Category: history

environment 3: forests gone

FORESTS GONE
(In Defense of Kaingineros)

Junie Kalaw

In 1863, after three hundred years of free access to forests for all, natives and Spaniards alike, the Inspeccion General de Montes was created by royal decree to keep track of, and control access to, the forests that blanketed the archipelago.  It was charged with all matters that had to do with the cutting of timber, the opening up of virgin forests, and the selling of forest land.  The discernible goals of forest policy were to (1) provide for Spanish civil and naval needs for timber, (2) contribute to government revenue, and (3) perpetuate forest resources. These goals were not met. Revenues from commercial timber exploitation and forest use were low. Timber could be used freely under a permit but few bothered; illegal cutting of trees and clearing of forest lands for cultivation increased among the natives.  In 1874 kaingin farming was banned and commercial cutting a crime.

Fortunately the population was small and forest loss negligible.   In fact, when Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States in 1898, the islands were still covered with forests, plains and mountains alike.   According to a report of the U.S.-appointed director of the Forestry Bureau, the forests of Mindanao, Palawan, Samar, and Luzon were intact, “waiting to be explored.”

The forest industry flourished under American rule, thanks to America’s huge demand for Philippine hardwood.  Soon enough the forests started to suffer from both destructive logging and kaingin farming.  By 1934 only about 17 million hectares or 57% of the country’s 30 million-hectare forest remained. By World War II the lumber industry ranked second in employment and fourth in value of production among Philippine export industries, with annual government revenues from forest charges averaging Php 2.5 million.

During the occupation, the Japanese took every opportunity to exploit Philippine forests.  Forest stations in occupied territories were made to continue operations, resulting in severe destruction of forests and the devastation of the industry, with 141 out of 163 sawmills completely destroyed.

Upon independence, the state’s ownership of all forest land was affirmed.  Projecting a bias for social justice and equity and envisioning democratic participation, the Philippine Constitution mandated that natural resources belong to the state.  In practice, the “state” has meant politicians and their business partners, and the doctrine has been “what is good for business is good for the general welfare.”

The forestry industry was rehabilitated and mechanized with American help and the exploitation of timber institutionalized through the concession system used by most governments of the tropical world.  Set up for the private management of commercial forests and to allow public authorities to collect revenue, the state controls exploitation through (1) a system of licensing that limits the area and duration of concession to 50 years, including renewals; (2) the collection of fees based on the volume cut; and (3) the enforcement of a maximum allowable cut derived from estimates of sustainable productivity.  Firms capable of setting up or linking with a complementary sawmill or wood–processing operation are more likely to be granted licenses.

In response to U.S. market demands, and to raise revenues for industrialization, the country resumed exporting forest products, with exports valuing Php 3.3 million in 1949.  Early in the next decade Japan stepped up its imports of Philippine hardwood, lauan in particular; from half a million cubic meters by 1952 to 4 million cubic meters by the end of the decade.  Forests were then clear-cut, large-scale, without concern for the future, until 1954 when government imposed the selective logging system on commercial loggers.   Designed as a “sustainable yield management scheme,” it requires the logger to refrain from cutting a certain proportion of trees in the concession, as designated by the Bureau of Forest Development, the residual stand to be managed by the logger, who arranges a second cycle of cutting after a specific growing period.

In the 1960s the Japanese government decided to develop its own wood-processing export industry, treating the forest resources of the Philippines and other South Seas countries as a singe resource base.  Hardwood imports, mainly logs, were processed into plywood in Japan and the best-quality production exported to the U.S.   This trade enjoyed special government privileges since it helped obtain precious currency for the Japanese economy and fueled the development of its plywood manufacturing industry.

In 1969, the peak year of the “logging boom,” the Philippines exported 8.3 million cubic meters of logs to Japan.  Two co-existing systems facilitated the process.  The first consisted of local concerns (Chinese timber merchants who generally managed the logging for the well-connected Filipino concessionaires) borrowing large capital from Japanese trading houses for the purchase of logging equipment; loans were repaid with log shipments.  The second system consisted of joint ventures between local capital and Japanese trading houses, with the Japanese supplying as much as 30% of the capital investment through the back door.

