Filipino Web Magazine: March 2023

Monday 27 March 2023

The Lies and Fantastic Tales of An EINO

Volume 4, Issue No. 55

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of Romar Media Canada's The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

Our latest as of Monday, March 27, 2023

~ Miserable as she is with the declining popularity of her supermarket tabloid, the renowned EINO resorts to verbal abuse and concocts fantastic stories to disparage her critic. Long used to superficial praise and flattery, she disdains any one with a contrary opinion, even if that opinion is the truth. Before her ego takes her on a leap to the moon, she must be confronted with the truth, ugly it may be.

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TERESITA "TESS" CUSIPAG OF BALITA

EINO Gets Touchy, Hurls Malicious Attacks
She Lies Through Her Teeth Again and Again

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"You're so full of crap, you could pass for a toilet". - Kami Garcia

TORONTO - The community's renowned EINO (pronounced eye-no, meaning editor in name only) is so crass and pitiful she now tries to own parts of my narrative as if she played a role in my personal and professional life.

The reckless EINO is Teresita "Tess" Cusipag, one of a few who projects an image of toughness but is actually a bully; a strong adherent of schadenfreude that she masks as concern; a jailbird contemptuous of norms; and a repeat offender who never learns. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2020/02/balitas-impudent-display-of.html).

Tucked it all in and we see what she's made of underneath that veneer of false respectability. She seems more like a voyeur, a peeping Tomasa of sorts, who delights in other people's story, especially that which involves intimate touching that she, I believe, intensely craves for.

Unfortunately, the fantastic yarn she weaves is about me, my family, my past relationships, my work, my morality, my career, and my transition to Canada. She insults my parents, my daughters, and the entire family by calling me "patay gutom". (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/03/libel-suit-pisses-off-balita-eino.html).

I had no trouble admitting to what is true, live with it, learn lessons, and move on. "Courage to say the truth" was the slogan I coined for my three newspapers in California. It's also my guiding principle in a journalism career spanning five decades now.

But when people attack me with lies such as what Cusipag the EINO did in her entertainment tabloid and on Facebook, I had no choice but to engage her in an offensive of my own. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NGQX-SucJ4).

I know how low her level of education is; it actually shows in how she "edits" Balita, the newspaper of choice among supermarkets for its bulk, eco-friendly, and a good substitute for plastic in wrapping produce and seafood.

The paper had its glory days when I was writing for it. The lack of bona fides did not stop Cusipag the EINO from lapping up every acclaim for my articles.

For the first time out of the shadows of her second (or is it third?) husband Ruben Cusipag, she felt ennobled. Who wouldn't? Balita was attracting a more discerning class of readers - the intelligentsia - which had set it apart from the other tabloids.

Those were great moments to be passed up. Because of her inadequacy, unusual for a real editor, she probably did not notice the subtle change in her paper from the time I came in. It had unwittingly adopted my slogan "Courage to say the truth".

I was telling it in all its beauty and ugliness. I was there breathing oxygen into it. As a result, my articles engendered hostility from hypersensitive readers whose idea of newspapers was limited to seeing pictures of socials and movie stars which Balita continues to propagate.

If truth be told and retold, Cusipag the EINO's newfound respectability did not come from Ruben Cusipag, the paper's founder who had invited me in. He had wanted a competent and experienced journalist to back up his misplaced wife.

The public esteem she had long sought and her unmerited rise to intellectual prominence, as a matter of fact, came from me who she refers to derisively now as a "contributor".

Well, her lie surfaced when Canada Revenue Agency found after an audit of Balita that I was an employee in all its sense, meaning, and purpose - a fact concealed by her to dodge extending employment benefits. She lied and she was discovered!

I don't know much about Ruben except for his legendary womanizing, but whatever journalistic talents he had died with him and did not transfer to her when he passed in July 2013, so any presumption that Cusipag the EINO was just as good is pure rubbish. It's to her credit, however, that she excels in passing rumors.

