Cutting US ties with the Marcos dictatorship

The usual focus of EDSA Revolution anniversaries is on the seismic events of the three days in late February 1986 that brought down the 26-year reign of Ferdinand E. Marcos.

While this is certainly most appropriate, it neglects the narratives of the sacrifices and heroism of Filipinos and Philippine communities abroad, in the United States and elsewhere.

I have no doubt that the valiant struggle and the amazing contributions of overseas Filipinos enormously helped make the Edsa upheaval possible. As one of the core leaders of the Movement for a Free Philippines and later the Ninoy Aquino Movement, I served with some of the finest Filipinos, men and women and youth, who toiled with us at the height of the dictatorship.

Some of these outstanding Filipinos are familiar to many, the others are almost anonymous today. But among those who passionately labored to change the mindset of American policymakers against Marcos were Raul Manglapus, Raul Daza, Charlie Avila, Steve Psinakis, Ernie Ordonez, Manoling Marovilla, Victor Lovely, Oliver Laurel, Benjamin Lim, Danny Lamila, Esther Paredes, Fernando Pena, and Dr. Fortunato Roxas.

There are so many others  too numerous to mention here ­ but they stood with us at the ramparts in Washington, D.C. or in the wintry chill in New York’s Lafayette Park, to make their voices heard in protest against the human rights violations in our homeland and against plunder of our country’s assets.

Following the assassination of Ninoy Aquino on August 21, 1983, many Filipinos and Filipino-Americans joined in organizing the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM) to capitalize on his martyrdom. The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor acknowledged that NAM was “the biggest and best organized opposition movement in the United States.” 

As part of the attempt to disrupt the leadership of the anti-Marcos movement as well as dampen the morale of our members, my younger brother, Marsman, was abducted and tortured to death by martial law agents. Marsman’s mangled body was later found with its tongue cut and head bashed. Jaime Cardinal Sin called it “a most heinous crime under martial law.” 

Nonetheless the opposition ranks swelled, drawing thousands of Filipinos in the US and other countries. Then we began a process of discovery into the hidden billions and assets of the Marcoses abroad. Among the assets: four apartments in the exclusive Olympic Towers in New York; sprawling homes in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and in Princeton Pike, Princeton; the opulent Webster Hotel and Crown Building in New York; and the Lindenmere beach front estate.

Armed with the photos and documents, we besieged US media and called on Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. Steve Solarz. Kennedy requested the US General Accounting Office to investigate economic and military assistance programs to the Philippines, unearthing $92.5 million of aid funds unaccounted for, dubious disbursements of $227 million, and a padded $1.45 million disaster relief fund.

The results of that discovery enraged millions of thoughtful Filipinos. Some were accused in US courts for acting on their beliefs.

In 1980, there was a rash of bombings in Metro Manila and the “Light-A-Fire Movement” was primarily suspected. 

On September 12, 1980, bombs went off in Metro Manila, one badly damaging Rustan’s mall in Makati. On the night of October 4, more blasts rocked the Philippine Plaza, Century Park Sheraton, and Manila Peninsula hotels.

The bombing of Rustan’s injured 70 people and killed an American tourist. We were all suspected since we were earlier accused of transporting explosives in at least four states and of plotting to bomb targets in Manila in an effort to destabilize the Marcos regime. Even Senator Jovito Salonga was under strong suspicion.

Those accused with me for alleged acts of terrorism were Steve Psinakis, Charlie Avila, Raul Daza, and the late Bonifacio Gillego.

As the Light-A-Fire movement planned more “incendiary” attacks, its core group was arrested while meeting in Quezon City. Among them were, businessman Eduardo Olaguer, AIM professor Gaston Ortigas and a 60-year-old Ester Jimenez, mother of Jim and Ducky Paredes (all were convicted and sentenced to death by electrocution in 1984).

Other collateral events occurred. The first was that of Doris Nuval Baffrey, who on October 19, 1980, detonated an explosive at the PICC literally heard around the world. The event was the international conference of the American Society of Travel Agents and the target was Marcos, the keynote speaker.

The second was that of Victor Burns Lovely Jr., a Philippine-born American citizen from Los Angeles, California. On September 6, 1980 Lovely almost killed himself after a small bomb accidentally exploded in his Manila YMCA room.

These incidents grabbed international media attention, belying Marcos’ claims about political stability and broad national support.

Steve Psinakis’ group quietly dissolved, but its vital impact and key players have never been duly acknowledged for their extraordinary courage and commitment to the restoration of Philippine democracy.

The others who prominently participated in these desperate but ultimately heroic efforts were the Jesuits Toti Olaguer (brother of Ed) and the respected historian Fr. Horacio dela Costa, business titan Alfredo Yuchengco, Charlie Avila, Norberto Gonzales, and Danny Lamilla.

During the investigation, I told the US federal agents, “I’m scared of bombs.” Boni Gillego responded more elaborately: “My position on that issue is like the American position on nuclear weapons. I neither confirm nor deny.”

Fortunately, we were never indicted. According to the New York Times, the US prosecution had filed its charges after the revolution had won. The accused had assumed leadership with the installed democratic government.

With the support, both financial and morale, of these faceless Filipinos, we began exposing the widespread corruption and the violent repression of human rights by the Marcos regime. We exerted every pressure possible to downgrade military and economic aid to the Marcos regime. One stunning result was that military assistance to the Marcos was slashed by 50 percent.

It was this gradual withdrawal of military and economic support that tipped the scale of US public opinion against the Marcos regime. Though Marcos had heavily invested millions of dollars in lobby firms and public relations outfits to shore up the woeful image of the New Society, these entities could not shut out the sordid truth about the abuses of the dictatorship.

Once this truth started to sink in among policymakers in the State Department, the Department of Defense, and leaders of the US Congress, President Ronald Reagan had no alternative but to signal to Marcos that his time was up.

The massive corruption, despotism, nepotism, political repression, and human rights violations during the long misrule of Marcos finally came to an end with the EDSA Revolution.

For the post-EDSA generations, it is important that we keep on reprising the basic facts about the Marcos dictatorship. It must never happen again.

(The author, founding chair of the Ninoy Aquino Movement, served in the Cabinet of President Corazon C. Aquino. For several terms, he was a member of the Senate and the House of Representatives.)