Category: history

Enrile, Zaldy, 3-day rally

Nov 13. The centenarian Juan Ponce Enrile finally breathed his last, lingering a couple more days in ICU after it was announced that he had “slim chances of surviving”, which no one really doubted, given his age, whether 101 or 103. I wondered though why the family didn’t wait to announce until he was truly gone. Tuloy, the news generated all sorts of long-life and masamang-damo memes but also some serious vlogs and essays, mostly reminding of his notorious part in our nation’s history as architect and implementor of martial law and top Marcos crony (which he denied in his memoir), at marami pang iba. Pero okay din, I guess, to get all the sorry stuff said already… get it out of our systems… though it could take forever…

The ones who try to be fair invariably note his heroism in 1986 when he defected from Marcos and “sparked the EDSA revolution”, while others go on to ask why nothing changed, and why, how, he was never made to account for all the wrongdoing as well as the awesome wealth. Tanong pa ng isa, bakit sila-sila lang ang yumaman, bakit hindi binitbit ang taong-bayan?  https://www.youtube.com/

I only know enough about EDSA, and I concede that Enrile was an EDSA hero, but not because he defected from Marcos, rather, because he gave way to Cory. For sure, there was an ex-deal, maybe immunity from suit, atbp., who knows, but for some critical moments there, Enrile was touched by, and bowed to, People Power.

But it’s not true that if Enrile had not defected, Marcos would not have been ousted. February 22 was the 7th day of Cory’s nonviolent civil disobedience and crony boycott campaign to compel Marcos to resign. The economy was reeling and the banks were running. Cory was already in the Visayas, next stop, Mindanao, spreading the word, adding to her list of crony companies to boycott. The people were already in the throes of non-violent revolution. Marcos’s inauguration on the 25th would have brought the people out into the streets anyway, marching to Mendiola most likely, there to face the tanks and the Marines as bravely.

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Nov 14. The missing Zaldy Co, whose Sunwest Construction and its joint ventures were awarded P86.1 billion in govt infra contracts from 2016 to 2025, suddenly showed up on our digital screens, alleging that only PBBM and former Speaker Martin Romualdez benefitted from the P100 billion insertions in the 2025 national budget, and that he could be killed for saying so. Nov 15. Zaldy struck again with another video confirming the Guteza story, and showing bags and bags purportedly full of money…male-maleta ng pera…na idineliver daw sa Forbes Park at sa Malacañang.

Napaka-obvious naman na sinadyang ipalabas ang mga video, at magpalabas ang Zaldy, just before the 3-day DDS INC JIL KOJC UPI anti-corruption protest rallies sa Edsa at Luneta whose fervent desire is to oust the president and install the VP.

Which makes Zaldy Co what? A DDS hero? For defecting from the BBM-Romualdez admin? Pero dati nang DDS si Zaldy, nagbalik-loob laang, kumbaga. Siguro’y pinangakuan ng immunity from suit kung sakaling mapababa si PBBM? A la Enrile in 1986 kunó? At least Enrile had the grace, and the smarts, to seriously woo Coryistas, admitting that in the snap election they cheated Cory out of 300,000 votes in Cagayan, and that the 1972 ambush was staged.

Zaldy should just come home, face the music, testify under oath, let the chips fall where they may. History just might remember him more kindly.

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Why Quezon?

Biglang may nagbabasa nitong September 2018 post ko asking why si Quezon at hindi si Aguinaldo ang kasunod nina Luna (2015) at Goyo. And now that it’s in theaters and the rave reviews are in — congrats naman sa TBA Studios for a Quezon that’s not hagiographic and, even, quite timely — here’s wishing pa rin for a film on that tragic conflict between Bonifacio and Aguinaldo that historian Glenn Anthony May sees as “but one brief skirmish in the perennial struggle between the charismatic and the bureaucratic  …  Bonifacio, the charismatic leader, had succeeded in raising the flag of rebellion, but it was left to a new bureaucratic authority, exemplified by Aguinaldo, to attempt to finish the job.” I’m certain we have much to learn, too, from that “skirmish.”

Si Luna, si Goyo, at si … Quezon?

Kung sabagay, antihero naman silang tatlo in real life.  As in, lacking truly heroic attributes.  For all their dramatics in reel life, neither Luna nor Goyo nor Quezon is in the league of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.

One thing, however, that Rizal and Bonifacio, Luna and Goyo have in common is that they were killed, they died, for country in the prime of their revolutionary lives.  Rizal in 1896, Bonifacio in 1897,  Luna and Goyo in 1899.  Freedom was non-negotiable.

