArthur's words, keep appearing in other people's mouths
...
Here was Marcos
Primitivo Mijares
Page 206
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
claiming to be cited for the Medal of Honor in the early days of the war for
supposedly delaying a surrender that was yet several months away
...
Marcos was to repeat this familiar fakery when he imposes
martial law in the Philippines on September 22, 1972
...
Weeks
later by a faux pas, Marcos admitted that he signed his declaration of martial
law on September 21
...
Even if it were true that the Medal of Honor papers were lost in the last
days of Bataan, Wainwright, who was supposed to have had the citation
prepared, survived the war and lived long after that
...
Marcos, by his own
admission was such an expert on the gathering and preparation of affidavits,
could have had his greatest claim verified by going to Wainwright as he indeed
went to great lengths and trouble in obtaining sworn statements even for
obscure Philippine war decorations
...
This
oversight did not prevent the Marcos book from carrying a dedication
addressed to Marcos himself “who, had he been bom white-skinned on the
American mainland rather than brown-skinned in the U
...
Philippines, would
todav be counted one of America’s greatest heroes
...
"That's a lot of bull
...
"
divulged by retired US Army Major Edward Ferrrandez
...
retiring with the rank of major, years after the liberation of the
Philippines
...
The greatest hoax of the Philippines has now been internationalized, with
the minting of gold coins for worldwide circulation
...
"Until Marcos made this claim, I thought Audie Murphy was the most
decorated soldier of World War II," the FBI agent said
...
In the
September 12, 1973 issue of Asia Magazine, then printed in Hongkong and
distributed with the leading English dailies in Asia, Marcos not only claimed he
fought in Bessang Pass but that Yamashita, the Tiger of Malaya and the highest
ranking Japanese general in the Philippines, actually surrendered to him:
Primitivo Mijares
Page 207
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
"
...
Commander of the Japanese forces in the
Philippines
...
3
...
In a front page article in its November 28-Decembcr 4, 1974 issue, the
Philippine Mews reported:
Marcos himself up to now
...
in Congress that Marcos also collected a medal by
claiming to be the hero of the Battle of Bessang Pass when witnesses and
records indicated that Marcos was nowhere near Bessang Pass at the time the
battle was being fought
...
in congress that
week, the Philippine Free Press (now suppressed by Marcos) in its issue of
April 20, 1965 quoted Osmena, Jr
...
Those who
actually fought at Bessang Pass say that they had never seen Mr
...
One of these is a political reporter of the "Evening News"
who, in his column published last year, made the startling revelation that Mr
...
There are those who attest to the fact that Mr
...
This
notwithstanding, he got a medal and even caused a distortion in history by
having himself proclaimed as the Hero of Bessang Pass
...
Arthur W
...
Wermuth was visiting
Manila then and had a reunion with his Filipino Bataan buddies
...
The Wermuth visit that Marcos had wanted to make propaganda of,
boomeranged when Filipinos suddenly realized that here was Wennuth, whom
even the Expressweek agreed deserved his title of "The One Man Army of
Bataan" losing war honors to Marcos who instead is credited with "winning
every medal and decoration the US government could bestow
...
According to the book the story of war exploits of Marcos "spread throughout
Bataan
...
"
What is mystifying about this is that Carlos Romulo who was senior aidede-camp and press relations officer of Gen
...
This was most surprising because Romulo won a Pulitzer Prize for
some of his writings of that war and had written a book, I Saw the Fall of the
Philippines, which was a best seller in the United States during World War II
...
Indeed, how could have Romulo missed the exploits of Marcos which were
supposed to be on everybody's lips in Bataan? Colonel N
...
Manzano of the
U
...
Army Corps of Engineers, whose war exploits were documented by
Generals Wainwright, Willougby and even by Romulo himself, says that they
were in need of stories to bolster the morale of the Filipino and American troops
in Bataan that they would have used the Marcos exploits to inspire the soldiers
if those stories were true
...
Here are samples from the official Marcos biography:
On page 129:
"Ferdinand faced a Japanese Officer's saber when suddenly he heard a
voice in Ilocano: 'Attorney, your back!' He ducked and whirled, missing a
bayonet as he did so, and dispatched both attackers with his pistol
...
Hugging up
under concealment of the cogon, the patrol was within twenty-five yards of the
battery before Ferdinand knocked off its commander with a rifle shot
...
It boiled with soldiers
...
Fire two rounds, then roll
...
Grenades finished the job
...
Salvaging one of the weapons, he turned it on the ammunitioncarriers
...
More than fifty men,
eight of them officers, lay dead
...
Disarmed, they were taken to a command post in the jungle
...
Finally
exhausted from the torture, they were tied and left on the ground with a guard
of two soldiers
...
On page 149:
Ferdinand watched again for an opportunity to escape
...
Tall cogon grass encroached to the edge of
the road
...
He dived into the weeds
...
Making
no effort at pursuit, the guards halted the column and lined up nine men before
a firing squad
...
The Japanese laughed, beat
him in the face with a rifle butt, and the march continued
...
The escapists were concerned in putting as much
distance between themselves and the enemy that it is ridiculous that anyone
thus fleeing would linger behind and watch what the enemy would do
...
The truth is the Japanese had no time or patience in playing games that they just shot anybody who faltered in the march
or attempted escape
...
The Marcos book makes the most of
this fairytale obviously because of the effect it might have on the less literate
and more superstitious Filipinos
...
"
The Marcos book attributes powers to Marcos bordering on the
supernatural
...
It is a silver of petrified medicinal
wood, so the story goes, bequeathed to Marcos by a legendary figure of the
previous generation, Gregorio Aglipay
...
Among its
virtues, it permits its holder to disappear and reappear at will
...
“Aglipay was a Catholic priest who joined the revolution of 1892 against
Spain, resisted the American occupation, and afterward founded a
revolutionary, independent church
...
Ferdinand’s
aunt Antonia, a noted poet in the Ilocano tnbal vernacular had given Aglipay
the land for his most imposing church
...
“At Bataan, men knew that to go on patrol with Lieutenant Ferdinand
Marcos, an intelligence officer who ranged well behind the enemy lines, was an
infallible way to win the Purple Heart, if not a gold star
...
For three
months the Battle of Bataan enveloped the peninsula
...
What interests us here is that his comrades said he
could not have survived without the anting anting of Aglipay
...
Now Marcos dares not venture from his heavily fortified palace at
Malacanang without his massive corps of bodyguards recently enlarged to a
full army division which is the best equipped in the land
...
Marcos never travels far from his Palace without a "hospital on wheels"
immediately following the presidential car
...
So blatant are the hoaxes pulled by Marcos in his obsession at self
mythification that a newspaper columnist in the United States referred to the
Filipino dictator as Fraud-inand E
...
Marcos
...
Joseph Goebbels, at image building
...
The Education of Ferdinand Marcos
Bribery, treachery, violence and murder dominate the genealogy of the
Marcos and Edralin families and served as the molds which formed the
mentality and character of Ferdinand Marcos as subsequent events proved
...
Ferdinand's own father, Mariano, was executed by the guerrillas for being a
Japanese spy
...
Marcos himself tries to explain this streak of blood and death in his ancestry
by claiming in his official biography, Marcos of the Philippines (page 19), that
his forbear was probably "a fifteenth-century pirate who had overrun much of
the coast along the China Sea
...
In an attempt to attribute his ruthlessness in dealing with rivals to training
he had received as a child, Marcos points out on page 26 of his book:
"The father's emphasis was not on sportsmanship, it was on the victory
...
"
Marcos went on to point out that his father took "defeat badly" on losing the
election for assemblyman of his province to Julio Nalundasan; that his father
"for almost a year was so emotionally upset that he could not practice law
...
The Marcos biography also reveals that gratitude is not one of the virtues
of Ferdinand
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 211
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos admits that "in the extremity" of his father's election defeat,
President Quezon appointed Mariano governor of Davao, the choicest province
in Mindanao
...
It was also "after two summers on Davao," Marcos claimed that at the age
of sixteen he "won the small-bore rifle and pistol championship of the
Philippines
...
In a special interview with Kram, which appeared in the States in fraudulent
war claims in reparations for cattle from his September 29, 1975 issue of Sports
Illustrated, Marcos lied:
"Well, I was the national champion in shooting
...
My shooting got me in trouble
...
"
The Philippine News exposed the hoax of Marcos in its October 11-17,
1975 issue:
"Senator Ambrosio Padilla then president of
...
"
Furthermore, Marcos was born on September 11, 1917
...
Marcos could not have "kept it for many years"
because he spent most of his time in court and jail for several years after 1935
...
In a narration that could have come only
from Marcos, Marcos' biographer relates an incident whose only meaning is
that Quezon offered and gave away the virtue of his daughter, Baby, to Marcos
...
He sent for his oldest daughter, Maria Aurora, and
introduced her to Ferdinand
...
"He is puffed up like an adder in his own conceit
and pride
...
I leave his education to
you
...
”
“The Presidential instinct was unerring
...
He courted her, in his
lighter moments, for nearly ten years
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 212
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
What kind of a woman was Ferdinand's mother and what traits did Marcos
inherit from her?
The Marcos biography describes her as "scarcely five feet tall with a
distinct Mongolian cast to her eyes" attributed to "blood" deposited by the pirate
that Marcos claimed was his ancestor
...
"
Expectedly, the Marcos book refers to Ferdinand's mother as "an honors
student and gifted in speech" together with the adjectives "thrifty, hardworking
and ambitious
...
On page 154 of the Marcos book is the incredible claim that the Japanese
military in charge of the prisoners of war camp in Capas where Ferdinand was
supposed to be imprisoned had accepted bribes from Josefa first, to be with
her son all day, and second, to set Ferdinand free:
"One day he was mustered into a telephone-line crew
...
All day she remained with her son, and the
sergeant permitted them to talk together
...
On
August 4, 1942, Ferdinand was summoned to camp headquarters
...
"Your family and friends," the man said, "are
anxious for you
...
"
It is simply unbelievable that the victorious Japanese troops who could get
at will anything and everything they wanted would have the need to be "bribed"
or could have been bribed fanatically loyal as they were to their soldier's code
of Bushido which made them prefer death to dishonor
...
Who really
bribed whom to do what?
Y
...
Kwong, a Filipino millionaire who recently sold out his businesses in
the Philippines and has now settled in Vancouver, Canada, told an audience
composed of a publisher and newsmen at the San Francisco Press Club that
"contrary to Ferdinand's claims as the most decorated Filipino soldier of World
War II, Marcos, in fact, spent the four years of the Japanese occupation as a
buy and sell agent
...
Kwong even mentioned the name of the arresting police
officer as Telesforo Tenorio, then a detective but later to become a chief of
police of Manila
...
According to Kwong, Josefa was
able to either bribe or cry her way out of the incident
...
Ferdinand, Kwong said, sold anything he
Primitivo Mijares
Page 213
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
could lay his hands on — including scrap metal which may have found its way
to Japanese factories and used in the manufacture of bombs and armaments
...
The father
on the other hand remained an eccentric recluse alternately given to moods of
depression and dreams of grandeur
...
Ernesto Hilario, a provincemate and
friend of Ferdinand, said that Mariano Marcos and his family “were different
from you and me
...
Hilario pointed out that Marcos’
father, for example, would often walk around his town dressed up in riding togs,
breeches, horse whip and all, but without a horse
...
According to Salas “Marcos has a certain style of politics
...
He may not know his
individuals but he knows the average Filipino: to what degree this average
Filipino can be scared, what are the limits before he becomes violent
...
I think thus far he has succeeded
...
In
short, any type of dissimulation or chicanery or bribery or coercion is applicable
...
”
ORIGIN OF THE MARCOS WEALTH
The December issue of the glamour magazine Cosmopolitan is making the
rounds of Filipino circles here
...
Imelda Marcos — hail! — was voted as one
of the walking gold mines
...
Writer Richard Baker, however, appeared to have deliberately spun a veil
of mystery as to how the fabulous Imelda and her consort came to their fortune
which Cosmopolitan gingerly estimated at “multimillions,” and with a question
mark, at that
...
” If he probed
any further, then, he might have decided to place Imelda in another list — that
one for “the world’s top women of ill-gotten wealth
...
Imelda is very vocal about the fact that when she met and married Mr
...
There is a story she apparently loves to recall to friends which she did tell
one time (before martial law) to Malacanang reporters
...
And there it was before her eyes: piles and piles of cold
cash!
Immediately, she got in touch with her aunt, the wife of the late former
Speaker Daniel R
...
She described to her aunt how many rows and
how high the rows of bills in various denominations were
...
Marcos arrived at such wealth
...
Why should they go through such degrading method, she would ask, when
there were other ways available through the presidency?
She once told Malacanang reporters — which included myselt and
disenchanted former martial law propagandist Primitivo Mijares — that in their
positions she and her husband could easily borrow money from any bank in the
world or from rich personal friends in the international jet set
...
r
To borrow a phrase from the Cosmopolitan, “the cat is out of the money
bag
...
The author was Ruben
Cusipag, a Filipino newspaperman who is now of the Toronto Times
...
”
The version of Imelda that Marcos showed her his wealth in not so petty
cash in a vault of a Manila bank is contested only with regards to the date of
the event
...
So smitten was Marcos with Imelda that to inveigle her to
accepting a dinner date, he asked two ladies then with Imelda to come along
...
As later recounted by
one of the witnesses, Imelda’seyes nearly popped out beholding all that cash,
not in pesos but in good old American dollars
...
It is perfectly
understandable, of course, that Madame Marcos would now want to dispel any
notion that she married Ferdinand for reasons other than love
...
One of them is an
ex-newspaperwoman
...
The Marcos
biography relates that it was to get this tuition money from his grandparents that
explained Ferdinand’s hurried trip to his hometown coincidentally at the time of
the Nalundasan murder
...
The Marcos biography, on
pages 198-199 tells us, in fact, the role Marcos played in collecting war backpay
based on “documents” on which later, the Marcos biography had to admit, “the
United States government placed an embargo
...
Most of them had no proof of their military records
...
Many of the guerrillas had
promoted themselves
...
None of them had a penny with which to resume civilian life and most of their
homes had been destroyed
...
S
...
All of the eligibles were presumed to
have been on active duty throughout the war
...
“Starting with his own Maharlika, then embracing the entire force of
northern Luzon, Marcos as adjutant general legitimatized the roster of this
army
...
Where wounds were suffered, medals won, promotions given, sworn
statements were gathered from those who had prepared the orders or seen
them written
...
Guerrilla commanders attested
to the loyalty of their followers
...
S
...
“Marcos then encouraged other military units to conduct similar studies
along the identical affidavit pattern
...
“Thousands of warriors and their families acknowledge debt to Marcos for
initiating and validating their claims before the U
...
government placed an
embargo on such documents
...
”
Primitivo Mijares
Page 216
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
It is clear from the foregoing that Marcos not only began and perfected the
practice of collecting war reparations on “massive affidavits” but controlled the
filling and collection of the greatest number of claims in the entire country
...
When he decided,
twenty years after the war, to claim and collect the medals which were to make
him, in his words, “the most decorated Filipino soldier of World War II,” mastery
of the production of affidavits and documents came in handy
...
Claiming that he supplied
starving American and Filipino soldiers with several thousand heads of cattle,
Marcos decided to file that fake multi-million dollar war reparations claim in
Washington, D
...
Marcos has never denied this smelly deal
...
One man who actually risked his life, fought in the underground, and at
times, (see “Under the Red Sun” by Father Monaghan) had face-to-face
confrontations with the Japanese was Arsenio H
...
Lacson was the most
colorful and effective mayor of Manila, the toast of great newspapers including
the New York Times, who would have become President of the Philippines and
made ascendancy of Marcos impossible had he not died prematurely from a
heart attack
...
According to Y
...
Kwong, Lacson has figured in the lives of both Ferdinand
and Imelda Marcos
...
But it was definitely the import-control law which Marcos authored, pushed
in congress and conned his fellow Ilocano, President Elpidio Quirino, into
signing into law that must have skyrocketed the Marcos accumulation of cash
into the millions that popped the eyeballs of Imelda out of their sockets that
memorable day at the vault
...
He had full time staffs
both at his office in Congress and at his residence at San Juan, Rizal to
process, follow up and receive “cumshaw” from grateful businessmen
...
So pernicious, pervasive and total the hold and control of Marcos of the
peddling of import licenses that on one occasion he himself went to obtain at
the point of a gun the approval of papers the release of which were being held
up by an official of the Central Bank
...
In January, 1970, when there was widespread indignation over Marcos'
having suddenly become the "richest man in Asia," Marcos called in the
Malacanang reporters for a news briefing at the ninth hole of the Malacanang
golf course
...
"I will admit that I am rich
...
It was widely reputed in the Philippines that Yamashita, the last commander
of the Japanese Imperial forces in the Philippines, buried a lot of treasures
which he had looted from Burma, Malaya and Singapore before he surrendered
to American forces
...
He has not shared half of the hidden treasure he had discovered with
the Philippine government as provided by law
...
Kapag hindi siya
tumigil ng pagloloko, gagawan ko siya ng eskandalo na maluluma si Profumo
...
e
...
If
he does not stop his philandering, I will expose a scandal about him that would
dwarf the Profumo case
...
This brought down the
government of MacMillan
...
British Defense Minister John Profumo was forced to resign from the Cabinet of Prime Minister
Harold MacMillan when he was denounced for having consorted with a prostitute, Christine Keeler
...
)
The party giving the warning was none other than the First Lady, Mrs
...
Valencia, pro-Marcos newspaperman willing to listen to her
sympathetically
...
Marcos felt like a woman scorned
...
She had discovered not by herself, but by the admission of the "other
woman," that her husband had acquired a mistress who, according to the
woman, was promised by the President the prospect of being a future First Lady
in lieu of Imelda Romualdez who was becoming fat and obese, and an old wag
...
Of course, there were other Marcos affairs, but this was the one
that made the headlines; the only instance wherein the woman herself admitted
to being a mistress of the President of the Philippines
...
There was Carmen Ortega, by whom the President has begotten
four children, two of them before he became senator of the Philippines
...
But Imelda proved faster than Carmen in getting Ferdinand to marry her on May
1, 1955, before Judge Francisco Ma
...
Up till now, the Old Lady Dona Josefa, still voices regrets that her son did
not marry Carmen, a beauteous Ilocano mestiza
...
As a matter of fact, the welfare of Carmen and her children
was the reason President Marcos could not dismiss his forestry director,
Antonio Quejado, despite the presentation by then Vice President Fernando
Lopez, then concurrently secretary of agriculture and natural resources, of
overwhelming evidence of graft and corruption involving Quejado
...
In the coordinated efforts to take care of Carmen, there were occasions
when Dona Josefa has had to call on former Congressman Roquito S
...
Jr
...
For Mrs
...
The woman's presence in Manila was a
dagger pointed at her back, Imelda would say
...
The big difference is that he has the vast resources of the presidency,
restrained only by the somewhat weakened opposition of an Imelda Marcos
rendered in estoppel by her own relationship with the President on matters of
hymeneal concern
...
No prize or price is too high to pay by the President or by his procurers in
the matter of satisfying the presidential genitals
...
There were times when military briefings or conferences outside the Palace
have had to be faked by the President's No
...
The President's
sexual trips are classified as high priority security matters; justifiably so,
because the First Lady has her own legion of special agents spying on Marcos
...
It is quite understandable that, for all the womanizing of the President,
public funds, including American aid dollars to the Philippines, have had to be
squandered
...
Marcos includes the
procurement of young girls from all over the world every now and then; the
favorite hunting grounds being the world of starlets in Hollywood and the
domicile of beautiful Eurasians in Hong Kong and Singapore
...
00 at the time) without collaterals in exchange for the "right"
to ravish the film company's top young actress (H
...
*2 Later on, the movie
actress starred in a movie whose title was generally accepted in Manila as
referring to "sir," (the President)
...
The woman-chasing propensity of Marcos is of universal knowledge
...
)
Only recently, Marcos married off a young girl (M
...
) to the son of his crony
...
the President had thoroughly ravished this girl,
who is a daughter of a one-time movie idol, after he had lured her into playing
"pelota" with him at the Malacanang Park
...
1973, when I went to see him at the pelota court at the
Malacanang Park, south of the Pasig River
...
Buddy Tan even mischievously
remarked to me, "Maganda ang bagong 'chick' ni boss
...
) I nodded with a smile, reminding him that Mrs
...
The funny part of it all was that the President had even asked the same girl
he has been going to bed with to play “pelota” with Mrs
...
At the time, I
entertained the thought that Mrs
...
1 wife, but
allowing her husband to maintain a harem
...
Imelda had come to adopt a seeming
tolerance of the philandering of Ferdie
...
It was a political campaign that featured a socalled "battle of the sexes" as both political camps formed their respective corps
of female campaigners
...
" Macapagal's female corps was
made up of the "Lakambinis
...
However, the more noble among the
Liberal leaders vetoed the idea
...
In fact, some Macapagal
campaigners made use of the coffee shop circuit to spread the Marcos amorous
affairs with his “Blue Ladies
...
The more
notorious, of course, was Marcos’ affair with “Blue Lady” G
...
It is said
that G
...
’s husband, who found out about this affair, simply agreed to behave
like a pendejo as he loved his wife too much and could not live without her
...
The affair of F
...
with G
...
also came to the attention of Mrs
...
However, Meldy restrained herself from warring on either Ferdie or G
...
as she
herself was more concerned with Marcos' winning the presidency
...
She would steel herself
...
C
...
G
...
and
her husband were also among the heaviest financial contributors to the
campaign chest
...
She summoned another "Blue Lady," a Mrs
...
C
...
Mrs
...
C
...
Mrs
...
C
...
C
...
)
Ferdie intimated that G
...
had come to him weeping as soon as Mrs
...
C
...
C
...
As President, Marcos acquired greater means and power of persuasion to
satisfy his lusts, he went after celebrities, mostly movie actresses and nightclub
singers
...
S
...
She also had a better voice than
Imelda
...
S
...
At one time, Imelda even sought
out C
...
in 1970 in San Francisco - even after she had given up Ferdie — to
get her to make a statement that she had never gone to bed with Marcos
...
Imelda was accompanied by then
PNB Executive Vice President Ernesto Villatuya
...
S
...
S
...
Villatuya, who was
standing near C
...
at the time, caught the blow and fell to the floor
...
Easily, however, the most notorious of the romantic escapades of Marcos
Primitivo Mijares
Page 221
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
was his affair with Dovie; it merited world-wide attention, having appeared in
major newspapers and newsmagazines around the world
...
As to be expected, it also became a major political issue against
President Marcos, and embarrassed both the Philippine and American
governments
...
In the beginning it was already
rumored of course that the President was having an affair with Dovie, an
American actress from Beverly Hills, but it was confined only to those in the
know
...
It turned out to be only a ruse
...
Thus the actor did not
even know he was just used as a decoy by Dovie's encouragement of his
flirtings
...
But a secret, no matter how well kept, cannot be hidden for long
...
The ironic part of it is that their secret, which both
of them had tried hard to conceal, was exposed and confirmed by no less than
Dovie herself
...
Several months back Dovie had arrived in the Philippines purportedly to
star as the leading girl in the projected motion picture “Maharlika” which
revolved on the story in real life of President Marcos while he was a guerrilla
officer and head of an underground intelligence unit called “Maharlika” which
means “free man”
...
Because of her good public relations and of course her pretty
looks, she became almost an instant hit with the general public
...
After all American
actresses are a rarity in the local scene
...
Through Paul Mason, a producer at
Universal Studio in Hollywood, Ilusorio got Dovie
...
After all if it was based on the life of his crony
...
It was his way of serving a good friend
...
She turned out to be no
less than what President Marcos had specified - beautiful, intelligent, friendly,
game but secretive
...
Marcos had been known to his close friends and others in the know as a
woman chaser
...
And Dovie was intended to be just one of those things
...
He introduced her to "Fred" without identifying him as no less than
the President of the Philippines
...
And
characteristic of his blitzkrieg style, he simply battered down her defenses
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 222
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Thus began a very secret loves affair that was to last for several months
without the First Lady, Imelda Marcos, knowing it at first
...
There was senior presidential aide, Gen
...
And indeed
...
If Paul Mason in reality had acted as the procurer, and Potenciano
...
Ver served as the bouncer
...
Since Marcos and Dovie could not be seen together, it was through Ver that
the President many times had to transmit messages to her
...
Their secret rendezvous for such love affairs was a $300,000 mansion on
Northwestern St
...
Formerly
owned by Ilusorio, Marcos supposedly bought it for Dovie
...
It was almost a perfect love nest
...
Day or night, it did not matter
...
He even slept there at times, especially when Mrs
...
Until Dovie came, Marcos more or less was a hit-and-run driver
...
But it seemed that Dovie was different
...
And if Dovie were to be believed, it was a case of true love, yes, for
both of them
...
Soon Marcos and Dovie had to agree on an official residence for her
...
”
So President Marcos rented a house on Princeton St
...
That is how Bote came into the
picture
...
It was
here that Dovie entertained any request for press interviews, although she
actually lived with Marcos in Greenhills, San Juan
...
She
met him at one of the press conferences arranged by the local movie industry
to promote certain pictures
...
Soon the gossip cofumns and wagging tongues filled the air with talks of a
Dovie-Pepito romance
...
Pepito, scion of a rich family, at the time was already a popular actor
...
But Dovie and Marcos were having their last laugh, and poor Pepito did not
even know that he was just being toyed around like a decoy to divert public
Primitivo Mijares
Page 223
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
suspicion, if there was any at the time, from the very real love interludes
between Marcos and Dovie
...
The instinct of a
woman, after all, cannot be underestimated
...
With
so many aides serving her, it was but natural that soon she began to hear of
gossips about her naughty husband having another affair, this time with an
American actress
...
When Imelda was finally convinced that there was truth to such rumor, she
made her own plans
...
It was a weird situation, with
both their aides caught in thecrossfire of a gathering storm
...
The opposition Liberal Party was also doing its own Sherlock Holmes
sleuthing
...
Wagging tongues in both mass
media and the general public also got busy
...
But it was to be a complete waste, for it
was never shown in the Philippines
...
It must have been during this time that both Marcos and Dovie realized that
their days were numbered
...
In one of their subsequent lovemakings Marcos and Dovie thus exchanged
souvenirs - for Dovie, with a tape-recorded voice of Marcos singing the popular
Ilocano folk song Pamulinawen (the love bird) and some other personal stuff;
for Marcos, nude pictures of Dovie he himself took
...
After this, when the situation became really too hot for President Marcos,
he stopped seeing Dovie to play it safe
...
Because she had learned in fact to love him, and
he had made her believe he'too loved her as much
...
Mrs
...
There were even talks that unless she
left the country something might happen to her
...
Besides she still believed that President Marcos would not allow
anything bad to happen to her, even if his own wife was behind the harassment
...
Marcos was recorded as having explained that his falling out with his wife
was because "Imelda has viginitis
...
Dovie at any rate made moves to reach the President to get reassurance
...
His cronies like Ilusorio and Ver could
Primitivo Mijares
Page 224
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
only say that he was too busy
...
She clung to that thought
...
Then she knew that she had
lost President Marcos, although she still would like to make a clearcut
assurance or clarification from him
...
At about this time the press was already hot on her
heels
...
Up to that time she did not want any
interview with the news media for fear that it might only aggravate the situation
...
But the more Dovie remained silent, the more agents of the First Lady
harassed her
...
That was the last straw for her
...
And the more she felt
bad when she heard that Marcos had branded her a cheap woman by way of
denying he had anything to do with her
...
Thus the battleline was drawn
...
She stuck to her rights,
explaining that she had not committed any crime, and that she would leave the
country on her own voluntary free will and not because she was being deported
as an undesirable alien
...
They were apparently more scared of the First Lady
...
S
...
Ambassador Henry Byroade sent his aides to protect her from further
harassments while at the same time careful not to antagonize the President
and the First Lady who were both implicated in the Dovie Beams case
...
S
...
Dovie was so mad that she decided to get out of the country not because
she was chickening out of the situation but just to get it over with
...
S
...
During the press conference Dovie produced and played a tape recording
of her love encounter with Marcos, complete with moans, murmurs, creakings
of bed, and even a love song which Marcos himself sang under the tune of
Pamulinawen which every Filipino knew to be his favorite llocano song
...
With that, Ambassador Byroade's aides hustled Dovie to the airport
...
Newspapers, television and radio stations screamed with
news of the celebrated Marcos-Dovie secret love affair
...
*3
(*3
...
For over a week, the
President's hoarse injunctions to Dovie to commit fellatio with him boomed out over university
loudspeakers
...
)
But it turned out her departure did not necessarily write finis to her case
...
S
...
Worst, she learned then and there that
Delfin Cueto, said to be a half-brother of President Marcos, had trailed her
throughout her trip to Hong Kong
...
While in Hong Kong Dovie and her companions played hide and seek with
him and his conspirators
...
Soon the British authorities
in the Crown Colony came to her rescue
...
They later captured, disarmed, and booked him for unauthorized
possession of firearms
...
As for Dovie,
British and American authorities facilitated her safe return to America - but
minus her two Filipino maids whose passports the Philippine Consulate had
just cancelled
...
A book which will document her love affair with President Marcos,
including facts and events she came to know while she served as his mistress,
facts and events which have relevance to the eventual declaration of martial
law in the Philippines, would be written, and she would write it herself — she
announced then
...
Smarting obviously from the public
playing of their love tape, in April 1971 the weekly began publication of a series
of anti-Dovie Beams articles, including her nude pictures
...
For a time the case rekindled
an old controversy and for a time Dovie carried the fight by remote control
...
Meantime Dovie was supposed to have written a book
as she had served notice before upon her departure from the Philippines
...
Ferdie’s doctor from Switzerland left Manila recently after having completed
the sixth session of “rejuvenating injections” to maintain Marcos’ virility up to
Primitivo Mijares
Page 226
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
standard
...
While the dimple looks cute on her chin, the “lifting” created a new “unexpected
problem”
...
Chapter XI
Philippine 'Gulag': A Paralysis of Fear
A telling evidence on the repressive character of the military dictatorship of
Marcos is the unending interment of thousands of political prisoners in various
military stockades and concentration camps all over the Philippines
...
The undermining effect of the military concentration camps on Filipino
society constitutes an open and apparently unhealing wound, but at this stage
it would be difficult to quantify the national tragedy represented by the
indiscriminate detention without charges of non-supporters and opponents of
the Marcos military regime, or the influence it continues to have in ordinary
Philippine life
...
And like Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, I must apologize to those whose plight I may be unable to
reproduce in this work for I am unable to remember or acquire knowledge of
every incident, every injustice, every cruelty of the regime, of which I was a part
and which I have renounced
...
"
While still working for Marcos as his chief press censor, I have had
occasions to look into the isolated cases of political prisoners
...
I did bring this matter to the attention of
President Marcos, but he never saw it fit to inform me about the action he had
taken on the most glaring "atrocity ever committed on a political prisoner under
the martial regime
...
He even earned the sobriquet of "lying dictator" for
his many prevarications on the issue of prisoners of conscience
...
This has been confirmed not just by the world
press, but by world statesmen, notable among them leading members of the
U
...
Congress
...
S
...
Witness Rep
...
See Page E 2816, “Congressional Record – Extension of remarks
...
Speaker, this week Mr
...
I urge my colleagues to follow these hearings closely because
they concern two very important issues
...
"I am also extremely concerned with the manner in which the
Philippine Government has responded to official inquiries by Members of
Congress and State Department officials
...
First they denied that any
prisoners were being held
...
Now they are silent
on the matter
...
If we are unwilling to make clear to President Marcos that
we seriously disapprove of his policies, then I wonder how seriously other
nations will take our own pledge of support to democratic governments &nd the universal protection of human rights
...
McCloskey, the Assistant Secretary of
State of Congressional Relations, and he assures me that the Philippine
Government is fully aware of the concern being voiced in the Congress
and by the American people over the continued detention of individuals
without charge or trial
...
”
Senator James R
...
Marcos to lie about
conditions obtaining in the Philippines
...
See Page S 6588, “Congressional Record – Senate” of April 23, 1975
...
President, I have become increasingly concerned about the
reports of repression of human and civil rights in the Philippines,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 228
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
particularly as symbolized by the continued imprisonment of Eugenio
Lopez, Jr
...
I soon received a response dated January 8 from the Philippine
Charge d'Affaires enclosing a speech by Philippine President Ferdinand
Marcos delivered December 11, 1974, to the Philippine people
...
Some of Marcos' claims and the true
facts are illustrative
...
Lopez have 'the privilege to visit his home'
...
Lopez nor Mr
...
“The Charge d Affaires and President Marcos both state Lopez — as
well as Osmena — were charged August 19, 1973, with involvement in
eight attempts on the life of President Marcos, that the government has
confessions of the ‘co-accused’ — including Osmena — and that the
President has ordered Lopez and Osmena tried before a civilian court as
common criminals
...
More than 5,000 Filipinos have been
arrested and detained in this fashion
...
They smuggled out statements
protesting the continued detention of‘political prisoners,’ including
themselves, and other alleged abuses under martial law such as the
absence of a free press and ah independent judiciary
...
“On the 11th day of the hunger strike the two men ended their fast
upon an understanding that many of the ‘political prisoners’ would be
released, that they would be released shortly and that the charges against
them would be dismissed
...
Osmena claims it is a fraud, but in any event it
contains no confession of any involvement in any assassination plot and
does not mention Lopez at all
...
It is a rambling, disconnected tale
which strains one’s credulity
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 229
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
“According to President Marcos’ speech, Lopez and Osmena broke
their fast upon being confronted with the evidence against them
...
They ended their hunger strike based upon the promises of
the Philippine Secretary of National Defense that they and other political
prisoners would be released
...
' Lopez'
attorneys, who met with the Secretary at the time, claim there was a further
promise of full release by February
...
The Philippine Secretary of Public Information and other
officials regularly replied that the two men had been given rights to visit
their homes while preparing 'their defense'
...
Neither man has been allowed home visits and as
to preparing their defense neither has been permitted to see his counsel
even in prison
...
“These are not the first examples of misinformation promulgated by
the Philippine Government in the case of the Lopez family
...
— who now lives in the United States — as a member of a ‘rightist plot’
against the President
...
Patrick Gray replied in writing that ‘the FBI conducted no
investigation’ concerning Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
Marcos stated that — no one, but no one,
has been tortured
...
On December
28, Manila Archbishop Jaime Sin demanded an impartial investigation of
the torture claims
...
No corrective measures have been reported, but the admission
is at least some progress
...
In an interview by Edwin
Newman on the NBC ‘Today’ show, September 2, 1974, he was asked:
“ ‘Is it correct that there is still about 5,000 of your political opponents
in prison?’
“Marcos replied:
Primitivo Mijares
Page 230
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
“ ‘Of course, not
...
’
“Nevertheless, in his December 11 speech President Marcos stated “ ‘In our jails today, there are 5,234 people under detention in direct
consequence of the martial law proclamation
...
One thousand one hundred sixtyfive are political detainees
...
Fortunately, Marcos has ordered the release of a total of more than 1,500
of these prisoners which is more than 1,165 political detainees he admitted
to in December
...
“On the same ‘Today’ show interview President Marcos stated that
“there is ‘no censorship’ of the media, and explained that the media was
controlled by a committee of‘publishers’ and ‘the owners of radio and TV
stations’
...
Moreover, these facilities had been turned over — sometimes with
partial payment and often with none — to newspapers and broadcasters
who were friends, relatives, and business associates of President Marcos
and his wife
...
The
present captive nature of the media has been verified by an independent
study by Dr
...
Lent, associate professor of communications of
Temple University
...
“While I am concerned with the continued imprisonment of Lopez and
Osmena without due regard for their legal rights, they are but symptoms
of broader and deeper questions in regard to Philippine-American
relations
...
By his own count some 3,500 persons remain in prison without
bail, without trial, and without due process
...
The right to visit with legal counsel, at least in some cases,
is not permitted
...
“The Philippine press and media are completely controlled by relatives
and allies of Marcos
...
“Philippine elections are not to be conducted in the foreseeable future
...
The referendum of February
27 empowered the President to appoint the nation’s mayors
...
Equally bothersome to me is the fact that President Marcos and his
subordinates have not squared with the world press, the State
Department, or the U
...
Congress, in regard to both specific questions and
the overall state of human and civil rights in that country
...
On January 29, 1975, Senator Hartke addressed a letter to
the Philippine ambassador to Washington, DC, stating, among others that:
"Finally, I have seen answers of the Philippine government to
inquiries on this situation from other members of Congress
...
I believe that a friend of the United States such as the
Philippines should exercise the highest degree of candor with this nation's
officials
...
Without any reservations, I
reproduce the noteworthy cases and would like to confirm their veracity
...
NILO TAYAG
Even before the declaration of martial law in the Philippines, the trend
towards increased militarization by the Marcos regime became crystal clear in
the arrest and detention of Nilo Tayag and other political prisoners
...
Tayag
has been detained since that time under charges of violating the AntiSubverSion Act (Republic Act 1700) which outlawed membership in the
Communist Party of the Philippines
...
P
...
C
...
U
...
In 1961, the
S
...
A
...
P
...
The active organizing and education work of these early protests set
the basis for the founding of the KM in 1964, in which Nilo Tayag developed
quickly as a leading member
...
First came the arrest of Nilo Tayag
...
Under this act, Marcos could have
anyone arrested without warrant, and they can be detained indefinitely without
immediate charges or trial
...
Although some were later released,Nilo Tayag and other key leaders have
been kept imprisoned in Camp Crame for years now as the Marcos regime
hopes their hardships will discourage others from joining the resistance
movement
...
Within the confines of the
prison camps, Nilo has remained an active leader fighting for better conditions
for all prisoners and keeping alive the spirit of resistance
...