In the early 1970s log exports started to decline.  Despite the selective logging policy, Mindanao had been largely deforested, its high-density dipterocarp stands in accessible areas exhausted.  Logging continued but mostly in Luzon.   In principle, a ban on exports and a ban on logging in seven provinces, later reduced to six, were introduced in 1976.  However, government repeatedly delayed their implementation for “economic recovery” reasons.

Deforestation took place most rapidly under the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos.  The Japanese system of processing imported Philippine hardwood and then exporting the best products to the U.S. not only earned the Japanese government scarce currencies but also permitted the excesses of Marcos cronies.  When the Aquino administration came into power in 1986, several large concessions, some of them directly connected with Japanese interests, were canceled and a number of people, including government officials, were charged with corruption.

President Corazon Aquino, on whom the hopes of the 1986 revolution were pinned, did not fare much better, unfortunately.  By 1988, according to the latest nationwide inventory survey, Philippine forests had shrunk to 6.3 million hectares or 21% of their original area, with as much as 80% of these remaining forests partly logged over.  The most severely affected type is the naturally-grown dipterocarp forest.   Once dominating the country’s silvicultural pattern, it now stands marginally in (only) 4 out of 12 regions. From 1934 to 1988, the size and proportion of this type of forest declined between 11.1 and 13.6 million hectares to about 1.04 hectares.   In other words, almost 90% of the natural dipterocarp forest existing in the mid-’30s had been either cleared or transformed into residual forest areas, unproductive mossy fields, and open cogon lands by the 1980s.

The problem is essentially an institutional one, having to do with rules of access and control.  The red tape and complicated requirements involved in acquiring a Timber Licensing Agreement (TLA) or forest concession effectively squeeze out small-time operators or community interests in favor of big and influential concerns.   Besides, the prices assigned to standing timber are so low relative to their true market values that logging concessionaires make a killing in “rents,” which is the “surplus” profit available to a logging company once labor, equipment, and marketing costs are accounted for.   Since they incur no costs in producing the timber, loggers’ profits are often far higher than normal capital remuneration, which has led to the overexploitation of the resource.

This would also explain why the selective logging system has not worked for Philippine forests.   It has been shown that while the first cutting cycle is profitable for the private logger, the timber-stand improvement phase is not, due to the long period of time involved in waiting for the second cut.  Thus loggers tend to maximize revenues from the first cut, and then forego the second.   Invariably, when the loggers move on, “informal” forest users follow in their wake to clear logged-over areas for kaingin farming. These are mostly migrant farmers from lowland communities, numbering some 14 million Filipinos.

It is important to recognize the critical nature of this population pressure on the forest areas, which are now mostly in the uplands.   Unlike indigenous tribes that have long adapted to the environment, migrant farmers tend to overexploit the land quickly, using technology suited only for lowland agriculture.  It is therefore not surprising that government has singled out these kaingineros as the major culprit in 75% of forest destruction.

But if there is anything that the ecological crisis teaches us, it is to have a systems view of life, from which perspective everything is interconnected and interdependent.  We need to ask why we have 14 million kaingineros in our uplands and why they were forced to migrate in order to survive.  And we need to ask why only a few well-connected people are benefiting from forest resources.

From 1979 to 1982, loggers made a profit of US$ 820 million (roughly Php 16.4 billion) and the government earned approximately US$140 million (Php2.8 billion) in taxes.  Clearly now, this centralization of access to and benefits from forest resources has directly contributed to the poverty and environmental degradation in the countryside.  At a national level, benefits from forest resources have been used to finance political power through the dispensing of patronage to an impoverished electorate and the buying of military protection.   This has produced a basic anomaly in our democratic system.  Authentic democratic elections are not possible when the voters are poor and depend upon the patronage of a powerful few for their survival.  Ecological consciousness points to the necessity of acknowledging that the right to a life-support system from our natural resources is an inherent human right that must be given to people before the rights of the state and political leaderships can be voted on.

