Page 2 - Hello Philippines March 2016 'A' issue

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meeting with the core group of the
underground organization.
That meeting was arranged by Jose
Almonte and Eugene Ocampo, then
active colonels in the military but much the first few years since martial law
ahead of the more colorful Gregorio
“Gringo” Honasan—then also a
colonel, who later figured as the leader abuses of martial law only came
of the RAM and an iconic presence as
the top close-in-aide and protector of
defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile
when he made his breakaway from
Marcos. Honasan was later elected
senator after being granted amnesty
for his role in several post-1986
coups—but that’s another story—and
is a vice-presidential aspirant for the
May 2016 polls.
The RAM indicated it was
preparing for a coup d’état against
Mr. Marcos, recalled Saguisag, who
was then serving as Mrs. Aquino’s
legal counsel and spokesman. “Pero
‘di [But not] openly kasi parang code
ang language namin [because we were
communicating in coded language],”
Saguisag said in an interview with
InterAksyon.com
In that meeting, Saguisag quoted
Mrs. Aquino as telling the disgruntled
officers, “So what can we do to help?”
They replied, Saguisag said, thus:
“We just want to you to know and want
your understanding.”
There were also reports of a restive
group of enlisted personnel calling
themselves “El Diablo,” but they, too,
remained incognito.
Earlier that Saturday, lawyer Joe
Flores, who headed the Ministry
of National Defense (MND) media
office, advised Vitug and other
defense reporters in the vicinity of
the press room that day to stay put for
“something big.”
But at that time, “we knew that
there were rumors that Mr. Marcos
might again declare martial law,”
recalled Vitug, whose newspaper
Malaya operated with the constant
threat of raids and crackdowns for
openly defying a regime despite the
1982 closure of its sister-publication
WE Forum and the sedition charges
against Burgos et al.
Malaya had reported extensively
on the “fraudulent” snap presidential
elections where Mr. Marcos claimed
victory—and was recently proclaimed
by a rubberstamp Batasan (Congress)
over the objections of the popular
opposition leader Corazon Aquino,
widow of senator Ninoy, whose
August 1983 airport assassination had
unnleased protest actions nationwide
and solidified the anti-dictatorship
movement when the 1986 snap
elections were held.
It was also widely believed then that Cardinal Sin called on the people—
martial law was the instrument used
by the brilliant lawyer-politician from
Ilocos Norte to continue to perpetuate
himself in power. He curtailed the
people’s basic human rights, including
press freedom, having closed down,
along with Congress, all media outlets
and then later allowing only a few
crony-owned outfits to operate. In
was declared in 1972, much of the
unfettered information about the
from the few bold, church-backed
publications and the underground
press of the Left. That is, until Joe
Burgos opened WE Forum in 1977
as an aboveground, independent
newspaper to test the waters.
The anger had steadily seeped
through the people’s ranks since the
late 70s, and when Feb. 22, 1986 came
along, it was coming to a boil. At a little It was then that he noticed that their
past 6 pm, then Defense Enrile, joined
by Philippine Constabulary-Integrated
National Police chief Fidel Ramos held
a press conference, declaring that they
were both withdrawing support from
the Marcos government.
“I have been searching my mind, my
heart and my conscience,” remarked
Enrile who was clad in a fatigue long-
sleeved shirt. “With full knowledge of
election fraud,” he said Mr. Marcos no
longer had the authority to represent
the will of the Filipino people.
Enrile was dubbed one of the
“architects” of martial law because
of his close association with Marcos
during his 21 years in power.
But the developments right after the
February 1986 snap elections—gave
him the sense of a “moral dilemma”
if he continued to serve him. “And I
said to myself I must serve my country
first ahead of anyone else,” he told
the reporters then gathered at Camp
Aguinaldo.
Ramos, a cousin of Mr. Marcos, also
declared during the briefing that the
President and his government “are not
to me the duly constitute authorities
representing the people.”
By 8 p.m. the press conference was
finished. Enrile decided to remain
at Camp Aguinaldo while Ramos
transferred to Camp Crame across
EDSA to continue to mobilize the
officers and men who had joined the
uprising.
Three hours later, Mr. Marcos
appeared on national television,
accusing the Enrile-Ramos breakaway
group of treason.
Vitug, who had decided to trail
Ramos in marching to Camp Crame,
recalled Ramos’s spokesman, then-
Colonel (later General) Luis San
Andres, as saying, “Well boys, you
better be ready for some action. God
forbid, there could be bloodshed here.”
The seemingly endless night. After
over Catholic Radio Veritas—at about
9 pm to rally behind the breakaway
NEWS
Air force units led by Col. Sotelo make a landing at the Camp Crame grounds to the delight of the crowd. having told this to his fellow EDSA
Photo taken from the book People Power, an eyewitness history courtesy of Noli Yamsuan.
group, the young reporter Mogato was
immediately ordered by his editors
to proceed to Epifanio delos Santos
Avenue, or EDSA.
He saw about 500 people starting to
hold a vigil near the main gate of Camp
Aguinaldo. He also noticed that Mrs.
Aquino’s brother-in-law, businessman
and part-time actor Agapito“Butz”
Aquino, was already leading the crowd
as anti-riot troops began positioning
themselves to protect the camp.