It is speculated that this harassment is
somehow linked to the military's discovery of an escape tunnel in the Fort
Bonifacio Youth Rehabilitation Center after the escape of two activist leaders,
Ma
...
According to a letter from Sen
...
He replied that he had not even been questioned before being
thrown into solitary confinement, and that he had nothing improper or illegal
among his personal effects
...
LILIOSA HILAO
Liliosa Hilao, 21 years old, was the seventh child of an impoverished
fisherman from Bulan, Sorsogon
...
Lily was the President of the
student body in her university and was active in fighting for academic freedom
in her school
...
More than anything else, Lily became an active
national democrat during the first quarter storm of 1970
...
Together with other activists, she worked in the slums of Intramuros,
helping the squatters with their basic needs
...
The heavily armed men and a woman who strode toward the apartment
were a raiding team including Col
...
Castillo, Lt
...
de Sagun,
George Ong, a certain Felix, and a WAC (Women's Auxiliary Constabulary)
called Ester
...
The Hilao residence was ransacked
...
Gigi was held by the WAC and was interrogated in one room
...
At about 3 to 4 p
...
, Marie managed to escape
...
She didn’t even mind the warning
that she would be shot
...
m
...
Lily
proceeded to her brother-in-law, Capt
...
She asked if he could provide her money to escape and secret aid for the
release of her sister
...
At around 9 p
...
, she
was brought home by her brother-in-law who traitorously turned her in to the
brutal military men
...
Events prior to her death
Cries of protest were heard from her place by the neighbors until 1: 30 to
2:00 a
...
A loud anguished scream was heard and that was the time she was
being undressed by a Lt
...
There was much tension in the neighborhood
as she shouted for help
...
Lily struggled so hard that the attempt at rape failed
...
On April
5 there was no news about her
...
Lily's cousin Arnold, who was also severely tortured, was
not able to work the next day
...
The youngest daughter Gigi
was summoned by the WAC to bring clothes for Lily at Crame
...
On April 7, early in the morning, one of the guards in the house received
a phone call that someone was dead
...
And the guard just replied a "friend
...
"
Mutilated
When the victim's body was turned over to the family, it was clothed in Lily's
bloodied and torn skirt, while the entire torso was covered with bandages
...
Her neck and throat were badly burned
...
In an attempt to prevent an impartial autopsy, the
internal organs were removed
...
Her eyes and mouth
were wide open
...
Luna Hospital
...
Her
torturer said she had committed suicide by taking muriatic acid found in the
men’s room in Camp Crame
...
The most
ridiculous of all reasons was sent to her father in Bulan: “Lily had died of a heart
attack
...
The body was taken out of the coffin and placed
in a stretcher purportedly for re-autopsy at the Funeraria Popular
...
The guards who were trying to get near the coffin
were driven away by the angry students and teachers who formed a human
cordon around Lily’s body
...
III
...
It contains an account of
the torture and murder of Fortunato Bayotlang, a salesman for a
pharmaceutical firm in Davao
...
Dear X,
In August, I began an assigned 6-week language review to acquire some
polish and get the unknowns to fall into place
...
Fortunato was beaten to death by the constabulary security unit apparently a case of mistaken identity, and his two younger brothers, Fernando,
15, and Ruperto, 8, were imprisoned
...
I was asked by the
Association of Major Religious Superiors to photograph the deceased and
gather evidence for them two days after the incident occurred
...
I gathered
members of the Justice and Peace Commission of Bishop Regan had
attempted to get them released, and/or find out what the military charges of
subversion consisted of
...
Fernando, obviously relieved and happy to see us, told of six plainclothesmen curbing his brother’s company car, taking them to the PC
compound and interrogating them
...
At the compound, Fortunato was taken to a small shed less than 30
feet behind the command post building
...
"Father," Fernando told me, "Fortunato screamed, begged, pleaded — and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 235
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
his last words were 'if you are going to kill me, or must kill me, please shoot me
because I've done no wrong
...
" This - in spite of the fact that the Bayotlangs are civilians, and there was
no warrant on file, no identification of the arresting officers, no "bookings," no
civil liberties
...
There, he was
administered first aid, and a hospital employee told me, "We have no facilities
...
" Three hours later, he died
of "subdural hemorrhage caused by severe beating to the head and the whole
body," according to the coroner's report
...
A detour was made through a banana plantation, and
he was tied "spread eagle" around a tree
...
This
is part of a "tactical investigation" - no, not for a commando - for a 15-year-old
boy
...
He also continually extends and retracts his tongue unconsciously — the
result of another “tactical investigation” where his tongue was repeatedly pulled,
beaten against his teeth, and burned with cigarettes
...
C
...
in Sigaboy to allay his anxiety
...
Military findings were that there is a case, and warrants for arrest have been
issued, but none of the six Constabulary Security Unit members have been
apprehended, although they have been frequently seen loitering in the market
place
...
When I told Fernando the demotion was given for the
constabulary’s “indiscretion,” he replied: “If that’s what an ‘indiscretion’ is,
I’d hate to see what a ‘mistake’ looked like
...
MARSMAN ALVAREZ
Marsman Alvarez, 24, was the brother of exiled ex-Constitutional Convention
delegate Heherson (Sonny) Alvarez, who is active in the anti-martial law
movement in the U
...
At the time of his brutal murder, he was a senior
university student in Manila
...
The military's attempts to turn him into a government informer had failed
...
"He was mangled beyond recognition," was the identifying remark by
a friend who recognized him only by his hair and pants
...
They had cut his nose
Primitivo Mijares
Page 236
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
and scratched out one of his eyeballs
...
After viewing the body, Marsman's father
described that, "his head was beaten to a pulp, his face was bashed beyond
recognition and his throat was stabbed on both sides just below the jaw
...
In a press release, Secretary
Enrile quickly put the blame on the New People's Army (NPA)
...
"
Contrary to the government reports, however, Marsman was killed in full
view of several citizens near the church
...
The names of the killers, including the
witnesses were furnished in a complaint to Secretary Enrile
...
Months after Marsman’s death, Archbishop Jaime Sin of Manila mentioned
the murder to a group of foreign correspondents
...
The offer was promptly rejected
...
V
...
The torture of Perla Somonod, 24, of Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, was
done in a safehouse inside the PC barracks in Tagum, Davao del Norte in the
first week of December, 1974
...
Perla denied this stating, "I wanted to keep my baby
...
Perla was two months pregnant when the Intelligence Division of the PC
arrested her and a companion in a supply house in Sasa, Davao City on
November 25, 1974
...
Perla immediately underwent interrogation
...
She merely stared at them
...
Again, she merely stared at them
...
Unable to extract vital information from their “hard-headed” captive (an
Primitivo Mijares
Page 237
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
adjective the military would often use against her), they proceeded with their
torture of her
...
They ordered her to put her arms around the block of ice and to clasp her
hands before it
...
her
arms
...
Perla felt no pain, only the cold seeping into every pore of her body
...
These had become numb
...
Every time she expelled air, it seemed
as if her stomach were being wrenched and going along with the air out of her
mouth
...
The fetus was slowly slipping out of
her womb
...
She was accompanied to the Tagum Provincial Hospital by Captain
Roberto Cuyos, Officer-in-Charge of the detainees and the Citizen's Home
Defense Force (CHDF) in Davao del Norte
...
But the captain told her, "Why should we bring you again to the ospital?
Anyway, you already have your medicines
...
"
In the evening of Saturday, December 20, Perla continued to bleed
...
But the blood kept on flowing and flowing, soaking her pants till she could
just crouch in pain
...
When a nun visited her and the other detainees that Sunday, December
21, Perla complained of her stomach pains
...
It was only on a Monday, December 22, when she was brought to the
Tagum Provincial Hospital
...
A doctor
in the hospital examined the blood inside the plastic bag
...
The doctor said that the plastic bag also contained
her fetus
...
One abortion should “teach” her to go back to the normal life that she had
with her family and friends in Gingoog City
...
EDDIE CENEZA
The newspapers of January 3, 1975 listed a certain "alias" 'Rey,' 'Frank', 'Dave'
(cf, Times Journal January 3, 1975, p
...
Edicio de la Torre
...
What has
Primitivo Mijares
Page 238
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
happened to this young man? Why has his name suddenly been dropped
without explanation? The following verified story provides the answers
...
From well-informed sources we received the following report in a blatant
case of murder perpetrated by the military in Baguio City in the morning of
Monday, December 9, 1974
...
The murder victim was Eddie Ceneza, 21 years of age and a native of Bo
...
He was also known by the names of "Rey,"
"Dave" and "Frank" and to neighbors in Baguio Citlas "Eleazar Bartolome
...
The killers included such military men as Arnold Sineres and Jose
Rivera
...
Ofelia Castillo was arrested that
same day and brought to the agents' residence
...
- 9 December: All three were tortured while being interrogated
...
Ceneza was
continuously clubbed on the head until blood oozed out of his nose and ears
...
38 caliber revolver
...
- 10 December: There was no let-up in the brutal treatment of Eddie
Ceneza
...
45 caliber pistol
...
Ofelia Castillo escaped
while the agents were distracted
...
Edicio de la Torre SVD
and Fr
...
They were supposed to be under
military custody and were to be charged on January 25,1975 with conspiracy
to commit rebellion
...
Ofelia Castillo escaped from the military safe houses
(houses outside the prison camps where the military can ‘safely’ torture or
dispose of political prisoners) in Baguio and is now in hiding
...
VII
...
As a consequence, the various religious
organizations have united to become a major voice in denouncing the
dictatorship
...
The religious
institutions in the Philippines, which is 80% Catholic are certainly no exception
to this rule
...
They have tried to develop
in the people they work with, social and political awareness, and have urged
them to take a more active role in bringing about changes in their conditions
...
This is true, not only of those who work with the rural population, but also of
those who work in the urban area
...
Jose Reyes Nacu, active in the defense of civil liberties in
his work with the Tondo (a district of Manila) urban poor was arrested on
January 29, 1973; Fr
...
Among foreign
priests who were detained, Fr
...
Peterson were actively
involved in peasant work organizing in the Negros sugar plantations
...
Rev
...
In an interview with "Associated Press," Fr
...
S
...
He was arrested,
and placed under house arrest while facing deportation charges
...
Luigi
Riciarelli, an Italian priest, was arrested when he was framed by a Marcos PC
informer whom he had helped
...
The government, however, finds this type
of dedication, this type of humanitarian work to be "subversive" for it is under
this charge that members of the clergy have been commonly arrested
...
Raids were conducted on dorms, chapels,
colleges and schools run by the church groups
...
The raids are usually carried out during early morning
hours
...
The military officers feast on food they
see, they ransack files in offices, libraries, including sleeping quarters
...
Joseph's College, the sisters were "held-up" in their quarters and
$370 was taken from them
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 240
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
At St
...
In Novaliches, about 20 miles from Manila, a widely publicized raid occurred
at the Sacred Heart Novitiate
...
Jose Blanco along with 20 students while at a seminar defining
goals for Christian students
...
Ysingco in Misamis Oriental was arrested together with Fr
...
Fr
...
Two months after martial law, Fr
...
At a PC raid of the Redemptorist Monastery in
Tacloban City, Fr
...
Raids similar to the one which descended on St
...
VIII
...
The
Marcos military and police have as a rule been more considerate toward nuns
and priests than toward lay persons
...
But cases of priests and nuns
being hospitalized due to injuries received while in detention are not unknown
...
Edicio de la Torre, though not as brutally tortured as the prisoners/
priests who suffered almost all the tortures mentioned above (their case studies
are treated separately in another section), testified to the evidence of extreme
physical torture inflicted on fellow prisoners
...
Ed went on hunger strike,
together with Fr
...
There are
evidences of bruises, bloodied eyes, cut brows, and electric wire scars
...
Her mother is appealing
personally to newsmen and sympathizers with letters
...
MASS RESPONSE FROM CLERGY/SHOW OF OPPOSITION
A mass vigil prayer to protest the brutal treatment of political prisoners was held
in Septwater 1974, at the Manila Cathedral, led by Archbishop Sin of Manila
...
It was the biggest demonstration staged against the
Marcos regime by the civilian population
...
They have also taken on the tasks of sending protest letters and petitions about
the deplorable plights of prioners to "leaders" of the country
...
they
were among those who made an open petition to boycott the National
Primitivo Mijares
Page 241
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Referendum proposed by the regime for the continuation of the martial law
...
"
A Church-Military Liaison Committee was formed, in the early days of
martial law, to oversee the specific cases of complaints against the military
...
The committee was empowered to serve
as a clearing house for complaints and act as a channel for clarification of
church-military communications and questions on political prisoners
...
The agreement was not implemented and remained only on paper
...
It strongly protests such
practices
...
the use of torture of any kind, on any person, for any purpose, is not
justified under any conditions and that it constitutes a serious crime;
2
...
But
the Philippines is not in a state of war, and the arrested suspects are Filipinos,
“our very own blood brothers
...
It warned the government that if the practices
continue, “despite all appeals, the Committee shall elevate the matter to
international bodies such as the United Nations, the World Courts and the
Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace
...
FR
...
Ed de la Torre, a 31-year old priest with the Society of the Divine Word
was a chaplain for the Federation of Free Farmers in the early 60’s
...
In the
pre-martial law period, he spoke of shedding one’s theological/academic
baggage in order to start anew and serve others, rather than oneself
...
He also stressed that love of
neighbor must be efficacious, the greatest good for the greatest number
...
Chronology of arrest and detention
December 13, 1974 - At 1:15 in the afternoon, Fr
...
He was keeping an
appointment which had been requested of him by note
...
He was charged along with 29 persons with “illegal
printing, possession, distribution, circulation of subversive materials
...
m
...
Restituto Lumanlan, the highest
acting superior of the SVD’s available in Manila at the time, was handed a xerox
copy of a Memorandum to the Chief of the Constabulary, Camp Crame, with
the authorization of the President, to arrest Fr
...
” Fr
...
Ed de la Torre’s arrest was in violation of prior agreements between the
government and the Church-Military Liaison Committee which provides that the
religious superiors be first informed of an impending arrest
...
m
...
Lumanlan with a Memo, this time for the arrest of another priest, Fr
...
Fr
...
Ed was
...
Pampanga
...
m
...
Lumanlan finally drove to Pampanga to check for himself the
whereabouts of Fr
...
When Fr
...
Ed and Fr
...
He also noticed a large bruise
and a bad contusion on the neck of Fr
...
Fr
...
Fr
...
Ed's cell shouting, "You
...
You are fooling us," and with that the military person hit Fr
...
In his surprise and unexpected pain, Fr
...
The man hit him once more on
the nape and answered, "You still believe in God pala
...
" Fr
...
December 26, 1974 - More specifically in his letter to all concerned, and on
the 36th hour of his fast, he clarified the reasons for this hunger strike:
1
...
It is
not even to protest Fr
...
Despite the
relatively privileged treatment we have received (separate quarters,
visitors, food) detention is still imprisonment and freedom remains wanting
...
2
...
For
snatches of conversation, we have gathered that there is not much sign
of torture in Z-2 itself, although cases worse than what happened to me
have happened
...
3
...
"
December 27, 1974 - On the 72nd hour of his fast, Fr
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 243
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
"For nine continuous hours last December 16, I was tortured at M-2
...
45, and iron fists
...
My lower ribs were nearly broken
...
They hit my back
which nearly damaged my spine
...
These were their answers to all my denials
...
They burnt our bodies with a
hot flat iron; they applied electric shocks to all parts of the body
...
Her
screams saved her from possible rape by the military men
...
Others received electric - shock in their penis, resulting in bleeding
...
Ed also expressed that the protest fast was aimed at influencing medical
investigation to be conducted on other detention camps like 5th CSU and
ISAFP (Camp Crame), Fort Bonifacio (YRC, IRC, and MSU) and the provincial
prisons where most reports of atrocities come from, especially MIG Baguio
...
Ed asked for the support of all
...
Ed has already told his
interrogators that it is “a genuinely free and democratic Philippines” that he has
lived for and that he hopes he is ready to die for
...
50 a day, and die “natural” deaths at the
age of 45
...
This protest
fast by Fr
...
Manny Lahoz spurred superiors and members
of 35 congregations to join in a community sympathy fast on December 24,
1974 to protest the torture and indefinite detention of political prisoners
...
Msgr
...
He submitted*that the investigating body be made up of
government military representatives and a group of doctors, a nurse and lawyer
representing the church
...
" Nonetheless, non-military personnel were denied
entry into prison camps to conduct independent investigation on the torture of
political prisoners who are still imprisoned either without cause or because of
their sincere convictions
...
REV
...
Cesar Taguba who graduated from Silliman Divinity School is a
minister of the United Church of Christ
...
For three days, he was denied food and water
...
The military authorities also gave him
constant serum injections and electric shock treatment to various parts of his
body
...
Taguba was subjected to so severe abuses and torture that he
required hospitalization at the V
...
As of January, 1975, Rev
...
Reports claim that because of this inhumane ordeal
...
Taguba is
suffering from a case of schizophrenia
...
Sponsored by the NCCP Ecumenical Ministry to Political
Detainees, the service cited Rev
...
XII
...
PAUL WILSON
Rev
...
He served as a
consultant for the Commission on Development and Social Concerns for the
NCCP (National Council of Churches in the Philippines)
...
Arriving in Manila in September 1973, he was to
serve a “two-year term” in cooperation with the Philippine Government’s
Department of Local Government and Community Development
...
Paul Wilson together with
all the men present
...
Later
that night, the military forces came back and arrested Wilson's wife and their
ten-year-old son
...
For ten
days, Rev
...
The last four days of his stay In the Philippines, he was held by the
Department of Immigration and Deportation and deported back to the U
...
of!
July 12, 1974
...
Paul Wilson described the conditions of the detention center as
deplorable
...
Food consisted of rice, thin soup and coffee
...
For the 200 political prisoners, four toilets and four
showers were shared among themselves
...
I slept in the same cell with a Filipino who had tuberculosis in its
active and advanced stages
...
Rev
...
Many of them have
waited for over two years
...
In his own words, he described the tortures in the
following:
I heard late at night the screams and cries of grown men and women
...
I saw and felt the bruises and welts on the bodies of young men
whose only crime was that the military was looking for their sister
...
From her
conversations with my wife after her interrogation, I believe she was raped or
otherwise sexually assaulted
...
My wife was told that one Filipina died of multiple rape the week
prior to our arrest
...
At
one point in his interrogation, officers placed a
...
The minister took the gun, placed it against his head
and pulled the trigger
...
These tortures, while blanketly applied on Filipino political prisoners
suspected of any crime, are discriminately applied on clergy and on foreigners
...
Wilson
commented
...
Rev
...
S
...
Throughout the period of time they were
interrogated and detained, they did not have access to any legal counsel or due
process
...
Wilson
lost 10 lbs
...
In conclusion, Rev
...
" He likewise drew attention to the
climate of fear predominating in the Philippines
...
FR
...
Nacu studied philosophy and theology at the La Salette
Seminary in Attleboro, Massachusetts and was ordained in 1957 when he was
24 years old as the first Filipino member of the La Salette Order in Isabela
...
Fr
...
He was well-known for his work in the "Mga Kaibigan ng Zoto" (Friends of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 246
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Zoto), a support group of Zona One Tondo Organization
...
He was arrested and imprisoned on January 29, 1973 following the "Misa
ng Kalayaan" (Freedom Mass) at the Binondo Church in Manila
...
"
On June 4, Fr
...
He proceeded to the French Embassy and formally
requested for asylum but was refused
...
The foreign correspondents were given a prepared statement
by Fr
...
The signed statement reads in full:
"Today, I, Fr
...
Nacu, have sought political asylum in France
...
No charges were ever brought against
me despite the inquiries of my religious superiors, confreres, family and friends
...
As a Filipino and a priest
...
The Filipino people will not remain oppressed forever
...
"
Before leaving the embassy grounds, he told Manila-based foreign
correspondents that he was joining the anti-dictatorship forces underground
...
OPPOSITION POLITICAL LEADERS
Marcos’ jails are inhabited not only by student activists, workers, peasants,
and socially conscious clergy; inside his jails are also ex-senators, excongressmen, and long standing political foes
...
In
Congress and in the Senate, the Marcos government was daily lambasted for
graft and corruption
...
Even more surprising was the fact that even within his own
party, the Nacionalista Party, Marcos was increasingly becoming isolated
...
Marcos rocked the Marcos government
...
XV
...
BENIGNO AQUINO
Benigno S
...
He was also regarded
as a major presidential candidate in the national elections that were to have
been held in November, 1973
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 247
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Facts about arrest, charges and detention
Aquino, Jr
...
He was placed under
maximum security at Fort Bonifacio, Makati
...
Nearly a year later on August 27,
1973, Aquino was formally arraigned on charges of murder, illegal possession
of firearms, and subversion by a military tribunal
...
In his statement before the tribunals, Aquino said, "Some people suggest that
I beg for mercy
...
I would rather die on my
feet with honor than live on bended knees in shame
...
According to
Marcos, the committee was meant to demonstrate that everything is being done
"to insure utmost fairness, impartiality and objectivity
...
Former Senator Lorenzo M
...
Aquino filed a petition with the Philippine Supreme Court requesting an
injunction against the military trial on grounds that he was being deprived of his
constitutional right to a hearing in a civilian court
...
Aquino also claimed that he did not have "a ghost of a chance” in a trial by a
military court created by President Marcos who
...
Conditions under detention
As of April, 1975, Aquino has spent 30 months in detention under maximum
security of which 24 months was in solitary confinement
...
Appearing pallid before the military tribunal, some newsmen almost did not
recognize him
...
Aquino has at various
times been denied visitation rights by his family and access to counsel
...
On April 8, the Philippine Supreme Court issued
an order temporarily restraining the military commission from proceeding with
the case
...
Aquino's plan to stage a hunger strike in protest of the government's
charges against him were announced by his wife Mrs
...
According to Mrs
...
Aquino declared he would go on the hunger strike "not only for myself but also
for the many other victims of today's oppression and injustices
...
The justification for this petition was that the lives
of the witnesses against Aquino were allegedly in danger
...
Further, the defendant was not given any
opportunity to contest the testimony of these witnesses
...
Once the military commission has perpetuated the testimony of
the witnesses, they will no longer be subject to recall in civilian court
...
”
According to another report from Manila, President Marcos will consider the
advisability of transferring the case of Senator Aquino to a civil court as soon
as the so-called “perpetuation” of testimony is finished
...
SEN
...
Diokno, 52, former Nacionalista Senator from Batangas, resigned
from the Nacionalista Party and became independent after the suspension of
the writ of habeas corpus in August 1971
...
An outspoken critic of President Marcos’ economic and social policies,
Diokno is also a noted advocate of peasant rights and an eloquent speaker in
popular demonstrations and rallies against government corruption
...
No
charges were filed against him
...
Eight months later, charges were still not filed against him and on June 23,
1973, Mrs
...
Diokno had also previously complained to the court about
such matters as being denied visits by his family and access to counsel
...
A
letter from an American physician
...
Denton A
...
Mrs
...
While in detention, Diokno has suffered from extremely poor health
...
On August 14, 1973, a motion was filed to hear Diokno's Supplemental
Petition and Motion for Immediate Release
...
On December 29, 1973, after more than 450 days of
detention without being charged at all, Diokno withdrew his petition for habeas
corpus from the Philippine Supreme Court
...
Mrs
...
On September 11,1974, Senator Jose W
...
No charges were ever filed, nor was Diokno ever brought to trial during
two years of imprisonment
...
Ed
de la Torre in military court proceedings
...
Easily, the most important political prisoner in the Philippines today is
former Senator Aquino, Jr
...
Two other prominent prisoners are still languishing inside the Marcos jails
...
They are Eugenio Lopez, Jr
...
Lopez was the publisher of the Manila Chronicle
and president of the largest radio-television network
...
, who died in San Francisco on July 6, 1975, held the family's
controlling interest in the nation's largest utility firm, the Manila Electric
Company
...
had been editorially critical of
Marcos prior to martial law
...
Roces, publisher of the Manila Times had been
...
Compared to "Ninoy" Aquino, both young Lopez and Osmena were rather
fortunate in the sense that their respective martial law in the Philippines; the
justice of their cause had been given airing and accorded receptive ears by the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 250
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
policymakers and opinion makers in various capitals of the world, especially
Washington, DC
...
Aquino has been less than lucky
in this sense; world opinion had rallied to save him from persecution only
because the relatives and friends of the Philippines and the outraged
journalists, government officials and friends in the United States and elsewhere
of the No
...
Marcos does not really give a damn about what the Filipinos in the
Philippines think, say or do about his terrible march towards dictatorship
...
Then,
he really goes into tantrums, and engages rather haphazardly into a cosmetic
program to hide the ugly face of his martial regime
...
The cases of Lopez and Osmena have been ably presented to U
...
government officials by the lawyer of the Lopezes
...
Hill
...
and Osmena III, were arrested separately without warrant by
Presidential security men on November 27, 1972, and imprisoned at Fort
Bonifacio
...
is the eldest son of Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
Geny’s uncle is
Fernando Lopez, former Vice President of the Philippines and President
Marcos’ running mate in 1965 and 1969
...
At the time of his arrest, Eugenio
Lopez, Jr
...
For a year prior to the declaration of martial law, young Lopez,
once a political supporter of Marcos, had become increasingly critical in the
editorial pages of the Chronicle of the authoritarian steps taken by the Marcos
regime
...
The media
network was seized by the military and handed to a company owned by a
business associate of the President
...
His grandfather
was the first President of the Philippines and accompanied General Douglas
MacArthur in the celebrated landing at Leyte in 1944
...
The following exchange took place:
“Newman: Mr
...
We have just released the last of the detention
prisoners who are not facing criminal charges
...
These included the opposition
senator, Senator Diokno, and some others were involved in assassination or
coup d’etat against the govemmment
...
“Manglapus: Well, that, of course, certainly is not true
...
And this is not denied by the military authorities whenever they are interviewed
by the Associated Press and other press agencies over there
...
Imelda Romualdez
Marcos, announced in Honolulu that “as of November 7, 1974, the Philippine
government is extending amnesty to all Filipino citizens living abroad who may
have committed political acts punishable under Philippine Laws
...
” The
offer made no mention of political detainees within the Philippines and was
called a “farce” by several prominent exiles
...
and Osmena III, on December 11,
1974, President Marcos announced via national Philippine television that he
was ordering the release of 662 political prisoners
...
They
were in three Marcos-designated categories: crimes against public order,
common crimes and crimes covered by Presidential Decree No
...
Each
person released was required to swear allegiance to the government
...
The Lopez-Osmena Hunger Strike
For exactly two years from the time of their incarceration in November,
1972, Lopez, Jr
...
No charges had been officially
presented to them in that time
...
The fathers of both in
the United States had been rumored to be fomenters of assassination attempts
against President Marcos
...
They had good reason to believe they were being held as
hostages to insure the silence of their fathers in regard to the martial law
regime
...
Further, in the case
of Lopez, his elderly father was under pressure to relinquish family interest in
the media and controlling interest in Meralco Securities Corporation (MSC), the
holding company for the nation's largest utility, Manila Electric Company
...
They were visited by
representatives of the President who encouraged this belief
...
decided he could remain silent no longer
...
His son, Eugenio
III (an American citizen) telephoned his brother-in-law, businessman Steve
Psinakis (also an American citizen) in San Francisco asking Psinakis to come
to Manila on a matter of "life and death
...
's wife, Conchita
...
The guards seized Mrs
...
Psinakis left by air for the United States and that afternoon Mrs
...
The heart of the Lopez statement was as follows:
"I am going on this hunger strike to focus attention on the plight and
suffering of thousands of detainees like me, who have languished in jail for
months and years without even being informed of the charges against them
...
"I am innocent, but under the circumstances, I cannot expect a fair hearing
either in the military tribunals or in civil courts
...
If
my plea for justice is not heeded, I am ready to die
...
At the same time Lopez sent a personal
letter (via Psinakis) to his parents
...
Sergio
Osmena III (who, it should be noted, was not a close friend of Lopez’ prior to
imprisonment — their families had consistently been political opponents)
decided to join Lopez and began his hunger strike at 5 p
...
of the same day
...
He quoted the Philippine’s greatest martyr, Jose
Rizal: “There are no tyrants where there are no slaves
...
On November 20, the prison officials separated Lopez and Osmena and
placed each in isolation
...
There
followed a series of attempts to induce the two men to break their fast
...
He refused
...
He told Lopez for the first time that charges
had been filed against him and told Osmena that his father was negotiating for
his release (there is no evidence this was true
...
Both refused
...
Lopez and Mrs
...
The Secretary
then allowed the two wives to visit their husbands for the first time
...
Lopez told the Secretary of Defense that her
husband's demands included immediate release of many detainees (specifying
many of the most prominent by name), his own release and the right to move
freely, including a visit to his parents in the United States
...
Mrs
...
Later that day a meeting of Secretary Enrile with the wives ot Lopez and
Osmena, several military people and two attorneys for Lopez and Osmena,
former Senators Lorenzo M
...
Diokno (who had been a
detainee himself) was held
...
There are agreements
for release of many detainees, the non-pursuance of charges — whether or not
any formally existed — against the two, and a series of steps toward full
freedom by the end of January, 1975, was agreed upon
...
That night Lopez and Osmena were visited by their wives and presented
with what appeared to be a nearly-complete victory
...
They ended their
hunger strike and the wives issued the following press release:
Our husbands have asked us to announce that on Thursday, November
28,1974, at 7:00 p
...
they broke their fast because they believe that they have
achieved their objective of focusing the attention of the government and the
people on their plight and that of other detainees in a position like theirs
...
They have been
assured that the government has taken positive measures and they would like
to afford the government an opportunity to continue to take the necessary steps
to correct these problems
...
Its diplomatic representatives
were receiving persistent requests for information from American
Congressmen
...
On November 22, Catholic Archbishop Jaime Sin of Manila
attacked various aspects of martial law, voicing the comment: "We cannot jail
a man indefinitely and still call ourselves Christian
...
In a nation 80 per cent Catholic this was particularly
significant
...
They are still there
...
Commencing December 11, the
release of more than a thousand detainees began
...
It claimed the two were deeply involved in an
assassination plot against the President
...
Secretary Enrile assured the two prisoners this was just a face-saving
"parting shot" by the government
...
President Marcos announced that Lopez and
Osmena would be tried by a civil court as perpetrators of a common crime (i
...
attempted assassination), and would be allowed house arrest to prepare their
defense
...
At the same time he denied amnesty to Osmena’s father,
Senator Sergio Osmena, Jr
...
The same day the junior Lopez and Osmena issued a statement from the
hospital accepting the challenge to stand trial on the following conditions:
1
...
Restoration of the right to bail to allow freedom to prepare defense;
3
...
Restoration of writ of habeas corpus
...
The response to inquiries to the Philippine government has drawn two
responses: (1) that the two prisoners are clearly guilty, and (2) the two prisoners
have been released under some form of house arrest to prepare their defense
...
Charges Against Lopez and Osmena
The first time Lopez, Jr
...
They were
shown a document which states in effect that they were charged with attempted
assassination of the President, and were told that the charges had been filed
in August, 1973, more than a year previous
...
This was given to a reporter
for the Washington Star-News, and published widely in the United States in
December, 1972
...
Hill of San Francisco
wrote to Attorney General Richard M
...
asking
Primitivo Mijares
Page 255
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
if such a report actually existed
...
Patrick Gray III,
Acting Director of the FBI responded, stating that “the FBI has conducted no
investigation concerning your client, Eugenio Lopez, Sr
...
and young
Osmena in his television address, December 11, 1974, accusing them of
financing six unsuccessful assassination attempts
...
The first is
claimed to be the written “confession” of Osmena III
...
It does not mention
Eugenio Lopez, Jr
...
Osmena has called the statement a fraud
...
Nevertheless, President Marcos referred to a “confession” in his December 11
speech
...
was an alleged written
statement of an unidentified “suspected participant” released to the press the
same day
...
He names the older Osmena as the mastermind and places Sergio
Osmena III and Eugenio Lopez, Jr
...
It finally contends that Lopez, Jr
...
” Lopez flatly
denies he ever heard of these men or had any involvement
...
It falls apart on at least one point
alone: it shows Lopez, Jr
...
Also
fatal to the validity of the statements is the placement of the elder Osmena at
the heart of the “conspiracy” in February, 1972, at a time when he was still
disabled from a hand grenade explosion on August 21, 1971 (at a Liberal party
rally) which nearly took his life
...
Right to Counsel Denied
The Philippine government has repeatedly responded to inquiries as to the
condition of Lopez, Jr
...
The fact is that not only have they not been able to visit their homes, but
have been denied the rightto consult their counsels, Senators Tanada and
Diokno, noted Philippine attorneys
...
Further, the only information as to the charges allegedly filed in August,
1973, is a charge sheet shown to the two on the ninth day of their hunger strike
...
Misinformation Given to American Congress and State Department
Several Senators and members of the House took a particular interest in
the case as a result of the efforts of Steve and Presy Lopez Psinakis
...
Mayor Joseph L
...
, lodged an
Primitivo Mijares
Page 256
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
injury
...
Tunney, James Abourezk, Hubert H
...
Jackson, J
...
Williams,
Jr
...
Kennedy, Mark Hatfield and
Herman E
...
Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs replied to an inquiry by Congressman Burton, in which he contends there is "incontestable" evidence
and "admissions of guilt"
...
In his reply to Senator Gurney Philippine Ambassador Eduardo Z
...
Marcos, states that President Marcos was
inclined to grant the prisoners relief on the basis that a "Legal Study Group has
recommended that the said persons are qualified for amnesty
...
The Ambassador goes on to state that no commitment was made by
government authorities in return for breaking their hunger strike
...
The letter of Congressman Edwards to President Marcos dated December
10, 1974, drew no reply
...
Senator Bayh (see page
S20548 of the proceedings of December 4, 1974) reported that the
Ambassador indicated that President Marcos "over the coming weekend" would
take steps to ameliorate the situation in regard to Lopez, Osmena and other
political prisoners, without being "in the position of the United States telling
them what to do
...
Senator Cranston followed Senator Bayh's remarks thusly: "I fully share the
Senator's concern
...
Our aid should not
be used to repress the Filipino people
...
Cuthell, Director, Office of Philippine Affairs, or Elmer C
...
It must be assumed that direct statements of fact as to Philippine policy come to Mr
...
Cuthell or Mr
...
In his reply to Congressman Burton Holton states: “We understand the
Philippine government intends to bring their cases to a speedy resolution
...
On December 3, 1974, Cuthell answered Mayor Alioto in an identical letter,
the text of which was repeated in several responses
...
”
On December
...
” This allegation was contained in several
State Department responses to members of Congress
...
Holton, however, on December 19,1974, wrote another letter to Senator
Williams which details American concern for violations of human rights and
noted that the Philippines has been “specifically apprised of the text and import
of Section 32 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1973
...
He stated: “No date has yet been set for the trial
and we understand that their lawyers have not recently been permitted to see
them
...
On January 10, 1975, Congressman Edwards wrote to Ambassador
Romualdez in the same tenor as his earlier letter to President Marcos
...
On January 9, 1975, Senator Abourezk received a response from the
Philippine Embassy, which said Lopez would be tried in a civilian court and had
been released to a hospital with a privilege to visit his home
...
By telephone, Defense Secretary Enrile offered the prisoners
a 24-hour pass on December 17,1974
...
The Philippine government has not only misled the American Congress and
State Department, but has disseminated false statements on this matter to the
general public
...
On December 24, 1974, a letter dated December 16,1974 appeared in the
New York Times signed by one A
...
del Rosario, Press and Information Officer,
Consulate General of the Philippines
...
Del Rosario added a new element, by claiming for the
first time that there were “confessions” (plural) of the accused
...
In
addition, Del Rosario goes on to say:
"Despite the gravity of the charges against Lopez and Osmena III, President
Marcos ordered their release under house arrest so that they could be with their
respective families during the Christmas season
...
"
There is not a single word of truth in that statement
...
m
...
met with the President the next morning
...
with only one guard in front of his
house
...
In return, the President wanted a letter signed by Lopez, Jr
...
A second meeting to iron out the details was scheduled for 9:00 a
...
the
next day
...
) came to the Presidential Palace the next day and were kept
waiting for almost two hours
...
to sign
...
Secondly, it implied an admission of some degree of guilt
...
When shown the text, Eugenio
Lopez, Jr
...
In addition, he objected to the
unqualified endorsement of Marcos’ “New Society” (martial law)
...
The depths of depravity into which the Marcos military regime has
submerged itself can be fathomed by delving into the varied and varying
political, economic, social and family circumstances of the persons ordered
detained by Marcos
...
have
specific selfish interests, either personally or in indirect representation of the
lesser lights in the ruling clique
...
There are any number of reasons
and considerations for the detention, mostly without warrant and without
charges, of thousands of Filipinos in the jails of Marcos
...
But there is one common denominator that, in view of Marcos, binds all the
political prisoners he has jailed and/or continue to hold in jails; it is, that,
together and acting in concert, they pose a threat to his establishment of an
imperial dynasty in the Philippines
...
That is why the crackdown by
Marcos upon the imposition of martial law that was sweeping and brutal, if
slowly done under the false facade of a smiling martial law
...
The original decision of the ruling
duumvirate of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos was simply to destroy the Lopezes
as “king makers” and to obliterate from the public mind the unhappy memory
that the ingrates Ferdinand and Imelda turned against their No
...
, after gaining wings on their own
...
Of course, the No
...
1 effective and
unyielding critic of Ferdinand and Imelda, but also because, as early as 1970,
he was already being looked up to as the next President of the Philippines after
December 30, 1975
...
