Category: ninoy

Celebrating Ninoy #21Aug83

Sharing this excerpt from an essay by my favorite historian following Ninoy’s assassination that captures the temper of, and expands the thinking on, those agitated times.  

ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE PRESENT CRISIS
by Reynaldo C. Ileto
15 November 1983

The Philippines gives the image nowadays of a people suddenly galvanized into action by Aquino’s murder. There have been demonstrations, boycotts, marches, and prayer rallies. As one would expect, these started in the universities and public plazas, recalling the student-dominated displays of pre-martial law days. But now churches are very much in the center of protest. Add to that business districts like Makati, and the slums. The workers are moving, and every day one hears of strikes by this or that union or association. Even at the village level there is much agitation.

While the release of mass energies is noted by the media, the usual explanations for it invariably lead away from the experience to the stresses presumably causing it and to the instability it threatens. Marcos’ authoritarian rule and a deepening economic crisis, to cite Time, is fostering “widespread apathy and cynicism and [driving] young Filipinos into the country’s small but increasingly troublesome Communist movement.” Implied here is that the crucial, non-violent center is crumbling. This goes for the “legitimate” opposition as well: the murder of Aquino created “a serious leadership vacuum in the opposition.” This all raises the spectre of a military take-over on one hand, and communism on the other. (Time, Sept. 5) Newsweek summed up its distance from popular sentiments by lamenting that “in the long run [Aquino’s] death could only hurt the cause for which he had sacrificed himself.” (Newsweek, Sept. 5)

It is clear that for the Western press, stability and order are the main concerns. Instability and disorder (both internal and regional) are threatened by the impending fall of the center– Marcos– and so most scenarios dwell on his possible successors, hopefully the restorers of order. The assassination and subsequent mass actions are seen as aberrations, or interruptions best pushed to the background as soon as possible.

From another perspective, however — and this includes that of the participants in the rallies — a very different notion of what is “normal” seems to prevail. To put it another way, recent events are very much part of a certain rhythm of Philippine history, comprehensible in its own terms, and not necessarily a minor partner to the assigned “stable” order of things. The Aquino affair and its sequel provide us with a set of events to illustrate this point.

Probe into Aquino’s background and you find no revolutionary. He was a politician, a member of the ilustrado political oligarchy that was nurtured under the American regime. His father had been the chairman of the Kalibapi, the mass political party that the Japanese organized in 1942. Ninoy himself is said to have had connections with the CIA during his early career as a journalist. He was an exile in the U.S., the former colonial power that backed his rival, Marcos. His wife, Cory, is the first cousin of a crony from the Marcos camp. And some have speculated that he was returning in order to bolster the faction to which he was connected by kinship. (McCoy, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 23)

Observers recognized that both protagonists emerged from the same scene, and were still playing the old game– thus the maze of contradictions surrounding the contest. According to a close Marcos aide, “Marcos and Ninoy were the most able intelligent pair of political strategists. There was a contest of wills between them. It was like the arms race. No one thinks that either side is capable of pulling the trigger. But they keep pushing each other to the limit, and suddenly it explodes.” It was “the tragic last act of a long, almost medieval drama.” (Time, Sept. 5)

The medieval drama is, indeed, a fitting analogy. Trouble is, attention has been fixed on the supposedly “real people” behind the masks and the costumes. What the study of Philippine politics often misses are the readings of the play by the various sections of the audience. Controversies in Philippine history have arisen out of the practice of locking events and personalities to singular, supposedly true and factual, meanings. Thus Rizal, to cite a well-known example, was the intellectual of Chinese-mestizo origin who inspired nationalism through his writings but condemned the armed uprising against Spain (thus speaking for order). We don’t see that Rizal was not always what he intended to signify, that he also was the magical curer and the Liberator returning from overseas, whose martyrdom inspired people to join the uprising. He is very much the emblem of disorder in this alternative reading of his life and work.

Aquino is just the latest in a series of figures whose meanings (not origins) have and will continue to inform popular responses to the present crisis. The fact that Marcos politics has been fundamentally de-centered (or de-stabilized) by the Aquino figure is more “normal” than it looks. Philippine history has generally been written in a linear fashion– it is the saga of a people coming into its own, discovering their identity through opposition to the various colonial powers.

