Thirty Years Later . . . Catching Up with the Marcos-Era Crimes

Myles Garcia

Description

Until they were expelled from power thirty years ago, in early 1986, the late dictator Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (she, the Shoe Queen) jointly ruled the Philippines with impunity for 20+ years. They were an efficient cash-and-carry team—while he raided the national till, she shopped 'til she dropped. In the words of the US congressman investigating them, "Compared to her (Imelda), Marie Antoinette was a bag lady," . . . while Ferdinand made master embezzler Bernie Madoff look like a rank amateur.

With the passing of 30 years, this book becomes a full accounting of the rapacious and avaricious rule the pair enjoyed—how they hoodwinked an unsuspecting people, and the truth behind many of the dirty tricks they employed revealed at last. The present is an opportune time to take stock, especially as their only son and heir, Ferdinand, Jr., and others of his ilk, launches a comeback attempt for national office in this year's Philippine elections, and trying to re-fabricate history in the process. This book will set the record straight.

Sujets

• Political Science
• Asian
• World

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 31 mars 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456626501
• Langue: English

Extrait

Thirty Years
Later . . .
Catching Up with
the Marcos-Era
Crimes
 
Myles A. Garcia
 
 
 
Copyright © 2016 by MAG Publishing
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic of mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Permission, inquiries (i.e., other language editions, etc.) should be addressed to r [e-mail] .
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2650-1
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
Cover image c/o Getty Images.
 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 
Set in Times New Roman font
Book design by Myles A. Garcia
 
 
To my parents
 
and the people of the Philippines
 
 
Linoko mo ako minsan, ulol ka.
Ulitin mo uli, gago ako.
Fooled me once, shame on you,
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Introduction
H as it really been thirty years already? It seems like only yesterday that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and company were dispatched from their self-insulated cocoon of Malacañang Palace in Manila into the real paradise of Honolulu, Hawaii. Yet, here we are today, thirty years later, and possibly seeing another attempt by their spawn to regain entry to the old homestead (or at least line up to be the Next Pretender).
 
It is 2016 and this will be an especially significant and pivotal year in the history of the Philippines, the only predominantly Christian and heavily Western-influenced nation in Asia. It will mark the seventieth anniversary of the nation as an independent, self-governing republic after 350 years of colonial rule by Spain and the United States. It will be the twelfth legitimate presidential election of the post-war Republic.
 
These elections will once again be a test of the intelligence, or lack thereof, of the Filipino people, who, as of 2014, just became the 12th nation on the planet to pass the 100,000,000 population mark, thanks to the centuries-old negligence of the Roman Catholic Church. I write this book to help remind the Filipino people, especially the new, young voters, of the dangers of the Ferdinand (Bongbong) Marcos, Jr. or Jejomar Binay candidacies and the waste and turmoil left behind by the illegitimate, twenty-year rule of Junior’s parents.
 
Early Exposure to the Marcoses
 
My first brush with the Marcoses and their kin was in seventh grade in elementary school at St. John's Academy in my hometown of San Juan, Rizal, when a tall, very fair, puff-cheeked lass named Margarita Romualdez became my classmate. She supposedly was the niece of the then-to-be-senate president Ferdinand Marcos. Being in seventh grade, and not coming from a particularly politically active family, I found no meaning in this fact other than here was this rather attractive gal, campaigning for her uncle in our elementary school.
 
It seemed rather odd at the time, but the impropriety of those politicking actions did not become significant to a seventh-grader until later years, when her uncle and her entire clan had shown their true colors. So, even at a very young age, Imelda’s family was using people to advance their causes, so they could dip their hands into the public till.
 
(This niece of Imelda Marcos was supposedly her favorite, being the prettiest, but in the final years of the Marco-kleptomania regime, when Margarita had fallen on hard times, she was supposedly “sidling up to her Lothario uncle,” the president, in far more ways than in an innocent uncle-niece relationship. Of course, it was all done behind the back of the aunt, Imelda, who seemed to be too occupied with her own fantasy world.)
 
Sheer Volume of Material
 
The biggest obstacle and dread I faced in writing this book is the sheer volume of material and the multi-layered nature of it. Just as the prose-cutors in New York failed to present a focused picture of the many corporate shell games in the sensational 1990 racketeering trial of Imelda Marcos (more in Chapter V) and thus had the jury acquitting her—one gets mired in the sheer density of material—if an author is to get thorough about the subject at hand. It's as if the devious mind of Ferdinand Marcos itself had actually planned the massive, sleight-of-hand scale and layer upon layer of shell corporations that would obfuscate the common man's understanding of the fraud he had created. Marcos made master US embezzler Bernie Madoff look like a rank amateur.
 