There are people who will argue that Marcos could not be that vindictive;
as a matter of fact, they would argue, and with some reason, that Marcos is a
very forgiving man, so that the claim that he ordered the incarceration of
politicians who had opposed him or criticized him at one time or another could
not be the sole reason for the round-up
...
But Marcos knows how to bend with
the wind; when a typhoon blows, he would know how to give allowance for
flexibility
...
Witness my own case
...
He even
tried to make a spy out of me
...
It
is political pragmatism; his own idea of personal and political accommodation
to suit the necessities of the moment
...
The
glaring example of this was when he smoked the peace pipe with Vice
President Fernando Lopez and his late brother, Don Eugenio Lopez, shortly
before the imposition of martial law in the Philippines
...
Marcos swallowed his pride and
went to the Lopez citadel of power, there to eat humble pie
...
The fact that Imelda allowed
Marcos to enter into a "reconciliation" with the Lopezes without even the sign
of a whimper of protest should have sounded ominous to the Lopezes and the
other political opponents of Marcos
...
See Chapter on “The Other Villains” on the subject of “balato” which Marcod made out as a
peace offering to Imelda
...
Barbero
...
As early as January, 1966
...
Aquino, that the bible of Marcos was neither the Douay version (Catholic) nor the
King James version (Protestant), but "the book of Satan," so that it was important for the opposition
party to study Marcos' own satanic record and infinite capacity for diabolical cunning to be able to
defeat him in the 1969 elections
...
As in the case of the
Lopezes, Marcos also cracked down on Serging
...
This is the reason I have rejected, and will continue to reject, peace feelers
from Marcos, which have been numerous and continue to be made even as I
wind up the writing of the manuscript of this book
...
The key figure in all the concocted assassination charges against Geny
Lopez and Serge Osmena is Eduardo Figueras
...
Figueras, accused of having plotted with Serging Osmena, Eugenio Lopez, Jr
...
among others, the assassination of Marcos, bringing
allegedly to Manila for this purpose a certain Larry Traetman, is one prisoner
who is not even a common criminal nor a political detainee
...
Ver-Crisologo, the
Commander of the Presidential Security Command
...
Ver-Crisologo himself, but by both President and
Mrs
...
Alita Rornualdez-Martel, sister of Mrs
...
Even the incarceration of Eddie Figueras was instigated by the
Martels, Rodolfo Martel, husband of Alita
...
The facts are simple: Figueras and the Martels entered into several
business transactions, among them the ownership and operation of oceangoing cargo ship, S
...
DON JOSE FIGUERAS, which Eddie Figueras had
acquired from Japan under the Reparations Agreement
...
Sometime in 1969, the cargo vessel
burned and sank about 500 miles from San Francisco
...
But the Martels went after him, but he wouldn't
cough up
...
Not only Marcos and his wife, Imelda are perverting the powers of martial
rule
...
I have seen complaints in the Study Room of the President lodged by
priests and civic leaders protesting the behavior of the military in the provinces,
but what struck me as the most depraved were the claimed abuses being
committed on wives and daughters of political detainees
...
The complaints mentioned
the fact that persons were being arrested and detained because they either
have attractive wives or daughters who have caught the fancy of the local
Constabulary or army commanders, or that release of detainees are
intentionally being delayed to allow the brutal and savage military men to soften
up the object of their lusts
...
an important political prisoner
in the concentration camp operated near the Malacanang golf course suddenly
enjoyed visiting privileges from his socialite sister
...
Marcos and who holds the rank of commander in the Philippine
Navy
...
It turned out that Navy
commander Bejo merely secured the beachhead for his commander-in-chief;
and saw to it that the conquered territory was ravished to the full satisfaction of
the boss
...
Thus, when the socialite kept herself absent
for sometime from the reach of the Navy commander-brother of Mrs
...
The
woman answered: "Hoy, Bejo
...
"
(*5
...
”)
Perhaps it would require an entire book to chronicle the various evil ways
by which the "arrest and detain" powers now suddenly available to Marcos and
his gang has been perverted
...
Roces,
publisher of the Manila Times, Sen
...
Ablan, (IIocos Norte) and Jose M
...
The
circumstances of their arrest and detention vary, and we shall deal with them
briefly
...
Not finding it timely and advisable to entertain one who has
been royally treated some time before by China's Chairman Mao Tse-Tung,
Marcos brusquely rejected the Roces request and thus caused the publisher
no little embarrassment with the Chinese author
...
As stated in our earlier
chapters, Marcos is not the kind of a man who would meet an enemy head-on
...
In May, 1972,
when "Chino" was entertaining some friends on the occasion of his birthday
anniversary, the President and the First Lady just barged into the Roces
residence and behaved as if they have received the printed invitation sent out
by Chino to friends earlier
...
And behaving like the Spanish
mestizo that he was, Chino completely ignored the Marcoses who contented
themselves with laughing artificially at the corny jokes of columnist Jose L
...
This double snub the Marcoses could not forget; Mrs
...
"Lintik lang
ang walang ganti," Marcos fumed
...
Such
time came when martial law was proclaimed; the Manila Times publishing
company, which published the Manila Times, a morning daily; the Daily Mirror,
an afternoon daily, and the "Taliba," a Tagalog morning daily, were among the
first to be sealed by Metrocom (Metropolitan Command, PC) troopers in the
early dawn of September 23, 1972
...
His crime: Aside from conducting selective criticisms of the
Marcos acts and policies, he had earlier compiled in collaboration with then
Manila Mayor Arsenio H
...
Diokno compiled the dossier while he
was Secretary of Justice under President Macapagal (1962-1965) in
preparation for Lacson's running as the Nacionalista presidential candidate
against Marcos in the 1965 elections
...
When informed that the soldiers could
not find the papers, Marcos ordered a search into the law offices of Diokno on
Ermita and to burn down the law office, if the search should turn fruitless
...
Laurel,
Sr
...
The incarceration of Congressmen Ablan and Alberto was the joint
handiwork of Mrs
...
Kokoy Romualdez
...
Marcos and Kokoy came up with the idea that some "men closely identified with
the President should be placed in the military stockade
...
Who did they have in mind? The president asked, as if to
carry on the joke, with his two very private advisers
...
Jr
...
"We jail Ablan for those mischiefs he has committed in your
name, and Alberto for being a terrorist in Catanduanes and for having cheated
Primitivo Mijares
Page 263
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
for us in the 1969 elections," intoned Mrs
...
Of course, what was not
articulated was that both Mrs
...
Romualdez wanted to get even
with Ablan's efforts to serve the personal and romantic needs of his benefactor
...
For Alberto, however, there was a different score to settle
...
He had steadfastly refused to approve funding with bloated
outlays the special image-building projects of the First Lady, Mrs
...
She bided her time, and the time came on September
24, 1972
...
I have read most of them and find
them to be substantially correct
...
"C", and
"S" in the Greater Manila area are in Camp Aguinaldo, Camp Bonifacio in
McKirfley, Camp Crame and the Sampaguita Rehabilitation Center in
Muntinlupa, Rizal
...
The first, entitled "Inside the Marcos Concentration Camps", written by Dr
...
Swornley, Jr
...
Paul School of Theology
(United Methodist), Kansas City, Missouri, appeared in the Christian Century,
issue of November 13, 1974; and the second, entitled "Marcos House:
Chambers of Torture", was written under the pen name of Concepcion Aguila
by one still residing in the Philippines and was first printed in the Bulletin of
Concerned Asian Scholars, issue of November-December, 1974
...
Mr
...
2
...
Four months pregnant,
and sick with amebiasis
...
Alejandro Arellano (address: Taguig, Rizal)-electric shock and beating all over
body
...
Flora Corpus (wife of Alejandro Arrelano); detained
...
Charley Palma (address: Tatalon, Quezon City) -electric shock and beating;
burned with lighted cigarettes
...
Rosario Salvador (wife of Charley Palma); aged 20; detained
7
...
8
...
Two months pregnant
...
Pedrode Guzman, Jr
...
10
...
);detained
11
...
12
...
Cristina Verzola, age 20 (wife of Reynaldo Rodriguez);-beating; burned
with cigarette butts; some sexual abuses
...
Julius Giron; - electric shock; burned with cigarette butts; was made to eat a
big chunk of lead and bled from nose because of this; - also suffered ruptured ear
drum and broken ribs
...
Armando Teng; - electric torture and beating
...
Arnulfo Resus
16
...
Santiago Alonzo; - electric shock and other physical torture
...
Romeo Bayle; - electric shock and beating
...
Francisco Vergara; - physical torture
...
Agaton Topacio; - electric shock torture and beating
...
Ramon Bayle
22
...
He was badly beaten up which left
him with bloodied eyes, cut eyebrows, possibly a busted eardrum and a broken
rib
...
23
...
His foot was singed with
a flat iron and now, is very much swollen and badly infected
...
Butch Freneza - A detainee at Camp Olivas who was caught trying to escape
...
At present, he is confined
at the National Mental Hospital
...
Latest - Sixteen (16) detainees from Camp Olivas stated that from December
11 to 16, they were tortured and harassed in order that information may be
extracted from them
...
Women — The women were molested — were forced to strip, others even were
touched in their genitals, and the others were mutilated (sinira ang sexual organs)
...
Cristina Rodriguez, was forced to strip by the
interrogators
and
her genitals touched
...
Other torture cases from other camps:
1
...
Experienced sitting on
blocks of ice for hours, was given the water cure and was also given morphine
injections to extract information from him
...
2
...
Experienced being forced to strip and beaten up during interrogation
...
She was apprehended in Pampanga late this year and was brutally tortured
...
Other constant methods of torture are:
— pointing the gun (nakakasa) while asking for information;
— "playing" (paghampas ng baril) with the gun (a
...
— electric torture a being applied on fingers and toes, temple, abdomen, chest,
and sexual organs (especially among the male)
Most of these detainees are between 20 and 30 years old
...
The question the detainees ask is; "To use
such brutality
...
Marcos has even gone to the
extent of “tolerating” criticisms of his regime to be aired by some “cleared” Filipino leaders in the foreign press, but never in the domestic press
...
Senator Diokno was among those who was released from the stockade
subject to that condition
...
1972, the intellectual lights went out, along with the other
"inalienable" rights of the Filipino people
...
The Philippines went into a deathly journalistic silence
...
Constabulary troopers sealed newspaper, radio and television facilities, and
told staff members on the graveyard shift to "go home, martial law has been
declared
...
Those arrested in the Greater Manila
area were confined either at Camp Crame or Fort Bonifacio
...
International cable and telephone facilities were closed, thereby effectively
shutting down the operations of foreign news agencies, too
...
The general tenor of the authority they invoked in closing down
the media facilities and in arresting journalists was that they were acting "on
orders of the commander-in-chief
...
However, they declared that they were acting in accordance with the O
...
(Order of Battle) issued to them
...
m
...
These were General Order No
...
1 issued by Marcos
...
O
...
2-A read in part:
"Pursuant to Proclamation No
...
(Italics
ours
...
Such persons as may have committed crimes and offense in furtherance
or on the occasion of or incident to or in connection with the crimes of
insurrection or rebellion as defined in Articles 134 to 138 of the Revised Penal
Code, and other crimes against public order as defined in Articles 146, 147,
148, 149, 151, 153, 154, 155, and 156 on the same Code xxx"
Letter of Instructions No
...
It states:
"In view of the present national emergency which has been brought
about by the activities of those who are actively engaged in a criminal
conspiracy to seize political and state power in the Philippines and to take
over the Government by force and violence the extent of which has now
assumed the proportion of an actual war against our people and their
legitimate Government, and pursuant to Proclamation No
...
The era of thought control was on in the Philippines
...
The freest press in Asia as we now fondly remember the
pre-martial law days of newspapering in the Philippines is but a memory
...
A complete shutdown of media has not been
attempted in Park Chung Hee's Korea, Ayub Khan's Pakistan, Thanarat's
Thailand, Sukarno's Indonesia, or Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore
...
"The Philippine mass media, once considered the freest in Asia, have been
suppressed to the point of death; the most well known and established among
them have no chance of reappearance and this country of 39 million people is
being fed on only propaganda bulletins, which are financed and operated by
President Marcos' own friends and subordinates
...
T
...
S
...
)
The worst crackdown by any one-man rule in modern history became a
badge of dishonor of the martial regime of President Marcos
...
He ordered the closure of all newspapers, radio and
television facilities and detained those newsmen who were unsympathetic to
the Marcos administration
...
When the smoke of battle with the press cleared, the military regime
accounted for “heavy losses” inflicted by the “heroic armed forces” on the
“enemy” mass media, to wit:
1) Killed — over a dozen security guards at the “Iglesia ni Kristo” radio
station
...
3) Closure of 292 radio stations all over the country
...
The deployment of troops,
therefore, to carry out the task of sealing the newspaper, radio and television
facilities was really unnecessary
...
Marcos sought to justify the harsh treatment of the Philippine media in a
speech to military commanders convened in Malacanang for a briefing on the
“achievements” of the New Society under the one-week old martial law
...
Therefore, the commander-in-chief must
Primitivo Mijares
Page 268
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
meet this threat not only with modem artillery, tanks, bullets, and rifles, but with
the most sophisticated weapons of preventive operations, of even media
...
” *2
(*2
...
)
He added that the journalists were picked up “not becausethey were critical
of me” or because of “mere mischievousnessor vengeance or vindictiveness”
but because they “participated in a Communist conspiracy
...
” To date, however, no single journalist arrested
during martial law has ever been charged before any tribunal, civil or military
...
As a matter of
act, it is now of universal knowledge that martial law was resorted to by Marcos
only for the purpose of perpetuating himself in power
...
Its sister facility, television channel 9, and allied radio stations of the Kanlaon
Broadcasting System, also reopened the very day the media men were being
rounded up by Marcos agents for incarceration
...
It was just as well
...
Benedicto appears as the ostensible owner of the
media complex, the truth is that it is owned by no less than President Marcos
himself
...
Benjamin "Kokoy"
Romualdez
...
Although these re-opened facilities tried to be news-giving establishments,
they performed quite more often as a Marcos megaphone
...
Of press conditions, he wrote:
"The only newspaper is a dismal pro-government Sheet called the Daily
Express, which chronicles the movements noble saying of the head of state in
the cringing valet's tone that marks the controlled press of totalitarian
dictatorships throughout the world
...
" "Press, radio and television are so
pathetically emasculated that they make totalitarian Government organs like
Pravda, Izvestia and Radio Peking, Franco's Party organs, or the mouthpieces
of other dictatorships across the continents look comparatively red-bloodied
...
Rohan, Rivet, “Anaemic Manila Press Makes Izvestia Look Red-Blooded,”
IPI Report, April, 1973
...
lt is really an
intellectual desert that has developed in the Philippines
...
Tatad or the officers of the military
establishment? If the answer is in the affirmative, then the story becomes a
"must," otherwise, the story will never see the light of print
...
1
criterion that a story must be informative or instructive has taken a second
billing under the martial law norms of journalism in the Philippines
...
By the stroke of the very pen that imposed martial law in the Philippines on
September 21, 1972, the one-man ruler paved the way for the dubious meteoric
rise - from a slavish and lapping errand boy of Manila's elite political writers to
a "noveau riche" newspaper oligarch — of his brother-in-law, former
Ambassador to the United States and now absentee Leyte Governor Benjamin
'Kokoy' Romualdez
...
Imelda R
...
Either by design or plain subsequent acquiescence on the part of President
Marcos, Kokoy Romualdez forced his way into the country’s media industry
clearly with a corrupt and vindictive motive
...
Romualdez into the area of big time publishing,
with his overnight ownership of a daily newspaper, the Times-Journal (which
unashamedly copied the logo of the defunct Manila Times), spotlights the
perversion of the instruments of power at once made available to one man upon
the imposition of martial law in the Philippines
...
THREE MAJOR ARMS
These instruments of power are: 1) the military arm, to provide the coercive
process to establish peace and order and reform society; 2) the economic and
social arm, to improve the economic and social conditions of the people; and
3), the information and propaganda arm, to provide the needed circus (when
economic hardships set in) and other functions to re-orient the Filipino mind
...
Known for their
notoriety in behaving like they were leaders of a conquering army going after
the "spoils of war", the more notorious members of the gang are, aside from
Primitivo Mijares
Page 270
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Gov
...
Tatad, Secretary of Agriculture Arturo R
...
,
Secretary of Justice Vicente Abad Santos, Ambassador Roberto S
...
Tuvera
...
Lest I be accused of deviating from the subject of my column this week in
much the same way that I have charged that Marcos has abandoned the
original objectives of the “peaceful revolution” he launched on September 21,
1972, let me go back to the ways by which Marcos had, by his own design or
by the manipulation of cronies and relatives, mostly in-laws, betrayed the New
Society
...
ABUSE OF POWER
Lamentable as it is, the muzzling of the Philippine media under the harsh
authoritarian rule of Marcos becomes all the more deplorable when one notes
the abuse of power and corruption that accompanied the process of press
control
...
It becomes a martial law
syndrome in tire worst form
...
On learning that the Constabulary commander of the province of Negros
Oriental had reopened some months after September 21,1972, radio station
DYRI, which was owned by Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Tuvera
flared up, saying the military should never have allowed the station to go on
the air again
...
Marcos
wrote the word "Approved" on Tuvera's note, and the husband of the First
Lady's biographer gleefully transmitted the presidential directive to the PC
command in Dumaguete City
...
Brig
...
Fidel Ramos,
Constabulary chief, also took up the cudgels for the Silliman radio station,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 271
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
adding, in his communication to the President, that the station was actually
being utilized by the PC to broadcast martial law materials and amnesty offers
to the Communist rebels
...
But to preserve "good relations" with Tuvera, I advised the
station manager who came to Manila all the way from Dumaguete City to plead
for his station to pay a courtesy call on the diminutive presidential assistant
...
Clave that
the Tuveras were thrown out of the Silliman University long before martial law
for the same reason that they are detested up to this time by most Philippine
journalists, i
...
behaving as if they alone had a monopoly of the writing ability
...
ON TATAD
As propaganda chief, Tatad was put in charge of the information campaign
on the new Constitution
...
Tatad, who used to ride the bus during his brief career as a working
newspaperman but now has a mansion at the exclusive Quezon City
millionaires' enclave known as "La Vista" concentrated his efforts on the printing
jobs, leaving the creative and news management aspects of the campaign to a
group unofficially headed by me, in collaboration with long-time friend and loyal
colleague, Vicente M
...
This group had to have guidance from
Presidential Assistant Guillermo C
...
The reason behind the unusual interest of Tatad on the printing jobs
surfaced later
...
Tatad
found this job very juicy as he would later in various phases of the information
campaign for the New Society
...
In at least two
cases, Tatad obtained kickbacks from Capitol Publishing Company and the
Amity Printing Company in the amounts of P75,000
...
00,
respectively
...
Fabian Ver, who is also the
commander of the Presidential Security Command
...
(Tibo does the dirty
work, but Tatad enjoys everything
...
The role that Gov
...
When I testified before the Fraser committee on June 17, 1975, in
Washington, D
...
, I informed the congressional investigation on the status of
press control under the martial regime in this wise in a memorandum I
appended to my opening statement:
President Marcos anointed your humble committee witness as his media
confidant and/or hatchet man for purposes which he could not entrust to his
official Information Secretary
...
He officially created the
new body, known as the Media Advisory Council, on May 11, 1973, under
Presidential Decree No
...
The creation of MAC and my designation as its
chairman gave the final official sanction to my being the President’s chief media
censor and propagandist, with powers to dictate to all the media owners and/or
workers what to publish and what not to publish
...
2) Even before my appointment as MAC chairman, I had already started
performing the task of Mr
...
Marcos himself, his front men
and brothers-in-law
...
1 front man, Roberto S
...
The
son of this tycoon, Eugenio, Jr
...
Benedicto has not paid a single cent for the use of the Lopez radio-TV
complex
...
4) On instructions of the President, I also signed a permit allowing the front
men of the President’s brother-in-law to occupy the most modem newspaper
printing plant in Asia, known as the “Chronicle Publishing Company,” so they
could start publishinga new daily newspaper, the Times-Journal
...
5) With the guidance of the President, I prepared a host of news stories
Primitivo Mijares
Page 273
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
beamed to specific sectors of the country, e
...
a) In early October, 1972, when
the President got hold of a report that the Supreme Court might invalidate the
martial law proclamation because of flaws in the factual basis of the
proclamation, he instructed me to publish a series of stories on the massing “by
the thousands” of New People’s Army rebels in the hills around Manila; b) In
December, 1972, when the President sensed from the tenor of the campaign
that the New Constitution would not win approval in a plebiscite, he instructed
me to publish stories assailing the disruptive effects of the campaign; he
subsequently cancelled the plebiscite; c) On Christmas Day, 1972, after
receiving a report that the members of the Senate had met and decided on
December 24, 1972, to convene in session on January 23,1973, pursuant to
the 1935 Constitution, Mr
...
to investigate the acts of martial law and subpoena subsequently some
of the dangerous political prisoners from the stockade’; d) In August, 1973, he
instructed me to wnte a series of stories denouncing alleged stock manipulation
by some officials of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, a
multi-million dollar firm which neither Mr
...
I am sure that Filipino journalists will follow the ways of
their ancestors in breaking out of their temporary bondage
...
American
authorities passed a strict Sedition Law to scare off the propagandists
...
For instance,in Cebu province, the American military authorities even
sponsored the establishment of a newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, by Sergio
Osmena, Sr
...
These three succeeded from
time to time in attacking American colonization of the Philippines
...
Published by the El Renacimiento in its October 30, 1908, issue, the
piece charged Dean Worcester, the Secretary of the Interior, with taking
advantage of his official position to enrich himself
...
Under martial law, the Filipino journalist lost his freedom once more as in
the days of Aves de Rapina
...
The Constitution guaranteed that “no law
shall be passed abridging the freedom of the press
...
He
was merely accountable under the laws of libel and sedition
...
When Marcos imposed martial law, he did not think the media was a field
Primitivo Mijares
Page 274
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
to be greeted with smiles
...
He would have none of the rays
of his “smiling martial law” shine upon the journalists
...
The vengeance of Marcos came not only with the arrest of journalists and
the closure of media establishments
...
Thus, the directive issued by the newly-created Department of Public
Information (DPI Order No
...
” The news media were prohibited from carrying “any editorial
opinion, commentary, comments or asides, or any kind of political,
unauthorized, or objectionable advertising
...
Materials that tend to incite or otherwise inflame people or individuals
against the government or any of its duly constituted authorities
...
Materials that undermine the people’s faith and confidence in the
government or any of its instrumentalities
...
Materials that are seditious, not based on facts, or otherwise without
definitely established and well-identified verifiable sources, or based on mere
allegation or conjecture
...
Materials that downgrade or jeopardize the military or the law
enforcement authorities, their work and their operations
...
Materials that abet, glorify, or sensationalize crime, disorder,
lawlessness, violence
...
Materials that destroy or tend to destroy public morals as well as morale
...
Materials that foment opinions and activities contrary to law
...
Materials that sow or generate fear, panic, confusion, ignorance and
vulgarity among the people
...
However, he was sure of one thing: the government needs media to
disseminate its propaganda
...
The resumption of the operations of the
tri-media was in accordance with Letter of Authority No
...
Marcos initially sounded out the Manila Times at about 3 p
...
on
September 23,1972, if it could re-publish on a temporary permit
...
Besides, he added, there would be no time to summon the editorial staff and
employees of other departments to report for work that day
...
Roces
...
Two weeks later, the Philippines Herald was given a permit to operate,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 275
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
along with its sister radio-TV network, including Radio Mindanao Network and
TV-Channel 13
...
2 which
was issued following a conference between the President and Jose Soriano,
president of the Soriano enterprises, which included the Herald tri-media
...
Secretary Tatad explained that the shutdown was necessitated by the
existence of a labor dispute within the publishing company
...
The real story, however, is that Gov
...
Kokoy at the time
was finalizing plans to publish an entirely new newspaper
...
3 from Marcos to publish the
Times-Journal
...
, by the Daily
Express
...
He found the arrangement very inconvenient
because another Romualdez, Enrique “Pocholo”, the Daily Express executive
editor, would not allow uncle Kokoy Romualdez to default in his daily payments
by more than six hours
...
There Kokoy did not have
to pay daily through the nose
...
He even conveniently forgot to pay the monthly rentals to the
Benpress Corporation
...
It was from, these rentals that the monthly allowance which
Eugenio Lopez had decided to dole out to his displaced employees was being
taken out
...
I shot back that I was speaking for the thousands of media
men rendered jobless by martial law
...
Gerald N
...
Here is his
report, which I quote with approval:
Freedom of the press and media in the Philippines today (February, 1975)
is nothing but a memory
...
Simultaneously
Primitivo Mijares
Page 276
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
with the martial law declaration, the President ordered the military to
seize and close down all newspapers and broadcasting facilities with the
exception of his own Daily Express, the pro-Marcos KBS station, and a handful
of other publications supporting him
...
The first decree proscribed news items detrimental to the
government and set up the censorship machinery
...
The next day the government announced that six major daily newspapers were indefinitely suspended
from the right to publish
...
The strongly anti-Marcos Friends of the Filipino People Washington Report
for February, 1975, claims in the lead article that the news in the three daily
newspapers now permitted to publish is virtually identical
...
Lent has also published a study for the International Press Institute on
the press situation in the Philippines
...
Lent also describes in detail
the rise of the “underground press” published both in the Philippines and
circulated from abroad
...
” His full statement is
illustrative of his logic:
“Immediately after martial law was proclaimed on September 21, 1972, we
had a censorship decree
...
There was also a committee that controlled the media composed
of the Secretary of Public Information, the Secretary of National Defense and
some other members
...
That is the status of media as of
now
...
It is, however, supervised by its
own policemen — the publishers, the owners of radio and TV stations
...
”
What he did not say was that by the time the so-called committee was
organized all publishers and media directors were his people
...
The San Francisco-based Philippine News, in a story datelined Manila,
describes these rules
...
51 which limits
Primitivo Mijares
Page 277
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
printed materials to small handbills and posters two by three feet
...
The fettered Philippine press has attracted increasing negative attention
from journalists throughout the world
...
Robert U
...
Critical editorials have appeared recently in the Milwaukee Journal, the
Christian Science Monitor, the Palo Alto Times, the Philadelphia
Evening Bulletin and the Chicago Tribune
...
He took more decisive steps thereafter
...
Marcos initially created a Department of Public information to take charge
of media censorship and licensing
...
On November 2, 1972, the President created the Mass Media
Council
...
*5 MAC operated for
18 months
...
He
disbanded the MAC and reallocated its functions to two separate bodies, the
Print Media council and the Broadcast Media Council
...
Presidential Decree No
...
)
(*5
...
191, dated May 11, 1973
...
Presidential Decree No
...
)
The day Marcos announced the imposition of martial law, he reorganized
the Press Office under the Office of the President into a full-sized Cabinet
Department, known as the DPI
...
1
...
12, the President funded the
DPI with a gargantuan outlay for propaganda and information to the tune of P91
million (roughly $17 million)
...
" Under the DPI bureaucratic scheme, the President sanctioned the
creation of the Presidential Press Office, a Bureau of National and Foreign
Information, a Bureau of Broadcast, a Bureau of Standards for Mass Media, a
Bureau of Research, Evaluation and Special Operations, and several
regulatory units
...
However, the proliferation of agencies under the DPI gave rise to rivalries
and clashes between the civilian information office and the military's Office for
Civil Relations
...
Andaya, felt that, in matters of censorship, it was supreme over even the
DPI
...
36 creating the Mass Media Council on November 2, 1972
...
The decree provided essentially that "no
newspaper, magazine, periodical or publication of any kind, radio, television or
telecommunications facility, station or network may so operate without
obtaining from the Mass Media Council a certificate of authority to operate prior
to actual operation
...
"
Under this decree, the government could grant, deny or revoke a permit of
any media facility
...
President Executive Assistant Jacobo C
...
36
merely served to stress the obvious
...
The decree did not provide for a procedure of hearing a
violation and conviction therefore
...
" Tuvera, who is not a
lawyer, drafted the decree
...
Clave drafted a General Order for the signature of the President
on November 9, 1972
...
12-C, it threw into the
exclusive jurisdiction of military tribunals violations of Presidential Decree No
...
By mid-March, 1973, however, the feuding for jurisdiction over media
between Secretaries Tatad and Enrile themselves have worsened
...
The feuding
mired in intrigues the task of processing media applications for permits to
reopen
...
Media became more attractive to the censors and licensing agents when
the show business, including the comely actresses of the stage and film, came
under the classification of media
...
He
set up a process in motion to get even the movie censorship field
...
De Vega made
Information Secretary Tatad run practically naked from his sauna bath at the
Manila Hilton to the office of De Vega in the Executive office at 2:30 p
...
one
day
...
This time he had to
...
I also knew what was
in store for him because I was in the office of De Vega when Tatad was
"summoned" by the Presidential Assistant from the comfort of an early
afternoon sauna bath-massage at the Hilton
...
(This Tatad is overly ambitious
...
Stay here, Tibo
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 279
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Tatad arrived with his bodyguards and his usual air of arrogance
...
The presidential assistant spoke softly, telling Tatad
to come in and close the door behind him
...
"
"Watting ganyanan
...
Ikaw naman, mainit kaagad ang ulo mo
...
Why do you have to lose your temper
right?)" Tatad declared, with all the humility he could muster
...
Upon his elevation to full-fledged Cabinet rank, Tatad
decided that movie censorship would have to be brought under the jurisdiction
of the new department of information
...
Tatad
told Camacho ex cathedra that censorship of the celluloid magic would be
brought within the DPI jurisdiction
...
De Vega fit into this thing?”
Camacho asked
...
I am the new minister
of propaganda
...
2 man, next only to the President, in hierarchy
of the martial law regime
...
De Vega quoted Camacho’s report to Tatad almost word for word
...
As long as he was the DPI chieftain, Tatad
declared, he would have to do his duty
...
He brought out a sheet
of paper which bore the signature of President Marcos
...
13 placing movie censorship under the exclusive jurisdiction of
the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures
...
He tolclGimo he did what he
did because he wanted to preempt the military on the matter of exercising
jurisdiction over the movie industry
...
”
De Vega said he didn’t care whatever motivations Tatad had for trying to
encroach into the movie field
...
De Vega
reminded Tatad that he had not joined his fellow-presidential assistants, Clave
and Tuvera, in organizing a Palace clique against the DPI secretary
...
Tatad thanked Gimo profusely
for having it out with him, instead of (Gimo) immediately teaming up with Clave
and Tuvera
...
Tatad proved his sincerity to De Vega by subsequently directing his special
agents to rent a room at the Hotel Enrico along Padre Faura in Manila
...
From the Tatad room, his special
agents kept track of people coming in and out of De Vega’s suite
...
The presidential assistant discovered the Tatad espionage later on
...
The subalterns were clawing at, or
Primitivo Mijares
Page 280
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
axing, each other to protect and preserve powers previously granted by, or to
win more such powers Irom, the ruling duumvirate
...
Marcos was compelled by
the in-fighting among his subordinates to improvise a different system of press
gag
...
Thus, the Mass Media Council established by PD No
...
MAC membership
consisted of representatives from sectoral media and headed by the president
of the National Press Club
...
However, even if I had not been NPC president at the time, I still would have
been named by President Marcos as MAC chief
...
He had heard of the bickerings
between Enrile and Tatad over the processing of applications for re-opening of
newspapers and radio stations
...
In the early days of the MMC, Enrile and
Tatad'agreed that the OCR would act as the executive arm of the council
...
In other words, everybody would get a piece of the action
...
To preserve his own neck, Marcos had to maintain an aura of
infallibility
...
Nevertheless, he
knew that press control, or any other control for that matter, hardly ever
worked
...
The Import Control Law had yielded
millions of dollars for Marcos then
...
He could very well afford to embarrass Tatad as he had done
so often before
...
The stripping of power from Enrile
would have to be done cautiously and with a rationale that Enrile himself would
be happy to accept
...
On the other hand, Marcos had to be mindful of avoiding any hint of a
confession of failure in the matter of imposing media control
...
To his credit, Marcos is a past master of the art of double-talk
...
Marcos would not spare even people
closest to him the punishment of a double-talk
...
He instructed Presidential Executive
Assistant Jacobo C
...
This was his own way of stressing
that martial law was an “abnormal situation
...
The Marcos “cover story” during the Cabinet meeting was that it was
necessary that the regime move speedily towards normalization
...
(*7
...
Executive Secretary, et al, G
...
No
...
)
Towards this end, Marcos told the Cabinet, he was taking media censorship
out of the joint responsibility of Enrile and Tatad
...
“I will
promulgate a de- cree creating a council of newspapermen, to be headed by
the president of the National Press Club, to take over the functions
of the Mass Media Council
...
I wish those people would understand that we were in a
state of war
...
Enrile was taken aback
...
Such an
act would weaken his standing before the other members of the Cabinet
...
The bright and positive side in him prompted
him to act cautiously
...
We can only obey his orders, even if we get
killed in the process
...
However,
he managed to smile most of the time
...
He reminded the Cabinet meeting that the major task of the
armed forces was to maintain peace and order and guard against the
enemies of the Republic
...
I know that you have been overworking yourself
...
“As a matter of fact, in consonance with the decision to move towards
normalization,” Marcos said, “we are also transferring the job of issuing travel
permits to the civilian authorities
...
“I would like to express the appreciation of the defense establishment, sir,
for taking these non-military functions off our shoulders
...
Marcos said he was signing a Letter of Instructions prepared by De Vega
Primitivo Mijares
Page 282
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
creating a new travel committee
...
Collantes would serve as chairman, and Major General
Fabian C
...
De Vega himself was to be a member of the
committee
...
As a further move towards normalization, the President announced that he
had decided to create a new Cabinet department, the Department of Tourism,
to promote the country’s industry
...
*9 He said it would answer a felt need for an institution to provide
continuing and intensive studies of the diversified problems relative to national
defense and security
...
Presidential Decree No
...
)
(*9
...
190, dated May 11, 1973
...
Tatad spoke up to state that
his department wholeheartedly support the move towards normalization of
press controls
...
As a
matter of fact, he said he had drafted for the signature of the President a
presidential decree creating the Media Advisory Council
...
However,
Marcos was visibly irked
...
He
succeeded in avoiding at the moment any impression on the part of his
colleagues in the Cabinet that the creation of MAC was directed against him
...
Conversely, Tatad wittingly or
unwittingly isolated Enrile as the only victim of the day’s massacre
...
However, I
thought that, in the interest of “good relations,” I should tell him about the
decision to establish the MAC
...
Clave told him that he and
Secretary De Vega have agreed to assign me to draft the decree
...
Clave was actually taking his time during
the May 11 Cabinet meeting before submitting the MAC decree which I drafted,
for the signature of the President
...
Tatad was not to have his way on the mechanics of the media censorship
...
He
immediately gleaned that it was drafted with a selfish motive
...
Clave knew from the very start that it was Tatad’s incompetence
and arrogance that derailed what President Marcos had originally outlined as a
Primitivo Mijares
Page 283
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
smooth-sailing government management of the media
...
Clave confronted Tatad even before the Cabinet members could leave the
State dining room
...
The presidential
executive assistant declared within hearing distance of the President and
Secretary Enrile that the Tatad draft of the MAC decree “would make a mockery” of the President’s decision to take media regulation out of the hands of
government
...
This means, Clave explained, that you still want
the information department to go over media certificates of authority to operate
...
”
Then, whispering to the President, Clave declared: “Sir, this would look very
bad to the military especially Johnny Enrile
...
”
The President was quick to grasp the Clave counsel
...
”
Then, turning to Tatad without concealing his irritation, the President
declared: “Next time you want me to sign a decree affecting your department,
you course it first through the presidential assistants
...
I remember that you made me sign a decree giving you P91 million
for your department
...
”
Tatad explained lamely that he thought that media regulation, like the rules
for the grant of travel permits for foreign trips, would be taken away from the
military and entrusted to civil authorities
...
Jake, make the draft of the decree read that media
regulation will be exclusively handled by the MAC
...
“And don’t forget to mention the official rationale for the draft in media
regulation
...
He dictated his own ideas to Clave
...
He pointed out that the mass media have shown willingness to
institute a system of self-regulation and internal discipline within their ranks to
the end that no part of media may ever again, consciously or unconsciously,
engage or take part in any conspiracy against the Government
...
Certainly, the fact that
MAC was a child of Palace intrigues and power struggle could not be allowed
to filter outside the circle of the ruling clique
...
The process actually started at a session of the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 284
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Mass Media Council in the OCR building at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City
...
He had just bawled out an OCR junior
officer, Major Templo
...
Presently, he turned to Camacho, the secretary of the Board of
Censors for Motion Pictures, whom De Vega had earlier named as liaison man
between the movie censorship body and the MMC
...
He pointed out that there was so much violence and
other features of the film which were contrary to the new mores and morals
which the New Society seeks to develop
...
Enrile shouted: "I don't care, if the picture or any other picture has been
approved by the Board of Censors
...
I want to take a look, at that picture
...
Camacho reported glumly to De Vega
...
The Enrile posture on movie censors was the kind of stance
which the officers of the OCR have been itching for
...
Now, they can intrude into the De Vega territory with
the virtual pronouncement of a directive by Enrile
...
The Enrile outburst was reported to
me by Estrella D
...
"It looks bad for Gimo, Tibo
...
I rushed to Dr
...
The presidential assistant told me not to worry
...
"'Let's find out whom the President would uphold, the Mam (Imelda) or
Enrile," De Vega told me hesitating
...
He knew exactly how the attack on Enrile would have
to be made, and where the initial salvo would have to be launched
...