After the authoritarian Marcos regime, any other administration would have had to cope with the problem of poverty and democratic access, including Marcos himself, had he won the snap election as he claimed, and come to terms with the assault unleashed by an outraged civil society.  The history of primary-resource exploitation in the Philippines is replete with the names and interlocked fortunes of politicians and foreign interests, as left-wing ideologues have not tired of repeating.  These ideologues, however, seek to impose a political solution to what is at the core a problem of ecological relationship.  Until this is understood, poverty, as well as the aggravations created by insurgency, will continue to bedevil us.

A HARIBON READER ON THE PHILIPPINE FOREST, September 1989
Philippine Daily Inquirer 26 July 1988

anthem angsts

the tempest over the national anthem in the wake of martin nievera’s relatively radical version is no small teacup thing.   this is one question that every pinoy who grew up memorizing and singing lupang hinirang feels qualified to weigh in on.   and i dare say that pinoys who hated it that martin played around with the beat and the endnotes outnumber pinoys who didn’t mind at all, whether they liked martin’s arrangement and/or rendition or not.

martin was warned:

If only Martin Nievera listened to the advice of maestro Ryan Cayabyab, he would not be embroiled in national controversy.

The renowned musician said here that he warned Nievera not to change the melody of the National Anthem at the opening of Sunday’s Pacquiao-Hatton bout in Las Vegas.

“Martin, papatayin ka ng tao. Huwag mong papalitan yung huling part kasi delikado ka. (Martin, you will be crucified for that. Don’t change the last part or you’ll be in trouble),” Cayabyab recalled telling Nievera.

He said Nievera sent him a copy of his nontraditional rendition of the Lupang Hinirang five days before the fight.

Cayabyab, who’s fondly called by his friends and singers as Mr C, said that the country’s concert king first confided to him about his plan to jazz up the national anthem during ASAP, ABS-CBN’s Sunday noontime variety show.

He urged Nievera to sing Lupang Hinirang the regular way because other Filipinos would join him in singing.

Nievera, however, told Cayabyab that he would push through with his plan because he’s “doing it for the country.”

Still, Cayabyab insisted that he should not change the last part.

… Cayabyab said he would be open to join the debate on how the National Anthem be sung.

“As a musician, I will stick to the original because that is how the composer meant it to be,” he said.

the latest news is that martin has sort of apologized in the face of very negative feedback from the national historical institute and the threat of criminal charges being filed against him by a cavite congressman for violation of Republic Act 8491, or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.

“I do apologize only to the people afraid of progress and change, of course, the lawmakers and to whomever took offense to my interpretation of probably the most beautiful song I’ve ever come across,” Nievera said in a text message.

fighting words, for an apology.    i suppose because martin has powerful backers from the palace right all the way to the partylist left, who are even hoping to amend the law to allow for freedom of expression and artistic license.   big mistake.

bottom line the question is:  do we hew to the traditional, the original, the classic, or do we bow to the the new, the fresh, the modern, the cool.

now i’m usually all for creativity and change, improvisation, breaking out of patterns, but in the matter of the national anthem i am all for the old-fashioned way.   i am all for hewing to the traditional, the original, specially on big occasions here and abroad.   because pinoys in the audience will be singing along.   whether quietly or out loud we will be singing along, we will want to sing along, and there can be no singing along if singers are allowed to sing it any “creative” way they please.    there can be no getting into the spirit of the anthem when the beat is unfamiliar, the phrasing unusual, the notes unpredictable, the singer self-indulgent.

Our anthem is march music borne out of a revolutionary struggle. It is the spirit of the anthem. Felipe composed the music as a march, commissioned by Emilio Aguinaldo for the proclamation of the Kawit Republic on June 12, 1898. It was originally titled “Marcha Filipina Magdalo,” and was first played by the San Francisco de Malabon Band. It was composed to fire up revolutionary spirit and resistance, to fight against all odds as the Kawit republic struggled for its life.

