Ninoy bade Peping to organize his campaign in Central Luzon. Then following the advise of Soc Rodrigo and Lorenzo Tañada, he changed his mind and asked everyone to concentrate their efforts on Metro Manila knowing that the city could catch the attention of the nation and the world. Besides, they believed Marcos would be hesitant to cheat in an urban area. The foreign media, too, would be training their eyes and ears to the events happening in Manila.
At the onset, meetings in our living room were conducted in hushed tones amid dim lights. Suspicious, the men checked their rearview mirrors to see if anyone were following them. They presumed their phones were tapped so they put music in the background to diffuse the sounds. Eventually an impressive host of volunteers, neophytes and veterans were convinced to campaign in Metro Manila not for Ninoy alone but for all the 20 other candidates of Laban: Monching Mitra, Charito Planas, Neptali Gonzalez, Nap Rama, Trining Herrera, Alex Boncayao, Anding Roces, Johnny David, Tito Guingona, Noli Santos, Cesar Lucero Jr., Felicisimo Cabigao, Jerry Barican, Nene Pimentel, Soc Rodrigo, Antonio Martinez, Ernie Maceda, Primitivo de Leon, Jaime Ferrer and Ernesto Rondon. It was with mixed feelings that the hopeful candidates joined the political race and dashed to the finish line. Not sure if they would be victorious or be defeated, they went on this political undertaking so that their kababayan would become aware of the numerous struggles to restore democracy.
The candidates delivered their speeches on makeshift platforms – a couple of planks on top of four drums, or even atop a jeep or truck. They spoke in front of dogs and children running around under the lights of bulbs in a plaza. Reconnoitering the neighborhood, Peping saw eyes peeking out the doors, necks sticking out the windows and faces turned sideways listening with their ears. Our candidates were actually speaking to an audience they couldn’t see in an empty plaza.
Peping decided to reposition the microphones. Instead of installing loudspeakers at the plaza, Pedy Banaag from our Makati Radio Room installed them in between houses using long wires so that people right in their crowded enclaves could hear our barrage of attacks – "dictator... nawala si... na-salvage... pinaka-corrupt... pinatay... Every night the candidates’ appearances were rotated so that throughout the evening in every barangay there was always a speaker onstage with another ready in the wings so the crowd never waited.
The speeches and the personalities speaking were persuasive that, thank God, two or three residents finally ventured out of their homes. It was a wise move for if ever they were picked up by authorities, they would be noticeably missed.
To gain sympathy, the campaign organizers tried to convince one or two of the prominent residents to speak at every miting. It was difficult at first since the prominentes feared being identified as sympathizers. As the campaign progressed more nationalists appreciated our fervor and were infected by the movement that they acceded to our request.
Soon after, oftentimes when the candidates stepped off the stage admirers would thrust five-peso or ten-peso bills in their hands and would whisper apologetically: "This is all we can afford but we hope it helps." Isn’t that the reverse of what the usual practice was – and still is – during a campaign?
That night Peping remembers Senator Tañada calling for a meeting at his house and he went with Soc Rodrigo. At 7 p.m., the night exploded with noise. "We ran out to the street in Broadway and found it crowded with people beating kettles and rattling cans. Passing cars blared their horns and from every adjacent street came noise." So they all joined in the fray. "I seized a stick and beat on the iron bars of the Tañada gate and fence. Wow, that night is something we can be proud of. Nothing has equaled it in the world." Just recalling that night still sends goose bumps in my arms.
Immediately Marcos summoned his mayors and told them that not a single Laban candidate should win. We had estimated at least four of the 21 candidates would make it but Marcos put his foot down. None! To make the poll results look credible, our informant said Marcos considered allowing Ninoy to win but the noise barrage made him change his mind and not one candidate won. That campaign of Laban was a great achievement bringing out the issues against a dictatorship and lighting a fire in the roused spirits of the people.
Ninoy’s death, Ding continues, provoked a popular outcry. "The people’s reaction had nothing to do with politics. People were going back to their ideologies – right, left, center, yellow, red. The year 1984 gave thousands of scattered groups previously rallying for their own beliefs a common cause: "Bring down the dictatorship, no ifs or buts!"