Quezon, who was 3 years younger than Goyo and lived to a relatively ripe old age of 66, did not take part in the 1896 Revolution (his family in Baler is said to have remained loyal to mother Spain), hardly engaged in military battle in the Fil-Am war, and post-Fil-Am war was principal collaborator in the, sadly, successful campaign to suppress the nationalist clamor for immediate independence from America. [Michael Cullinane. Ilustrado Politics: Filipino Elite Responses to American Rule 1898 to 1908. Ateneo de Manila Press, 2003; Alfred W. McCoy. Policing America’s Empire: The United States, The Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State. University of Wisconsin Press, 2009]

Kumbaga, Quezon was America’s Boy all through the American occupation and the Commonwealth — he came to dominate and shape local and national politics to his liking, creating the template for political ops, with the approval, of course, if not with some maneuvering on the part, of imperial America.  This is not to say that Quezon does not deserve a film, he absolutely does, he was quite a colorful figure, on so many levels. But he belongs to another time in our history.  He belongs in a different trilogy.  Or puwede ring stand-alone.

But wait.  The Quezon film daw will cover the 1935 elections where Quezon trounced Aguinaldo in the run for president of the Commonwealth.  So, iyun na mismo ang thread of the trilogy?  A three-punch swing at Aguinaldo for ordering the execution of Bonifacio, I suppose, and for selling out to Spain with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, I guess, and for naively trusting that the Americans would withdraw once the battle against Spain was won?

In fairness, after Luna and Goyo, Aguinaldo deserves his day in court.  Let’s hear his side of the story.  Why did he have to have Bonifacio killed?  Why was it so difficult giving Bonfiacio credit where credit was due him.  What made it so impossible for him and Bonifacio to get their act together, that is, to work conspire fight together against a common enemy?  What was he thinking when he agreed to stop fighting Spain?  How surprised was he by the Treaty of Paris whereby America bought the Philippines from Spain for $20M?

We don’t need more historical fiction.  We need facts and intelligent conjecture.  We need to learn from our history — not just from juicy details but from the big picture that reveals the patterns we need to break away from so we can blaze new trails.

Distorting EDSA, Dismissing Agrava

Heard a pro-Duterte lawyer vlogger telling her followers na kung maraming marami silang jo-join sa  rallies, maaaring sumama na pati ang military, just like in ’86 daw when the military went to EDSA to protect daw the people in case of violent actions from the powers-that-be.

She also said that she doesn’t believe there can be a truly credible investigative commission. “Remember the Agrava Commission? May naniwala ba?” She reminded that there were two reports “dahil hindi magkásundô” [ang commissioners].

THE MILITARY IN EDSA 86

Sinong military troops ang pumuntang EDSA in ’86 to protect the people? Enrile, FVR, and Gringo’s RAM? The Marines’ Tadiar and Balbas?

FACT.  Enrile and Gringo’s Reform the Armed Forces Movement went to Camp Aguinaldo Saturday afternoon, joined by FVR a few hours later, to defect and take a stand vs Marcos (after their coup plot to replace the dictator was discovered). Wala pang tao noon sa EDSA. It was Day 7 of Cory‘s crony-boycott campaign. Close to midnight na when the people went to EDSA upon the call of Butz Aquino and Cardinal Sin to protect the rebel military who were perceived to be possible allies against the dictator.

FACT. Marine Commander General Artemio Tadiar and his tanks went to EDSA Sunday on orders to eliminate Enrile and co. but the people stopped them in Ortigas (as Enrile was crossing the highway to join forces with FVR in Camp Crame).  Monday Col. Braulio Balbas and his howitzers were able to enter Camp Aguinaldo through Libis, with orders to bomb Crame across the highway, but Crame was full of people protecting Enrile and Ramos, and Balbas simply disobeyed orders.

So. It’s not true that the military withdrew their support from Marcos and went to EDSA to protect the people. It was the people, waving Ninoy’s and Cory’s colors and banners, who marched to EDSA to protect the rebel military, not the other way around. Let’s get that straight. https://edsarevolution.com/chronology/

AGRAVA COMMISSION

Hindi rin totoo na walang naniwala sa findings ng Agrava Fact-Finding Board on the Ninoy assasination. Kapani-paniwala ang patunay ng Board na nagsinungaling sina Marcos at Olivas when they insisted na sa tarmac binaril si Ninoy at si Galman ang bumaril sa kanya.

Based on eyewitness accounts and audio recordings, the Board established beyond doubt that Ninoy, the victim of a military conspiracy, was shot on the service stairs by the soldier right behind him. All five members of the Board agreed on this principal finding.

The Majority and Minority reports differed only on how high the military conspiracy went. Chair Corazon Agrava named only the six (6) soldiers who were on the stairs with Ninoy, plus their immediate superior Avsecom chief Gen. Luther Custodio. The majority of four (Dante Santos, Ernesto Herrera, Amado Dizon, and Luciano Salazar) went all the way up to Ver and Olivas, with 22 military men, and one civilian.

That the Majority Report (Oct 1984) dared belie the dictator’s communist-hitman-tale and lay the blame squarely at the feet of Ver, Marcos’s highest military official, was a high point in the struggle to obtain justice for Ninoy.