…Nievera said he was told by many, including Pacquiao, “not to sing it slow.” They wanted him “to sing it like a march, the way it was written.” Ignoring those warnings, Nievera interpreted the song the way he understood it. He said that “from the deepest part of my heart I sang for my country.” He explained that he tried “to inspire a nation-which was all I tried to do.”

Many Filipinos did not like what they heard. Many believed his tampering with or distortion of the arrangement of Felipe robbed the anthem of its martial context. The revolutionary spirit was lost in the alteration. It sounded as if the music was composed in a milieu of peace and tranquility when in reality it was composed amid one of the most turbulent periods of the Filipino people’s struggle for independence and national sovereignty. The period was the end of the Spanish empire and the advent of another colonial rule by the expansionist, imperial America.

Nievera’s explanations do not justify his alterations. Singers without a sense of history, who sing for their pleasure, strip historic musical themes of their meaning.

martin also said, to justify those radical end-notes:

“I have watched many of Manny’s fights, and whenever the national anthem is sung, I could never hear the most important line, ‘Ang mamatay nang dahil sa ‘yo (To die for you)!’ So I elected to end the song big, [the better to] be heard over the usual screams and boos, and … get the final message of the song across.”

hmm.   how was the anthem sung ba in previous pacquiao fights.   di ba’t iniba-iba rin ang interpretation every time?   di ba’t iniangal ng nhi every time dahil hindi ayon sa orihinal?   next time pacquiao should invite a singer who has nothing to prove except the ability to lead filipinos in song.   with pacquiao’s pinoys singing along, i have no doubt that that most important line will resound for all the world, and martin, to hear.

gossip galore [updated]

this has been going around via email,  passed on to me by peque gallaga who notes how kris aquino keeps cropping up in the history (thanks, pq ;).   small the world from rizal to ninoy to erap to gloria, and convoluted the network of romantic and racy links, how juicy!

UPDATE:  so far i have received one correction, indicated by [ALLCAPS].   see comments.

Beyond Six Degrees of Separation

A true Pinoy saint is how Rizalistas regard Dr. Jose Rizal who was the brother of Maria Rizal Mercado who was the mother of Mauricio Rizal Cruz who was the father of Ismael Arguelles Cruz who was the first husband of writer Chitang Guerrero-Nakpil who is the mother of Miss International Gemma Cruz who is the wife of Antonio Araneta who is the cousin of Judy Araneta who is the mother of Mar Roxas who is the reported boyfriend of Korina Sanchez who was once the girlfriend of Noynoy Aquino who was once the boyfriend of Bernadette Sembrano who was once romantically- linked to Vic Sotto who was once romantically- linked to Kris Aquino…

…who lived with Philip Salvador who is the brother of Alona Alegre who was the girlfriend of Romeo Vasquez who was a very special friend of Vilma Santos who was the wife of Edu Manzano who was the husband of Maricel Soriano who was the girlfriend of William Martinez who is the brother of Albert Martinez who is the husband of Liezl Sumilang who is the daughter of Romeo Vasquez who was the husband of Amalia Fuentes who is the aunt of Aga Muhlach…

…who was the boyfriend of Aiko Melendez who was the wife of Jomari Yllana who is the boyfriend of Pops Fernandez who was the wife of Martin Nievera who was the boyfriend of Jackie Lou Blanco who is the daughter of Pilita Corrales who has a son with Eddie Guttierez who is the husband of Annabelle Rama who is the mother of Ruffa Guttierez who is the half-sister of Tonton Guttierez who is the son of Liza Lorena and the half-brother of Ramoncito Guttierez who is the estranged husband of Lotlot de Leon who is the adopted daughter of Nora Aunor who was a very special friend of Joseph Estrada who is the father of Jude Estrada who is a very special friend of Dranreb Belleza who is the son of Bernard Belleza who was (NOT) the husband of Divina Valencia who was the movie partner of Jess Lapid who is the uncle of Lito Lapid who lived with Melanie Marquez who is the sister of Joey Marquez who lived with Kris Aquino…