Mogato said since there were no
cellphones then he was required to
return to the office to file his story.
columnist, Amado Doronilla, seemed a
bit shaken with what he reported to his
editors. He was anxious there would be
another mass crackdown on newsmen.
Doronilla was one of the hard-
hitting newsmen who fled the country
with the declaration of martial law. He
settled in Australia to escape arrest,
only to return shortly before the snap
elections called by Mr. Marcos, who
was then under international pressure
amid the political upheaval triggered
by the August 21, 1983 assassination
of Sen. Benigno Aquino. The glib-
tongued charismatic senator from
Tarlac was Marcos’ fraternity brother
in the Upsilon Sigma Phi, but became
his arch political foe.
Mogato recalled their editor in
chief Vergel Santos advised them to
stay calm. “Hindi pa natin alam ang
mangyayari, steady muna tayo,” he
told the staff, many of whom were later
asked to assist their defense reporters:
Danny Florida and Lito Mangaser, who
were by then holed up with the Enrile-
Ramos group in the two camps.
On his way back to EDSA, Mogato
noticed that a car suddenly blocked an
approaching tank, and began honking.
Soon all the other vehicles had joined
in this spontaneous noise barrage.
Butz calls Reli. Earlier in the evening,
businessman-activist Reli German was
attending a birthday party of one of the
members of the August 21 Movement,
or ATOM, when they got a call from
Butz Aquino. He advised Reli et al.
to proceed immediately to his Mofire
office in Makati, which served as the
headquarters of their group.
At that time, he said there were only
20 of them who joined Butz to plan out
the protest rally in support of the rebel
soldiers.
At around 7:30 pm. Butz was
already being interviewed on radio,
and it was then that he called on their
supporters to mass up on EDSA and
protect the breakaway group.
They eventually decided to bring
their banners and pitch camp near
MacDonald’s on Aurora Avenue near
the corner of EDSA, when they heard
that Cardinal Sin was on radio, calling
for “people power.”
German, who described his group
as “sosyal na left of center,” had quit
his job as an advertising executive after
being asked by his Ateneo high school
buddy, Butz, to work fulltime as a mass
activist after his brother Ninoy’s 1983
killing.
They organized ATOM after tens
of thousands of grieving but angry
protesters joined the historic day-long,
21-kilometer funeral march for Ninoy.
Much earlier in 1972, Reli German
had found himself jobless after the
military closed down the Economic
Monitor, a business paper that he had
managed. He recalled that for the next
six months, he was instructed to report
regularly before the military.
After the Aquino assassination,
German felt he had had enough of the
dictatorship. Being a runner at that
time, he persuaded his fellow ATOM
members to join him in Sunday runs.
It was then that they showed how an
ordinary protest action, could lead to
more people joining their group. Soon
they were meeting the opposition
bigwigs like the late senators Jose “Ka
Pepe” Diokno and Lorenzo Tanada.
“I was emboldened,” recalled
German, adding, in Filipino, “First, we
were ordinary people but now heard
Enrile and Ramos urging everyone
to unite. This boosted our hopes that
truly, there’s a fighting chance of
ousting Marcos.” German recalled
March 2016 – No. 05 • UK & Europe Edition
protesters.
When he saw his wife and five
children waiting to join them at the
corner of Boni Serrano Avenue near
Camp Crame, German felt that the
struggle then was no longer just for
activists like him who had marched
from Cubao at the stroke of midnight.
As they walked down one of the
side streets, he saw one of the residents
tying a rope on both ends of the street
if only to block the approaching tanks
that were supposed to be positioned at
EDSA.
That night Butz kept on asking
them, “Are you willing to risk the lives
of people here?’ But German said that
that kind of fear was no longer present
among the thousands of people who
had joined them that night.
Then there was hope. Besides the
businessmen who identified with the
protest movement, other sectors had
been actively mobilizing, especially
after the Ninoy assassination. One of
them was Dr. Aurora Parong, head
of the Medical Action Group (MAG),
which then was involved in educational
organizing of health professionals and
students. On the second day of the
unfolding People Power revolt, MAG
decided to set up a medical booth at
EDSA.
Although they were only part of
political rallies, they would normally
provide health services in case there
were violent dispersals. This time,
Parong said they were pleasantly
surprised to be in good company:
several health personnel from private
hospitals had also set up health booths
to assist the protesters.
“Sabi nila basta pumunta na lang
kami; palpak daw ang ginawa ni
Marcos. Ngayon na lang naha-highlight
[The health professionals said they
rushed to the place because they felt
Marcos had done wrong, and much of
it was only now being known],” Parong
recalled.
Initially, she felt anxious about
being joined by people who had never
openly confronted a “violent” regime.
They were openly risking their lives to
oust a dictator, who might be desperate
enough to crack down violently on all
of them.
“I still had doubts that the years
of struggle against the dictatorship
will suddenly end in EDSA, but then
it looked like so many sectors were
coming in,” Parong said, adding, “then
I felt a mix of hope and at the same
[was worried by] the though of what
can really happen.”
An activist since her college days,
Parong had suffered military detention
for nearly two years on charges of
aiding the rebels in Bayombong, Nueva
Vizcaya, in the course of her medical
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