De Vega was sure of that side of the
ruling triumvirate
...
Marcos
...
He explained that Enrile and
the military want to invade the movie censorship field by imposing themselves
as the higher reviewing authority for films
...
Marcos needed no further
Primitivo Mijares
Page 285
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
explanations from De Vega
...
Bayaan mo at ako ang bahalang magsabi sa Sir mo
...
All right, let me tell your sir about this), Imelda told De
Vega
...
He knew very well that
come that same night, the First Lady would certainly talk to the President about
De Vega's troubles with Enrile in a demanding tone that would leave the
President no choice but to crack down on his defense secretary
...
By May 4, De Vega got a buzz from the First Lady
...
De Vega then decided that it was time to bring up the matter of movie
censorship officially with the President
...
He told
Marcos that he would like to resign his BCMP post because of the continuing
intrusion of Enrile and the military in the field of movie censorship
...
What
does De Vega think of the over-eagerness of the military to take over movie
censorship? The secretary declared that the unusual interest of the military in
film censorship could only be likened to ants flocking to the location of sweet
sugar
...
Is it possible that, even in the enforcement of
media control, military officers are similarly motivated? De Vega answered the
President in the affirmative
...
"We should now make it appear that we are giving back to the
newspapermen the job of self-regulation
...
Acting further to placate a sulking pillar of his regime, the President then
asked: "O, anopa, Gimo, ang nangyayari sa military?" (What else, Gimo, is
happening in the military
...
That, too, the President decided, would have to be taken out of Enrile's hands
...
He left the question
of graft and corruption unacted upon
...
And
yet, if a helpless civil official in no position to fight back committed misconduct
akin to that which De Vega had accused the military of, Marcos would not
hesitate to bring down the axe on the erring official
...
The MAC was charged
with "the duty of passing upon applications of mass media for permission to
operate, so that no newspaper, magazine, periodical, or publication of any kind,
radio, television and telecommunications facility, station or network may so
operate without first obtaining a Certificate of Authority to Operate from the
Media Advisory Council
...
"
Primitivo Mijares
Page 286
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
During the lifetime of the MAC, every permit or certificate of authority to
operate a mass media facility necessarily had to have my signature and that of
President Marcos in order to become valid and effective
...
The Media Advisory Council was not spared from intrigues either
...
Tatad
interfered in the choice of MAC regional coordinator for the Bicol region with
station in Naga City
...
Tatad viewed this as a
declaration of war
...
He started sending
reports to the President on alleged wrongdoings in the MAC
...
He had good reasons to
be suspicious of me
...
For his part, Enrile kept sending his men or writing me notes telling me I
should do this or do that respecting the conduct of media regulation
...
The common line
I took on this Enrile interference or threat was: I will clear what you want with
the President
...
However,
Marcos tolerated the bad fix in which media regulation was mired by his own
inaction
...
This came about February, 1974 when Marcos found it necessary to order the
MAC to investigate an American journalist, Arnold Zeitlin, bureau manager of
the “Associated Press” in Manila
However, all of a sudden he called me, Secretary Tatad and Bulletin
publisher Hans Menzi to a conference on October 15, 1974
...
Marcos
said he would like to reallocate the functions of the MAC to two separate bodies,
one for print media and the other for the electronic media
...
By this time, however, neither
Tatad nor Menzi was willing to work with Clave
...
Marcos herself who,
at that time, wanted him out of the Cabinet
...
Clave suggested that I provide in the decree that MAC would organize the
two new bodies and then bow out of existence thereafter
...
I thanked him for
his concern; for Clave and I have been very close during our newspapering
days
...
I was leaving for the United
States on another mission for Marcos
...
12
...
However, I explained to
Secretary Clave that the BSMM would have to be abolished, too, if the
President was to make good his posture that there won’t be anymore
government censorship of the press
...
This office
had always sought to exercise media control powers even after the creation of
the MAC
...
On November 9,1974, Marcos signed and released Presidential Decree
No
...
The decree was exactly as I
have drafted it
...
The two new councils had exactly the same powers which MAC had with
respect to their respective sectoral media
...
Although the two bodies are
manned by journalists themselves nalists themselves, the President cannot
shield the fact that media regulation is still being orchestrated from Malacanang
Palace
...
It was the eve of the
departure of Mrs
...
As part of the image build up, the new decree on media
control relaxation was held out as another step towards normalization
in Manila
...
At the
height of the hunger strike of Senator Aquino in April, 1975, his family, in view
of lopsided reporting about it, wrote identical letters to the three leading morning
dailies for a paid insertion of Aquino's reasons
...
The editor
of Bulletin Today replied "We will clear first with (the) military on the matter
regarding security matters
...
" The Times-Journal did not even bother to
reply
...
Aquino
...
" The others
ignored this second request
...
Those critical stories
which have appeared sporadically in foreign periodicals barely scratch the
surface on true conditions of mass media suppression in the Philippines
...
There is
Primitivo Mijares
Page 288
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
a separate standard of treatment for the foreign press representatives, which is
a pained tolerance, and another for the native newsmen
...
Only nonFilipino journalists either stationed in Manila and coming in as transients on
special assignments have been able to write fearlessly about the true
situation in the Philippines, including the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao and
Sulu
...
For instance, the native newsmen could write
about the Muslim insurgency only when the President sees some use in
publicizing it, as when he has to beam a story to the Supreme Court or to
impress visiting American lawmakers that the fighting is going on, and that the
Muslim rebels are fighting to plant the Communist flag in that southern portion
of the Philippine archipelago
...
Tatad
...
Bigomia had
vowed before never to work for President Marcos, much less under
Secretary Tatad given the circumstances prevailing before martial law
...
Most of the time
Marcos had succeeded, no thanks to Tatad
...
These
involved the Muslim rebellion and the Huk dissidence
...
" The President represented himself as having flown
to Luuk, Jolo, where he "negotiated" with the group of Muslim rebel leader Maas
Bawang who had earlier wiped out a company-sized PC patrol single-handedly
for their "cooperation" with the government
...
I doff my hat to Zeitlin for his resourcefulness in digging
up the true facts
...
" Zeitlin reported worldwide that the much-publicized
meeting between the President and the Maas Bawang group never took place
in any spot within the area of Jolo Island on the date officially reported by the
Department of Public Information and released through the Manila
newspapers
...
So he directed me to investigate Zeitlin, and, with the assistance of
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P
...
" Tatad himself was privy to the directive given to me by Marcos and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 289
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
he told me that, to cushion the impact on Zeitlin, he would do a "little PR job"
by notifying the AP bureau chief in advance of the impending investigation by
the Media Advisory Council
...
However, the AP bureau chief did not dig deeper for his story
Perhaps he felt that it was be yond the requirements of his profession to go
beyond the assertion that the much-acclaimed “sortie” of Marcos into forbidden
territory never really took place
...
The presidential sortie into
forbidden rebel territory was glowingly described as another concrete display
by the President of his unrelenting concern to unify the diverse elements of the
country
...
See Chapter on “Too Late the Hero
...
See Chapter X on how military briefings and other meetings outside the Palace are generally
suspected by the First Lady as e3xpensive ruses to provide the President with playtime and
playgirls
...
At the time, President
Marcos needed so badly a gimmick to turn the tide of the Muslim rebellion in
southern Philippines where the public armed forces were taking a beating
...
The impression created was
that Marcos could only terrorize with his martial law rule the submissive people
of Luzon and the Visayas, but not the warrior-bred, fiercely-independent
Muslims of Mindanao
...
Raquiza made
only one request to Maas Bawang: for him and his followers to talk to the
President in Malacanang and "any place'" that the President might designate
and have pictures of such conferences taken by the official Palace
photographer
...
They ran into over a hundred
thousand pesos (P416,000
...
plus the prospects of living luxuriously in a
Primitivo Mijares
Page 290
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
plush hotel (Hotel Filipinas) in Manila complete with wine, women and song prospects which Marcos authorized Raquiza to transform into reality, all at the
expense of the groaning Filipino taxpayers, and perhaps, the poor American
taxpayers, too
...
President Marcos met the rag-tag rebels at Fort Bonifacio, where he
arrived on board the presidential helicopter — part of U
...
arms aid to Marcos
- and proceeded to a site previously cleared by security men near the
Malacanang golf course where he posed for the Palace photographers shaking
hands and talking to Maas Bawang and party near some rocks and big trees
...
Later, with the President
dressed this time in elegant Pilipino barong, Maas Bawang and company were
herded to the presidential study room at Malacanang, officially received by the
President; there, Maas Bawang and followers were given one brand new
Armalite rifle each "to bring back to Jolo and fight the 'misled' rebels opposing
government forces
...
The gun, especially a rifle, is a most priceless possession to a Muslim
...
)
Military officers had on a number of occasions protested the "coddling" by
the President of the Muslim rebels
...
Among
the more vocal of the protesters was Commodore Gil Fernandez, commander
of the so-called Sulu Sea Frontier command who had seen hundreds of men in
his command - army, Constabulary, navy, marines - die in the hands of the
Muslim rebels
...
Marcos relieved Fernandez of his command and
gave him a desk job in the Philippine Navy headquarters in Manila
...
However, some military officers in the Jolo area lost no time in gloating that
they had evened up old scores with Maas Bawang
...
Obviously, he thought the liquidation of
Maas Bawang was a good solution to the problem that he was having with the
"surrenderee" who had been bombarding him with requests for appointments
of this or that judge or this or that man to a position for the Mindanao
government, and some other obviously unreasonable and unconscionable
demands
...
Marcos that was undertaken for no
other purpose than to stage a publicity stunt at a time when the Dictator felt that
the front pages of the controlled newspapers were publishing nothing but the
speeches of Secretaries Enrile and Tatad, Generals Espino and Ramos, and
expensive but inutile impact projects of the First lady
...
In this "rendezvous,"- Marcos was
supposed to have sought out Sanguyo "somewhere in Central Luzon," entered
into a night long dialogue with him, and finally convinced the hot-headed
Stalinist Huk commander to "cooperate" with the President in restoring peace
and order in Central Luzon
...
Commander Pusa was the man who shot up with an Armalite rifle a United States marine
corps "Jolly Green Giant" helicopter which was flying out of Clark Air Force Base to ferry goods
and supplies to marooned farmers at the height of the calamitous floods of July-August, 1972, in
Luzon
...
)
The truth is that Commander Pusa was contacted first by 'emissaries of
former Congressman Eduardo Cojuangco, of Tarlac province, and his protege,
Col
...
Then, with Pusa properly frisked
forbidden weapons, he was brought to the Malacanang Park, where the
President plays golf, and some additional holes and pelota, for the "meeting
somewhere in Central Luzon" with the great President of the New Society
...
This again was exploited in the news media as another daring and monumental
feat of President Marcos
...
(*14
...
Ver flatly told the President that his intelligence training simply told him that Commander
Pusa could not be left alone with the President
...
”)
However, I would not be surprised at all, if one day, the controlled Manila
newspapers would publish a report that Commander Pusa was “assassinated”
by the “Sparrow Units” of the New People’s Army
...
I even heard President Marcos telling Major General Fabian
Crisologo-Ver to warn Congressman Cojuangco that his prized “Huk protege”
should be cautioned a bit on his impulsiveness
...
As early as when he was still a
congressman, I recall, he would walk up to the press gallery of the House of
Representatives and ask the newsmen: Ano kayang story ang mapakulo natin
para mapa-headline tayo bukas? (What story might we concoct so that we can
land the headlines of the newspapers tomorrow?)
...
1 Senate position became increasingly
precarious in view of the manipulations of then President Diosdado
Macapagal and the late Finance Secretary RufinoG
...
His objective was
to expose the NP conspirators, without naming them, and thereby discourage
them with the expose from going through with their plans to help the Macapagal Liberals oust him from the premier Senate post
...
As it was then, so it is now — and with greater ease on the
part of Marcos because he controls media in the Philippines by the coercive
powers of his martial regime and by his virtual ownership, personally and
through in-laws and cronies, of all media establishments in the country
...
Although clashes between the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines)
and the NPA (Communist New People's Army) occur daily in the countryside,
stories are given publicity only when the AFP either scores a victory or when
President Marcos finds the needs to remind the Supreme Court and some
visiting foreigners that there is "an absolute necessity to maintain martial law"
because the Communist rebellion still constitutes a clear and present danger
to the security of the country
...
The embargo was lifted, however, three days later when copies of
the Pacific Stars and Stripes, and subsequent xerox copies, were circulated
widely in Manila, giving the story on the raid conducted by Metrocorn troopers
armed to the teeth on a place whose only occupants were foreign priests and
nuns in meditation
...
Archbishop Jaime Sin protested not only
the raid, which was conducted in a most irregular manner, but also the lopsided
martial law government news version that the raid was "assisted" by the officers
of the Catholic hierarchy
...
The signs of growing restiveness among the clergy came just a few days
after the news agencies reported the arrest by Jewish security forces of the
Greek Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem for alleged smuggling of arms to
Palestine guerillas operating inside Israel
...
When the Filipino clergy’s
restiveness over the Novaliches raid began to gather strength and following,
what with the prayer vigil being led by Archbishop Sin himself “for the
restoration of civil liberties,” Marcos — as usual unable to find any creative
production by Secretary Tatad — himself ordered that the news story on the
arrest of the Greek archbishop be given wide and prominent publicity “in the
front pages” of the newspapers and over the radio and television stations
...
But the good archbishop was
not to be intimidated as he took on a more active and determined leadership of
the protest movement against martial law’s repressive rule in the Philippines
...
In keeping
with the original guidelines, newspaper editors called MAC and the DPI for
guidance on how they should treat the story
...
Only three men died in that
incident, caused by a hand grenade apparently left inside the bus with a timing
device
...
General Ver, Chief of the Presidential
Security Command and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, angrily
called up Tatad to inquire why he ordered the suppression of the bus bombing
incident
...
Since Narciso
Marquez, Jr
...
Ver had the full story, too
...
Ver was the main
instrumentality of Marcos in organizing all those terrible daylight bombings and
riots before martial law in Manila, the state of anarchy Marcos badly needed to
justify the imposition of martial law in the Philippines
...
Under martial
rule, media is also being utilized to exact vengeance on the enemies of the
President, his wife, Imelda, and brother-in-law, Kokoy Romualdez
...
They were hired by Kokoy
Romualdez as editorial consultants of the Times-Journal for quite different
reasons
...
*15
(*15
...
It was in his interest that he lull the Lopezes and
all his opponents into a false sense of security while he was preparing to impose martial law
...
)
On the other hand, Castro was hired to serve the vindictive objectives of
Kokoy
...
He wanted Castro
to be his slave, because he had long wanted to get even with the former Manila
Times editor for the arrogance and persecutory behavior the editor had shown
Kokoy when he has had to go around in 1965, begging the biggest daily
newspaper in Manila to use the press statements of Ferdinand Marcos
...
To get even with Joe Luna, Kokoy had the Manila Times editor recruited
into the Times-Journal in November, 1972, as resident editorial consultant, as
distinguished from Del Rosario's position as a non-resident editorial consultant
...
As a further insult
...
, into the TJ
...
It was in their role as resident and non-resident editorial consultants that
Joe Luna and Ernie del Rosario became the unhappy victims of a presidential
order for their “dismissal” from the TJ
...
Later on, Kokoy, who was — as usual indulging in his transcontinental love
affairs — was apprised in New York about the presidential order affecting the
editorial staff of his newspaper
...
But Joe Luna considered himself virtually under house
arrest
...
”
Now, how would the'Arabs react if they found out that the “firing” of the two
editorial consultants was just a “palabas?”
As a matter of fact, Joe Luna Castro is back in harness for the TJ
...
Rosario “Nena” Olivares, the ostensible
publisher of the TJ, assisted Joe Luna in setting up house for the Filipino
Reporter’s Western edition at 611 Post Street in San Francisco
...
Champions of the New Society, of which I somehow was one for quite a
while, have often argued that the loss of civil liberties, especially freedom of
speech and of the press, was a necessary price Filipinos must pay for peace
and order, and social and economic progress
...
Romulo has
even taken the lead in disparaging the relevance of liberal democracy to
Primitivo Mijares
Page 295
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
fundamental Philippine problems
...
Speech of Secretary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P
...
)
After almost four years, however, the New Society is praised only by its
chief architects and beneficiaries
...
As a matter of fact, Philippine media have virtually nothing
but praise for the Marcos martial regime and the wealth and beauty of Imelda
Marcos
...
Verily, the curtailment of press freedom will go on in the Philippines
...
However,
innovations will be resorted to as demanded by the circumstances to avoid the
appearance of government control of media
...
The so-called emancipation of the press under Presidential Decree No
...
Marcos cannot convince me that censorship
has been abolished
...
He operated media control
personally through me while I was chairman of the Media Advisory Council
...
This is done through the licensing power
...
The antagonistic attitude of the military towards the mass media was
developed by Marcos himself
...
This was the reason
for the wholesale closings and arbitrary arrests of publishers and journalists
known to be hostile to Marcos as martial law was imposed
...
Marcos beefed up this posture by placing the initial
job of censorship in the hands of the military
...
With the mass media reduced to docility, people naturally found outlets for
saying things
...
Rumor-mongering then became a
major source of trouble, for the martial law administrators
...
Rumors and the spreading of rumors were not only banned, but were
decreed subversive, ipso facto
...
” In
this instance, the rumors alleged that the constabulary was conducting housePrimitivo Mijares
Page 296
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
to-house night-time searches in various "zones” around Manila, a practice
reminiscent of the Japanese Occupation
...
In another instance,
Baldomero Olivera, a veteran newspaperman and founder of the Philippine
News Service, was arrested and detained for two months for delivering some
offhand, humorous comments about President and Mrs
...
He was
charged but never tried for "spreading rumors
...
"
One of the worst cases of rumor-mongering that I have had to handle
involved the publication of a parody of "Promotheus Unbound" in the FocusPhilippines weekly news-magazine
...
The first letter
every line read "MARCOS DIKTADOR HITLER TUTA" downward
...
The newsmagazine was already in circulation two days before the planted poem was
"discovered
...
The clever author(s)
really made sure that the Focus-Philippines edition containing the parody was
already in circulation before calls were made to students at the University of
Santo Tomas, then to the MAC, DPI, OCR, and Focus offices to "protest" the
publication of "a slur against the President
...
In
this particular case, all the President's men coordinated their efforts to retrieve
all copies of the Focus magazine
...
It was the best-selling edition of the Focus magazine
...
Tatad likewise called me
up and suggested that I recommend to the President that the magazine's
certificate of authority to operate be revoked
...
However, he
directed me to "post censors in every mass media office
...
It was evident that the thick hide of the dictator has
been pricked
...
Of course,
Tuvera had made sure earlier that Marcos gave prior approval to the magazine
project
...
Later, however, Tuvera changed
his mind and had his wife, Kerima, publish the Focus as a private undertaking,
taking in commercial advertising
...
There was no justification for Focus, other than the greed of the Tuveras to
make use of government printing facilities for private ends, to masquerade as
a government organ
...
A plethora of newspapers,
magazines and broadcasting stations outwardly owned by government
agencies compete with "private" media in dishing out propaganda to the
general public
...
The
National Media Production Center regularly issues Philippines Today,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 297
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Government Report and Philippine News
...
There is one government television channel (TV4) and half a dozen radio
stations operated by the Philippine Broadcasting Service, a unit of the DPI’s
Bureau of Broadcast, and one station operated by the Voice of the Philippines,
a unit of the NMPC
...
The Filipino Reporter was
originally New York-based and started out by former Manila Times military
reporter Libertito Pelayo as an independent organ
...
Both the Filipino Reporter and the Manila-Journal are directly controlled as to
financing and editorial content by Gov
...
Funds
for these two organs are raised most of the time by Kokoy from President
Marcos' contingent fund and from the Department of Public Information
...
From time to time, subsidies are dished out by Kokoy to various Filipino
publications in the United States
...
To their credit, the independent Philippine News, published by Alex
Esclamado in the West Coast; the Philippine Times, published by Edwin Olivera
in the mid-west; and the monthly Ningas Cogon, published by Loida NicolasLewis in the East Coast, have rejected overtures that they receive funding from
the martial law regime
...
S
...
Among them are Silayan, monthly of the National Committee for
Restoration of Civil Liberties in the Philippines; Tambuli, of Chicago, a fourpage newsletter of the Union of Democratic Filipinos; Pahayag, of Honolulu, a
12-page mimeographed monthly of a group of concerned Filipinos and
Americans; Philippine Information Bulletin, bi-monthly of Cambridge, Mass
...
S
...
Declared illegal by the dictatorial regime, progressive groups have
become even more prolific and viotriolic in the secret newspapers, newsletters
and leaflets condemning Marcos as being dictatorial, pointing out the future of
martial law programs and calling for nationwide resistance
...
When I was chairman of the MAC, I
chose not to interfere in the affairs of the major religious superiors, as I found
their product most interesting and informative
...
Gen
...
The AMRSP bowed to Menzi's demands, but came out with a similar
product, under the logo this time of "Sign of the Times
...
The AMRSP served notice it would not under
any circumstance capitulate to Menzi's demands
...
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win, People's Courier and Clenched Fist
...
" In the Philippines, the papers are distributed in markets, on campuses
and even door to door, despite the threat of at least six months imprisonment
for possession of them
...
To
mention a few; The Daily Express, Evening Express, Pilipino Express, Expressweek magazine as well as TV Channels 4 and 9 together with more than a
dozen radio stations of theKanlaon Broadcasting System (KBS) are controlled
by Ambassador Roberto S
...
Romualdez, the First
Lady's cousin
...
The ownership structure of TV Channel 13 is nebulous but TV Channel 7
is controlled by Gualberto Duavit, a former presidential aide
...
Bannawag, and
Bisaya, are owned by General Menzi, a one-time senior Presidential aide-decamp
...
Even Kerima Polotan Tuvera, the First Lady's official biographer, has her
own string of mass media establishments in addition to Focus-Philippines
...
The present ownership of mass media facilities in the Philippines leads to
one more official rationale (because there are several) for the harsh treatment
of journalists and publishers upon the declaration of martial law
...
He
claimed that the old society press was too sick to heal
...
Well, it was completely replaced by
his cronies Roberto S
...
These groups have constituted themselves into neo-oligarchic publishers
...
Although there have been
assurances against future arbitrary arrest, any journalist is still exposed to the
danger of being arrested on some grounds entirely unrelated to his professional
Primitivo Mijares
Page 299
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
undertaking
...
” Yet, not one of them was ever charged with such an
offense
...
No wonder, the International Press Institute, at its convention in Zurich in
May
...
unanimously withdrew the recognition accorded the Philippine
National Committee on the ground that a free press does not exist in the
Philippines
...
It deferred
action on the Philippine case at its Jerusalem General Assembly in June of
1973 and again at the Kyoto General Assembly in May of 1974
...
Juan Quijano reported that
the IPI came to the conclusion that its hope that the situation of the Philippine
press would improve has become evanescent
...
Like all other freedoms
which are our birthright under the Constitution, it can never be truly restored so
long as martial law continues
...
They are Antonio
Zumel, who is out there in some dark hideaway in the suburbs of Manila,
grinding out the underground press; Eddie Monteclaro, who is on self-imposed
exile in Chicago where he works as copy editor for the Sun Times; Amando
Doronilla, who chose to settle down in Australia and work for the Sydney Herald
after being given a travel permit in late 1975; and I, in my humble way, in the
West Coast
...
Valencia, who has
tried very hard to be a Marcos defender in hopes, perhaps, of succeeding me
in having that vital direct access to the President
...
Valencia, like any other practising media man in the Philippines, is still
subject to censorship as originally ordained by Marcos when he imposed
martial law
...
Censorship, an ancient sage once said, is always a symptom of a
frightened leader
...
P
...
Martial rule by Marcos in the Philippines continues, and can only continue,
because of the direct and indirect support that the United States government as distinguished from the more sensible American people who contribute their
hard-earned money in taxes paid to Uncle Sam's coffers - extends to the
Marcos - military dictatorship
...
there is martial law in the
Philippines, with its continuing repression of dissent and of the press, torture of
political prisoners, and reallocation of the country’s resources to a few families,
so long must the conscience of America be tortured
...
For, verily, a refined Watergate scandal in the Philippines continues to
foist itself upon the hapless Filipinos, deriving strength and vital support from
the fact that hard-earned American tax dollars are propping up the martial
regime in Manila
...
It is heartening to note though that the United States Congress has started
a review of the foreign assistance program of Uncle Sam
...
87-billion foreign aid bill a provision that no economic aid be
provided “to the government of any country which engages in a consistent
pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including
torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged
detention without charges, or other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty
and the security of a person
...
Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
...
The U
...
Senate tacked on to its own version of the Foreign Aid bill more
stringent restrictions that would deny U
...
aid to countries practising the
internment of political prisoners
...
S
...
Marcos is a very
shrewd man
...
Mr
...
S
...
Mr
...
S
...
S
...
It was precisely in anticipation of this reexamination
task by this congressional committee, that Mr
...
He had hoped that, since he himself had already
called for the restudy, the U
...
Congress would no longer do that
...
Marcos started preparing the minds of the Filipino people to the
possibility of a cutback or complete denial of U
...
aid to the Philippines
...
S
...
Marcos is a master of tne strategy of preemptive
strike
...
The line
now being mouthed by Manila's press under the baton of President Marcos
himself, is that the $100 million U
...
aid is less than FIVE (%) per cent of the
country's export income, and could easily be made up for by resources
available to the Philippines, if finally cut off
...
S
...
S
...
S
...
with opportunities to spy, meddle and
spread gossips and rumors disruptive of the aims of the authoritarian regime
...
S
...
DICTATORSHIP ENTRENCHED BY U
...
AID
Aside from plundering an entire nation, the conjugal dictatorship is also
misappropriating United States military and other assistance to get itself
entrenched in power and for its personal glorificaticn
...
S
...
Not only is American aid misrepresented to show
American support for the dictatorship, but the financial and material aid that
pour in from the U
...
are actually misused directly or indirectly by the regime
...
S
...
2) A greater portion of U
...
military assistance is supposed to be allocated
for counterinsurgency projects
...
Both commands are Mr
...
The
Presidential Security Command provides the manpower recruits for the
national secret police which Mr
...
”
3) In the field of economic assistance, agricultural and infrastructure
projects funded with U
...
aid are awarded to contractors with whom President
Marcos or his front men are tied up
...
Marcos is a Mr
...
4) In health, education and cultural fields, which are funded in parts of U
...
aid program, only projects that improve the image of the dictatorship in the eyes
of the people get priorities
...
S
...
Joselito Campos
...
Hardly had it
been turned over, when the provincial resthouse of the Marcoses in Barrio Olot,
Tolosa, Leyte province, was burned down by disgruntled barrio folks
...
The compound was burned down in late May
...
Marcos has already invited
her international jetset friends, headed by Mrs Christina Ford
...
g
...
) were airlifted from
Manila to Tacloban City, which was the nearest airport to Barrio Olot, by
Primitivo Mijares
Page 303
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Philippine Air Force planes, mainly the C-130 Hercules plane, in order to
complete construction of the destroyed area on time for the birthday bash
...
The same plane was used to ferry numerous
billboards and printed materials extolling the virtues of the conjugal leadership
for the inauguration of the Philippine Center in New York last November (1974)
...
It was her decision that, whenever U
...
government officials and
newspapermen come to Manila, the uniformed sentry guards at the
Malacanang barricades should be removed, barricades and all; only when they
leave are these signs of martial rule restored again
...
"The
Logistics of Repression," which was actually a report on the volume, forms, and
functions of the U
...
military assistance to the martial regime of Marcos
...
Ill, Nos
...
July 1975
...
General Considerations
...
Thus the contingent of the
Department of Defense during the Congressional hearings on the 1974 military assistance proposal could apparently find no contradiction in claiming that
while the U
...
government viewed the installation of martial law regimes in
Korea and the Philippines as constituting “internal domestic changes
undertaken by a sovereign nation,” *1 it was nevertheless actively providing the
Philippines martial law regime with military assistance “designed to provide
mobility, firepower, and communications — the three basic elements required
to combat insurgency forces
...
U
...
Congress,
House
Appropriations
Committee,
Hearings
Foreign
Assistance and Related Agencies Appropriations for FY 1974 (Washington,
D
...
: Government Printing Office, 1973), p
...
*2
...
, p
...
)
But whatever might be the ambiguities of administration policy at the
rhetorical level, at the behavioral level, it is quite clear that the United States is
intimately involved in propping up the Marcos martial law regime
...
Such
Primitivo Mijares
Page 304
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
rhetorical distinctions in fact begin to sound insincere and suspicious when
the levels of military assistance increase — and increase sharply, as we shall
document with the-advent of the dictatorial regime from the levels of aid to the
previous democratic state
...
See the conceptualization of military aid objectives by Admiral Ray Peet,
ibid
...
1978
...
Contrary to its proclaimed intentions of restoring law and
order, the martial law regime, with its reliance on repression and its familiar
tactic of branding all dissenters — Christian, Muslim, or nationalist — as
“Maoist” or “Maoist-inspired” has actually generated the widespread expansion of armed, organized opposition inasmuch as this remains the only
effective means of civil dissent possible
...
Whatever might have been the case prior to martial law, it is quite clear that
“insurgency”— with its connotations of small-scale and uncoordinated brushfire
acts against “public order” which lack widespread popular support — has
become an inappropriate term for the armed resistance to martial law carried
out by the Muslims in the southern Philippines and the New People’s
Army in the north
...
” for the sake of perspective, it is worth bearing
in mind that with an estimated 16,000 men under arms, it is roughly twice as
large as the biggest Communist movement going (in Southeast Asia), that of
Thailand
...
New York Times, May 11, 1975
...
“Insurgency”
has also become an inappropriate description for the anti-martial law activities
of the New People’s Army
...
(*5
...
)
The island of Samar, which lies next door to Leyte, the provincial bailiwick
of Mrs
...
*6 The number of NPA
regulars, according to the estimates of the Philippine Army, which has
traditionally belittled the size of the insurgent group, has increased since martial
law to 2,266 *7 with a support-population numbering many thousands
more
...
Bernard Wideman, “A new front for the insurgents,” Far Eastern Economic Review, July
15, 1974
...
New York Times, January 13, 1974
...
S
...
S
...
Pre-Martial Law and Post-Martial Law Levels of Official Military Aid
While the policy rhetoric of the administration with respect to the Marcos
regime has been filled with ambiguities and contradictions, there is no
ambiguity about the sharp increases of the levels of aid to the Marcos regime
after martial law:
Military Assistance Program (MAP)
...
MAP grants to the Philippines were erratically
declining in the period before martial law but began to experience a steady
upsurge after martial law
...
8 million more than the total for the three years before martial law, as shown
in the consolidated military aid table on page 5
...
Prior to martial law the Philippines had
no access to credits extended by the U
...
government for the purchase of arms
and military equipment under the Foreign Military Sales program
...
" *8
...
Department of Defense, Foreign Military Sales and Military Assistance Facts
(Washington: Dept
...
4
...
"*9
(* 9
...
cit
...
993
...
$8
...
Excess Defense Articles
...
to the third major component of military
assistance, the transfer of "excess defense articles," we find an even more
noticeable pattern of increase after martial law
...
2 million worth of excess-military equipment was
transferred to the Philippines, in the three years after martial law (FY 1973,
1974, 1975) transfer amounted to $21
...
The sharp increase in the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 306
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
value of excess defense articles delivered may be interpreted as the successful
outcome of Mr
...
As he declared in an interview with the New York Times in early
1973, after the conclusion of the Paris Peace Agreements, “We would
understand a shortage during the Vietnam War
...
”*10
(*10
...
*)
In 1973, “the largest single equipment transfers in years” took place, according
to a Washington Post correspondent, with the “United States
...
”*11
(*11
...
*)
In 1974, excess defense material turned over to the Philippine? amounted to
$10
...
In this regard, it is significant that in June
1974 Admiral Noel Gayler, then commander-in-chief of the U
...
Pacific Forces,
whose office controlled the disposition of Vietnam surplus materials, was
awarded the Philippine Legion of Honor, being specifically cited for
“Exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service rendered to the Republic
of the Philip- pines
...
”*12
(*12
...
134
...
*)
Ship Transfers
...
8 million in
1972, in 1973 it came to $22
...
It is significant that although only about
$4 million worth of naval vessels were originally programmed for transfer in FY
1973 during the congressional hearings of June 1972, *13
(*13
...
S
...
Cj Govt Printing Office, 1972), p
...
)
the final value of ships transferred during that fiscal year came to almost six
times that figure and represented what was perhaps the most expensive yearly
transfer of naval vessels in the postwar history of American military assistance
to the Philippines
...
Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG)
...
S
...
7 million
in 1975, up from $1
...
The number of American military and
civilian advisors was equal to that prior to martial law - 49 to 50 military men
and nine civilians
...
See House Appropriations Committee, op
...
, p
...
*)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 307
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Stability in this case was in fact a gain, especially in view of the regional cutback
in MAAG strength stemming in part from congressional pressure: MAAG
personnel in the East Asia-Pacific region were reduced by about 28% between
1972 and 1974
...
In 1974 it was the 10th largest in size of 47
country missions, being larger than any country mission in Latin America and
Europe and bigger than the teams in, among other U
...
allies, Japan,
Indonesia
...
* 16
(*15
...
Ibid
...
The only component of the military aid package to decline
relative to pre-martial law levels was officer training
...
1 million in
MAP funds was earmarked for the training of 453 Filipino officers in 1972, $899
thousand was allocated for 400 officers in 1973 and $631 thousand for 292
officers in 1974
...
an extremely
swollen annual contingent in the MAP training program for foreign officers
...
*17
(* 17
...
cit
...
11
...
Conclusions
...
levels of total U
...
military assistance in the
three years after martial law, we see an increase of about 100% in the latter
period, from $60
...
8 million in 1973-75
...
3 million) more than doubled the 1972 figure
($18
...
It is interesting to point out in this connection that although only
$28
...
Senate Appropriationd Cpmmittee, op
...
, p
...
Increases of such a scale are not
casually decreed, and the motivation behind the additional aid in this case was
quite clearly the need to support the military effort to impose the Marcos
regime's declaration of martial law on September 22, 1972
...
S
...
In FY
1973 and FY 1974 the total amount of military aid to the Philippines was:
— the twelfth largest of 66 national allocations and contained the eight largest
allocation for MAP aid (the major component of the assistance package)
— larger than the total allocation for Africa
Primitivo Mijares
Page 308
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
— larger than any allocation for a Western European country, including that for
Spain
— larger than the allocation for Brazil, the largest recipient in Latin America,
and larger than the combined totals of aid for the "southern cone" countries,
Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile
--- In East Asia and the Pacific, larger than the allocations for Japan and
Indonesia, and greater than the combined allocation for Japan, Malaysia,
Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka
...
S
...
"
U
...
Military Assistance and Counter-Insurgency
American defense officials have at times been quite candid about the
purposes of military aid
...
Thus Admiral Thomas Moorer, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, stated quite frankly during the congressional hearings on the 1974 military
assistance proposal that:
The security assistance material program
...
We are providing helicopters and transport aircraft,
machine guns, recoilless rifles, and other weapons, together with long-range
communications equipment
...
House Appropriations Committee, op
...
p1280
...
JUSMAGP and the formation of Battalion Combat Teams
...
Composed of about 600 men, the BCT grew out of the anti-Huk campaign
of the early fifties with American advisory, and operational assistance
...
For the close operational role of U
...
military officials in the anti-Huk campaign, see
Edward Lansdale, In the Midst of Wars (New York Harper and Row, 1972 ), passim
...
After martial law the
advisory and operational role of JUSMAGP in the formation of BCT's appears
to have intensified
...
S
...
During
recent years the primary effort of JUSMAGP has been to assist the Philippine
Primitivo Mijares
Page 309
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Army in increasing the number of combat battalions
...
*22 JUSMAGP assistance in this "beefing up" process has,
according to international press reports, *23 included visits to and observation
of battlefield areas in Mindanao, the seat of armed Muslim resistance to martial
law
...
The more important weapons and
weapons-systems delivered to the Philippines after the imposition of martial law
which have been monitored by the press and various military-surveillance
agencies, have been especially suited forcounterinsurgency activities
...
S
...
In 1973 the Philippine Army received
at least 13,770 new rifles as part of U
...
military assistance * 24 - enough to
equip 33 new combat battalions
...
*25
Also funneled to the Marcos
regime were Vietnam-proven M-79 grenade launchers and M-60 machine
guns
...
*27
(*21
...
C
...
40
...
Institute of Strategic Studies, The Military Balance, 1973-74, and 1973-75 (London:
Institute of Strategic Studies, 1973 and 1974)
...
Sunday Times (London), April 15, 1973
...
Department of State, “Military Assistance to the Government of the Philippines,” (xeroxed
material submitted to the Subcommittee on International Relations, House ^Foreign
Affairs Committee) June 1975 (hereafter cited as Department of State, “Military
Assistance
...
Department of State, “Selected U
...
Military and Police Exports, 1974” (xerox)
...
New York Times, April 2, 1973
...
U
...
Congress, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearings, Fiscal 1975 Foreign
Assistance Request (Washington: Govt
...
354
...
Vietnam-type fragmentation bombs and napalm have persistently been
reported by reliable sources as being in use in the fighting against guerrillas
...
*28 These allegations must be seen as especially serious when
they come from officials of Philippine government or officers of the Philippine
army
...
*29 " According to an "Associated Press" report
from Manila on February 1, 1975:
(*28
...
29
...
Ben Kerkvliet, “Statement for the Friends of the Filipino People,” in House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, op
...
, p
...
)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 310
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Col
...
Colonel Caniaso also said that during another air strike, his troops 500 yards
from the target area felt the heat of the bombs
...