…who reportedly almost eloped with Robin Padilla who is the cousin of Zsa Zsa Padilla who lives with Dolphy who lived with Alma Moreno who lived with Rudy Fernandez who is the husband of Lorna Tolentino who is the stepmother of Mark Anthony Fernandez who was the boyfriend of Claudine Barretto who is the sister of Marjorie Barretto who is the estranged wife of Dennis Padilla who is a close friend of Randy Santiago who is the brother of Raymart Santiago who reportedly courted Kris Aquino…

…who is the daughter of Ninoy Aquino who is the brother of Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara who was the wife of Cesar Concio who is the husband of Charo Santos who is the sister of Milette Santos who is the wife of Edgar Mortiz who was the boyfriend of Vilma Santos who is the wife of Ralph Recto who is the brother of Plinky Recto who is the sister of Ramon Recto who was once rumored to be a very close friend of Lotlot de Leon who is the adopted daughter of Christopher de Leon who is the brother of Melissa de Leon who was a very special friend of Joey Marquez who lived with Alma Moreno who is the cousin of LJ Moreno who was the girlfriend of Diether Ocampo who was once reported as the boyfriend of Andrea Bautista who is the sister of Bong Revilla…

…who was romantically linked to Gretchen Barretto who was photographed being kissed by John Estrada who was the husband of Janice de Belen who has a son with Aga Muhlach who is the husband of Charlene Gonzales who is the daughter of Bernard Bonnin who was the husband of Elvira Gonzales who is [NOT] the [LEGAL] wife of Pepito Vera-Perez who is the brother of Marichu “Manay Ichu”Vera-Perez who is the estranged wife of Manong Ernie Maceda and the sister of Gina de Venecia who is the wife of Joe de Venecia who used to preside over the Lower House of Congress which used to be presided by Ramon Mitra who was the father of Raul Mitra who is the husband of Cacai Velasquez who is the sister of Regine Velasquez who is the reported girlfriend of Ogie Alcasid who is a close friend of Janno Gibbs who is the husband of Bing Loyzaga who is the sister of Joey Loyzaga who was the boyfriend of Gretchen Baretto who lives with Tonyboy Cojuangco who is the cousin of Kris Aquino…

…who is the daughter of Cory Aquino who is the aunt of Mikee Cojuangco who is the wife of Dodot Jaworski who is the son of Robert Jaworski who is the husband of Evelyn Bautista who is the daughter of Ramon Revilla who is the father of Bong Revilla who was romantically linked to Ruffa Mae Quinto who was the girlfriend of Dingdong Avanzado who was the boyfriend of Rachel Alejandro who is the daughter of Hajji Alejandro who lived with Rio Diaz who is the sister of Gloria Diaz who was the wife of Bong Daza who is a close friend of Bong Bong Marcos who is the son of Ferdinand Marcos who was the husbandof Imelda Marcos who is the mother of Imee Marcos who lived with Tommy Manotoc who was the husband of Miss International Aurora Pijuan who is the mother of TJ Manotoc who is the half-brother of Borgy Manotoc…

…who was rumored to have been intimate with Vina Morales who was romantically-linked to Robin Padilla who is the brother of Rustom Padilla who lived with Carmina Villaruel who lives with Zoren Lagaspi who is the brother of Kier Legaspi who is the father of the eldest child of Marjorie Baretto who is the sister of Claudine Barretto who is the wife of Raymart Santiago who is the brother of Rowell Santiago who was the movie partner of Sharon Cuneta who is the niece of Helen Gamboa who is the wife of Tito Sotto who is the brother of Vic Sotto who has a son with Connie Reyes who was a close friend of Helen Vela who was the mother of Princess Punzalan who was the wife of Willie Revillame who has a daughter with Becbec Soriano who is the sister of Maricel Soriano who is the aunt of Meryll Soriano who is the estranged wife of Bernard Palanca who was the boyfriend of Rica Peralejo who was once rumored as the girlfriend of Piolo Pascual who appeared in many movies as the love interest of Judy Ann Santos who was once the movie partner of Mikey Arroyo who is the son of Mike Arroyo who is the husband of Gloria Arroyo.