Marcos in his multi-volume history Tadhana (Destiny) has himself rewritten this history in order to install himself as the successor to the series of fighters for freedom from the 16th century Lapulapu on. However, for each nationalist figure that appears dominant (and to which Marcos links himself) in this history, one can put forth either a contrary reading of this figure or another figure in opposition to it.

For example, during the American period dominated by “compadre colonial politics” opposition was represented in the schoolteacher and former revolutionary general Artemio Ricarte. Exiled in Hongkong, he promised to return as the liberator, he preached independence through struggle, and criticized the dominant politics as false and deceptive. His opponent in the drama was Manuel Quezon, the American protege who succeeded in 1916 (with the passage of the Jones Law) in displacing Ricarte as the Liberator who would gain independence. Historical writing, however, largely suppresses Ricarte, the radical “other” of Quezon. So does it suppress other figures who emerged to succeed Ricarte– some of whom were executed or given long jail sentences for “banditry.” The net effect is a coherent history dominated by first by nationalist rebels, then parliamentary politics, and progressing from the first or Malolos Republic, to the Philippine Assembly, the Commonwealth, and on to the New Society.

How does the Aquino affair relate to all this? It has thrust into the foreground a meaningful politics which previously appeared only in the gaps of this linear history. This politics represents an alternative to “pulitika” or the jockeying for positions among the old political oligarchy. To assert itself today, it has had to co-opt a traditional politician, Ninoy himself, and turn him inside out. Death made this possible. The old suspicion that somehow a politician’s fine words are not matched by sincerity and action, has melted in Ninoy’s case.

Ninez Olivares, viewing Aquino’s body recalled what Ninoy had said to her in New York: “And you doubt it?” According to her: “I doubted that because Aquino was a politician, he may not have had the interests of the Filipino at heart; that he may not have loved his country and our people. I looked at his ashen face, the bullet wound, and the blood all over hs shirt. No, Ninoy, I said to myself. I have no more doubts. You loved your country and your people. God be with you, always, wherever you may be.”

Words like these are usually thrown out by analysts because they belong to the realm of the sentimental or religious rather than real politics. But if the history of the 1896 revolution is at all useful as a guide, the break with Spain began precisely with a tearful, sentimental dialogue, expressed in popular poems and songs, between Mother Spain and daughter Filipinas over the bodies of three executed reformist priests. Andres Bonifacio terminated the dialogue by declaring Inang Bayan as the true mother. The spread of the Katipunan was facilitated by the appeal to remember and pity the suffering Inang Bayan. Something like this is happening today. After the common grief over Ninoy’s death, it appears that the bulk of the Filipino people have shifted their loyalties and are preparing for the next move. The memory of Ninoy is a crucial factor.

Like Rizal in the 1890’s, Ninoy scattered statements and signs that would become meaningful in the light of his death. “It’s time,” he said, “to be home with our people and suffer with them. And if you’ll remember, when I left home, I promised to return. I’ll be keeping that promise.” Then came his remark, said half-jokingly at that time: “I would rather die a glorious death than be killed by a Boston taxicab.” The imprisoned Rizal did something similar when he sent a sketch of the “Agony in the Garden” to his family, with the note “this is but the first station.”

*

The construction of Aquino the martyr was almost too easily done. Quite common are passages like the following:

“Mourners comment on his smile and the sweetness of the face and the kindness there. That face with its singularly haunting look and the smudges that the final violence left on it will haunt the Filipino people for a long time. Like Jose Rizal’s final act of trying to defeat his killers by turning towards the sun and their bullets just before death, Ninoy’s enigmatic look may well be his final victory.” (H. Paredes, Mr&Ms, Sept. 9)

In a way this is literary overkill. But the reference to Rizal is not at all forced. For all the anting-anting (magical power) stories woven around him, Marcos has never aspired to Rizal status. Aquino has succeeded on this point. The juxtaposition is clear in the portraits of Rizal and Aquino carried side by side in street demonstrations underscored by the words “Great Men Sacrifice their Lives for Freedom.”

***

Alexei & Ninoy, Yulia & Cory

It’s fascinating how Alexei’s story is so very much like Ninoy’s. Pareho silang nakulong (on trumped-up charges) for standing up to a tyrant, parehong nag-hunger strike sa kulungan, parehong nakalipad na sa ibang bansa — Navalny to a hospital in Germany to recover from poisoning by Russian security, Ninoy to Texas for heart bypass after suffering 7 years 7 months in jail — pero bumalik pa rin sa lupang tinubuan, lupa na ipinaglaban nilang mapalaya, bahala na kung makulong muli o mapatay. At napatay nga: si Ninoy binaril noong umuwi from exile in 1983, si Alexei tila linason uli kailan lang, habang nakakulong.