*31
These weapons systems are particularly suited for counter-guerrilla warfare
...
S
...
From FY 1973 to FY 1975, 27 helicopters
were transferred to the Philippine Armed Forces
...
S
...
" *33 In FY 1973, 20 of these vehicles
reached the Philippine Army
...
S
...
*35
(*30
...
*31
...
*32
...
*33
...
278
...
Department of State, “Military Assistance
...
New York Times, February 22, 1974
...
S
...
16 surplus C-123 planes were transferred to the Philippines Armed
Forces in1973
...
Washington Post, June 6, 1973*)
Asked why such a quantity of C-123’s was earmarked for the Philippines, the
Defense Department spokesman replied, quite lamely, that "One need only to
look at a map of the Philippines to see the need for air and sea transport
...
House Appropriations Committee, op
...
, p
...
These aircraft were
erroneously referred to as C-119’s
...
Moreover, the uses of large cargo craft in anti-guerilla warfare,
where no enemy air opposition exists, have not been limited to transport
...
military aircraft
...
" *39
An $8 million military loan from the Export-Import Bank enabled the Marcos
government to acquire four C-130 Hercules troop transports in 1973,*40 "The
U
...
and other countries," a Lockheed ad asserts, "buy Hercules because it
can do a lot of things other planes can't"
...
Introduced to service in
...
...
62 mm
...
searchlights and sensors,
including forward-looking infra-red target acquisition equipment and direct-view
image intensification sights
...
It was regularly employed for air strikes
against the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
...
*42
...
Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, 1971 (London: Jane’s Yearbooks, 1971), p
...
*39
...
*40
...
Arms Trade Register, (Stockholm: SIPRI, 1975),
p
...
*41
...
361
...
Department of State, “Military Assistance
...
Eight in-shore patrol craft, 13
landing craft, four amphibious troop carriers, 12 LARC-5 reached the Philippine
Armed Forces during this period
...
counter-insurgent operations against the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia
...
*43
Recently, the U
...
Navy was reported by Aviation Week and Space
Technology to have plans to invite the Marcos government to acquire
unspecified numbers of OV-10 aircraft
...
Department of State, “Military Assistance
...
Aviation Week and Space Technology, Nov
...
11
...
" *45 It carries four M-60 7
...
machine guns plus up to 3,100 lbs
...
" *46
(*45
...
1, No
...
6 (summary of
description of airplane in Air Force Magazine, May 1974, pp
...
*46
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 312
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Congressionally-Unauthorized Aid to the Marcos Government
In its April 1973 report to the Congress on U
...
military assistance to'the
Philippines, the General Accounting Office repeatedly complained of the
various methods "by which military assistance to the Philippines has been
augmented without Congressional approval or authority
...
S
...
Use of U
...
Base Facilities
...
S
...
S
...
*48 This
section will focus on post-martial law instances of base support
...
S
...
*49 These cargo craft, incidentally, are now
being used in supply operations in the Marcos regime's military campaign
against the Muslims in the southern Philippines
...
General Accounting Office, Military Assistance and Commitments in the Philippines
(Washington, D
...
: GAO, 1973), p
...
*48
...
S
...
S
...
C
...
Printing Office, 1971), p
...
*49
...
S
...
C
...
497
...
an
investigating team of the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee noted
that:
...
Base officials told us that they were pleased to have the opportunity to assist
the Filipinos
...
S
...
Officials in Washington were unable to say whether the F-5's have already been
used for such purposes or whether they would be in the future
...
U
...
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Staff, Korea and the Philippines
(Washington, D
...
: Govt
...
40
...
First, the Philippines has only one squadron of F-5's, which
means that in late 1972 the whole modern fighter component of the Philippine
Air Force (PAF) - most other fighters being obsolete F-36*s — was stationed at
Clark
...
Institute of Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 1973-74 (London: Institute of Strategic
Studies, 1973)
...
*52 The NPA consistently
reported that F-5's operating out of Clark conducted bombing raids against
them during that period
...
Clark, on the other hand, is less than 200 miles away
...
*53 The only other Philippine Air Force base in Luzon
is the small Floridablanca Air Base south of Clark
...
Given these considerations,
the probability that the air strikes against the NPA in Isabela were mounted from
Clark is rather high
...
Another way the martial law regime has received aid
unauthorized by Congress is through joint military exercises conducted under
the U
...
-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty
...
of the operational costs of these maneuvers are paid for by the
U
...
Thus among the reasons cited for the award of the Philippine Legion of
Honor to General Louis H
...
S
...
" *54 South East Asia Treaty
Organization (SEATO) exercises led and principally financed by U
...
forces
represent another conduit of extra-official military assistance to the Philippines
...
*55
(*52
...
*53
...
*54
...
cit
...
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), Feb
...
One of the most publicized forms of extra-official military aid
to the Marcos regime has been the "civic-action" activities conducted by U
...
Army Special Forces ("Green Beret") units in the Philippines
...
"Winning hearts and
minds" through military civic action has traditionally been undertaken by U
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 314
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
base personnel in areas adjoining the bases,*56 to which the "Communist
insurgency," according to a Defense Department spokesman in the 1973
congressional hearings, "represents a
...
" *57 Since 1970 U
...
civic-action projects began to acquire a more coordinated character and a
nationwide scope
...
S
...
S
...
S
...
" *58 This "well-established" policy
was reversed with the arrival of Special Forces teams from Okinawa who went
to work "on a co-equal, integrated basis with the Armed Forces of the
Philippines counterpart (civic-action) team
...
*60
According to a State Department statement regarding the Special Forces'
area of operations, "As a general policy the presence of current
insurgent/dissident activities or a recent history of such activities in the exercise
area automatically eliminates the area from further consideration" for civic
action activities
...
- Zamboanga Province hac been the scene of sporadit guerrilla activity since
1969, and this escalated into large-scale armed resistance immediately
after martial law was declared in September 1972, the period when the
Green Berets were there
...
The most recent proof
of the "high in- surgency" potential of the area two servicemen were killed
in a mysterious encounter with guerrillas or the outskirts of the Subic
Naval Base
...
AFP
intelligence reported NPA "sightings" in the Madya-as Mountain
Range
...
*63
(*56
...
S
...
cit
...
355
...
House Appropriations Committee, op
...
*58
...
S
...
cit
...
Holton, op
...
p
...
*60
...
*61
...
)
*62
...
5, May 16, 1973
...
New York Times, January 13, 1973
...
*64 Samar where
the Green Beretswere present in March-May 1974, was in fact taking on the
character of an expansion area at that very period
...
The maturity of NPA organization in the area was indicated by the report: “On Samar the NPA worksby
approaching farmers and offering instructions on better farming methods,
improving irrigation and giving medical advice
...
At the
time of the ambush, these methods had been so successful that six barrios (in
Calbiga) were completely organized, while two others were so committed that
every man, woman, and child left with the NPA, instead of government
forces
...
(*64
...
*65
...
cit
...
One Special Forces officer indeed “acknowledged
that this work could be useful in winning over tribal groups,” according to a New
York Times report
...
Second, the pro-govemment bias of the Special Forces was at the
practical level, quite explicit inasmuch as the Green Berets and their AFP
counterparts operated on an “integrated” basis, dispelling any notion that the
former constituted a “neutral” force
...
The GAO 1972 report also complained of
such unofficial forms of military aid as the sending of special military advisory
missions to the Philippines to assist Philippine Armed Forcesunits in such
activities as weather control and communications, noting that the
appropriations for these operations were not included under the
congressionally approved assistance to the Philippines
...
James Sterba, “U
...
cautious on Marcos’ arms appeals,” New York Times, April 2, 1973
...
Patrice de Beer, “The Philippines: Will the archipelago become another Vietnam?” Le
Monde, April 13, 1973
...
GAO, op
...
, pp
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 316
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
After martial law such forms of aid have apparently continued
...
S
...
until October 1975
...
Though seemingly harmless and
"scientific," such activities undertaken by U
...
and Philippine military personnel
often serve less edifying purposes
...
S
...
The Naval Weapons
Center, it was later revealed in the secret
Congressional testimony on
"Weather Modification" in March 1974, was involved from 1966 to 1972 in
developing and applying effective rain-making techniques for the creation of
adverse climate conditions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos
...
it appears that the Filipinos will continue to make wise use of
the capability (for cloud-seeding) as it is needed
...
Holton, op
...
, pp
...
*70
...
S
...
C
...
Printing Office, 1974), pp
...
*71
...
Selected Aspects of the Employment of U>S
...
Inefficient and Wasteful Use of Military Aid
...
major equipment items have been deadlined,"
asserted the report "for maintenance or parts for extensive periods without
prompt and effective followup by command and logistics personnel
...
*73
(*72
...
cit
...
Ibid
...
33)
In spite of these findings the Defense Department sharply escalated the
level of aid to the Marcos regime in 1973, especially in the areas of excess
defense articles and ship transfers
...
S
...
The wasteful application of military
resources by thePhilippine military must, however, be seen not as a local
phenomenon but as one which is intimately connected with the training
in military strategy and tactics it has received from the United States military
Primitivo Mijares
Page 317
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
which has specialized in devising methods to shore up allied dictatorships
through principally military solutions and without regard for questions of popular
legitimacy and popular justice
...
And the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) which took over the
U
...
whose efforts failed, not because it could not fight as well as the U
...
Army, but because it took to heart the American military antidote to guerrilla
war: a “capital-intensive” campaign based on mobility provided by sophisticated
but expensive vehicles and the excessive and indiscriminate employment of
firepower
...
*74
(*74
...
)
The performance of the Pbilirpine Army hears comparison with the ARVN
and the U
...
Army in Vietnam
...
In
Cotabato Province, one of the main battle areas, "townsfolk and villagers,"
according to a March 27, 1973 New York Times report, "say that the ponderous
use of equipment that the army already has is killing civilians and destroying
their homes
...
" The old, historic town of Maimhung was,
"according to military and civilian travellers
...
A
government leaflet drop tells rebels to surrender because what you see now is
only a game for children compared to battles yet to come
...
While as the Muslim resistance fighters who
attacked the city partly in response to the military "wasting" of towns like
Maimbupg "the army response - artillery, two boats and naval shelling apparently surprised the rebels who had prepared for hand to hand combat
...
*76 Evoking a parallel with
the destruction of Hue in 1968, one correspondent concluded that the
"government helped destroy a town in order to save it" *77
(*75
...
*76
...
This piece
is probably the most extensive report on the battle of Jolo
...
*77
...
” Washington Post, March 3, 1974
...
If the Muslims could still
afford in early 1973 such exercises in magnanimity as releasing captured
soldiers after simply lecturing them on the need to overthrow Mr
...
The
indiscriminate use of sophisticated weapon has also made the link between the
user and supplier more evident to many civilians
...
But
in Mindanao, as the fighting continues, there are sometimes other sentiments
...
” *79
(*78
...
*79
...
S
...
,” New York Times, April 2, 1973
...
S
...
There are additional
ingredients
...
Officer training has been a traditional component of military assistance to the
Philippines
...
The result
has been the socialization of a whole generation of Filipino officers into a
military frame of mind — one might label it the "Fort Benning mentality" — that
the way to deal with popularly supported guerrilla movements is by military
terror
...
Mr
...
A typical Westmorelandean figure is
General Tranquilino Paranis, army commander for northeastern Luzon - the
prime NPA insurgency area - in 1973
...
" *82
(*80
...
24
...
Sterba, op
...
*82
...
cit
...
He repeated the classical Diemist tactic of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 319
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
"strategic relocation," forcibly evacuating 20,000 people from 100 to 200
villages in Isabela Province in a brute effort to separate the guerrilla "fish" from,
the peasant "water"
...
Military Corruption
...
S
...
S
...
Informants in Mindanao report that rebel acquisition of arms
from military suppliers is quite common
...
"You are the first foreigner we have seen,"
Ambihal (the group leader) replied
...
It has cost him 3,000 pesos
($450)
...
*83
While the sale of U
...
-provided weapons lo the other side has apparently
not yet reached the scale of the trade in Cambodia before the fall of the Lon
Nol government, it is likely to increase with the piling up of excess weaponry as
the levels of U
...
military assistance to the Philippine Armed Forces increase
...
S
...
Arming of Bandit Groups
...
S
...
The real character of these paramilitary groups is indicated by a report
carried by the Far Eastern Economic Review:
The LSDF seems likely to heighten the war rather than lessen it
...
B
...
Already there have been accusations of
indiscriminate killing of Muslims by the LSDF and of burning of mosques and
Muslim villages
...
“The rebels: ‘I learned it from the movies’,” Time, April 16,1973, p
...
*84
...
cit
...
On June 4, 1973 a Washington Post correspondent reported the "arrest"
Primitivo Mijares
Page 320
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
in Zamboanga of "five armed Christians
...
" Recently, a report carried in the Far Eastern Economic
Review claimed that,
In the Basilan town of Lamitan, the Muslim population is particularly fearful
of a Christian vigilante group called the Mundo Escurro (Black World)
...
Yet a
commanding officer of anearby battalion claims that the Mundo Escurro is a
law-abiding group whose members often aid his troops in operations
...
Reliable sources from the Dadiangas area of Cotabato Province has
consistently claimed that a group of convicted criminals known as the "Lost
Command" operates in the vicinity
...
Being under
the direct operational control of the Office of the President this group is said to
have contributed to the deterioration of peace and order in the area, where
three groups are now competing for control: "Trie Muslim resistance, the
Philippine Army, and the "Lost Command
...
And it is also
relevant to note that Mr
...
Police and Para-Military Assistance
...
James
Wilson
...
admitted that the AID Public Safety Program which had been in
existence for about a decade, had "some bearing on counter-insurgency
...
" *87
The person who was most instrumcittal in setting up the Philippine program
was Frank Walton, a key AID police official who later went from the Philippines
to set up a similar program in Vietnam and is currently involved in "modernizing"
police forces in Iran, where police methods of dealing with dissenters have
achieved a special notoriety
...
Public Safety Program
allocations for the Philippines came to some $6 million
...
Whereas between 1961 and 1968 only $1
...
9 million were spent from 1969 to 1973
...
S
...
” *88
(*85
...
cit
...
Names of sources available to selected congressmen on request
...
U
...
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, op
...
, pp
...
*88
...
S
...
: 1973), p
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 321
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
It will be recalled That after the 1969 presidoriual elections, which were
universally considered to be the most corrupt in Philippine history, student
demonstrations against official graft and American influence, peasant marches
for land reform, and workers' actions against mounting inflation became
generalized phenomena
...
AID police assistance also made possible a coordinated internal
records system and 35 police communications networks, *89 and established
10 regional training centers which imparted the most advanced techniques of
riot control, paramilitary operations, intelligence, and communications to 23,902
police officers between December 1969 and April 1973
...
In this connection, it is significant to
note that 35 Filipinos — the largest group ever — were graduated
from the IPA in 1973, the first year of martial law, m contrast to
an annual average of 15 previously
...
More
recently, the program, asserted one academic specialist in Philippine affairs at
the University of Hawaii can take credit for such post-martial law
achievements as
...
*92
(*89
...
cit
...
773
...
House Appropriations Committee, Hearings, Foreign Assistance and Related Agencies
Appropriations for 1975, Part Two (Washington: Govt
...
285
...
International Police Academy, Yearbook (1969,1970,1972,1973) (Washington:
International Police Academy)
...
Kerkvliet, op
...
Large quantities of new police equipment apparently were transferred to the
Philippines after martial law, in 1973
...
In November 1973 a police parade was
especially staged to show off new AID-donated patrol cars, an event which
some townsfolk cynically dubbed "the U
...
AID parade
...
In the light of the sinister record of
the Vietnamese activities of the OPS,*95
(*93
...
*94
...
Paul Wilson, clergyman detained by Philippine government m 1974 and
congressional witness on June 5,1975; personal communication
...
AID-OPS and AID-CORDS were intimately involved in the CIA-directed pacification
effort “Operation Phoenix”, which carried out the liquidation of some 40,000 Vietnamese
...
Narcotics Control
...
The
State Department continues to provide equipment and training for "international
narcotics control
...
1 million worth of narcotics-control assistance
...
*96 All this is curious
...
The
narcotics contiol assistance in the Philippines was started, according to an AID
spokesperson, on the mere suspicion that the country could become a "major
drug route
...
The problem with police training in narcotics control is that the skulls
acquired in it can easily be transferred to the surveillance and apprehension of
political dissenters
...
A concrete instance of the manner narcotics control skills have been
translated into the surveillance and apprehension of suspected political
dissenters occurred in April 1973, when the Anti-Naicotics Unit of the Philippine
Constabulary (CANU) - a major recipient of equipment and training for the
International Narcotics Control Program — raided the house of Liliosa Hilao, a
suspected radical, and tortured her to death
...
*99
(*96
...
S
...
cit
...
342
...
Interview with David Christenson, Asst
...
*98
...
S
...
Printing Office, 1974), p
...
According to Senator Inouye
of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, “In the past the public safety program has been
justified in part because of its contribution to the narcotics program” (Senate Appropriations
Committee, op
...
, p
...
*99
...
4; see also “A document of suspected death by
torture,” Ningas Cogon'iNew York), August 1973, p
...
)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 323
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The CIA
...
The threat of CIA para-military interference in Philippine politics
is especially critical at this point because of two facts of major significance
...
Mr
...
S
...
*100 We would therefore
expect the tie-ups between the Ambassador's office, and the CIA to be closer
in the Philippines than in most other countries, and there are indeed indications
that Sullivan has been busy reassembling his battle-hardened Laotian staff
...
*101
The second fact of critical relevance is that the CIA local-support network
has traditionally been more established and influential in the Philippines than in
most other countries
...
Among them are such figures as exsenator Manuel Manahan, ex-congressman Oscar Arellano, and Jose
Crisol
...
It has
been estimated that as many as 10,000 such jobs were filled by Filipinos'
familiarity with the English language and American managerial techniques
made them choice recruits for these support-activities
...
See Anthony Lewis, “Another Senate test
...
*101
...
5
...
The names of many of these figures can be found in Lansdale, and The Pentagon
Papers (New York: Bantam Books, 1971), pp
...
*103
...
Many of these jobs were with well-known CIA-backed or CIA-financed
operations such as "Operation Brotherhood" in Laos, Eastern Construction in
Vietnam, and Air America; the DOD-dependent Internationa] Volunteer
Services
...
For information on Operation Brotherhood-CIA links and Eastern Construction-CIA
tieups, see The Pentagon Papers, op
...
Filipino pilots are favorite Air America recruits and Filipino
social workers were recruited into IVS
...
S
...
The reputation of Filipinos as counter-revolutionary cadres and
mercenaries throughout Indochina was recently brought home in a CBS
interview last April with a young Vietnamese who stated that his primary reason
for seeking refuge in the United States was his fear that the PRC forces could
Primitivo Mijares
Page 324
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
mistake him for a Filipino and "execute" him
...
*105 The training in CIA-connected counter-insurgent support activities
of these Filipinos might be considered a form of "paramilitary aid" to the
Philippines especially in view of the fact that most of them have been returning
home, where they would form a ready - and restless - pool of experienced
paramilitary cadres on which the CIA could easily draw for whatever local
adventures it might seek to launch
...
Three large-scale programs of the Agency for International
Development in the Philippines deserve special comment in this regard: the
AID-assisted "regional development" Scheme in the Bicol River Basin in Luzon;
the AID "provincial development" project and the "rural irrigation and roads"
project
...
*106 AID entered the Bicol
River Basin Project in 1971 and activities were gradually intensified
...
*107
*105
...
*106
...
S
...
cit
...
1226
...
Interview with Christenson
...
The most heavily 'infected' area - to use the pafliological
imagery of counter-insurgency parlance - is Sorsogon Province, which one
frustrated Constabulary officer complained to a Manchester Guardian
correspondent, "
...
mountains, good
cover, bad roads where there are any at all, and above all, an abundance of
food
...
Constabulary - NPA
firefight began to be recorded in several barrios of Camarines Sur by August
1973,*109 and an underground town and urban movement began to become
especially active, also by late 1973 in Naga City, the capital of Camarines Sur,
and Legaspi City and Daraga town in neighboring Albay Province
...
Liberation, October 10, 1973
...
Ibid
...
The project will receive higher priority
in FY 1976 when it will be complemented by a S10 million rural road-building
program, which will include the rehabilitation of 200 feeder roads in isolated
areas, many of which are in NPA-infested Sorsogon
...
''
The political, counterinsurgent character of the program becomes even
sharper, when we note that in 1974 AID contracted the services of the social
science research team of a well-known anthropologist with wide experience in
the area, clear anti-left opinions, and distinct pro-martial law views to do a largescale survey to tap peasant responses to various aspects of rural existence
...
*112
The use of the behavioral sciences for counterinsurgency purposes is, of
course, familiar, and the activities of certain political scientists in Vietnam and
anthropologists in Thailand in the late sixties have been the bestknown
instances of this
...
In FY 1973 a new AID project,
funded to the tune of $4 million was introduced in the Philippines, this time with
the ostensible aim of "modernizing" provincial and local governments
...
*114 The project involved the assignment of
American "rural-development" experts to Filipino governors,*115 and was
projected to ultimately cover "almost one-half of the sixty-eight Philippine
provinces
...
Interview with Christenson
...
See Institute of Philippine Culture, Modernization: Its Impact in the Philippines, Nos
...
For details on the funding of this project,
see one of the authors of this report, who served as publications director of IPC from 1967 to 1969
...
In the Philippines, another clearly “intemal-security” related study was the investigation done
by RAND’s Harvey Averch, which was financed by AID and, according to Congressman Wolff of
the Foreign Affairs Committee, by the USAF
...
Consult one of the authors of this report who has a copy of
the classified abstract of the study
...
House Appropriations Committee, op
...
, p
...
(*115
...
cit
...
House Appropriations C’ttee,op
...
)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 326
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The project
...
" *117 More ominously, it has
been headed and staffed by former AID-CORDS Vietnam hands
...
*118 Using the methodology provided by John Marks in his
seminal article on the ways to identify CIA agents,*119 we think it very likely
that one of these individuals was with the CIA in the fifties and may have acted
since then under AID cover - a rather common arrangement, according to an
AID witness during the FY 1974 congressional hearings on foreign assistance
...
*121 The program
has since been integrated into the larger regional development scheme in the
NPA-threatened Bicol area
...
Szulc, op
...
*118
...
*119
...
*120
...
cit
...
Szulc, op
...
*122
...
Edward Morris, an American lawyer who made extensive travels in the rural
areas of the Philippines after martial law, asserted during his congressional
testimony on June, 5, 1975, that part of AID's rural development assistance is
being channeled toward the training of rural police forces
...
The AID effort has been coordinated with the Provincial Development
Assistance Program of the Office of the President, as the AID 1975 funding
request admits
...
House Appropriations Committee, op
...
)
Interestingly enough, it has been partly through this agency that Mr
...
” It will be recalled that last February, voters
were forced to legitimize this fait accompli during Mr
...
Rural Roads Program
...
In FY 1975
Primitivo Mijares
Page 327
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
about $15 million were allocated by AID to support the Philippine govern ment
roadbuilding efforts, with significant portions of the aid coming in tlie form of
Vietnam surplus equipment
...
*124
It is significant that four of these provinces were war zones or highinsurgency areas: Cotabato, Capiz, Albay, and Camarines Sur
...
As noted earlier, 220 "feeder
roads" in isolated areas of the region are to be "rehabilitated," including several
in Sorsogon Province, the NPA's stronghold in the Bicol area, where the AFP's
concern for the poor quality of roads is well-known
...
(*124
...
)
(*125
...
cit
...
The Food for Peace program (P
...
480) has been aptly
described as providing "funds for war" on account of the practice of U
...
client
regimes directly or indirectly using the proceeds from food sales (under Title I
of P
...
480) formilitarv or military-related projects
...
4 million as credits under Title I,
*126 thus allowing the Marcos regime to allocate more of its budgetary
resources for the purchase of armaments — activities which now consume the
major portion of the government budget
...
L
...
On March 27, 1973, a New York Times reporter observed
Philippine troops in the Cotabato area unloading 'crates of supplies, some
adorned with the red, white and blue, handshaking label of the U
...
Agency for
International Development
...
L
...
*127
The "Beaver Affairs
...
S
...
In 1973 the Philippines
obtained 120 DMC-2 Beavers for "develops ment purposes
...
AID, FY 1976 Submission to Congress, Summary, Washington, D
...
: AID, May 1975, p
...
cit
...
*127
...
*128
...
ciL
*129
...
"Purchased for the cost of shipping" from the U
...
military surplus stockpile in
Vietnam, several of these planes were later observed being fitted out with
machine guns, a fact which reportedly drew the protest of tire AID office in
Manila when it was drawn to the latter's attention
...
Being one of the most dependable general utility
aircraft, the Beaver was widely utilized in Vietnam for a wide variety of
supportive military functions, from detecting guerrilla movements to carrying out
light machinegun attacks
...
With the confirmation by foreign
correspondents of the predictable military utilization of the aircraft, the AID
office had, in short, no other alternative but to protest, but this should not
obscure what was initially a "complicity through deliberate passivity" on its part
...
An AID spokesperson asserted that they are currently being
utilized to make aerial photographs of the land reform area in Nueva Ecija
province
...
The fact that Nueva Vizcaya, where
NPA activity has been reported, borders Nueva Ecija, and Isabela, the prime
NPA stronghold, is less than a hundred miles away, might perhaps shed more
light on the "aerial photographic" functions of these aircraft
...
Interview with Christenson
...
They are
engaged in a mutual protection racket
...
In turn, American multinationals
help Marcos lobby with official Washington,
...
C
...
On the other hand, the post-war Japanese zaibatsus (conglomerates) - also
in exchange for placing them practically on the same footing with big American
business in the Philippines — flash continuing signals to their MITI (Ministry of
International Trade and Industry) that Marcos deserves more dollar loans from
Tokyo
...
Marcos, it is arrogantly
held out, has it in his power to withdraw all the concessions he has granted the
foreign investors
...
The groaning American and
Japanese taxpayers are victims no less of this protection racket invented by
Primitivo Mijares
Page 329
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos
...
Other giant companies from Western Europe and Oceania have also come
in to engage in manufacturing or in the exploitation of the Philippines' natural
resources
...
The strongest and most appalling conspiracy of the martial regime on the
exploitation of the Filipino people is with the American multinational
...
Undoubtedly, it is a great sell-out
...
In the case of the United States, the license that the American
multinationals obtain from the martial regime is exchanged with the continuation
of the U
...
foreign assistance program to the dictatorship
...
*1
(*1
...
S
...
”)
The tragic part of the conspiracy between the multinationals and Marcos is
that the former fell into a well-laid trap of the latter
...
And now that the multinationals are seemingly
irretrievably mired in the quicksand of the conjugal dictatorship, they still would
want to continue the conspiracy with Marcos in order to protect their
investments
...
Economic nationalism
assumed a vehement anti-American tone, also at the instance of Marcos
...
Barredo)
...
Marcos also plugged
vigorously for the approval by Congress of an Investment Incentives Act that
would adopt the principles and objectives of economic nationalism
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 330
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The set-play employed by Mafia-minded Marcos was not different from the
"watch-your-car" racket flourishing in the side streets of Manila
...
The kid, however, does not guarantee that
the car will not be stolen while parked
...
,
who now resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, sheds light on the exploitation of
under-developed countries by multinationals
...
Philippine Times, Feb
...
The article is entitled,
“Under-development Worsened by the Multinational Firms
...
Numerous charges have been leveled against U
...
multinationals to the
effect that chronic under-development throughout the Third World is the direct
result of multinational corporation policies
...
At this juncture, it is best to present a composite definition of a multinational
corporation also known as transnational enterprises
...
(See David Ewing, Multinationals on
Trial, Harvard Business Review)
...
S
...
These criticisms
relate to the sheer size of these companies and their consequent powerful
social and political impact in the Third World nations in which they operate
...
U
...
investments in
such countries as the Philippines, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil account for
the bulk of those countries' foreign investments and foreign exchange earnings
...
Y
...
United Nations figures show that in 1970, they repatriated
$2
...
In 1968, they repatriated
$2
...
In 1971, they
Primitivo Mijares
Page 331
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
repatriated $996 million from Africa but invested only $270 million
...
Unwittingly, therefore, the article-advertisement of the Business
Roundtable itself lent credence to the charges leveled against U
...
multinationals, by providing its own figures, to the effect that American
companies operating abroad “returned home royalties and foreign earnings of
$21
...
”
Contrary to the assertions made in the said article, it has been claimed that
operations of these transnational enterprises has in fact not only stunted the
economic growth of some countries, but actually such countries are worse off
than before
...
”
The best illustration of the rapacious conduct of some U
...
multinationals
would be their operations in the Philippines which has a long history of trade
and investment relations with the United States
...
S
...
What followed was typical colonial
relationship between the U
...
and the Philippines, wherein the U
...
dominated
Philippine trade
...
This colonial free trade policy is said to have had a lasting
detrimental effect on the economy of the Philippines
...
However, the Philippines continued to be economically
dependent on the United States, as the U
...
perpetuated a structure of
underdevelopment
...
S
...
Presently, current U
...
investments in the Philippines are valued at $2
billion or even as high as $3 billion
...
S
...
While investment in the Philippines represents only 1 percent of the total book
value of U
...
direct investment worldwide, it also represents 80 per cent of all
foreign investments in the Philippines
...
S
...
U
...
multinationals now dominate in all major Philippine industries —
automotives, petroleum, rubber, timber, mining, sugar, banking and finance,
agribusiness, and even accounting and advertising services
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 332
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
A report prepared by the Corporate Information Center of the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U
...
A
...
Statistics show that in the Philippines from 1966 to 1971, income levels
for the bottom 20 per cent have actually declined, from 4
...
6 per
cent, while the upper 20 per cent holds 54 per cent of the wealth
...
2
...
3
...
A study conducted by the National Economic Council of
the Philippines between 1956 and 1965 on 108 of the largest U
...
firms in the
Philippines showed that 84 per cent of their financing was done through local
currency loans
...
Two case studies were made in the fruit manufacturing industry in the
Philippines which is virtually a monopoly of two American multinationals, the
Del Monte Corporation and the Dole Philippines, a subsidiary of Castle &
Cooke
...
36-43) are fascinating for they
reveal how these two multinationals were getting 200 per cent a year return on
their respective per capita (equity) on land not owned by them but owned by
the Filipino people
...
(Marcos converted this
Amencan-style democratic nation to a dictatorial one when he declared
martial law on Sept
...
With this brief evaluation of U
...
investments in the Philippines, the wider
issue of multinational corporations and their implications particularly in
reference to Third World development becomes apparent
...
Certainly, this crucial issue cannot be brushed aside by a
few propaganda lines in the heretofore sacrosanct Reader’s Digest
...
20, 1974, to wit:
Primitivo Mijares
Page 333
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
"The truth is that investment by foreign capitalist corporations has always
accomplished precisely the opposite of what the theory claims
...
This is the whole point of such investments
...
They are pumps designed to suck up the country's wealth and transfer it
abroad
...
They ruin or buy out local enterprises unable to compete with them, borrow
working capital from local banks and financing institutions, transfer obsolete or
overpriced technology, engage in transfer pricing and in the massive outflows
of foreign exchange, corrupt the local ruling elite through all sorts of devices
and pressures, expose the native population to consumption patterns suitable
only toaffluent societies, and aggravate a poor country's dependence on foreign
technology, foreign investments, foreign markets, foreign credits, and imported
styles and products
...
And yet, it is a never ending source of pride for Marcos to be able to
announce through the controlled media that new foreign loan commitments
have been obtained, that a multinational company has been convinced to make
Manila its regional headquarters, that another foreign group has decided to
make an investment in the Philippines, that more hotels and tourist resorts are
being built, and that strikes are no longer possible
...
Filipino capital has
been dispossessed of its economic birthright
...
Marcos threw the country’s investment field wide open to foreign capital
and multinational corporations by offering attractive tax and foreign exchange
incentives, and an even more attractive labor situation
...
While offering the attractive investment incentives, Marcos dictated to the
Constitutional Convention a martial law constitution that:
1) Reversed the Supreme Court decisions in the Quasha and Luzon
Stevedoring cases, and
2) Gave the dictator power to disregard all restrictive laws on foreign
investments in concluding treaties and executive agreements
...
1973 Constitution, Art
...
15
...
In aseries of decrees, which can happen
only in a dictatorship, Marcos:
1) Unilaterally extended the Parity Rights for one year, from July 4, 1974,
to July 3
...
2) Approved during the period of such extension schemes by which U
...
firms divested themselves of title, but otherwise retained the beneficial use and
control, of land acquired during parity
...
The treaty ratifying Senate of the Philippines sat down on the treaty
for 12 years, refusing to ratify it on account of fears that the accord would open
the country to Japanese economic exploitation
...
Now, everybody…
...
He provides overwhelming investment incentives
for American multinationals to enable them to reap enormous profits with
minimum investments while exploiting the natural and manpower resources of
the Filipinos
...
S
...
The implication of the “good
behavior rating” of the martial law regime is that the mother companies should
see to it that Marcos is not destabilized — as yet
...
C
...
S
...
Fortunately, the multinationals do not control the United States Congress
where a new wind has started blowing
...
S
...
Animated by the spirit that made America great, they still believe
in that worn-out principle that freedom is indivisible, that an attack on freedom
anywhere — as in the Philippines — is an attack on freedom everywhere
...
There ought to be great consternation in the U
...
Congress as well as
among the multinationals which are coddling Marcos, as it were, when they
discover the devious designs resorted to by Marcos in winning the support of
American business for his declaration of martial law
...
It was Marcos who ordered his Solicitor General to file the
suit, entitled Republic vs
...
S
...
Marcos likewise directed his Solicitor
General to take a vigorous stand in favor of nationalism in the case of Luzon
Stevedoring vs
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 335
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos played on the nationalist sentiments of a majority of the Supreme Court
justices to wring out from the justices decisions dripping with nationalistic
undertones
...
On the day Marcos was to declare martial law, he told American
Ambassador Henry Byroade that he was under compulsion to resort to the
emergency measure on account of, among others, the growing wave of antiAmericanism fanned by the nationalistic decisions of the Supreme Court on the
Quasha and Luzon Stevedoring cases
...
S
...
had this to say on American
corporations and martial law:*4
(*4
...
”)
The declaration of martial law carried with it changes that have been of
particular advantage to American corporations in the Philippines
...
(Italics ours)
Very soon after the declaration of martial law, Presides Marcos began a
continuing process of reassuring American business people that their interests
were safe and that there would be no moves like expropriation under his
administration
...
In the years
before martial law, American companies had been the object of a growing
number of verbal and physical confrontations
...
” while others were specifically anti-American movements
...
Through the workings of a controlled press, the prohibition of all
forms of protest demonstrations, and the crackdown on lawlessness and crime
under martial law, American corporations have enjoyed a respite from such
confrontations
...
The economic anti-Americanism expressed there
in recent years also had been a cause for uncertainty
...
President Marcos' direct assurances to American companies were
formalized in sections of the new Constitution drafted under martial law
...
Regarding the critical question of land rights, President Marcos had stated
immediately after the declaration of martial law that he would clarify the
meaning of the Supreme Court Quasha decision
...
The new Constitution formalized the negation of
the decision in recognizing that the land had been acquired legally and keeps
Primitivo Mijares
Page 336
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
open the possibility that U
...
corporations will be able to continue to own the
land after July 3, 1974
...
Despite the provision that companies in the area of public
utilities must be 60 percent Filipino by July 3, 1974, the new Constitution
includes an escape clause
...
The new
Constitution ignores this and simply asserts that "representation of foreign
capital in the governing body of such public utility may be allowed only in
proportion to the extent of its equity
...
Various theories can be expounded to explain this
relationship: Marcos desperately needs the support of American corporations
and will have to satisfy their interests to stay in power; or, Marcos knows he
has American corporations caught and he can threaten loss of land or privileges
if they do not support his decisions
...
But it is evident that there is a close cooperation, or at least understanding,
between Marcos and American business interests
...
'The businessmen
are confident that Mr
...
" (Henry Kamm,
"Philippines President Held Friendly to U
...
Business," New York Times,
November 13, 1972, p
...
There are also more concrete ties between U
...
business and Marcos
...
S
...
"Companies such as Hawaii's Castle and Cooke and Gulf Oil have
important allies of Marcos on the boards of their Philippine subsidiaries
...
Reportedly, Marcos and his friends own most
ol the land in the trade zone
...
S
...
" Business Week
...
1972, p
...
One American businessman explained that Marcos needs the cooperation
of all within ihc economic sphere
...
"Of great importance to the Philippine
Government at this point is the confidence of the New York financial and
corporate community
...
1billion
...
(Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, "Korea
and the Philippines: November 1972, Staff Report, February 18, 1973, p
...
S
...
More important, Marcos hopes that if he continues to treat U
...
business right, U
...
bankers will continue to treat him right
...
S
...
42)
There is no clear evidence on the issue of actual collusion of American
corporations with the declaration of martial law
...
Representatives of the American corporate community deny any
involvement The role of American corporations just after the declaration is also
open to debate
...
There seems to be at least some
substance to these allegations in that an American business representative
stated during an interview that two officers of the American Chamber of
Commerce of the Philippines conferred with President Marcos within days after
the declaration on the cooperative role American corporations were to play
under martial law
...
He also stated that such political actions are not
condoned by American multinational corporations
...
The major
American investments fit into several of these categories
...
Chase Manhattan Bank and the American International Reinsurance
Company (AIRCO) have joined with a Filipino group increating the new
Philippine-American Investment Corporation
...
("Stake in the Philippines,” U
...
News and World
Report, December 4, 1972, p
...