Saint. Heroes. Actors. Crooks.
Small world.
From Rizal to Ninoy to Erap to Gloria.
Yes, from a saint to a hero to an actor/thug to Gloria.
Small world, indeed.
And watch for the rest of their stories.

ninoy’s killers (updated)

“I wanted to keep my silence but I was really bothered by the narrative of the soldiers. It’s just so sad that they can rewrite history.”

can’t begrudge kris and noynoy aquino the deep hurt evoked by all the talk issuing from ninoy’s (and rolando galman’s) convicted killers upon their release, to the effect that they were punished unjustly — they were at the airport not to kill ninoy but to protect him from the assassin rolando galman who was hired by boys of danding cojuangco.

to refresh my memory i googled for, and found pcij‘s file of, the sandiganbayan’s ruling on the ninoy assassination.   a quick read told me that the soldiers were convicted of the crime based on  1) the trajectory of the fatal bullet, “forward, downward and medially”  2) the testimony of eyewitness rebecca quijano aka the crying lady  3) taped recordings of footsteps going down the narrow stairway that stopped at the 11th [of 15 20] and of the gunshot that followed, and  4) voice analysis of words spoken on their way down the stairs, just before the shot: “ako na ako na op ito na ya op pusila pusila.”

Sgt. Claro M.Lat … uttered the first phrase, “Ako na ‘”,
Sgt. Arnulfo de Mesa uttered phrase, “Ako na”;
Sgt. Claro M. Lat uttered the expression “OP”
Lt. Jesus Castro uttered the phrase, “Ito na”;
CIC Mario Lazaga was the one who uttered the word, “Ya”;
Sgt. Claro M. Lat again uttered the expression again, “OP”;
Lt. Jesus Castro next uttered the word, “Pusila”; and,
CIC Mario Lazaqa uttered the second “Pusila.”

The words uttered and the persons uttering them suggest the scenario that, while Sen Aquino and, the Boarding Party were still descending the bridge stairs, the Boarding Party saw that Rolando Galman had prematurely appeared … the members of the Boarding Party consequently panicked because the sudden appearance of Rolando Galman disrupted their planned synchronized actuations. Obviously, the plan was to make Rolando Galman appear suddenly after the Senator shall have reached the van. … The point is that, at the brink of extreme urgency, the command to shoot was made.

all of which give the lie to the soldiers’ story that ninoy was killed (not on the stairs but) on the tarmac by assassin-for-hire rolando galman who allegedly appeared from nowhere and quickly shot the senator in the head before they could stop him.   besides, if what they say were true, what then was that exchange among them on the stairway, “Ako na!” “Ako na!” “Op!” “Ito na!” “Ya!” “Op!” “Pusila!” “Pusila!” all about?   and if their job was to keep ninoy alive, why then did they lay him on the tarmac instead of rushing him into the van to get medical help.   and where, how, did ninoy get that contusion on the top of his head (revealed in the autopsy) that looked like it was caused by the butt of a gun — inside the van perhaps?   one of the soldiers hit him perhaps, for good measure, to make sure he was dead?

suddenly i’m wondering if the freed soldiers are under instructions to “rewrite history,” insist that galman was the killer, who knows, perhaps to discredit danding cojuangco who just happens to be riding very high these days.   according to patricio mangubat, cojuangco is true philippine shaker:

San Miguel Corporation, led by former Marcos crony Eduardo Danding Cojuangco just entrenched themselves deeper into Lopez territory. Cojuangco is poised to take over Meralco, the Lopezes’ crown jewel. Analysts say Cojuangco may do this anytime he wants to.