Another issue of integrity with which I had to grapple while writing this book was what to call Mr. Marcos after his one and one-half terms of legitimate presidency, pre-martial law. Truthfully, he was no longer an honestly elected president of a democracy but the full dictator of a “police” state. I really had to struggle with it—so I beg the reader to forgive me if I still called Marcos president at times when he no longer legitimately was.
 
Finally, I attempted to make this book as comprehensive as I could, and I had access to some sources who could share first-hand accounts of their experiences with the Marcoses; they chose, however, not to comment, and just moved on—thus, a loss for history.
 
Feeling of Violation
 
And then there was the feeling of "dirtiness" and violation one experiences after wading through the voluminous material, giving one the sensation that somehow you had participated in the mass deception and wholesale sham perpetrated upon an unsuspecting people. I often wanted to cleanse myself and my psyche somehow of the misdeeds of these larger-than-life crooks and scoundrels. If there were a way to run my mind through a shower and still be true and faithful to my objectives as a journalist at the end of the day, I would have done so.
 
Sometimes, coming upon a new topic was only the tip of the iceberg. No one, probably not even the principals, Ferdinand, Imelda, and their closest conspirators, probably knew the total scope of all their crimes and larcenies. (I wouldn’t use the term “misdemeanors” as that would be a disservice to all the honest people of the Philippines, and it would be wholly disingenuous.) If they had not been stopped dead in their tracks in February, 1986, who knows how much more fraud, deceit, and plunder the whole corrupt Bonnie-and-Clyde gang would have perpetrated?
 
A Quick History of the Marcoses
 
Ferdinand Marcos (1917-89) was an ambitious, self-made politician from the so-called “Solid North” (the Ilocano region) of the Philippines, so-called because that region tends to vote 95% or so for their native sons and daughters, more so than any other region of the country. He rose from the ranks of being an attorney, a congressman, senate president, and finally elected president of the Republic in 1965.
 
Imelda Romualdez was the poor relation of a politically prominent clan from the Visayas, the middle part of the country. She came into Marcos’ life in 1954 when the young, charismatic congressman wooed, dined, and won the provincial lass’ heart and hand in a mere eleven days. In Imelda, Marcos saw an invaluable asset in his larger plans for national office.
 
Their marriage had its early hiccups when the new Mrs. Marcos suffered a nervous breakdown because she could not adjust to the breakneck speed of her husband’s campaign plans. This could not derail Ferdinand’s overall blueprint. Being a successful lawyer, he quickly fixed that temporary bump by sending Imelda for some R&R and psychiatric treatment in New York City around 1956-57. That was Imelda’s first taste of life in the financial capital of the world. She quickly got cured, got back on track with the Marcos program, and became his biggest asset at that time. When they waged a successful assault on the presidency in 1965, the fates were sealed. Marcos and Imelda created a formidable team that deftly maneuvered the demands of power with its hidden rewards in a little over two decades.
 
Inevitably, much of this book will be about Imelda Marcos and her highly visible shenanigans (e.g., her travels and trials, her material “artistic” acquisitions, her ostentatious lifestyle), and that is only a natural consequence of Imeldiana lore just being more visible than the boring, invisible scheming and financial shell-games that Marcos played with their stolen billions. As such, the visible appurtenances of Imelda make for greater press and more interesting copy.
 
Ultimate Indictment
 
Ultimately, in hindsight and given the perspective of time, there is no recourse but to indict the Marcoses and their accomplices for the crimes they perpetrated in the name of peace and order, staving off the so-called challenges of the “communists and anarchists” who were out to disrupt the capitalist system and old order—and so, a new oligarchic order instituted by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos could then fill the vacuum.
 
This book will try to reveal dirty linen and many scandals previously unknown to the general population – and some previously exposed in two limited edition publications: The Conjugal Dictatorship by Primitivo Mijares, Union Square Publications, San Francisco, California, USA, 1976; and Some Are Smarter than Others by Ricardo Manapat, Aletheia Publications, New York, NY, 1991. They were “limited edition” publications set up primarily for the purpose of exposing and sharing these very anti-Marcos screeds to a few hundred or thousand readers. Conjugal Dictatorship , however, has suddenly become available in eBook format.
 
If I do seem biased and judgmental here, I do hope the reader will forgive me. This is the only way I know of fighting back against the destructive efforts of a massive, almost unstoppable gang that raped, pillaged and plundered the land where I came from, loved at one time and still feel for.
 
While I never personally suffered at the hands or because of the decrees of the Great Plunderer escaped just in time as the nation was led down a ruinous path,