The investment
by the two American companies was precipitated by the martial law situation
...
Greenberg, AIRCO chairman, just back from Manila and talks with
President Ferdinand E
...
The businessman finds Mr
...
" ("Stake in the Philippines
...
S
...
The Chevron Oil Company and the
Texaco Corporation joined two local Philippine companies
...
The venture was made possible by Marcos' decree
opening oil exploration to foreign corporations by allowing service contracts
with the government
...
S
...
Chevron Overseas Petroleum and Texaco
International Petroleum
...
2 million hectares (adjacent lo Shell and Exxon concessions)
...
5 per cent and each local company 7
...
Marcos has given and continues
to give giant foreign investors, particularly American multinationals, a stake in
the stability of his martial regime
...
In exchange, Marcos is bargaining away the
national patrimony
...
Chapter XV
Spineless Judiciary Legitimizes A Pretender
The existence and operation of the Supreme Court and other adjuncts of the
judiciary is the best argument against martial law in the Philippines
...
Upon the other hand, Marcos can no longer legally style himself as "the
President of the Philippines
...
Neither can Marcos claim to be President
under the so-called "new Constitution
...
The Supreme Court itself said so
...
Javellana vs
...
R
...
L-36142, L-36164,
L-36165, L-36236 and 36283
...
He is at best a "de facto" ruler who holds power in a
tragic demonstration of a slogan coined by Marcos' new idol, Chairman Mao
Tse-Tung of China, that "power flows from the barrel of a gun
...
Marcos' gun consists of the terrifying guns of martial law
...
people indefinitely of their civil
liberties
...
The Marcos-Supreme Court "modus
vivendi" may be akin to the relationship between a killer-kidnapper and his
wretched hostage who has become cooperative in telling the neighbors what a
swell and legit guy his captor is just because the kidnapper had promised not
to harm him while waiting for the ransom money
...
Conversely, where the courts are able to function freely and
independently, there cannot be any further justification for the operation of a
government under martial law
...
he "ordered" the judiciary "to continue
to function
...
Marcosmallowing the Supreme Court "to continue to function
...
Marcos also let it be understood that he needs, and would allow the
functioning of, the Supreme Court only for the purpose of vesting the martial
law regime with a cloak of legitimacy
...
The high tribunal
shamelessly exists today for only one main function, i
...
to
cloak the conjugal dictatorship and its every decree, act or decision with
legality
...
If the Supreme Court shouldever muster enough courage and sense of
patriotism and over-rule Marcos on anything, without the dictator's consent,
then as surely as night follows day, Marcos would abolish the high court the
next day
...
It was captured and turned
into a political instrument by the men of Marcos as early as 1971
...
S
...
*3
(*2
...
)
(*3
...
Garcia, G
...
No
...
)
The Supreme Court decision on die infamous case of Lansang vs
...
Hernandez, 99 Phil
...
Promulgated in the early 50s, the
Hernandez decision earned for the Supreme Court the accolade of an entire
nation, and the sobriquet as the "last bulwark of the civil liberties” of the Filipino
people
...
"
Today, the Supreme Court would scream '"rebellion, continue martial law”
on a mere citation by Marcos of the mosl trivial episodes of disorder in the
Philippines
...
1975, by way of answer to a question propounded by
Congressman Fraser:*4
(*4
...
S
...
”)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 340
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
"May I add, Mr
...
The subjugation of the Supreme Court by Marcos was slow and methodical
as were his approaches to other aspects of his preparations for the imposition
of martial law
...
Months before
September, 1972, all but two of the members of the high tribunal were personal
nominees and appointees of Marcos
...
Initially, it was the
suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
...
Garcia
...
Republic and Luzon
Stevedoring vs
...
*5
(*5
...
)
When Marcos seized power on September 1972, he did not abolish the
Supreme Court as he did with Congress
...
Marcos made no bones about the source of power of the Supreme Court
...
1, he declared that he "shall govern the nation and
direct the operation of the entire government, including all its agencies and
instrumentalities
...
3 to the Judiciary to "continue to function in accordance with its
present organization and personnel, and (shall) try and decide in accordance
with existing laws all criminal and civil cases, except" those challenging his
dictatorial powers
...
Those involving the validity, legality or constitutionality of Proclamation
No
...
2
...
1081
...
" *6
(*6
...
11, dated September 29, 1972
...
11,
the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court thought they
were going to be spared the Sword of Damocles by the President
...
The consequences of the series of "judicial reforms" initiated by Marcos
since the advent of martial law left no doubt that all judges, from die hjghest to
the lowest, work under threat of dismissal at any time, Marcos can replace any
judge any time he is disposed to do so, and in fact, has repeatedly done so
Veteran judges of long service have been dismissed through curt notices of
acceptance of their compulsory resignations
...
*7
(*7
...
The Philippine News, issue for the week of March 5 to 12, 1975, published
the following piece which I wrote on the administration of justice under martial
law:
MARCOS IS THE LAW
Backed by an oppressive martial law
...
Thus, anybody who might dare oppose Marcos or challenge the
constitutionality of his acts or the weight of evidence of charges filed or caused
to be filed against his enemies might as well abandon all hopes of succeeding
in this stage of judicial development in the Philippines
...
Then, in a series of decrees and orders, he
gave all sectors no choice but to do his bidding
...
9, 1973
...
The dire message of this two-pronged "propaganda of the deed" resorted
to by Marcos in the Lirn execution was not lost to the Supreme Court of the
Philippines
...
Of course, Marcos set out his own infallibility - insofar as forces within the
Philippines weremconcerned — when he imposed martial law
...
3, providing
among others:
"I do hereby further order that the Judiciary shall continue to function in
accordance with its present organization and personnel, and shall try and
decide in accordance with existing laws all criminal and civil cases, except the
following:
"1
...
1081, dated Sept
...
xx x"
Aside from promulgating General Order No
...
2) By issuing Letter of Instructions No
...
3) By taking the official position, through his Solicitor General, in cases
pending before the Supreme Court that the imposition of martial law
automatically suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, thereby
making such posture a virtual order to the high court
...
385, dated January 31,1974
...
000
...
"
With coercive process of martial law at work, plus some carrots held out by
Marcos, the development or transformation of the Philippine judiciary could not
but go a long way after September 21, 1972
...
Marcos succeeded in setting up
a peculiar type of compartmentalized justice in the country
...
In accordance with the yardstick fashioned out by Marcos for the Supreme
Court and inferior courts to follow, the President has been, and must always
be, adjudged as infallible, some sort of a demi-god, whose utterances and acts
are to be held, as a matter of course, as constitutional and valid, if ever and
whenever challenged by anyone who would be willing to indulge in a legal exercise in futility
...
However, let it not be said that there is no justice in the Philippines
...
And this is dispensed by all courts, in criminal and civil (not
non-political) cases, only in cases where the president, or his cronies or in-laws
have no political or pecuniary interest
...
"
As stated earlier, the major reason for the shameless docility and fawning
servility of the members of the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, to the
President on matters affecting the martial law regime is the climate of fear and
coercion so successfully created by Marcos
...
11 is an
ingredient of such climate of fear
...
L Reyes, who now heads the
Integrated Bar of the Philippines, found an occasion to protest that the
resignations were being held by the President, by his inaction on them, as a
virtual "Sword of Damocles" over their heads
...
21, 1973, JBL pointed out' that even under
the new Constitution, acceptance of resignations had to be exercised within a
reasonable and definite period of time "and under the 1935 Constitution any
judicial reorganization had to be completed within one year
...
"
Failing to get a reply from either Malacanang or the Department of Justice,
a frustrated JBL directed his plea, one year later (Nov
...
He suggested that the chief justice might have better luck with
Marcos in curing the problem
...
In September, 1974, all 81 Catholic bishops in the Philippines wrote the
President a letter, asking, among others, that Marcos put an end to the tenuous
situation of judges
...
They can be removed at
anytime, and what is worse, Ihey don't even have to know they have been
removed
...
"
One of the means which the President has found most effective to bend
the will of the Supreme Court to his liking is the scheme of his calculated leaks
on his plans for the high court should he ever be rebuffed by the judiciary
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 344
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The message is usually beamed in this wise: If the President did not draw
the support of all sectors, he might be compelled to dismantle the existing
apparatus of martial law and
...
(Aside: there goes the
Supreme Court
...
3, the martial regime has shown a
healthy respect for the Supreme Court by submitting to its jurisdiction in all
cases brought before it
...
But equally true is the fact that those messages about
the organization of a revolutionary government have been beamed a number
of times to the high court
...
The Philippine Supreme Court has not overturned the
official position of the martial regime on the automatic suspension of the "writ"
by the imposition of martial law
...
Aquino
...
, held in the stockade since
the night of Sept
...
Because the Marcos administration wanted to convince world opinion that
it had a case against "Ninoy" Aquino, charges of illegal possession of firearms
and subversion on three counts were filed, and scheduled for public trial, before
a military court in August
...
Aquino went to the Supreme Court to challenge the jurisdiction of the
military tribunal
...
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the Aquino suit
...
On January 21, prisoners Aquino, Eugenio Lopez, Jr
...
27, 1975
...
28, and a seven-hour oral argument was heard
on Jan
...
The next day the court, quite naturally, denied the petition
...
However, the moral and economic requirements of the members of the
Supreme Court also count a lot for the degradation which has hit the
administration of justice in the Philippines
...
000
...
Then consider the factor that most of them are due for retirement at age 65
within the next two years or so
...
000
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 345
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
These are indeed handsome considerations for the justices to fall on each
other's face to prove good behavior
...
Zaldivar proved good behavior during his term,
but he suffered a little delay in the processing of his retirement papers when he
committed the slight indiscretion of making snide remarks on martial law during
a testimonial given in his honor by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines
...
000
...
On June 17, 1975, I submitted a memorandum to the Fraser committee,
embodying among other things factual allegations in support of my contention
that Marcos holds power illegally in the Philippines today
...
UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONSTITUTION
The New Constitution, on which President Marcos anchors the legality of
his holding on to the presidency after Dec
...
1) Mr
...
17,1973, a presidential proclamation (No
...
1-15 referendum in favor of the new Constitution a
“ratification” of the said Charter
...
The constitution provides for a plebiscite — not a referendum — for its
ratification
...
10 to 15, 1973
...
1102 — 14,976,561 in favor and
743,869 against “approval” of the Constitution — as well as the figures on the
other questions fielded in the referendum were manufactured by a group
headed by the President’s favorite brother-in-law, Gov
...
I was a member of that group
...
Romualdez on the second day when
the Commission members would not sanction what they called a “farce”
...
Ferrer and Lino Patajo, respectively — were
eased out of the poll body in April, 1973
...
11,1973, or on the second day of the referendum when
it became clear that the Commission on Elections would have no part in the
conduct or results of the referendum, the group manufacturing the results had
the voting figures readied for submission to the President
...
Romualdez to handle the preparation of the official report to the President
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 346
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
7) Having been previously held out by the President as the only private
media man with ready access to him and to whom he confides some of his
plans, I was assigned by the referendum committee to take charge of the
orchestration of media
...
8) I prepared the advance stories announcing the holding of the referendum
and dished out copies to the other newsmen covering the presidential beat
...
The other
newsmen got their figures on the “votes” turned in for the day from my own
news copy
...
Romualdez from his own chair in the office of information secretary and
told to yield the briefing to Secretary Rono
...
In his second book, he made a barefaced claim that "Our
martial law is unique in that it is based on the supremacy of the civilian authority
over the military and on complete submission to the decision of the Supreme
Court
...
*8
(*8
...
Marcos
...
1102) declaring the ratification of the
martial law Constitution
...
Executive Secretary
...
Executive Secretary
...
" (Italics ours)
...
Page 123, Ibid
...
It the Supreme Court did not uphold Marcos,
he would organize a revolutionary government
...
The threat to organize a revolutionary government was actually a threat to
formalize what is already a matter of fact
...
The lone woman member of the martial law Supreme Court, Associate
Justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, could not help hut allude to the prostrate figure
of justice in a well-applauded speech on Law Day, which coincided with the
third anniversary observance of martial law last September 19, 1975
...
" She cited the case
of a city, judge who had served in the judiciary for 22 years, and was
recommended to the Supreme Court by the Integrated Bar for promotion as
Judge of the- Court of First Instance
...
All that the poor, defenseless judge asked was that he be informed
of the cause of his separation from the service
...
Under martial law, the jurisdiction of civil courts have shrunk, while the
military courts have proliferated
...
The right to bail, the right to a preliminary investigation
and the right to remain silent and to have counsel have all been consigned to
the dark ages
...
Marcos started creating military tribunals on September 27, 1972
...
*12
(*10
...
12-A, dated October 2, 1972
...
General Order No
...
)
(*12
...
12, dated September 30, 1972
...
These courts have been clothed with jurisdiction, exclusive over certain
crimes
...
49 dated October 4, 1974, is the latest re-definition
of the jurisdiction of these military courts vis-a-vis the civil courts
...
39 dated November 7, 1972, prescribes rules
governing the creation, composition, jurisdiction, procedure and other matters
relevant to military tribunals
...
All the members are
required to be military men
...
00
...
Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure as enshnned in the 1935
Constitution disappeared with the proclamation of martial law
...
Letter of
Instructions No
...
Printing machines were padlocked, and so were radio and
television facilities and equipment
...
,
were also seized — all in the name of national defense
...
In the days before martial law, the determination of the existence of
probable cause that would justify the issuance of a warrant of arrest was a
purely judicial function
...
An arrest undertaken without the proper warrant, except under a
few specific instances, would be unreasonable and illegal
...
The necessary complaint must be filed before the
competent court
...
Under the martial law regime, Mr
...
Many of
these persons languished under detention for months — even years — without
any charges or complaints being filed against them
...
Diokno
was recently released after more than two years of detention, without a charge
having been filed against him
...
The military has been granted blanket authority to arrest and detain
persons violating provisions of the Revised Penal Code
...
General Order No
...
)
The persons arrested were to be detained — as in fact they were detained
— and were not to be released “until otherwise ordered released by me (i
...
,
Mr
...
”
Meanwhile, military soldiers rounded up at night all the male residents of
particularly chosen communities, lined them up undressed beneath glaring
spotlights, and arrested whomsoever suited their fancy (especially if he bore
tatoo marks on his body)
...
Anybody with the courage enough to protest was arrested
...
Under the martial law regime, however, if one is charged before a military
court, he cannot post bail to secure his temporary release
...
In effect, a person accused
before a military tribunal does not enjoy any right to bail
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 349
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Whereas before, a respondent in a criminal case enjoyed the right to be
present at the investigation, to confront the complainant and his witnesses, and
to crossexamine the said witnesses, these rights have been eliminated by
decree
...
Presidential Decree No
...
)
Under the said decree, mere affidavits presented by a complainant charging
a person with the commission of an offense would be sufficient basis for a
finding by the investigating officer of the existence of a prima facie case
...
Neither is it necessary that said
respondent be represented by counsel
...
No force,
violence, threat, intimidation, or any other means which vitiates the free will
shall be used against him
...
" This provision is not found in the 1935
Constitution
...
The employment of force and violence by the police authorities in
extorting a confession or admission from a person arrested and detained for
some crime is of such common knowledge that it need not be recounted here
...
If the police can employ
the "water cure", the military can do them one better
...
A Joint Circular dated July 11, 1974, of the Department of Justice and
National Defense prescribed rules and regulations in the conduct of criminal
investigations with a view toward implementing the aforequoted constitutional
provision
...
This circular, however, is a toothless measure
...
For another thing, while it allows the presence of counsel if so
requested by the suspect being investigated, “the one conducting investigation
on custodial interrogation is authorized to exclude a counsel who impedes or
shows an obvious inclination to impede the administration of justice x x x
...
Indeed, what the circular seems to have granted on one hand, it has taken away
with the other
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 350
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Marcos has not hesitated to resort to indirect bribery in his passion to keep
the judiciary his puppet in preventing or stopping any attempt to question the
legitimacy of his dictatorship
...
1973, he obtained
reports from his hirelings that the Liberal Party provincial chapters would file
simultaneous suits questioning the constitutionality of Marcos' continued stay
in the presidency beyond December 30, 1973, in every appropriate Court of
First Instance
...
000
...
He eventually
signed a Presidential Decree (No
...
Legality
...
Marcos
has always suffered from inferiority complex placed side by side with Senators
Lorenzo M
...
Puyat, Arturo Tolentino
...
Salonga, Anibrosio
Padilla
...
Aquino, Jr
...
Diokno
...
His inferiority complex when ranged against these stalwarts
challenged him, however, to turn his weakness into a spurious strength that
drew upon force, the force of martial law
...
Marcos will never live down the stigma with which the uncowed legal minds
of the Philippines have marked him with even as he enjoys the fruits of powers
in Malacanang with his spurious strength
...
The records of the Marcos perfidy are preserved
rather precariously in the archives of the Supreme Court
...
Those records deal squarely with the legality of
Marcos’ presidency
...
R
...
L-40004) to stop the
holding of the third Philippine referendum on February 27, 1975
...
Former
Senator Lorenzo M
...
Tanada
and Wigberto E
...
Aquino, Jr
...
J
...
, Sergio Osmena III, Antonio Araneta, Antonio Miranda, Raul
Gonzales, Joker Arroyo and Emilio de Peralta
...
Humbly as a lawyer, with a greater grasp of the infrastructuring done by
Marcos for his martial regime, I concur with the position taken by the brave
petitioners in the case
...
I had already
defected in the United States when the petition was filed with the Supreme
Court
...
000 miles, I could sec that Marcos himself welcomed the new
Primitivo Mijares
Page 351
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
suit as something like an action to quiet (his) title or remove a cloud on the
legitimacy of his stay in Malacanang
...
I have no reason, however, to doubt the sense of patriotism that goaded
Tanada to file the petition
...
The thrust of the Tanada petition is that Marcos is 1) no longer President
under the 1935 Constitution; Z) not President nor Prime Minister, interim or
otherwise, under the 1973Constitution; 3) not the "incumbent" President
referred to in the transitory provisions of the 1973 Constitution! and 4) that, even
if he were President under the above three items, his transitory powers under
the 1973 Constitution have lapsed
...
1973 –
President Ferdinand E
...
1965
...
1969 (Art
...
4
...
He was elected for a second term in November, 1969, and that
term ended on March 31, 1973 when this Court, in the Ratification Cases, ruled
that the 1973 Constitution may be considered in force and effect
...
VII, Sec
...
Therefore, the continuance in office by President Marcos, after December
30, 1973, as President of the Philippines, is clearly and absolutely illegal under
the 1935 Constitution; and he cannot now exercise the power and prerogatives
of President under said Constitution
...
Since President Marcos ceased to be President under the 1935
Constitution, he cannot lawfully exercise the powers of any public office under
either Constitution
...
President
Marcos can still exercise the powers of the President under the 1935
Constitution and of President and Prime Minister under the 1973 Constitution
by virtue of Section 3(1) of the Transitory Provisions of the 1973 Constitution,
which reads as follows:
"SEC
...
(1) The incumbent President of the Philippines shall initially
convene the interim National Assembly and shall preside over its sessions until
Primitivo Mijares
Page 352
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
the interim Speaker shall have been elected
...
"
This is so because the phrase ''incumbent President" used in this and in
other transitory provisions refers to whoever was lawfully President of the
Philippines — not on November 30, 1972 when the Convention adopted the
Draft of the 1973 Constitution — but on whatever date the people ratified the
1973 Constitution in a plebiscite called for the purpose (Sec
...
XVII, 1973
Constitution)
...
But he is not now - and cannot now be - lawful President upon ratification of the
1973 Constitution because said Constitution has not yet been submitted to the
people for ratification in a plebiscite called for that purpose, and, as six (6)
Justices out of the ten (10) then constituting the Court have ruled, said
Constitution has not been validly ratified: —
"On the second question of validity of the ratification
...
e
...
* M Resolution in
Jose Javellana vs
...
G
...
No
...
R
...
L-36164, L-36165, L-36236 & L-36283; 50
SCRA 30, 138-139; words in parenthesis supplied
...
This being the
vote of the majority, there is no further judicial obstacle to the new Constitution
being considered in force and effect
...
, at p
...
)
Since the phrase "incumbent President" refers to the lawful President on
whatever date the 1973 Constitution might be ratified by the people in a
plebiscite called for that purpose, since the said Constitution has never been
so ratified; and since President Marcos ceased to be the lawful President on
December 30, 1973, he is not now and cannot be the "incumbent President"
mentioned in the transitory provisions of the 1973 Constitution
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 353
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Powers under Transitory Provisions have lapsed —
But let us assume that the decision of this Court in the Ratification Cases is
equivalent to a ratification of the 1973 Constitution, so that President Marcos is
the "incumbent President" referred to in said Constitution
...
And, for
President Marcos, that term ended long ago
...
Transitory Provisions fleeting by nature —
It is the very nature of transitory provisions that they be "of a passing
nature", "temporary, fleeting or ephemeral", "not enduring or permanent"
(Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language
...
, p
...
This being so,the powers conferred by transitory provisions cannot be
exercised indefinitely; they must end after some time; and that time must be
short or fleeting
...
To hold otherwise is to make such transitory powers permanent,
exercisable during the lifetime of the "incumbent President"
...
Yet that would be the result if the transitory provisions were interpreted to
mean that simply because he was the "incumbent President" when the 1973
Constitution was considered in force and effect, President Marcos may
continue to exercise all the transitory powers under said Constitution indefinitely
or for as long as he wants to do so
...
We must never forget that both the 1935 and 1973 constitutions were
ordained and promulgated to secure for all Filipinos of today and tomorrow "the
blessings of democracy" and a regime of justice (and) liberty
...
Every clause of the 1973 Constitution must therefore
be so interpreted as to achieve these ideals and aspirations
...
And that interpretation is that the transitory
powers of the "incumbent President" lapse if not exercised as soon as possible
after the effectivity of the 1973 Corstitution or at most only during the term for
which the people had elected him President
...
Sections 1 and 3 of the Transitory Provisions, viewed in the light of other
sections, clearly show it
...
ratification" (Sec
...
XVII); that the members of the interim Assembly
"may take their oath of office
...
after
...
2 Art
...
shall
initially convene the interim National Assembly" (Sec
...
XVII)
...
until he calls upon
the interim National Assembly to elect the interim President and the interim
Prime Minister"
...
These powers obviously existed before
the 1973 Constitution took effect
...
The transitory powers also consist, second, of the powers of the President
and the Prime Minister under the 1973 Constitution
...
Hence the phrase "continue to
exercise" cannot apply to these powers
...
Can these powers be exercised from that date? No, because insofar as
these powers differ from the powers of the President under the 1935
Constitution, they require the existence of the interim National Assembly before
the "incumbent President" can exercise them
...
Art
...
6 of the 1973 Constitution gives the President
the power, among others, to address or dissolve the National Assembly
...
Similarly , Art
...
5 of the 1973 Constitution empowers the Prime
Minister to "appo;nt the Deputy Prime Minister from among the Members of the
National Assembly"
...
The same holds true with respect to the other powers of the President and
the Prime Minister under the 1973 Constitution, except for the power granted
by Art
...
15 of the 1973 Constitution
...
That is why the grant of transitory
powers is preceded, in Section 3 (1), by the directive to convene the interim
Assembly, which, according to Section 1, shall "exist immediately
...
3 (1) and 4, Art
...
But if the interim
Assembly is not convened, then, as abovestated, the second kind of transitory
powers, by their very nature, cannot be exercised at all, and the first kind - the
powers of the President under the 1935 Constitution - will end when he fails to
comply with his constitutional duty to convene the interim Assembly as soon as
possible after the effectivity of the 1973 Constitution on March 31, 1973 or, at
the latest, on December 30, 1973 when his term as President under the 1935
Constitution would end
...
Putting it bluntly, to hold that President Marcos could exercise transitory
powers beyond his term under the 1935 Constitution is to hold that both the
Convention and the people intended that, between the Presidential democracy
of the 1935 Constitution and the Parliamentary democracy of the 1973
Constitution, our nation would have to go through a transitional period of
Presidential dictatorship that could last throughout President Marcos' lifetime
...
VI of the 1935
Constitution and Section 15 of Art
...
Disastrous consequences of contrary interpretation —
Other pernicious consequences would result from the interpretation that
President Marcos may continue to exercise transitory powers indefinitely, even
long after December 30, 1973
...
Constitutional officers guilty of treason or corruption can not be
impeached or removed —
One is that constitutional officers become immune to impeachment and
removal even it they commit the most heinous crimes
...
XIII Sec
...
VIII, Sec
...
(1), creation of the special court to
Primitivo Mijares
Page 356
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
be known as Sandiganbayan and the office of Ombudsman to be known as
Tanodbayan (Art
...
6)
The "incumbent President" cannot exercise these powers
...
Unless there is a body that can exercise these powers, the consequence is
that Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, members of the Civil Service
Commission, of the Commission on Elections and of the Commission on Audit
- even if caught in the act of treason, bribery, or graft and corruption - cannot
be impeached or removed
...
On the contrary, the 1973 Constitution directs immediate action
...
XVII, Sec
...
The only conclusion that flows from all these is that there can be no
indefinite stay in convening the interim National Assembly
...
If he fails to do so,
as he has, he loses all transitory powers
...
Sections 9 and 10 of the transitory provisions empower the "incumbent
President" to remove all who, at the effectivity of the new Constitution, were
members of the Judiciary and of the civil service, by simply appointing their
successors
...
In the
pungent language of the President of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, "our
judges have become casuals
...
This state of affairs is so contrary to the ideal of an independent judiciary
and civil service, based upon security of tenure, that is inconceivable that the
Convention and the people could have intended it to continue beyond
December 30, 1973
...
That is the reason for transitory
provisions
...
Therefore, thev knew that, if anything happened to
the "incumbent President" before he convened the interim Assembly, there
would be a vacuum in the most vital of all offices under the 1973 Constitution,
the Office of Head of State, made doubly vital by the existence of martial rule
...
Certainly, it could not have been the intention of the Convention and of the
people that such a dangerous situation would continue for long
...
This reinforces the conclusion that the incumbent President should exercise
his transitory powers immediately or at the most before December 30, 1973
...
What is President Marcos today?—
President Marcos is definitely not President under the 1935 Constitution
because his term of office as such President has expired
...
He is not the “incumbent President” referred to in the transitory provisions
of the 1973 Constitution because the provisions refer to whoever might be
President when the said Constitution is ratified, and since, according to this
Court, the said Constitution has not been validly ratified (Javellana vs
...
Finally, even assuming that President Marcos is the "incumbent President"
referred to in the transitory provisions, he cannot now exercise any of the
transitory powers conferred upon him by the said Constitution because all such
powers lapsed when he did not perform his constitutional duty to convene the
interim National Assembly "immediately" after the 1973 Constitution had taken
effect, or at the latest, when the term to which he had been elected by the
people ended on December 30, 1973
...
ASSUMING FOR PURPOSES OF ARGUMENT ALONE THAT
PRESIDENT MARCOS MAY STILL HOLD OFFICE AS PRESIDENT DESPITE
THE EXPIRATION OF HIS TERM UNDER THE 1935 CONSTITUTION, HE
DOES NOT HAVE ANY LAWFUL AUTHORITY TO PROMULGATE LAWS OR
Primitivo Mijares
Page 358
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
ORDERS WITH THE EFFECT OF LAWS EITHER UNDER THE 1935 OR THE
1973 CONSTITUTION AND, THEREFORE, HAS NO AUTHORITY TOCALL
THE REFERENDUM
...
The legislative power shall be vested in a Congress of the
Philippines, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives
...
VI, Sec
...
*****
"Section 1
...
" (Art
...
Sec
...
President Marcos cannot exercise legislative powers —
As a private citizen
...
Even as "incumbent President", his
transitory powers - assuming they have not lapsed - are purely executive
powers
...
He also has the powers of President and Prime Minister under the
1973 Constitution; but the latter confers no legislative powers either on the
President or Prune Minister
...
Art
...
The
National Assembly has not granted him any emergency powers either under
Section 15 of Art
...
So, as "incumbent President" under Section
3 (1) of the Transitory Provisions, President Marcos has no legislative powers
at all
...
Martial law gives no powers to the President (III Willoughby 592), and as
the Constitution is the Basic Law, in times of crises more than in times of
normalcy, the national emergency merely affords the basis or reason for the
exercise of a living power already existing or enjoyed (Wilson v
...
v
...
Section 3 (2) of the Transitory Provisions confirms this
...
And if martial law automatically granted President Marcos
Primitivo Mijares
Page 359
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
legislative powers, then there was no need to confer upon hira the power to
"modify, revoke or supersede" his orders, proclamations, decrees, etc
...
For, under this section, all laws existing at the time of the effeetivity
of the 1973 Constitution continue in force insofar as aot inconsistent with said
Constitution, snd only the regular Assembly - not President Marcos - can
amend, modify or repeal them
...
Calling s referendum is essentially a legislative act, which can be performed
only in the manner and for the purpose prescribed in the Constitution
...
J
...
I93)
...
By the referendum the people are a coordinate branch
of the legislative body, with coextensive power
...
J
...
197)
...
If Marcos’ own rhetorical development of the “causes” for his declaration of
martial law were to be followed, then he could not legally invoke the
“commander-in-chief’ provision to impose martial law
...
1081, Marcos declared: “x x x the rebellion and armed action
undertaken by these lawless elements of the communist and other armed
aggrupations organized to overthrow the Republic of the Philippines by armed
violence and force have assumed the magnitude of an actual state of war
against our people and the Republic of the Philippines
...
If
such had been the case, then the constitutional thing for Marcos to have done
was to ask Congress to declare war by two-thirds votes of both chambers voting
separately
...
*15
(*15
...
)
The question is whether or not the President, as commander-in-chief
“waging war” without congressional authority, can rule by decree, suppress or
disband one branch of government, as he did with the bicameral Philippine
Congress, while allowing other agencies to function, like the Supreme Court —
Primitivo Mijares
Page 360
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
which he needs only to anoint his regime with legitimacy
...
At the moment, he can rule by the law of
the gun
...
The Martial Law Constitution was approved by tke Constitutional
Convention on November 30, 1972, under pressure from the guns of martial
law
...
However, the handful of
courageous hearts wjio dared vote againt the Msrcos-dictated Constitution
voiced the hope that the Martial Law Constitution would be rejected by the
people during a plebiscite to be called to either ratify or reject tne new charter
draft
...
*16
Marcos soon discovered though that the new Charter which would "legalize"
his martial law regime did not stand a ghost of a chance of adoption in a free
plebiscite
...
*17
(*16
...
73, dated December 1, 1972, and Presidential
Decree No
...
)
(*17
...
86, dated December 31,1972
...
86-A and 86-B, bearing on the submission of the martial law Constitution to a referendum have been withheld from general circulation
...
On 30 November 1972,1 called a plebiscite after
the Constitutional Convention had approved the new Constitution; this
plebiscite was set for 5 January 1973
...
And yet right after I had suspended the
plebiscite, I immediately organized the barangays and called for a show of
hands regarding the new Constitution on 10 to 15 January this year
...
This was understandable, for
they could not have imagined that the truth was that martial law had peculiar
ramifications in the Muslim areas, which were one of the sources of a threepronged rebellion and conspiracy that included the communist rebels, the
rightist conspirators and the Musjim secessionist, xxx
"The only possible maneuver dictated by the national interest was to meet
this incipient 'splinter state' with a government and a republic duly supported by
the great majority of the people, especially the Muslim citizenry, operating
under a Constitution of their own making and already ratified so as to be
enforceable by the government
...
“Notes on the New Society”, pp
...
)
Primitivo Mijares
Page 361
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Again, Marcos was not being candid about things
...
It
...
This was a decision forged during a
caucus of sectors presided over by Senate President Gil J
...
The senators aiso forged an accord with their colleagues from the
House of Representatives that they would work against the ratification of the,
martial law Constitution
...
In his mad desire to head off a congressional session, Marcos cancelled
the plebiscite on the new Constitution
...
He figured that he must have a new
Constitution that wonld enable him to stop Congress from convening
...
Congress was
scheduled to meet on January 22, 1973
...
He
knew that members of Congress were rallying behind senate President Puyat
to make him a "constitutional President" upon the expiration of the constitutional
term of Marcos by December 30, 1973
...
" In that speech, delivered about mid-July, 1972, Diokno declared
that Marcos might declare martial law in order to stay in office beyond
December 30, 1973
...
Not President
Marcos, but the Senate President, whoever he may then be, is the only one
who would have the right to act as President beginning noon T>ecember 30,
1973
...
Only naked force could achieve it
...
"provide that a public officer continues
in office 'until his successor shall have been elected and qualified
...
' Our
Constitution does not permit the President to hold over
...
“Art VII, Section 5 of our Constitution is clear ‘No person shall serve as
President for more than eight consecutive years’
...
’
“By noon of December 30,1973, President Marcos will have served as
President for eight years
...
”
The case of President Quezon further clarifies this point
...
“To enable
him to continue to serve as President” the American government in a joint
Primitivo Mijares
Page 362
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
resolution of Congress suspended “the provisions of our Constitution concerning the Presidency, thus extending President Quezon’s term,” Diokno pointed
out
...
“Today,” Diokno maintained, “no one can suspend our Constitution, not
even constitutionally, not even by martial law
...
”
Furthermore, Diokno continued, even if Marcos were to pack the
Commission on Elections and the Supreme Court with his lackeys and the
elections were suspended in 1973, not he but the Senate President alone could
legally occupy the office and discharge the duties of chief executive until one
properly elected and qualified to do so
...
If martial law
were declared and noon December 30, 1973, had passed, the armed forces of
the Philippines would have to see to it that Marcos vacated the presidency and
the Senate President occupied the position until a successor had been elected
and qualified
...
He waited
until the ruling of the Supreme Court on the case of Javellana vs
...
Marcos provided the naked force, as Diokno had feared, by declaring
martial law, extorting a Palace-drafted Constitution from the Constitutional
Convention and then whimsically declaring it to have been ratified in a farcical
referendum
...
He actually spelled out his plans in a conference which I
attended, along with Gov
...
De Vega
...
Thus, he scheduled a referendum among the Citizens’ Assemblies
in more than 35,000 barrios and barangay districts all over the country from
Jan
...
Six questions were addressed to the barangay voters,
although actually only two of them were of vital importance at the time for
President Marcos
...
17,1973, by President Marcos, who never
batted an eyelash while reading Proclamation No
...
1102
...
Executive
Secretary
...
Tomorrow, history will judge you
...
Benigno S
...
on
March 31, 1975, before a military commission before he went on a hunger strike
to dramatize his challenge to the jurisdiction of the military kangaroo court
convened to "perpetuate" testimonies of prosecution witnesses on charges
concocted by President Marcos against the Tarlac senator
...
One cannot expect any'of the members of the
Supreme Court to vote or rule against President Marcos these days
...
Marcos
...
The Supreme Court of the Philippines exists today for only one main
function, namely, to maintain the legitimacy of the military regime of Marcos
...
Marcos has thus far succeeded in misleading his own
military backers and some world leaders into a belief that he rules by the
consent of the governed
...
He insures the good
behavior of the members of the high court by having decisions on cases vitally
important to the personal and political interests of Marcos drafted in
Malacanang
...
Zamora, of the Malacanang legal office
...
Barredo, Claudio Teehankee, Estanislao A
...
With some slight modifications, the Malacanang draft of the
decision eventually becomes the basis of the majority Supreme Court decision
...
In most instances, when one reads those "majority decisions", he cannot but
come to a conclusion that they were not majority decisions at all
...
It
is clear that while they want to save their neck from the chopping block of
Marcos, they also want to perpetuate into the records an escape clause (the
separate opinion) for the judgment of history
...
But the Supreme Court's "priority" of things leads
one to suspect the tight-rope walking it is trying to attempt under the martial
regime
...
Enrile, et al, G
...
No
...
The suit was a petition for, habeas corpus and was
therefore of the highest individual privilege
...
And yet, when a suit (Javellana
vs
...
The decision was promulgated on March 31, 1973, and it
became the major basis for the dismissal of a privileged suit filed five months
earlier
...
They should be wary about
concluding treaties and agreements which might be disowned by a legitimate
Philippine government that could come into being any moment now
...
Macapagal from Malacanang, the heckling slogan
devised for the Palace occupant was "Lis dyan
...
" (Get out
...
” (You will have to kill me first before I yield
...
Someone, or
a power mightier than the combined strength of Marcos and the guns of martial
law will have to evict the man out of Malacanang
...
Salonga, one of the victims of the Plaza Miranda
bombing, voiced his own suspicions about Marcos' presidential plans in
perpetuity more than a month before the Miranda grenade-bombing
...
(You better believe it,
he [Marcos] will not leave Malacanang)
...
His group then was
the POSS team, which stands for the first letters of the last names of senatorial
candidates Salipada K
...
Osmena, Salonga, and Melanio T
...
Salonga forewarned his Colleagues about his suspicions on Marcos
possibly resorting to political trickery or gimmickry to perpetuate himself in
power when he dbserves that they were being over-confident over the results
of the pre-election poll surveys showing that the Liberals would sweep the 1971
mid-term elections, and therefore, the 1973 elections
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 365
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
They were acting no less cockily than the leaders of Julio Nahindasan 36 years
earlier
...
If Salonga had suspicions then about Marcos not willing to "give up the
presidency upon the expiration of his term by December 30, 1973, there are
more overwhelming proofs now that Marcos will not give up his dictatorship until his death do them part
...
Marcos intends to achieve his life-time dictatorship
by plundering the country economically and politically
...
Since September 21, 1972, the so-called New Society has gone nowhere
but down; there has been no unstinted investment in the establishment of a
quality society, Marcos having betrayed from the start the objectives of his own
democratic revolution
...