… Aside from the Lopezes, the Ayalas are now being threatened by the rising influence and presence of San Miguel in other industries. San Miguel just joined the telecommunications industry with the acquisition of Liberty Telecommunications and a joint beneficial partnership with Qatar Telecomms. That move made San Miguel easily the second biggest telecommunications firm, eclipsing even Globe Telecommunications. The move was so good and so swift, it left Gerard Ablaza clueless for months

San Miguel also entered the energy sector industry, with the majority takeover of Petron. San Miguel also brought a majority interest in the power generation sector

So, you see, my friends, San Miguel is the biggest business conglomerate in this country, controlling almost all levers of economic life and enjoying the biggest and the widest economic influence not seen since the 19th century.

thing is, in a one-on-one with korina, kris said that her family will never believe that her uncle danding had anything to do with ninoy’s killing,  anong mapapala niya, hindi naman siya presidente noon.

it would seem that kris has no idea that danding had a lot to lose if ninoy’s dream of rallying the opposition to end the marcos regime had been allowed to prosper.   it would seem that kris has no sense of how powerful danding was and how close he and president marcos were, as in BFF, all the while that her dad was wasting away in jail for continuing to denounce martial law.

At the height of cronyism in the Philippines, Cojuangco controlled $1.5 billion in corporate assets, an amount estimated to equal 25% of the country’s GNP. He headed an agricultural and industrial conglomerate with interests in diverse areas as coconut, sugar, agri-business, banking, and a host of others. The *Wall Street Journal* observed that Cojuangco attempted to create “cartels in rice, sugar, flour, groceries, and soft drinks but ran out of time.” Referring to Cojuangco’s tendency to create monopolies in  the industries where he had investments, a journalist gave him the nickname Pacman, a reference to the computer game where the object is to eat up as much as you can. Cojuangco’s personal net worth was estimated at $500 million, making him among the country’s richest men. [page 217 Some Are Smarter Than Others by Ricardo Manlapat 1991]

at the time of ninoy’s homecoming, president marcos was believed to be on his deathbed after a failed kidney transplant.   imelda was all set to succeed him, with ver’s support, but not if enrile and his reformist officers could stop them, like by mounting a coup, most probably with cojuangco’s support.   ninoy came home precisely to offer the nation an alternative to ver and enrile.

my personal appreciation of danding’s great clout in the time of marcos comes from how he figured in the story of EDSA 1986.   marcos was sick and slow and ver’s orders were not being followed.   the one and only time in those four days when marcos forces scored a hit was on the early morning of day 2 sunday when the radio veritas farm in malolos bulacan was destroyed by pc troopers on orders of cojuangco.

NEW MANILA, QUEZON CITY, 10 p.m. [22 Feb.] – Summoned by General Ver, PC Col. Maximo Mejia arrived at businessman Eduardo Cojuangco’s house in Balete Drive where he also found Virgilio de Guzman, elder brother of Brig. Gen. Isidoro de Guzman, Region III Commander. Mejia was told that President Marcos had decided to neutralize the radio station transmitter in Dakila, Malolos. Cojuangco told Mejia that the attack had been cleared by Marcos to “prevent the incident created by the Enrile-Ramos defection from escalating to a bloody one. [Midday Malaya, “FM General Owns Veritas Attack Role,” 20 May ’86]

most telling of all, danding and his family flew into exile with the dictator on the 26th of february.

Ambassador Eduardo (Danding) Cojuangco and his wife, Soledad (Gretchen) were with their immediate family … They had motored [to Clark] all the way from Sison, Pangasinan, to join the president.   [page 169 Malacanang to Makiki by ARturo C, Aruiza 1991]

if flight means guilt, what was danding feeling so guilty about that he had to fly off when marcos did?   ill-gotten wealth maybe?    the ninoy assassination maybe?   the destruction of radio veritas maybe?

and then, again, maybe none of the above.    but we won’t know unless the aquinos agree to re-open the case and let the chips fall where they may, for a change.   we owe it to ninoy.   otherwise, kris should just stop with the whining on nationwide tv.

addendum:

Rebecca Quijano saw that the senator was shot by the military man who was directly behind the Senator while the Senator and he were descending the stairs. Rebecca Quijano’s testimony  in this regard is echoed by Jessie Barcelona, Ramon Balang, Olivia Antimano, and Mario Laher, whose testimonies this Court finds likewise as credible.