Unfortunately, if expectedly, following the dictator’s orders na “Mag moro-moro na lang kayo”, the 1985 Sandiganbayan trial (Pamaran Court) declared inadmissible in court the copious evidence unearthed by the Agrava Board, and acquitted all 26, ruling that Ninoy was shot by Galman who was in turn shot by the military. The very next day Cory announced that she would run for President if Marcos were to hold snap elections. We all know how that turned out.

A year after Cory assumed office, there was a Sandiganbayan retrial of the Aquino-Galman double murder case (Hermosisima Court 1987-’90), this while Marcos loyalists mounted coup attempt after coup attempt to topple Cory and bring back Marcos. Criminal Case No. 10010 and 10011 was finally decided a year after Marcos died. It was a compromise decision, upholding Agrava’s finding of a military conspiracy but convicting only 16 soldiers, Custodio the highest ranking. Perhaps a concession to the restive military that settled down only in FVR times.

That Ver and Olivas (and other culpable ones) got off scot free, and that there was no evidence directly linking Marcos to the killing — these do not reflect on the Agrava Board, rather, on the genius of the mastermind who planned and enabled the project : How to kill Ninoy and get away with it. That’s my theory anyway, after some research on what Marcos and the military were up to in the three years preceding Ninoy’s homecoming.

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More in my Ninoy book, coming soon. This year, if I stop blogging. But these are such exceptional times. Even, desperate times for pro-Duterte vloggers, kaya nagkakalat ng fake history.

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Atty. Claire on EDSA & media #Resibo

Dati ko na siyang napapanood, nung una sa Teleradyo, “Usapang de Campanilla” yata yon, taking calls, giving legal advice. Now on YouTube her “Batas with Atty. Claire Castro” vlog has been one of my regular stops. She’s always worth checking out because she focuses on an issue at a time, making himay himay from the perspective of a lawyer, and always citing her sources, no matter how time- or tech-consuming.

She never struck me as pro-BBM, and she says she didn’t vote for him. But she supports the government daw, and when asked to help fight the stream of fake news from the DDS as election campaigns heat up, she said yes. Of course antiBBM vloggers and pfundits wonder if Atty. Claire is ready to lie for the Marcoses if push comes to shove, I suppose. She’s quick to assure that she will decide on the basis of hard evidence. As in, where’s the evidence that the prez had anything to do with the Tallano-gold story. Nasaan ang resibo?

Or where’s the evidence that the prez has downgraded EDSA Day, it’s still a “special” working holiday and people are “encouraged to join any event to commemorate” the special event. To this no one  followed up with, pero ma’am, paano yung mga may trabaho? Although Christian Esguerra, for one, did push back, and Atty. Claire did not disappoint.

Esguerra. Anong sagot niyo roon sa sinasabing under BBM lalong nalilibing ang spirit of EDSA? https://www.youtube.com/

Atty. Claire.  You are encouraged to join any event … walang paghahadlang.  … Mahirap sabihin that the president is trying to  erase the memory of EDSA People Power…sa utak ng mga Pilipino. Otherwise, baka pinagbawal yan… wala siyang idnidiktang ganoon….

Siguro we should not put the blame on the president if ever ma-e-erase ang memory ng EDSA.  Tayong taga-  media, if we really want to instill (EDSA) in the minds of the people, the youth, dapat nagpapalabas tayo ng mga  movies, programs sa mainstream TV, ng mga kuwento, para hindi nakakalimutan.  Hindi puro teleserye.

Itong (past) 37 (39 actually) years, ang nangyayari lang, walang pasok.  After walang pasok, paano ba i-co-commemorate ng mga tao. Hindi natin napapanood kung among nangyari sa EDSA revolution. Wala kang napapanoood. So the media should do that. … And they should not blame that to the current administration. Dapat panahon pa ni PNoy merong ganyan every year.

Na totoo naman. While on the one hand the Marcoses worked hard to diss and dismiss EDSA via social media, on the other, the mainstream media, academe, and government, and the oligarchs behind these institutions, have never cared to really talk the truths about EDSA — how it happened, why it happened — because it would mean revealing EDSA as a template for Change, Nonviolent Change; it would mean talking about the civil disobedience and the crony boycott that preceded and continued into EDSA, and how the economy was reeling, and the people were so engaged and ready to take to the streets.

Radio and TV talkshows and programs and docus about the 10 days of boycotts and barricades, based on indisputable sources would mean empowering the people to do as we did in 1986, and, I imagine, to do EDSA even better next time by shooting (so to speak) not just to oust a Marcos but for systemic, deep-seated, changes in the economic and social and political order. All anathema, of course, to the ruling elite.

PAHABOL

Mga resibo, mainit-init pa: “Bongbong evades, lies about EDSA.” Miguel Reyes of the Third World Studies Center and Vera Files tracks BBM’s comments on EDSA through the years, since 1989, mostly dismissive. “Nothing to celebrate …. Bigo ang EDSA 1 …” at kung ano-ano pa. Kung maniniwala ka sa kanya, e di wow, kalibing-libing nga.