This is part of the grand design of Marcos to perpetuate himself, his wife,
Imelda, and/or son, Ferdinand, Jr
...
This was planned by Marcos from
the very start
...
Everything is well-planned in advance or things are done in accordance with
set play patterns
...
The execution of the plan for the "legalization” of the indefinite martial law
regime of Marcos is, even as an evil handiwork, a novelty to be admired by
political historians
...
1102 hy which Marcos declared the "ratification" of the martial law
Constitution and in the '"binabae” *1 decision of the Supreme Court upholding
the validity of the proclamation
...
This a stronger Tagalog term for an hermaphrodite
...
The scheme was to have enticed the
members of the Constitutional Convention as well as the spineless among the
"suspended" Congress into cooperating with Marcos in legitimizing his stay in
power beyond the end of his constitutional second four-year term on December
30
...
The scheme as devised was enshrined in the now notorious Article XVII
known as the Transitory Provisions, of the New Constitution which provided for
the creation of an interim Nationalm Assembly
...
There was hardly any
opposition to the Transitory Provisions
...
Others were
Primitivo Mijares
Page 366
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
sufficiently tamed with bribes of money and promises, like appointments to the
new offices to be created under the new Constitution
...
, of Misamis
Oriental, and Manuel Martinez, of Masbate, were arrested after January 17,
1973, and detained without charges
...
Pimentel and Martinez were among those who voted against
the draft of the new Constitution
...
There shall be an interim National Assembly which shall exist
immediately upon the ratification of this Constitution and shall continue until the
members of the regular National Assembly shall have been elected and shall
have assumed office following an election called for the purpose by the interim
National Assembly
...
Sec
...
The Members of the interim National Assembly shall be the
incumbent President and Vice-President of the Philippines, those v/ho served
as President of the nineteen hundred and seventy-one Contitutional
Convention, those Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives
who shall express in writing to the Commission on Elections within thirty days
after the ratification of this Constitution their option to serve therein, and those
Delegates to the nineteen hundred and seventy-one Constitutional Convention
who have opted to serve therein by voting affirmatively for this Article
...
Sec
...
He shall continue to exercise his
powers and prerogatives under the nineteen hundred and thirty-five
Constitution and the powers vested in the President and the Prime Minister
under this Constitution until he calls upon the interim National Assembly to
elect the interim President and the interim Prime Minister, who shall then
exercise their respective powers vested by this Constitution
...
Sec
...
The interim Prime Minister and his Cabinet shall exercise all the
powers and functions, and discharge the responsibilities of the regular Prime
Minister and his Cabinet, and shall be subject to the same disqualifications
Primitivo Mijares
Page 367
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
provided in this Constitution
...
5
...
Sec
...
So, when the New Constitution was finally enacted by the Convention on
November 30, 1972, the delegates (who were actually mostly the losers to
congressmen, senators, city mayors and governors in the 1969 and 1971
elections), prepared to campaign vigorously for the ratification of this
handiwork
...
More than anybody else, Marcos and the military were particularly
interested in the approval of the New Constitution
...
Firstly, it legitimized the martial law
proclamations, decrees, general orders and letters of instructions
...
As a matter of fact, they
started the campaign that it was plain lack of “delicadeza” on the part of
the Convention delegates to have inserted themselves into the proposed
interim National Assembly without going thru an election contest
...
They said they could even have excluded the incumbent members
of Congress if they had wanted to
...
The
clarity and import of the message could not be missed
...
On December 27,
I orchestrated the controlled media in "exposing" a so-called "plot" of a number
of senators to exercise legislative functions and thereby "grab the legislative
powers belonging to the President
...
With the
use of his spies, Marcos discovered that the senators had convened in caucus
at the invitation of Senate President Gil J
...
Marcos didn't like this
...
"
On New Year's Eve, the Palace announced the creation of Citizens*
Assemblies, otherwise known as barangays, purportedly for purposes of "loose
consultation" with the people on important public issues
...
Because the people were "backsliding", the full severity of martial law was
reimposed
...
Then, on January 10, 1973, - 5 days before the original date of the
...
They were supposed to vote with raised hands on a set of questions
drafted by the Palace: "Do you like the New Society?" "Do you like the reforms
under martial law?" "Do you like Congress again to hold sessions?" "Do you
like the way President Marcos is running the affairs of the government?" "Do
you approve of the New Constitution?"
The suggested answers - in favor of martial law, the New Constitution, and
the President, and against Congress, against the interim Assembly and against
the idea of popular elections for at least 7 years, (7 being the favorite number
of the First Family) — were given to the participants
...
From January 11 to
January 16
...
"
On January 16, just one day after the close of the barangay consultations,
the Kokoy vote factory group announced
...
In all previous national elections and plebiscites, it took the Comelec about
a month to come out with the over-all results from all over the islands
...
"
The next day, that is, on January 17, 1973, the President, amidst great
fanfare, proclaimed before a hurriedly-assembled crowd at the Palace that
more than 95% of the people in the barangays had "overwhelmingly ratified"
the new Constitution
...
Francisco Cruz, the "President" of the National Federation of Citizens’
Assemblies, seemed convincing: 14,976,561 in favor, and only 743,869
against
...
Those who thought they could still
rely on what the President said, asked one question that could not be
Primitivo Mijares
Page 369
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
answered: "What happened to the plebiscite that the President himself
postponed?"
The foreign press reported what it saw and called it a farce and a mockery
...
Many did not know that there were barangay
meetings supposed to be going on in all kinds of places
...
By a 6-4 vote, they held that the
proposed Constitution was "not validly ratified" in accordance with the
prevailing Constitution
...
" As pointed out by
Chief Justice Concepcion, who penned the Court's Resolution:
The point is that, such of the Barrio Assemblies as were held, took place
without the intervention of the Commission on Elections, and without complying
with the provisions of the Election Code
...
Worse still, said officers and agencies
...
And the procedure therein mostly followed is
such that there is no reasonable means of checking the accuracy of the results
...
This is another violation of the Constitution which can hardly be sanctioned
...
such violation renders null and void the contested proceedings or alleged
plebiscite in the Citizens’ Assemblies
...
Cruz (the one who certified the results) was not
even a member of a barrio council since 1972
...
"Indeed, I cannot, in good conscience, declare that the proposed
Constitution has been approved or adopted by the people in the citizens'
assemblies all over the Philippines, when it is, to my mind, a matter of judicial
knowledge that there have been no such citizens' assemblies in many parts of
the Philippines
...
All
things else — morality, legality, public welfare, and common decency - were to
be subordinated to the politics of power retention
...
The referendum results - one was held in July, 1974, another in
Primitivo Mijares
Page 370
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
February, 1975 — based on loaded, suggestive questions regarding the
continuation of martial law, and the indefinite stay of the one-man ruler, were
quickly hailed by the controlled media as an overwhelming mandate (90% being
the usual percentage) in favor of a regime so unsure of its legitimacy that the
people have to be required, on pain of being jailed, to go to the polls periodically
and declare their love for it
...
As a matter of fact, it was a
carbon copy of the 1935 Constitution's provision on succession
...
De Vega to cut out the provision on succession
...
"
On this point, Marcos double-crossed the military officers whom he had
been titillating one by one as his possible successor
...
With the enforcement of the New Constitution, all the legal successors of
the President - in case of the latter's death, removal
...
Having thrown them out and, in addition,
imprisoned or discredited all potential rivals for the Presidency, the martial law
authorities, sensing mounting dissatisfaction, brazenly floated the question "But who is the alternative to Mr
...
The President himself, realizing that foreign
observers and investors, local businessmen and the genera) public, were
disturbed by the lack of the element of predictability in the governance of public
affairs, answered the question in a memorable speech that raised more
intriguing questions and cast serious doubts on the planning and rationale of
martial law and on the quality of discipline in the New Society
...
This has been done by virtue of a decree which I have kept in order that it may
not sow intrigue, discord and disunity among our people
...
'
Even his own associates and subordinates noticed the slip
...
Cruz, that the
New Constitution had been "overwhelmingly ratified" by the people, the 1935
Constitution and the law on succession (Rep
...
No
...
But his revelation clearly admits that before martial law
Primitivo Mijares
Page 371
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
was proclaimed, the planners of martial law had already agreed to purge all the
legal successors of the Presidency
...
What about the power of the National Assembly, now that the New
Constitution is in effect, to elect the successor to the Prime Minister by a
majority vote of all its members? Such a power does not exist
...
The nation is still in a long, indefinite period of transition, and
the Palace-drafted transitory provisions have consigned most of the other provisions of the New Constitution to the limbo! One Supreme Court justice held that
the New Constitution is "in a state of anaesthesia"
...
The First Lady? A ranking general
or cabinet member, perhaps? A committee or a junta? No one really knows
...
And if the dictator is no longer around, who will enforce the decree? Or will the
Philippines become just another banana republic, moving from one strong man
to another?
When Marcos called the referendum of July 10, to 15,1975, he assured the
skeptical Convention delegates expecting to seat as full-pledged members of
the interim National Assembly that he would submit the Constitution for
ratification
...
However, less than 24 hours before the first day of the referendum, the
referendum group headed by Kokoy Romualdez and which included myself as
member, got the final six questions which were to be addressed to the
referendum
...
The final tabulation that we made — out of nothing — is as follows:
1
...
Do you approve of the New Constitution?
(Yes — 14, 976,561
No —
743,869)
3
...
Do you want to hold elections in November, 1973, as provided for in
the 1935 Constitution?
(Yes — 1, 206, 721
No
—
14,431,957)
5
...
555
4 years - 809,991
3 years - 528,973
2 years - 446,321
Primitivo Mijares
Page 372
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
1 year
0 year
-
380,200
181,835)
With 95 percent “voting” against the convening of the interim National
Assembly, and remarks having been dutifully reported by the controlled media
that the convening of the assembly would be a throwback to the days of political
elitism and that the people want the barangays to be the lawmaking body
in place of the National Assembly, Marcos conveniently bowed to the
predetermined “will of the people” and called a “Katipunan ng mga
Barangay”conference (People’s Congress) at the Maharlika Hall on January
l7,1973
...
and Senate Presi- dent Gil J
...
Villareal and Chief Justice Roberto S
...
As the Convention delegates slowly tried to visualize their forlorn dreams,
most of them wryly remarked: “Talagang magaling manakit ng tao itong si
Macoy
...
” (This man Marcos really knows how to
hurt people
...
”)
Of course, the major reasons for the non-calling of the interim National
Assembly was Marcos’ decision to rule alone and thereby perpetuate himself
in power
...
If he ever convenes the interim National Assembly, he would create a
Frankenstein monster that could have more disastrous effects for the country
than martial law itself
...
Imagine an assembly with 24 senators, 102 congressmen and 320 ConCon delegates as members! Its duty would be to provide the mechanics for an
orderly transition from the presidential to the parliamentary form of government
...
Now, the
number of assembly districts could be not less than 120 nor more than 160 as
this has been understood in the defunct, lamented Seventh Congress which
called the Constitutional Convention into being
...
We should bear in mind that all
the 400 are ambitious men who, just like Marcos, certainly would not want to
give up any position of privilege and power
...
They
would most likely bear in mind that elections are too expensive; elections have
reduced politicians to penury
...
So, the interim assembly can turn out to be a Frankenstein monster
...
And since the new Constitution does not
prescribe a specific period for the existence of the interim National Assembly,
it could go on and on
...
The expenses that the interim assembly would incur by its operation could
be staggering; that is money which could be utilized for the expensive foreign
trips and jet-set parties of Imelda Romualdez-Marcos
...
The demi-god cannot afford to commit
mistakes; much less can a demi-god afford to make an admission that he had
committed a mistake
...
Whenever the situation in the Philippines develops to such a point as to call
for flexing of muscles, the President calls the Inner Seven, plus four more, to
complete the so-called Outer Eleven so that messages could be beamed to
various sectors that the military ruling clique is united
...
The military won't ever
let go of the power and privilege that once were an exclusive preserve of
politicians and policemen
...
Melchor proposed a "purge"
of undesirables in the government, including the military, to dramatize the third
anniversary of martial law, he himself got purged in the process
...
It was a case of making Marcos choose between Melchor and the military
...
Melchor, an Annapolis graduate, proposed the purge of the military in an
honest and sincere desire to cleanse government
...
The "tong" for everything has quadrupled, not on account of inflation but
because the military demands a higher price
...
Before the advent of martial law, the nightclubs and restaurants could
reverberate to sickening calls, like "What will you have, Mr
...
Congressman?" while the beauty and mahjong parlors had "Mrs
...
Congressman"* for their big patroness
...
"major", "captain", while the beauty and
mahjong suites have for most of their patrons "Mrs
...
Colonel",
"Mrs
...
Captain
...
At the South Harbor, a shoot-out between elements of the Metrocom
and the Coast Guard armed with heavy weapons almost erupted over division
of the spoils
...
By doing so
...
There is really no such thing as a September 21 movement,
although the psy-war people of the armed forces continuously identify
themselves as belonging to the September 2 I movement
...
This is one reason the generals just act on their own in taking care
of their future economic security
...
It is a gimmick to make the sidelined politicians feel that they have no
chance of staging a comeback onto the political arena because the Dictator has
the full backing of the military
...
It" only they would know
that they have so little value in the scheme of things designed by Marcos, then
they would probably mutiny against the usurper commander-in-chief of the
armed forces
...
Marcos does not really love his generals
...
On many an occasion
...
Ver to take steps to downgrade Major Gen
...
In this
project of downgrading generals
...
While Marcos makes sure that the military won't get to be swell-headed and
think about taking over his job, the dictator distributes once in a while a few
crumbs that he and Imelda, in-laws and cronies are otherwise unable to chew
for themselves
...
Foreign junkets were usually a private preserve ot the members of the
defunct Congress
...
It is about time the generals wake up and realize that they are only being
used and fooled by President Marcos as he had done with other sectors of
Primitivo Mijares
Page 375
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Philippine society in his mad rush to the presidency and to dictatorship
...
But look at how the salaries of military personnel have been doubled, while
civil servants got only as little as 10 percent increase
...
When the domino effect on succeeding aspects of expenditures for martial
law are considered, like the referendum, the cost could even be more
staggering
...
It
is expensive for so many people because suspects are rounded up in mass
and thrown to the stockade
...
Then, due to the lack of publicity in the commission of crimes and possible
description of suspects, people are unable to assist in detection work, or cannot
give tips to the law enforcers
...
The military cannot expect voluntary cooperation from the police forces in
maintaining peace and order because there is widespread resentment by the
policemen against martial law for many reasons
...
Even in going after actresses and hostesses, the military has priority
...
Montoya and Tagumpay
Nanadiego
...
There were, of course, other compelling reasons for his relief
...
Gen
...
On the other hand, Nanadiego was retired because some of his legal
assistants in the AFP Judge Advocate General’s Office were denounced by
cronies of the President with having allegedly pried into the “hidden wealth” of
certain rich friends of Mrs
...
23
...
In appointing an outsider to replace Nanadiego, Marcos again
evaded the problem of having to displease any of the factions at the military
establishment
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 376
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Nanadiego is the only officer of general rank to have been taken out for
alleged misconduct in the exercise of martial powers
...
And this is one reason the colonels and the majors and captains are
chafing
...
The miltary is actually both a source of strength — about the only one right
now — and a pain in the neck for Marcos
...
For his
own purposes, he has not opted for an elite professional military that would
stick to the honor code and present him with a threat of a coup d’etat
...
One of the devices concocted by Marcos in thwarting too much
encroachments by the mlitary into the realm of civil government is the
organization of the so-called Sangguniang Bayan or Legislative Advisory
Council
...
The displaced officials were then constituted into the so-called
local Legislative Advisory Councils without pay
...
Marcos evolved the SB or LAC scheme when he first got hold of reports
that the AFP majors and captains have been instructed by their military
commands to start taking up public administration courses preparatory to taking
over the local government positions when the term of elective officials expire
by December 31,1975
...
I used to discuss with Marcos during his spare time the matter of the
generals becoming powerful, abusive and corrupt; that military commanders in
the provinces were behaving like feudal despots and this mentality is filtering
to their children
...
However, in those days, there was a safety valve: regular elections during
which there was a chance to throw the bums out
...
He has been
able to divide and rule the military
...
Sometimes, Marcos uses Enrile,
Tatad, or De Vega to beam messages to the military
...
He has even banned publication of news items
on disciplinary actions taken against military personnel by their own military
Primitivo Mijares
Page 377
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
courts
...
Falsifications, forgeries and bribery and/or blackmail are standard weapons
in the arsenal of Marcos
...
Marcos realizes that, inspite of his having won some big battles, the
entire war of his career would be decided by the verdict of history
...
He would even
falsify historical records to obtain the much-sought nod of history
...
Aquino, Jr
...
One would notice that decrees
issued by President Marcos do not haVe consecutive numbering, the reason
being that, every so often, Marcos issues decrees which must be antedated
...
The truth, however, is that the Letter of Sequestration was drafted only
after the burning of the Kanlaon Broadcasting System building on Roxas
Boulevard, and at a time when Alfredo Montelibano, the authorized
representative of Don Eugenio Lopez on negotiations for the sale of the ABSCBN complex, was imposing certain difficult conditions for the lease of the
compound to the representatives of Ambassador Roberto S
...
Ante-dating documents is a common practice in the Palace
...
1081) was ante-dated to Sept
...
23, at about 4 p
...
Marcos is a past grandmaster at historical falsifications
...
There are many more falsified provisions of the
New Constitution — done under the direction of Dictator Marcos himself, as
there are numerous areas of the so-called minutes of the Constitutional
Convention which were blatantly doctored, all to suit future contemplated
actions of the President, like the creation of the National Intelligence and
Security Agency as part of the decree enacting an Internal Security Act
...
Ver, and enumerating acts which, even if martial law were
lifted, would still be punishable by military tribunals
...
1081 had a pivotal objective — for
historical purposes
...
21,1972, to show to future historians that the President
really did not abolish Congress by his imposition of martial law, but that it was
the New Constitution that disbanded the bicameral legislature under the 1935
Constitution
...
23, two days after Marcos signed
Primitivo Mijares
Page 378
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Proclamation No
...
The Constitutional Convention journal was falsified so thoroughly by
Marcos
...
)
Those who were represented as having talked on these powers, but
actually did not, were Delegates Arturo Pacificador, Godofredo Ramos,
Roseller T
...
Fernandez, Arturo Barbero,
Gilberto Duavit and Luninding Pangandaman
...
Executive Secretary
...
A delegate was even represented as having delivered a speech — during an
alleged debate on the Transitory Provisions — that the new Constitution may
be submitted to either a referendum or a plebiscite and that the President would
be under no constitutional obligation to convene the interim National Assembly
...
e
...
Of course, Dictator Marcos justified the immediate effectivity he made of
the New Constitution as it affected his becoming a dictator by citing the“existing
emergency” for which he imposed martial law
...
If Marcos wanted to be fair, he could have set the effectivity of the New
Constitution to Dec
...
But he
was really scared of elections
...
In
an election which was fairly conducted, his father lost, but he deprived the victor
of the enjoyment of the fruits of victory by gunning him down, according to the
findings of former Court of First Instance Judge Roman Cruz
...
The 1935 Constitution was more subtly implemented by Quezon
...
30, 1935, but provided for elections on Sept
...
It
cut short the term of office of those elected in 1934 to the National Assembly,
including Julio Nalundasan (who defeated Mariano Marcos, father of now Dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in 1934)
...
He infers his right to call a referendum from Republic Act No 3590
which suggested the calling of Citizens’ Assemblies, and which he further
“strengthened” by his issuance of Presidential Decree No
...
Senator Lorenzo M
...
There is no constitutional authority for
the holding of a referendum without congressional sanction (as in a plebiscite
Primitivo Mijares
Page 379
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
on a specified subject), much less was there any legal authority for the holding
of a referendum of Jan
...
The existence of the taxation provision on properties of religious
educational institutions was one of the reasons the New Constitution was pulled
out of a scheduled plebiscite on Jan
...
The New Constitution could
have been voted down by the people for that reason
...
The Convention delegates, it should be
stated, were the political rejects in the Old Society
...
There were other valid reasons for rejecting the New Constitution
...
1
was the Transitory Provision which made a mockery of the entire democratic
processes
...
Catholic leaders are now fighting, if divided, because they had had to move
to wring out concessions from Marcos on the non-implementation of a provision
of the New Constitution on taxation of properties used for profit, like those for
schools and hospitals
...
Archbishop Santos had struck a “modus vivendi with Marcos on the nonimplementation of the provision
...
Sin would not compromise
with Marcos; he felt that the duty of the church to fight for the civil liberties of
the people, and for social change was something which cannot be bartered
away
...
Eventually, the entire Church leadership
joined as one
...
Presidential Decree No
...
No details were spelled out, but since this was a vital measure to
draw the endorsement of the farmers of the martial law proclamation,
PD No
...
1081
...
However,
the massing farmers were stopped by the military on orders of President Marcos
...
He
didn’t want trouble this early coming from the landowners for he feared them
...
Marcos had always warned his advisers that
the martial regime was not secure in its position
...
“At anytime, we can have trouble
...
then our heads will be on the block
...
27, signed on Oct 27,1972, during a ceremony attended by herded farmers
from Bulacan and nearby areas, declared the emancipation of the tenantfarmers from his “bondage” to the soil
...
Tanco, Jr
...
Sugar lands were excluded because the Dictator clearly did not
want a clash with the sugar barons
...
27 — the first letdown for the farmers
...
This was when Marcos
realized that there are actually very few tenants who would be benefited by the
first LOI
...
Most landholdings are those of 20-3-hectare areas
...
e
...
A lot of trouble has cropped up on this area of land reform; more troubles
are building up
...
His
main goal was to prevent a threat from ever being put up by the big landowners
to his regime
...
They could finance small pockets of rebellion
...
They are kept in the cities where Marcos
maintains a pervasive climate of fear greater than those in the rural areas
...
The sinister motive is for Marcos to know
who are his rich potential enemies
...
The ruthlessness of Marcos is part of his staying power
...
Marcos did not hesitate to push the country to the brink of
bankruptcy to win a reelection against Senator Sergio Osmena, Jr
...
He
Primitivo Mijares
Page 381
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
did not hesitate to declare martial law when it became apparent
that he would be unable to extend his stay in Malacanang beyond December
30,1973, through a constitutional amendment
...
He could not content himself
with the string of Supreme Court decisions “upholding” his dictatorship for he
himself realized that he had extorted those decisions
...
Marcos calls it
“favor for a favor
...
Puyat, Speaker Jose B
...
and the entire Laurel clan,
including Senator Salvador H
...
Diokno, Jovito R
...
Mitra, Jr
...
Roxas, Arturo M
...
Padilla and Eva Estrada Kalaw, and former Senator Lorenzo M
...
Marcos seems to have succeeded, however, in extorting a statement of
support from his own bitter rival for the presidency in 1969, Osmena, Jr
...
S
...
The letter, dated July 9,1975, was sent by Osmena following
representations made in behalf of Marcos by Former Ambassador Amelito R
...
Fernandez
...
Marcos’ controlled media in the Philippines and in the United States blared
out in their front pages in glaring headlines the contents of the Osmena letter
to Fraser
...
, son of a former Philippine President and
the man who run for the Presidency against Marcos in the 1969 elections, has
the least reason to support the Marcos regime through the letter he had sent to
Congressman Fraser
...
His son, Osmena
III, has been a “hostage” of Marcos for the last three years, accused also of
alleged conspiracy in the assassination plot
...
Perhaps, another “favor” will be
extorted by Marcos of Serging before his two grandchildren, Paulo OsmenaJacinto, age 10, and Stephanie Osmena-Jacinto, age 8, can be permitted to
join their mother
...
Epps III, of Harvard
College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that the man was compelled to write the
Primitivo Mijares
Page 382
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
dictator a letter on November 20,1975, interceding for the release of Minnie’s
children
...
I urge their
release as the only humanitarian action possible in the situation
...
I know
that the Philippines is under a state of emergency declared by the government
but such concerns should not be placed above the welfare of defenseless,
innocent children
...
I continue to hope that the Philippines, which has a special place
in my heart, will represent the highest standards of decency and humanity in
the community of nations
...
President, that the retention of these
children can only reflect poorly on the Philippines, xxx”
If Professor Epps III was very diplomatic, the wife of Serging, Lourdes, did
not chose to mince words as she asked the conjugal dictators in Malacanang
in a letter of July 16,1975, to allow the two Minnie children to join their mother
in the United States
...
“In your holding them as hostage and not allowing them to leave the country
to join their parents is a punishment that no one at that age could withstand &
endure
...
Do you think your own flesh and blood could
endure such separation & anguish & its fragile minds not snap at that ager
“At 6 yesterday morning my grandchild Stephanie called me long distance
collect begging me to help them come & I had to tell her that it is President
Marcos who is against it
...
It is ironic that of all my
children he had the most admiration & respect for you & now you are the cause
of his suffering
...
“I have been silent all these past three years but for you to hold an 8 & 10
year old as hostage is too much for a 61 year old woman to bear and endure in
silence — they are innocent
...
Allow them
to be with their parents whom at such a tender age they need so badly —
“Sincerely,
“LOURDES OSMENA”
One can understand the suffering that the elder Osmenas (Serging and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 383
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Lourdes) must continuously endure on account of the incarceration of Serge III
and the holding of the two Minnie children as Marcos’ hostages
...
However, it is precisely the heartless nature of Marcos that the public
perceives which gives Ferdinand and Imelda the utmost satisfaction of their
inhuman exercise on the lives of the Osmenas
...
Now, when known opponents, like Serging, whose
legions of Cebuano supporters in the United States and in the Philippines are
waiting for his signal to revolt against Marcos, are compelled to support (instead
of attack) Marcos, it becomes obvious that Marcos’ power and strength
acquire the false quality of impregnability
...
President Marcos conceded that, upon the proclamation of martial law, as
a place Filipinos want to visit, the Philippines ranks somewhere between the
dentist’s office and Muntinglupa
...
The Philippine News published in late July a piece by Renato Yuson and I
would like to reproduce it here with approval:
Part XLI
The Marcos Coliseum
There's a big hunt for the Great Entertainment
...
Ferdinand E
...
New
Society agents are combing every nook and cranny of amusement capitals of
the world
...
Every manner of entertainment is being
scrutinized, studied, listed and catalogued for possible import to the Philippines
...
The New Society is ready to throw everything
- not just greenbacks and facilities and manpower - into the deal
...
Marcos is master of the tricks of a successful dictatorship: keep the natives on
a steady diet of entertainment opium
...
Of course, we cannot have slaves and lions and gladiators nowadays
...
Ali-Frazier
III
...
Miss Universe Contest
...
The idea is to
nurture the basest instincts of the masses for sadism, fun, identification and
Primitivo Mijares
Page 384
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
grandeur — while the new oligarchs secretly manipulate the reins of power and
wealth
...
And he exploits
them with all the resources at his command
...
Even as the people suffer
and starve
...
It was in pursuit of the improbable fun that an old fraternity brother from the
college of law came to New York the other day
...
"Brod," he screamed into the phone, "this is Alex Antonio
...
" I answered, as I barely managed to make out the time on
the table clock (2:15 a
...
)
"Look, brod, I just arrived from Colorado and I have no money to take a taxi
from Kennedy
...
Soon, I was taking the empty Belt Parkway
to the airport
...
Alex had a blackcye, scratches on his face, a torn jacket
...
"
Later, nursing a gin and tonic at my apartment, he revealed that he worked
as an assistant in the Game and Amusement Board in the Philippines
...
The game? Dogfights
...
"Well, we're starting to run out of really good ideas
...
He wants
something really extraordinary, something that could be scheduled on a regular
basis
...
So, it occurred to me to look into
dogfights which are, together with football and boxing and hockey, the closest
approximation of the Roman coliseum," he confessed
...
"I really don't
know, but I understand there's always something to see in the Empire State,"
he said, as he winked mischievously
...
"
"No, what I am really interested in is the ambience of the place, the spirit of
America at work, as it were," he remarked, leaving me more mystified
...
"
Primitivo Mijares
Page 385
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
With that bit of McLuhanism, he winked again and gave me a hearty and
vigorous slap on the back
...
How do
people stay satisfied, uncomplaining? What is there in the Big Apple which
makes life seem so meaningful, even if the people spend most time chasing
their tails?
"There's something about the culture that breeds a kind of hero that loves
adventure and thrill or exults in danger, a kind of mentality out of Hemingway you know, the Big Safari or the Bull Fight
...
It is in the consumption of this staple of adventure
that many Americans find the meaning of existence, however empty and hollow
it may be," Alex pontificated, and for a while I noticed that impish grin that
seemed to savor every word
...
"
Indeed I got his point quite readily
...
At the moment,
it is Peter Benchley's Jaws; sometime back, it was Towering Inferno; further
back, it was
...
"Let's have some action," is a common expression, a signal to gird
the loins, to initiate some fun
...
Social
relevance is not necessary as long as there is an air of tension and danger, of
what Hemingway called "grace under pressure"
...
It's primitive jungle in modern setting
...
"It's simple
...
The people need an outlet for
their dissatisfaction, or else their discontent will explode
...
"
He called the phenomenon "coliseum syndrome" - that outlook which
considers life in general as a kind of sport, a big game
...
"So, where do you propose to
begin to have a picture of this Hemingway psyche?" I inquired
...
Baseball, you know,
and soccer
...
"But brod," I interjected, "I thought you wanted some thrills, some hijinks?"
"Let's start with the more routinary fun," he said
...
"
Looking at the telltale marks of his misadventure in the midwest, I agreed
and said, "Sure, you should settle down to the more homely entertainment like
reading mysteries and watching TV instead of prowling into dens of iniquities
all over town
...
My adrenalin glands
certainly deserved a rest
...
Minister Mariano Ruiz, who was Malacanang protocol officer following the
retirement of Badong Zamora, had the patience to wait for his appointment as
Appointments Secretary in lieu of Secretary Venancio Duque who was
appointed one of the elections commissioners
...
He also performs
the job of protocol officer, and court jester
...
He is already having a feud with most of the military aides of the President
...
The rebellion in Mindanao is going to be Mr
...
He cited it as one of the grounds
for martial law in Proclamation No
...
But he will not admit that the rebellion broke out anew upon the imposition
of martial law
...
When the
military started telling them their guns would be collected, the Muslims started
to rebel
...
” One reading the speech of the Defense
Secretary must begin to wonder what happened to all the alleged contrasts
between the Old and the New Society
...
There is the threat of domestic criminality, aggravated by an incipient
erosion of moral values in our society
...
We have the secessionist movement in the South, which, coupled with the
economic crisis, constitutes the main problem of internal stability that we are
contending with today
...
Significantly, Marcos himself, in a speech delivered during the third
anniversary celebration of martial law held last September 19, 1975, even went
further
...
There are new sores that are clearly emerging
...
I raise my voice
in alarm today for we are in fact a nation divided against itself — divided
between urban and rural, rich and poor, privileged and underprivileged
...
the dramatic gains of the past three years have ironically intensified natural
appetites for finery and show, for lavish parties, flashy cars, mansions, big
homes, expensive travel and other counter-productive activities
...
N
...
” The controlled mass media extolled the
anniversary announcement by the President of a sweeping reorganization of
government
...
One undersecretary, ten other ranking officials — including the heads
of the revenue and customs offices — had been relieved or had resigned; more
undesirable officials were supposed to have been fired
...
The one-man ruler is the supreme judge
...
Knowledgeable people became increasingly skeptical as they
noticed that the bigtime operators at the very seat of power — including close
relatives, cronies, business associates, and trusted subordinates —
had been spared once again
...
That has been his forte
all along; he would say one thing, and yet
...
” He was talking about the referendum
scheduled for Feb
...
Marcos’ answer as quoted by the UPI was not an honest answer
...
Even his answer that the country will move into a parliamentary
form of government was equally dishonest
...
In the same interview, he was asked whether he did not feel it necessary
to reconvene Congress on an interim basis so that important foreign policy
decisions could be ratified
...
”
Another bare-faced lie
...
For, if there had been no world economic crisis, which martial law could not
possibly remedy, he probably would have answered that the Muslims are still
in rebellion in Mindanao or that a small band of NPAs magnified by Marcos
himself into several armed hundreds, are still roaming the hills of Palanan
Primitivo Mijares
Page 388
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
in Isabela
...
His
gambit is to outlive most of them, or hasten the demise of most of them
...
And, in order to swing the youth to his side, Marcos has ordered the
organization of secret training camps for youth corps in the Visayas and
Mindanao, and parts of Northern Luzon
...
The training camps, operating under the guise of National Youth
Service, will turn out what would be the New Society equivalent of Hitler's youth
corps
...
Every aspect of life in the Philippines will be subjected to continuing barrage of
oppression, coupled with propaganda, in order to insure Marcos' perpetualion
in power
...
Marcos
...
In spite of the evidently tightening noose of circumstances pointing to an
adverse historical verdict on his regime, Marcos will seek to maneuver around
in the vain hope that history would deal with him kindly
...
his
misdeeds are many
...
Society is so contrived that it is virtually impossible to combine power,
position and privacy - or even celebrity and privacy
...
What one takes in the way of glory or influence, one must pay for in constant
exposure to public scrutiny
...
Hardly anyone disputed the wisdom of the imposition of martial law, since
they did not hold the martial guns anyway, and it was held out as temporary, to
be lifted just as soon as rebellion is ended and certain reforms are effected
...
And that became
evident during the second six months of the martial regime
...
My greater fear is that the irreversible mechanism set into motion by the
imposition of martial law will in the long run bring a far greater curse on the
nation and all its citizens
...
Dictator Marcos has made no provisions for succession in the Constitution
which he extorted from the Constitutional Convention
...
Martial law has not solved the problem of law and order
...
Crimes against property have increased and will continue to
increase as the economic situation worsens
...
Martial law has not eliminated corruption in government
...
Abuses of power and privilege by old politicos
are gone; but their place has been taken over by new mandarins who, unlike
the former, are not accountable to the people
...
If at all, the gap between poor
and rich has widened because, as the paper on the economy shows, martial
law has not solved the problem of unemployment; and the runaway inflation
that afflicts us, brought about more by the inflationary policies of the martial
law regime than by world economic conditions, has battered the poor much
more than it has hurt the rich
...
The government’s own statistics show that, despite its claim to greater
efficiency and swifter action because of martial law, it is no more capable of
pushing land reform now than it was before martial law
...
” But when? When will the illusion that a
repressive regime, bent on perpetuating itself in power, come to an ignominious
end? When will the extravaganza of manipulation end in order that we can
return to a life on a human scale of freedom and dignity?
How long will Marcos last? How long will the Filipinos tolerate his
oppressive rule? When is the inevitable day of reckoning? Those who go by
Primitivo Mijares
Page 390
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
numerology say Marcos will last until 1981, citing the number of the martial law
proclamation, which is 1081
...
The figure 'MOST could also be read as 1 and 9 or 19,
and then 81, which gives the numerologists 1981
...
Economic hardships will contribute to his downfall because all economic
forecasts indicate that there will be greater economic difficulties in the late 70s
...
The economic condition of the country may hold the key to a proper
understanding of the future
...
The present economic crisis is the main pre-occupation of the martial law
administration and its experts
...
It has been said that the peasant would
rather be fed than be free
...
The indicators and symptoms
point to one conclusion - the New Society is sorely pressed
...
The New Society is in a mess
...
The economic policy of the New Society, which is export-oriented and gives the
red-carpet treatment to foreign investors, thereby increasing and perpetuating
alien domination of our economy, has only served to aggravate the crisis
...
The mid-year Report of the Philippine-American Investments
Corporation (PAIC) predicts a trade imbalance of between $850 and $950
million in 1974
...
Oil imports, now valued at $700
million a year, will further weaken the dollar reserve position
...
The Government is evidently pinning its
hopes on hitting oil, but so far none in commercial quantities has been located
...
Consequently, there will be a tremendous pressure on Government to
increase taxes and adopt drastic economic measures, which it knows will be
unpopular
...
Servicing and liquidating these loans will be a tough problem in the
years to come
...
In several places in Luzon, a number of medium mining
industries have already suspended operations
...
During the world market boom, they pointed out, the Government - through a
subsidiary of the Philippine National Bank - controlled the exports and pocketed
the profits
...
In Eastern Visayas, the slump in copra has affected the entire region,
particularly the depressed areas of Samar and Leyte
...
The timber and plywood industries have been crippled, operations
have been stopped, and thousands of laborers and employes have been
thrown out of work
...
Christians in the
Muslim areas are resentful over what they see as Government bias in favor of
Muslim "rebels" who have now joined the Administration
...
Trapped between the effects of recession and the Muslim insurgency,
countless people have been in a quandary
...
Only the agricultural
industries (pineapple and banana) in Bukidnon, Cotabato, and Davao del Norte
are doing very well
...
In the Greater Manila Area - always the most critical area in times of
upheaval prices of basic commodities have gone up beyond the reach of the
ordinary Filipino
...
As the economic crisis looms, there will be an understandable tendency on
the part of the Administration to be more repressive
...
"
Increasing repression by the military and more misery for the masses may
well be the crucial mix in an irreversible crisis
...
The students, the educated unemployed, and the intellectuals who have
seen through the whole scheme since martial law was proclaimed, will be
among the first to resolve the dilemma, along with the most aggrieved elements
of society
...
The Church, as usual, will be divided
...
The business community will remain cowed and acquiescent, however
resentful some of its members may be
...
To the typical
Primitivo Mijares
Page 392
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
businessman, the old dictum of Goethe applies: if he has to make a choice
between disorder and injustice, he would choose injustice
...
They have received tremendous material benefits and they see their
Commander -in-Chief as the source of their power and privileges
...