Even more fascinating is the unfolding story of the widow Yulia Navalnaya. She has promised to carry on Alexei’s fight to free Russia from Putin’s one-man rule, much like Ninoy’s widow Cory Aquino took on Marcos and led the fight to free the nation from martial law. But Yulia’s circumstances are different. She has been threatened with arrest if she returns to Russia.

Cory left Boston Tuesday and was back in Manila by Wednesday, just three days after Ninoy’s murder at the airport. There was no attempt to stop her, I guess because Marcos and Ver were prepared to deny culpability, complete with a silenced scapegoat. Pumayag pa nga na imbestigahan ng Agrava Board ang patayan, at nang idiin nito in November 1984 na the killings were a military conspiracy that went all the way up to Ver (his loyal Armed Forces Chief of Staff), Marcos got the Sandiganbayan to acquit them all anyway in December 1985, which led Cory to run for President in snap elections, at which Marcos cheated, so Cory called for civil disobedience, which culminated in EDSA and the dictator’s escape from Malacañang.

Yes, the Marcoses are back anyway, but that’s another story, and uniquely Filipino I daresay. Altho I imagine that the grief is the same, maybe even worse, with Russian authorities insisting that Navalny died from “natural causes” and refusing to release the body unless his mother agrees to a secret burial. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/22/navalny-body-secret-burial-yulia/

Ninoy & the Marcoses #40years

On this 40th death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino, it was good to wake up to these words from President Marcos Jr., even if only for the record.

I stand united with all Filipinos worldwide in commemorating the Ninoy Aquino Day. By standing for his beliefs and fighting for battles he deemed right, he became an example of being relentless and resolute for many Filipinos.

In our purposive quest for a more united and prosperous Philippines, let us transcend political barriers that hamper us from securing the comprehensive welfare and advancement of our beloved people.

What’s interesting is that the article ends with a video clip of a BBM interview by Anthony Taberna (date unknown) titled “Did your father order Ninoy killed? No, says Bongbong”.

Not surprising naman that Marcos Jr. said no, his father did not order the killing, not to his knowledge anyway. What surprises really is his pahabol.

BBM. … Nung nakuha namin yung balita we were having… Sunday yon, nagla-lunch kami, and habang kumakain kami, tinawag siya sa telepono. Pagbalik niya, sabi niya, pag-uwi ni Ninoy, binaril siya. … Siguradong magkakagulo.

For the record din lang, all documented accounts have it that Marcos was then very sick after a failed kidney transplant and was confined in the Palace Guest House that had been transformed into an “impromptu hospital.” Si Imelda naman was about to have lunch with Chitang Nakpil, JV Cruz, and others at the Gloria Maris @ the CCP complex when she got the call from Gen. Ver about the killing and forthwith they all rushed to the Palace.

In August 2004 it was Imee Marcos who reminded that it was “a known fact that my father was extremely ill that time” when Ninoy was assassinated.  Which was to insist that Marcos could not have ordered the killing because he was too sick, but which does not necessarily mean that he didn’t have anything to do with it, considering that it was members of Fabian Ver’s AFP that were found guilty of the double murder.

In any case, this could also be just another He-said-She-said drama that the sibs like to engage in, probably meant only to muddy the waters some more. So what else is new.

Anwar & Ninoy

Na-excite ako when I heard that Anwar Ibrahim was coming for a two-day state visit. Knowing that he is a huge fan of Rizal and Ninoy, I wondered if he would dare speak Ninoy’s name in the same breath as Rizal’s, the way he did in 2011 in a U.P. lecture. Read “Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim: Honor Rizal, Ninoy” and Jose Rizal And Ninoy Aquino And Their Impact On ASEAN Leadership.

But of course he didn’t mention Ninoy, now is not a good time, obviously — why offend one’s host nga naman. In Butch Dalisay’s “A Homecoming for Anwar” the Prime Minister’s remarks upon accepting  an honorary U.P. Doctor of Laws degree resonate anyway.