How the junior officers and enlisted men will react
to a crisis that can no longer be reversed and which will affect their own families
and relations, is anybody's guess
...
The basic
problems have not been resolved
...
The NPA is a source of endless headaches to the military establishment
...
Unless a third alternative is presented to the people, the country may well be
polarized between an army-supported dictatorship and a Maoist-inspired
movement
...
MY FINAL POINT OF ORDER
In addition to the aforecited and other known evils of an authoritarian
regime, I would like to stress that the betrayal of the high expectations of the
Filipino people for a reformed society under an authoritarian regime and the
dangerous flirtation being carried on by Mr
...
It has been argued before (including by myself), and with justification, that,
in developing countries where the resources are limited and the demands on
these resources by the population are so great, a firm authoritarian regime
would best be equipped to bring about and maintain a program of development
with the resources allocated on the basis of priorities
...
And so it was with the American investors in the Philippines
...
The American businessmen then dutifully reported to their home
offices which, presumably in turn reported to the State Department, that
American investors and businessmen are enjoying a bonanza under martial
law
...
The old corruption which they dreaded
so much under the pre-martial law government is back
...
For, while the regime had so solemnly proclaimed the reformation of
society, it now has had to contend with realities, particularly in the Philippines,
of an endemic tradition of corruption of public officials
...
S
...
There is no doubt that the martial regime has gone corrupt, absolutely
corrupt
...
When
a government fails to satisfy the growing needs of the populace, or worst yet,
fails to satisfy the appetite of rising expectations whipped up by the propaganda
machine, as in the Philippines, then civil unrest ensues
...
South Vietnam and Cambodia are the most recent examples ot corrupt
authoritarian regimes which, having failed to satisfy the needs of the populace,
fell to the Communist onslaught
...
I might add that the same misfortune could befall the Philippines
...
Or, would the United States, in the face of
reversals in Indochina, abandon the Far East and retreat to the shores of
California?
To my mind, the answers must be in the affirmative to the first poser, and
negative to the second question
...
It has been the traditional policy of the United States to fight its wars with
aggressors outside the mainland United States
...
This is a major rationale in the global defense system of the United States as established in a network of defense treaties with countries around
the globe through the years
...
The biggest U
...
air force and naval bases
outside continental United States are located in the Philippines, thus making
the Philippines the most important link in the defense setup
...
Marcos of an
authoritarian regime
...
The Marcos regime has thereby
created the threat of a Portugal-type risk or danger to a major defense network
of the United States
...
The
establishment of diplomatic ties with Mao’s China on the embassy level would
soon give Peking and its agents direct access to the Maoist rebels in the hills
of Sierra Madre
...
00)
into the United States to aid leftist insurgents in the Philippines
...
How should the United States deal with the problem posed by the
dictatorship of Marcos to America’s Asian defense network? Mr
...
One thing I would like to remind the committee of is this: Mr
...
He believes that his newly-established alliance with Mao
TseTung elevates him to a position of strength in bargaining for better terms on
the Philippines-United States defense arrangements
...
Marcos realizes that
the U
...
government, whether it likes it or not, is in no position to “de-stabilize”
his martial regime, at least not until after the American presidential elections of
1976
...
Marcos has taken cognizance, however, of the new wind blowing in the
U
...
Congress concerning the reexamination of U
...
aid policy towards the
Philippines
...
Marcos started beaming messages all over that he himself
wants such a reexamination of all Philippine treaties with the United States
...
S
...
Mr
...
At the same time, Mr
...
S
...
His gambit is to claim later, if aid be really cut or denied, that
he himself had asked for such action from the U
...
government because aid
was being given under terms so iniquitous and derogatory to the self-respect
and dignity of a free country as the Philippines is
...
The line now being mouthed by Manila’s press,
obviously under the baton of President Marcos himself, is that the $100 million
U
...
aid is less than FIVE (5%) percent of the country’s export income, and
could easily be covered by resources available to the Philippines, if finally
cut off
...
S
...
S
...
S
...
While U
...
aid is not really much, the fact that it is being given, with the
undeniable implication that its grant is a direct support of the martial regime, is
what really counts; it serves as a stabilizing factor to the authoritarian regime,
Primitivo Mijares
Page 395
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
while it deters any massive opposition that could compel Mr
...
The current state of repression and burgeoning upheaval occasioned by
the authoritarian rule set upon the Filipinos must necessarily make a claim on
the conscience of Dictator Marcos and his wife, Imelda, the AFP generals and
the Cabinet members, Kokoy Romualdez and other in-laws of the President
who are the only ones really profiting from the state of repression and
oppression in the Philippines
...
This process is not new
...
For him to do so now
would render his guilt to his nation so palpable - all his "daring and sacrifices"
for nothing
...
But the series of lies
and deceptions will victimize his conscience and he will trip along the way long
enough for people or another scheming group, like Imelda and Kokoy on the
one hand, and the military clique on the other, to decapitate him
...
His was only to serve four years - as was the tradition in the
country; but he cheated his way into a second term, and concocted all those
excuses to impose martial law on the eve of the end of the illegally-won second
term as President
...
He cannot have nonpartisan support merely by asking for it or continuing a perpetual climate of fear
...
Plus, candor which has been absent
conspicuously, too
...
So far, the President has been unable to decide whether he wants the
military to be his sole ally or the politicians or his clique of cronies and his
insatiable in-laws
...
He would ask for cooperation, and yet, in another forum, he would launch
unto an unbridled imputation of blame for the ills of the Old Society to the old
Primitivo Mijares
Page 396
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Congress or the “backsliders
...
The President cannot have it both ways
...
The “discarded” politicians who still have a lot of say among their constituencies
must be convinced that the New Society is not just for the generals, Marcos
cronies and Kokoy and the other Marcos in-laws
...
S
...
I am
sure they curse him behind his back for making them adornments in his show
window of a smiling martial law
...
The national policy
cannot be simply a collection of special economic and political interest of the
Marcoses, Kokoy and the cronies
...
Let us not be naive to think that Marcos will allow himself to be caught in
Malacanang by a counter-revolution
...
He knew he could either rule for life or one day
he might just be assassinated or overthrown
...
Neither is he stupid not to make provisions for living a life of luxury and ease
somewhere, like an exiled King Farouk, if the Philippines can no longer be his
domain
...
His Swiss bank accounts
are fabulous but known only to himself — not even to Imelda who has her own
...
Among them are:
1) It is part of a plan to perpetuate himself in power;
2) Fear that he would offend the military who wouldn't want to lose their
powers now;
3) Fear he would offend sectors of the military which he has misled into
going along with him on the imposition of martial law in the honest belief that
there was a real escalating rebellion
...
If the pressure builds up against the martial regime
...
He will go through the motions of revoking Proclamation
Nos
...
Marcos and present such act as a "gift" to the Filipino
people
...
It will still be the same dog with a
different collar
...
Dictator Marcos will then spell out the frame of reference for
such restrictions under the terms of the provisions of the Internal Security Act
by which he created the NISA and set up the apparat of the country's secret
police, and enumerated the "do's" and "don't's" for political parties and the press
as well as the labor unions
...
Marcos spelled out to me and De Vega the vague details of this stage of
his dictatorship during several talks we used to hold in his Study Room on
Saturdays, the day when no callers are scheduled so the President could be
with his assistants, which included myself
...
By that time, he would do away with the military as his main
support, with a statement that the armed forces are being restored to its
professional status and would no longer be needed to run the government
...
They
have had it for so long
...
The Dictator has welcomed with open arms the insidious encroachments of
personal fantasy on life as it is, and embraced the phantom of living in or
projecting a heroic account of himself
...
They deserve general opprobrium for this
...
The politician himself loses touch (he is playing to an
imaginary audience not present) and the public discourse that flows from his
acts is hopelessly falsified and skewed and deep down everyone knows it
...
Marcos apparently wants to do another De Gaulle, that artful of modern
politicians who had a breath-taking sense of the legitimate uses to which
mystery, symbolism and "image" could be put
...
He resorts to all contrivances to lead people
into a perception of the supposed noble objectives he has for the New Society
...
In a word, they want no other power brokers outside themselves in any
future Philippine regime
...
When the press in Manila still had its
full freedom, and the charges were insinuated that they were acting as ingrates
by going after the Lopezes, the joint rulers invariably resorted to this defense:
If we really owe them anything, do you think we would be behaving this way?
Assuming that the Lopezes did help, what did they expect of Marcos? Perpetual
gratitude?
How so different from the posture of the late widely-lamented President
Ramon Magsaysay who, on being asked for a favor in return for a pre-election
campaign contribution given by gambler Ted Lewin, retorted: "But he gave me
that money for the cause of good government; how can I now accede to this
request which would lead to bad government? Tell him, 'no I can't do it'
...
Take them all out
today and tomorrow Marcos will find himself inside (a stockade) looking out, at
best
...
But the same pillar of strength on which Marcos relies so much could also
be the source of his own weakness
...
Some of the “overstayers” are General Romeo Espino, AFP chief of staff;
Major General Jose Rancudo, air force chief; Major General Zagala, army chief;
and Brig
...
Guillermo Pecache, home defense force chief
...
A number of displaced political leaders preach and hope with public piety
pray that Marcos would succeed in his task of reforming the country into a new
society
...
One politician in the Philippines who still dares dream of recapturing old
glory is Speaker Comelio T
...
He has repeatedly told the Dictator, “I am your man
...
As ISpeaker, he had repeatedly assured the President,
he should be able to “handle” (with adequate funds, of course) the
assemblymen and make them do what Marcos wante to run the government
But what is not being articulated by Vlllareal is that, with his cunning and
capacity to manipulate public funds, he would hope to be able to stir enough
Primitivo Mijares
Page 399
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
upheavals in the assembly to topple Marcos as Prime Minister and have himself
elected as the new leader of the country in no time at all
...
And that is the reason, at least one
of them, the Dictator has not prepared himself to convene the interim National
Assembly as mandated by the New Constitution
...
Puyat,
Senators Jovito Salonga, Jose W
...
Aquino, Jr
...
Marcos has no illusions about what might happen to him should there be a
counter-revolution
...
Knowing the consequences of his having placed the country under martial
law he has taken steps to prevent the defeat of his program; security is the No
...
Marcos is keeping himself physically fit at all times,
which is one reason why one might call him a lazy President
...
And when callers observe that it is
way past lunch time, he would usually remark, "Oh, yes, we have been up and
working since 5 a
...
this morning
...
He usually wakes up at 5
a
...
when he asks if any matter involving national security, especially his
personal security, had cropped up during the night while he was asleep
...
m
...
By about 10 a
...
, when he officially schedules his first
caller, he buzzes the Agent on duty in the communications room to inquire if
the visitors scheduled for the day have started coming in
...
At about 11:15 a
...
, Marcos starts receiving his callers
who have been scheduled for as early as 10 a
...
It is only when he has to
receive the credentials of a foreign envoy that he promptly starts his official
work at 10 a
...
Marcos attends to his work and callers up to about 2:30 p
...
He takes his lunch at about that time, after which he takes a nap with
instructions that he be awakened at 4 p
...
, by which time, his playmates (golf
Of pelota) are supposd to be waiting for him at the Malacanang Park
...
m
...
He
goes back to the Palace to attend a reception or dinner or, if there is none, he
goes into his private study to write or make entries into his memoirs,
presumably to falsify more documents to insure his proper niche in history
...
This easily leads one to conclude that Marcos wants to
keep physically fit for a long, long reign ala-Franco of Spain
...
He would lie alone in Suite No
...
Sometimes, to keep themselves
from being bored, they open the President's Study Room television set, and
listen to the muffled sound of the picture being shown
...
He must be seeing the faces of people he has
oppressed, people whose properties he had or allowed to be confiscated, like
the properties of the Lopezes and the Jacintos
...
He must be trying to equate all these
with supposed achievements of the New Society, the new image of the country,
compared to the aUeged bad image of the political and economic oligarchs of
premartial law days
...
Marcos or at worst gave him the benefit of the doubt
...
In fact, the media in the free world has become
generally hostile to the one-man rule of Mr
...
What has brought about this turnabout on Mr
...
Theirs were, firstly, not the cause of justice, truth and virtue
...
To be sure, the anti-martial law forces have on their side former Senator
Manglapus, perhaps the most articulate and eloquent Filipino of his time in
several foreign and Philippine languages
...
Particularly effective in turning the US Congress and media against Mr
...
Marcos - widespread corruption, extravagance,
social climbing and gate-crashing antics of Imelda Marcos, phoney and
exaggerated war records of Marcos, the greed for material gain of the Marcos
couple and their relatives and cronies, and the many hoaxes pulled by the
Marcos dictatorship on a gullible and unknowing world
...
Garcia’s operations and activities were being funded and supported by a
Primitivo Mijares
Page 401
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
number of Filipino physicians in Michigan
...
The Marcos regime has no reason to wish Garcia a long life
...
With world
figures like William Winter, who was the original broadcaster of Voice of
Freedom which beamed news to the Philippines during the dark days of World
War II, volunteering his services, and Paul Ringler, chairman of the board of
the International Press Institute, placing his considerable influence and prestige
in support of the radio project, RFP may yet become the most effective
instrument in rousing the people at home against the totalitarian regime
...
How effective and successful these propaganda operations can be gauged
from the reaction of the Marcos regime
...
the Marcos dictatorship launched multi-million dollar projects - the
"balikbayan" program, expensive publications and newspaper supplements,
cultural and dance troupes, beauty pageants, the world championship bout
between Muhammad AH and Joe Frazier and all sorts of international contests,
including a weightlifting tournament
...
In the meantime, the mail campaign against the Marcos tyranny continues,
with the bulk of the materials now coming from clippings of articles in American
publications and the targets of the mail now including more and more people in
the Philippines, particularly elements of the Philippine military at all levels
...
There will be elements in their own ranks, whether Marcos infiltrators or wellmeaning but counter-productive friends who will try to get their organizations
go where Marcos wants them
...
Marcos very
happy to see his foes attacking him on the so-called “basic issues”
of whether martial law is illegal or not, whether he is the legal or illegal head of
state, whether his decrees and referendums have bases in law, and all those
matters which lend themselves to endless legalistic debates and academic
discussions which do not hurt Marcos but which he, in fact, welcomes, because
these make him appear as a ruler who welcomes dissent so long as they are
“constructive criticism
...
The outraged reaction of exiles has now subtly spread, challenging
Filipinos everywhere to undertake any form of activity that would show defiance
of martial law, e
...
protest marches, teach-ins, funeral marches, nonpayment
of taxes and other forms of civil disobedience
...
In a campaign to bring the truth about the Philippines to public attention, a
non-Filipino and his Filipino wife might as well be credited with a lot of guts and
savvy for the yeoman effort
...
It is said
that, ironically, Presentacion, the only daughter out of five children, is also the
only Lopez child who inherited the strong will of her father and the determination
to fight for her beliefs against all odds and at any cost
...
The Psinakises lived
in Athens until late 1974 but, between 1972 and 1974
...
residing in San Francisco
...
Steve received an urgent call from Geny's eldest son
...
Upon
his arrival in Manila on November 12, Chita Lopez, the wife of Geny, told Steve
about Geny's decision to go on a hunger strike beginning November 18
...
Steve's first question was whether the hunger was intended to get Geny's
release or whether he wanted to risk his life for the benefit of all political
prisoners who, like himself, were unjustly imprisoned by Marcos without
charges and without trial
...
Geny had
precisely asked for Steve, a close friend long before the marriage to his sister,
because he wanted Steve to carry on the fight abroad for the benefit of all
political prisoners and not for his personal benefit
...
Geny reassured Steve that he was going on a hunger strike on
November 18, to secure the release of all political prisoners and reiterated his
request that Steve assist Chita in calling a press conference on November 18
to announce his hunger strike Geny then signed a statement announcing his"
hunger strike - for release on November 18
...
Right after being cleared out of the Fort Bonifacio
gates, about 11:30 a
...
, Psinakis quickly decided that Chita should announce
that very' day the contemplated hunger strike of Geny on November 18, lest
Marcos succeed in preempting Geny on the impact of his hunger strike by a
series of possible moves he could take, like announcing that Geny has been
charged in court of this or that crime
...
Marcos certainly would go after him for coordinating with Geny on the hunger
Primitivo Mijares
Page 403
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
strike statement
...
m
...
For by then, Psinakis had firmly nade up
his mind that he would conduct a sustained information campaign in the United
States, specially among the mass media and members of the United States
Congress, on the repression and oppression taking place in the Philippines
...
He has repeatedly explained that he was conducting
his crusade in the interest of a cause which a friend (Geny) has taken upon
himself and which he (Geny) had asked Psinakis to champion in the United
States
...
“I feel that his cause is noble and selfless since he is undertaking this
sacrifice to call the attention of the freedom-loving peoples oT the world on the
plight of thousands of prisoners like him whose fate is unknown
...
This was accomplished
through sacrifices of courageous men like Geny
...
The
only way to bring out the truth about oppression in the Philippines is through
the press of the free world
...
I stand by her in her own struggle to support her brother’s fight
...
However the Psinakises ignored the threats and did not report them either
to the US Government or to the press realizing that, since the threats were not
documented and could not be proven, Psinakis could be blamed for "heroics"
or "publicity stunts
...
On February 3, 1976
Marcos decided to threaten the Psinakises once more in a manner which would
leave no doubt that the threat was factual and directly from Marcos
...
" Geny is Marcos' prisoner and could not possibly have called
Psinakis in San Francisco without Marcos' instructions
...
There are two distinct characteristics about the modus operandi of the
Psinakis couple which account for most of the success of their campaign
...
They operate alone and in absolute secrecy
...
This characteristic has frustrated and damaged Marcos more than anything
else because he has no way of infiltrating the "Psinakis organization" since
there is no organization to be infiltrated and no way to frustrate their plans since
there is no way to learn their plans in advance
...
2
...
Both Steve and Presy,
particularly Presy, possess a great deal of "personal" information about the
Marcoses, and their frontclan
...
Although, for example, the Psinakises have spoken frequently of the
corruption of the Marcos family and cronies, specifically about Marcos, Imelda,
Kokoy and Benedicto, they have always backed their accusations with
documents
...
This second characteristic has established a respected credibility for the
Psinakis couple among US Government officials and among the international
press
...
Consequently: “If we deviate from the truth, we would lose
the only weapon against the Marcoses who have all the power, resources and
every other weapon at their disposal except the power of TRUTH”
...
It is noteworthy to mention that in a letter
of Congressman Michael J
...
S
...
Psinakis before, and although he is
emotionally and personally involved in this case, his previous communications
have been careful, deliberate and responsible
...
”
J
...
Quijano, the courtly lawyer of the now suppressed Philippines Free
Press, was to play a prominent role in bringing to the attention of the world
press the plight of Lopez Jr
...
Quijano was
Primitivo Mijares
Page 405
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
in Poughkeepsie, New York, in November 1974
...
member, was already represented by its director, Ernest Meyer and Paul
Ringler, chairman of the board
...
was on the verge of death, he flew to Racine on November 24 for the press
meet
...
After Quijano's remarks where he said the Lopez case exemplified Marcos'
"absolute and ruthless control of the press," the symposium sent a cable of
protests to Marcos, demanding that Lopez "be set free or brought immediately
to trial in open court, if there is a legitimate charge against him
...
"
Aside from helping bring about the release of hundreds of political prisoners
by his action on the Lopez case
...
1971, in Zurich, a move later
unanimously approved at the convention of the IP 1 June, 1975
...
Quijano
was not able to attend the IPI convention in Kyoto held May 11, 1974
...
Like Psinakis, there is another strong-willed man who has carried on an
unrelenting day and night campaign to expose the truth of the Marcos
dictatorship in the Philippines
...
Esclamado, has not
bothered to pay attention to the various forms of harassment that Marcos and
his minion have tried in order to silence him and kill his newspaper, the
Philippine News
...
Alex has a band of stout-hearted Filipino journalists who have
ignored risks to themselves in carrying on the struggle to restore freedom in the
Philippines
...
Benoza, Leandro Quintana and Virgilio
Makalalad
...
Rotea has
wielded both pen and his tiny purse, coordinating with Danny Lamila, a former
technical assistant to Senator Aquino, in calling the attention of America, from
their Los Angeles stations, on the dictatorship that has destroyed democracy in
the Philippines
...
Rotea's hard-hitting column in the
Philippine News was a voice in the wilderness for so few dared write or speak
against Marcos in the early days of the dictatorship
...
Where nobody would lead demonstrations and pickets against the
Marcos regime in Los Angeles, Rotea and Lamila stepped forward and
organized these activities
...
While firebrands like Rotea were fighting Marcos their way, the Movement
for a free Philippines was gaining members from a group that now provides the
MFP the kind of mature and wise leadership that comes from age and
experience
...
Mendoza is the regional coordinator
of the MFP in the American Midwest with headquarters in Chicago
...
Marasigan was a classmate of Marcos in Law School
...
The judge's dissiJusionment with Marcos was gradual
...
The ideas of the democratic revolution, under whose banner Marcos wants
the world to believe he had imposed martial law to reform Philippine society,
were not originally Marcos'own concoction
...
Ople and Adrian Cristobal which Marcos then refined, and
which political thinker De Vega further developed and refined for Marcos, with
the assistance of Gilberto Duavit
...
So the radical treatment provided by martial law to cure what he perceived
as a cancer that had its roots in the social and economic malaise which have
so gripped the Filioinos for centuries
...
But was there need for repressive measures?
Now, it is turning out that the country will have to pay more in the steady
erosion of the Filipino values and the magnification of the repressive forces that
in the end succumb to the very diseases they seek to combat as they
themselves are corrupted
...
Quezon during
the campaign for independence from the United States: “Better a government
run like hell by Filipinos than a government run like heaven by Americans!”
...
Since Marcos imposed martial law, he had adopted most of the classic tools
of dictatorship to guarantee political control
...
He also set up a varied network of secret police
...
Both the NISA and the PSC are headed
by Major Gen
...
Ver
...
The continued imprisonment without charges, nay trial, of Marcos’
opponents, notably Senator Aquino, Jr
...
and Osmena III, has drawn
so much attention and criticism from abroad, not to mention the anguish and
torment of the families and relatives of these prisoners at home
...
” He would not let any one of them
leave the country because they can make disturbing noises abroad, especially
in the United States
...
To indicate the kind of people who are collaborating with Marcos, a top
American newsmagazine said that the best Filipinos were in jail while the
scoundrels and thieves were running the government
...
If Marcos
corrupts everything he touches, the same can be said of his effect on people
beyond the shores of his country
...
By throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars on public relations and
cosmetic projects that his impoverished nation can ill afford, Marcos has so
glamourized despotism and repression that nations around the Philippines
have seen fit to follow his example
...
South Korean Dictate/ Park was probably emboldened the way Marcos
has been getting away with banditry and murder that the world is now witness
to the worst and most callous wave of repression to hit South Korea
...
Behind its smokescreen of Miss Universe beauty contests, boxing and
weightlifting bouts, chess tournaments and the kind of circuses that the Marcos
regime has become an expert on, the Filipino dictatorship may have looked
good on newspapers
...
It is only under Marcos that the Philippines has seen a
Primitivo Mijares
Page 408
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
bishop murdered in his own cathedral in Manila, a Marcos cabinetman shot
dead in the presidential palace at Malacanang, tabernacles of churches
desecrated, seminaries raided and ransacked, priests, nuns and ministers
abused, tortured and jailed, judges and congressmen shot dead in churches
while receiving communion and as the latest "Associated Press" dispatch (by
Arnold Zeitlin) reported, a harmless 61 -year-old shoemaker beaten to death in
an army camp
...
India and South Korea
have at least allowed their Congresses to exist
...
No such thing is allowed by Marcos in what he calls his "smiling
martial law" in the Philippines
...
Undisputably, he is the world's most total, most
absolute despot, if not also the world's richest considering that Cosmopolitan
magazine in its December 1975 issue has revealed that Imelda Marcos "is the
world's richest woman bar none
...
I have so often expressed a wish during the last 365 days of my exile in the
United States to be able to go back home to my beloved Philippines
...
Marcos or to be decorated by another successful
despot
...
In pursuance of this objective, I accepted the invitation of the Movement for
a Free Philippines to keynote its third annual convention in Los Angeles on
November 22, 1975
...
One
resolution that came out of these MFP study sessions was what we termed as
our alternative to Marcos
...
And the world knows
Ferdinand Marcos is neither an honorable nor a noble dictator
...
Marcos does not have the asceticism and incorruptibility of a Francisco Franco
...
But these
tyrants at least wanted greatness for their nations and peoples
...
Marcos has
neither love for his country or people whom he has disparaged as indolent
morons and addicts to vices
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 409
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
At this stage, we all perhaps could draw inspiration from a section of the
Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell) written by the National hero
...
Jose
Protacio Rizal, before his execution at Bagumbayan:
My dream when but an adolescent boy
...
end
Primitivo Mijares
Page 410
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Photo Section
FERDINAND E
...
He was to open an era that marked the imperceptible erosion of democracy in
the Philippines, culminating in his declaration of martial law on Sept
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 411
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
The original deposit slip (front and back) showing that Alconcel deposited the
$50,000
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 412
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Shortly after his inauguration as sixth President of the Republic, Marcos poses
for a photograph with members of his legitimate family before an art-nouveau
fountain in Malacanang Palace
...
1 wife, Imelda, who has
since their first days in Malacanang told friends that “we will not leave this place
anymore
...
, and daughters Imee and Irene
...
In late 1966, the Marcoses
acquired for “over P1,000,000
...
It was one of two 17th
century “casa de ocampo ” which have survived the ravages of time and war
...
Imelda commissioned Architect Leandro V
...
The villa was then renamed "Ang Maharlika "and designated
as the site of the Marcos Foundation
...
Its
groundfloor has a large reception hall divided into two wings with doors that
open up to the surrounding veranda
...
A museum which doubles as the offices of the Marcos Foundation
houses the collection of Imelda of finest porcelain and pottery, mostly trade
wares excavated in the Philippines, possibly including a "Golden Buddha”
statuette
...
A guest room features
French period furniture
...
Imelda had steel supports imported from Belgium and had the
arcaded ceilings re-furbished with Gothic features
...
The master’s bedroom is decorated with French period
furniture; Bong Bong’s room with Boulle furniture; Imee’s room, also with
French period furniture highlighted by a Gobelin tapestry and an Aubusson rug;
Irene’s room with Vernis Martin 18th century French furniture; and the Art
Nouveau guest room, named for the style of furniture which decorates it
...
A smaller
receiving room is decorated with French period furniture
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 416
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Imelda’s taste for royalty is fabulous
...
Note Imelda’s diamond tiara
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 418
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Some of the 27 medals that Marcos suddenly started displaying in 1962, 17
years after the end of World War II, to holster his claim that he was the most
decorated soldier to emerge out of that war
...
Secretary of Defense Macario Peralta, Jr
...
and in exchange for his personal pledge to me that he would not run
against President Macapagal in 1965
...
Marcos emerged as an army major from World War II, displaying
what apparently were his only legitimately earned war medals
...
”
Primitivo Mijares
Page 421
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Two of the uncowed anti-martial law organs of Filipinos in the United States,
the Philippine News in the West Coast, and the Philippine Times in the Midwest,
fearlessly raise the banner of overseas opposition to the dictatorship in the
Philippines
...
Primitivo Mijares
Page 422
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Hard-hitting Washington columnist Jack Anderson wrote, in collaboration with
Les Whitten, a series of columns on the Philippine dictatorship and Marcos’
attempt to block testimony against it before a committee of the United States
Congress
...
00 dollars made out by the Philippine
National Bank to Ambassador Trinidad Q
...
It was intended clearly as a bribe to stop
Mijares from appearing before the committee
...
00 to a joint account in his name and that of Mijares at the Lloyds Bank
California on June 17,1975
...
ISBN-13: 978 - 1523292196 + ISBN-10: 1523292199
Book List - Buy online as paperback or kindle,
Contact: job_elizes@yahoo
...
com
Websites: http://tinyurl
...
jobelizes
...
com + www
...
com
Writings 1 Book, 2012 , Articles by Bambi Harper + Butch Jiimenez + Dr
...
Grace Padaca
+ Melanie Aquino + Toto Causing + Rodel Rodis + Cesar Torres + Joey Concepcion +
Charity Guides + Cesar Lumba +_ Casiano Mayor Jr
...
+ +
Writings 3A Book, 2012, Articles by Norman Madrid + Dr
...
Jose Abueva + MarVic Cagurangan + Casiano Mayor Jr + Rod Garcia + Roy
Gaane + Tatay Jobo Elizes + + Writings 3B Book, 2012, Articles by Ceres Busa + John
Reyes + Bert Guiang
...
Dennis Acop + Fred Natividad + Irineo P
...
Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell), Dr
...
Rizal + 2
...
Andres Bonifacio + Articles by Irineo P
...
SionilJose + Juan L
...
Philip S
...
Ted Laguatan + Frank
Wenceslao Jaileen F
...
SONA - State Of Nation Address - English - Pres
...
SONA - State of Nation Address - Pilipino - Pres
...
First 100
Days peech - Pilipino - Pres
...
Payumo + Cesar Lumba + Flor Lacanilao + Juan DelaCruz or
Txtmanika + Dr
...
+ + Writings 7 Book, 2010 - My Vintage Pics - Pictorials &
Family, Tatay Jobo Elizes + + Writings 8 Book, 2010, Articles by Gel Santos Relos +
Ms
...
Montelibano + Tony Meloto + Dr
...
Chua + Dr
...
Candari + Dr
...
Macabenta + Irineo P
...
Donato
...
Toto Causing + Mar-Vic
Cagurangn + Emily Espanol Derry, Poet + Elyn Jean Felarca, Poet + Naysan A
...
Goce or KaPulle2 + Anonymous
...
Ted Lagutan + Percival C
...
L
...
Tabaniag + Resty Odon + Dr
...
Chua + Dr
...
Candari +
Anonymous
...
Ted Laguatan + Tatay Jobo Elizes + Jeremiah M
...
Olivares + Rob Ceralvo + Anonymous + Irineo P
...
+ + Writings 12 Book, April 2012 + Articles By Orion Perez
Dumdum + Julia C
...
Cruz, MD + Ben Gonzales, MD + Mar-Vic
Cagurangan + Marisa Lerias + Gerry Partido + Dr
...
Candari + Erwin De Leon +
Jovelyn B
...
Narag + M
...
Munoz + Sonia
Barbara gl Munoz + Pamela Joy Agtoto + Percival C
...
+ + Timely Writings 14, 2013 + Articles by Cesar
F
...
Tabaniag
+ Kevin L
...
Rene N
...
Carpio + Atty Dodel
Rodis + Atty
...
Benigno Aquino III + F
...
Philipi
Stack + Racz Kelly, Padilla + Bert Armada
...
A
...
Aquino's SONA 2014 + + Timeless Writings-17 (TW17), 2014 + Articles
by Rodel Rodis+ Jose P
...
Ted Laguatan + Romely Bacsain + Charlie Chaplin + Orlando
Carvajal + Allen Gaborro + Rodel Rodis + Primitivo Mijares + Krip Yuson + + Timeless
Writings-20 (TW-20) + Excerpts from Primitivo Mijares Book, Conjugal Dictatorship + +
Solo Authored Books: + + +
Book A, Turning Points, Job Elizes Sr,1968 (Reissue 2009) + + + Book B, Be Considerate
For Once, Tatay Jobo Elizes (Jr), 2013 Book C, Piglets Unlimited - Wealth, Tatay Jobo
Elizes, 2009 + + + Book D, Out of the Misty Sea We Must, Cesar Lumba, 2010 + + +
Book E, Fulfilled – Gonzales Reynaldo, Editor, 2010 + + + Book F - Reflections - Bert
Guiang, 2010 + + + Book G, Writings 7 - My Vintage Pics, Tatay Jobo Elizes, 2010 +
Book H, May Bagwis Ang Pag-ibig, Percival C
...
Goce, Ka Pule2, 2011 + Book J, Songs I Wish You Knew, Soledad
R
...
, 1993, Re-issue 2011 + Book
Primitivo Mijares
Page 427
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
L, Our Guerrero Family, Tatay Jobo Elizes, 2010 + + + Book M, Handy Jokes, Tatay J
...
Revilla, 2012 Book Y, Tiis, Sipag At Tiyaga, Raquel Delfin
Padilla, 2012 + + + Book Z, Until I Meet You, Jhackie Eslit Bayobay, 2012 + + + Book
AA, Buhay At Pag-ibig, Argel Lucero Tamayo, 2012 + + + Book AB, Hail to the Second
Best, Dr
...
A
...
Gil, 2013 + + Book AL, Buhay
Saudi, Adele J
...
Esguerra, 2013 + + Book AO, Not by Bread
Alone, Judge Lily V
...
Martinez, 2013 + + Book AT, My Kin's Family Trees, Tatay Jobo Elizes, 2013 +
+ Book AU, Rizal Family Tree & Others, Tatay Jobo Elizes, 2013 + + Book AV, Make My
Day-2, Nice & Nasty, L
...
Henares, 2013 (1993)Book AX, Handy Lyrics-1, Tatay Jobo Elizes, 2013 + +
Book AY, Ang Biblos, Rev
...
Eugenio Guerrero, 2014 (1929) + + Book AZ, Make My Day4, Sweet & Sour, L
...
Phil Stack, 2014 + + Book BB, Gerry Gil Writings, 2014, Danny Gil + + Book BC, Mr
...
Lopez - Art Gallery, 2014 + + Book BP, Philippines Via Old Pics1, Tatay Jobo, 2014 + + Book BQ, Ronna Manansala - Art Gallery, 2014 + + Book BR,
Philippines Via Old Pics-2, Tatay Jobo, 2014 + + Book BS, Being Good-A Medley Of Love,
Dr
...
+ +
Book BV, Hermes Art Gallery-2, Sep2014, + + Book BW, Fave Art-5, Tatay Jobo, Sep2014
+ + Book BX, Cash & Credits, Make My Day-11, Larry Henares, Sept 2014 + + Book BY,
Rise & Fall, Make My Day-12, Larry Henares, Oct 2014 + + Book BZ, Swans & Swine, Make
My Day-13, Larry Henares, Oct 2014 + + Book CA, Touch & Go, Make My Day-14, Larry
Henares, Oct 2014 + + Book CB, Life & Death, Make My Day-15, Larry Henares, Oct2014 +
Book CC, Kiss & Bite, Make My day -16, Larry Henares, Oct 2014 + + Book CD, Good &
Evil, Make My Day-17, Larry Henares, Oct2014 + + Book CE, Beast & Beauty, Make My
Day-18, Larry Henares, 2014 + + Book CF, Beggar & King, Make My Day-19, Larry Henares,
Oct 2014 + + Book CG, Trash & Treasures, Make My Day-20, Larry Henares, Oct 2014 + +
Book CH, Wear & Tear, Make My Day-21, Larry Henares, Oct 2014 + + Book CI, Why Blame
the President, Irineo P
...
Henares, Larry Henares & Edith
Perez de Tagle, Oct 2014 + +Book CO, FaveArt-5 ++ Book CP, FaveArt-6, Book CQ,
FaveArt-7, Book CR, FaveArt-8 (All FaveArt books by Tatay Jobo), 2014 + +
Book CS, Minsan May Isang Puta, Ms
...
Phil Stack, 2014 + +
Book CX, Ramblings-C, Danny Gil, 2014 + + Book CY, Ramblings-D, Danny Gil, 2014 + +
Book CZ, Ramblings-E, Danny Gil, 2014 ++ Book DA, Tenacious Nurse-1, Gretheline
Bolandrina, 2014 + + Book DB, Tenacious Nurse-2, Gretheline Ramos-Bolandrina, 2015 +
+ Book DC, Of Words I Have Found, Dan Jimenez (danmeljim), 2015 + +
Book DD, Tanjay East Coast Magazine, Issue 1, Feb 2015 + + Book DE, Tanjay
East Coast Magazine, Issue 2, April 2015 + + Book DF, Catechism Manual, Dr
...
Coast Magazine,
Poconos, May 2015 + + Book DJ, Baptism Guidebook, Dr
...
Phil Stack,
June2015+ + Book DM, Jokes Collection-3, Tatay Jobo Elizes, July2015 + + Book DN,
Jokes Collection-4, Tatay Jobo Elizes, Aug2015 + + Book DO, Jokes Collection-5, Tatay
Jobo Elizes, Sep2015 + + Book DP, Beautiful Lie, Joecel Jayme, Jan 2016 + +
Primitivo Mijares
Page 429
The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Permission had been granted by the author/authors/heirs to print their books under
my free self-publishing and reprint services
...
Interested reader may request free reading/viewing of any of my booklist via online
reading or ebook
...
Why I Publish and Reprint Books
by Tatay Jobo Elizes
Writings are timeless documents and they act as mirrors of history
...
One need not be a good writer
...
I have seen a lot of good writings
in the internet, in magazines, newspapers and various media
...
Yet they need to be published
...
I produce also solo-author books,
columns, novels, opinions, essays, art books, pictorial albums, family trees, joke books,
songhits, biographies, travelogues, reunions, in color or black/white, etc
...
Well, the
hardcopy is there for posterity and availability
...
Sometimes,
internet has problems
...
Print is always
available and for all eternity, unless the owner or author chooses to halt its publication
Title: The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda MArcos
Description: This is a limited edition article from one of the greatest biographers and authors of his time. A work which truthfully unfolds the genuine condition of the Philippines under the rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and their satirically acclaimed conjugal dictatorship.
Description: This is a limited edition article from one of the greatest biographers and authors of his time. A work which truthfully unfolds the genuine condition of the Philippines under the rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and their satirically acclaimed conjugal dictatorship.