DALISAY. Anwar argued strongly and eloquently for the restoration of justice, compassion, and moral righteousness to ASEAN’s hierarchy of concerns, beyond the usual economic and political considerations. He was particularly critical of ASEAN’s blind adherence to its longstanding policy of non-interference in its members’ internal affairs, noting that “ASEAN should not remain silent in the face of blatant human rights violations” and that “non-interference cannot be a license to disregard the rule of law.”

Extensively quoting Rizal, whom he had studied and lectured often about, Anwar urged his audience to free themselves from the self-doubt engendered by being colonized, while at the same time remaining vigilant against subjugation by their “homegrown masters.” I found myself applauding his speech at many turns, less out of politeness than a realization that I was in the presence of a real thinker and doer whose heart was in the right place. (And Anwar was not without wry humor, remarking that as a student leader visiting UP, “I was under surveillance by both Malaysian and Philippine intelligence. Now I have the Minister of Intelligence with me.”).

Anwar has always reminded me of Ninoy who was jailed for 7 years and 7 months (1972-1980) for being daw a communist but really because he was a threat to Marcos’s dynasty plans.  Anwar too was a popular oppositionist who was persecuted for his political views, with three prison sentences and 11 years in jail to his name for alleged corruption and sodomy just because he was a threat to Malaysia’s powers-that-be.

GUARDIAN. Anwar began his career in politics as Mahathir’s protege in the early 1980s – having already spent almost two years in jail for political protest – and quickly rose through the ranks to become deputy prime minister in 1993. His first downfall came in 1998, when he and Mahathir fell out over alleged cronyism and economic crisis, and Mahathir began to fear Anwar’s vast popularity. Anwar was ousted from office and then found himself charged with sodomy and corruption.

The resulting court case, the longest in Malaysian history, was an exercise in humiliation for Anwar, who was accused of sodomy with his speechwriter and wife’s chauffeur. “I cannot accept a man who is a sodomist to become the leader of this country,” said Mahathir at the time. Even though the evidence was flimsy and much of it coerced, Anwar was found guilty in 1999 of corruption and in 2000 of sodomy, landing him with a cumulative 15-year prison sentence.

He was allowed out in 2004, having spent six years in solitary confinement, and was allowed back into politics in 2008, when he ran as opposition leader in the election. But his reappearance on the political scene was not without ramifications. In 2010, he was put on trial again for sodomy, in hearings that went on for two years. He was acquitted, then ran again as opposition leader in the 2013 elections, gaining more of the votes, but still losing to Najib. But a year after Najib won the election, Anwar’s acquittal was overturned and he was sentenced to five years in jail for sodomy.  [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/16/malaysia-anwar-ibrahim-released-from-prison. “Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim released from prison”]

But in 2016 Mahathir Mohamad did the unexpected.

The two men … buried the hatchet in 2016, when Dr. Mahathir unexpectedly showed up in court to support his imprisoned former deputy. It was their first friendly meeting since they parted ways nearly two decades before. Two years later, the alliance was formalized as they joined together to defeat scandal-tainted Prime Minister Najib Razak (2009-2018) in the May 2018 general election. [https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/malaysian-prime-minister/. “Malaysia’s political transition: Mahathir to Anwar 2.0”]

The week after elections, on 16 May 2018, Malaysia’s King, Sultan Muhammad V, officially pardoned and released Anwar after meeting with members of the pardons board and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

STRAITS TIMES. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he would honour an agreement by the four partners of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) alliance to step down after two years and hand over the country’s leadership to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

“I am confident that he is now more mature and much experienced,” Tun Mahathir said at a gathering with Malaysians residing in Brunei at a hotel on Sunday evening (Sept 2). [https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/pm-mahathir-says-he-will-honour-agreement-to-hand-power-to-anwar-after-two-years “PM Mahathir says he will honour agreement to hand power to Anwar after two years”]

November 2022, ending five days of unprecedented post-election crisis after inconclusive polls, the King of Malaysia stepped up and appointed Anwar the new Prime Minister. Poetic justice.

IMAGINE

What if, ikinulong na lang uli ni Marcos si Ninoy? What if, like Mahathir Mohamad, who valued Anwar Ibrahim enough to keep him alive if in jail, eventually to himself pave the way for Anwar’s release and rise to Prime Minister, the 10th of Malaysia…. What if Marcos, too, had cared enough about nation and valued Ninoy enough to keep him alive if in jail, perhaps eventually to himself nobly step aside, make way for the return of democracy and Ninoy’s turn at the presidency (better late than never)?  Alas, Marcos was no Mahathir.