She's no saint either. Her merciful, gracious, and charitable demeanor is a put-on. She's an ordinary mortal who answers to the call of the flesh even in her sunset years. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2019/12/defending-truth-has-its-downside.html).

If she's truly honest, how about squelching rumors, number 1 - that she was (or still is) making beautiful music together with a guy quite known in the private circle of Taste of Manila; and number 2 - that another secret lover supposedly, a so-called king of scammers, is also her advertiser. For one who appears virtuous, that's a spoiler . . . IF TRUE.

One of the odd things Cusipag the EINO talked about was my travels. She says, and I quote her: "We tried to make Marquez comfortable, he was able to travel to Europe, Philippines, back and forth and with us lending him money . . . "

I joined Balita in January 2012. Twenty-eight years prior, that's 1984, I was in Europe, specifically in what's then West Germany working and travelling as a foreign correspondent for Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German news agency based in Hamburg. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE&t=10s).

I crisscrossed Europe (Barcelona, Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo in Spain); (Essex, London, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, in England); (Marseilles and Paris in France); (Berlin in Germany again); (Savona, Venice, Rome, the Vatican, Naples, Messina and Taormina in Sicily, in Italy); (and Dubrovnik in Croatia) through no help of Cusipag the EINO.

Here are some videos to support my claim:

1. Julian Assange Calls for Unity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-94qq7cZE

2. Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9EvFeMDY7c

3. Visiting Oxford University in England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG6d6JC-p5g

4. German Parliament at the Reichstag Building; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15KpuuYvqsI

5. Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGxIkEzeYD8

6. A Journey to Rome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLZrMxvm5dc

7. Soaking Up in Venice, Italy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSvJunIZ2yU

8. Visiting Segovia, Spain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYfu-w3lkkQ

9. The Vatican: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KteBl74us-0

10. Jose Rizal in Madrid, Spain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYjRO3Z5Xe8

Why would she steal credit for what my daughters had endowed me with? Those trips in 2012 (the same year Balita hired me) were gifts from them who had gone to Europe a few times before. They took care of plane tickets and hotel accommodations. And for nearly three months during those journeys, ultra-expensive London was my home base.

How was it possible that Cusipag the EINO would aver bankrolling my travels when all she could afford was to pay me starvation wages? And to add insult to injury, she calls me "patay gutom". What the fuck!

At the beginning of my employment in January 2012, Balita was paying me one hundred thirty dollars (C$130)) per month, which is about C$170.34 today. Compare that pittance with what I got paid for in San Diego, which was US$175 (US$230 now) per article. Per month versus per article, the former was a robbery!

It was a "patay-gutom" salary, undoubtedly, and knowing I was new in Toronto at that time, she took advantage and exploited me. Yet she claims, in her own words: "In Balita as a contributor, he received good honorarium, gifts, bonus, . . . "

I hope she doesn't choke on her lies. She continues: ". . . now he claims the designer clothes we gifted him were in his words 'mabantot' so he recycled and gave them away as gifts". This is partly true. If her intent was to please, it failed. Being a recipient of fake designer clothes really pissed me off. I was fine without. Indeed, I repurposed them to those wanting to show off.

The only instance she and/or Balita shouldered my airfare was when our bumbling lawyer asked me to rush back to Toronto. I was in Manila visiting for the first time in more than 20 years and he wanted me to testify on a defamation lawsuit that we eventually lost. (Related video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ykwazA-WE).

I would not spend a dime to satisfy his demand, the lawsuit could wait as far as I was concerned. If it was indeed urgent, then Balita should buy the round trip ticket (Manila-Toronto-Manila) so I could resume my vacation later on. That's exactly what happened.

I will not engage in a pissing contest with the dead. Ruben is at peace since a decade ago this year. But his widow the EINO made a boast of him when he landed in Canada as being "hired as Editor of Newfoundland Signal till he left to start Atin Ito with some friends".

No disrespect, but what the heck is Newfoundland Signal? On the other hand, the worldwide news agency DPA that employed me as chief Philippine correspondent for many years still stands strong.

I will not be defined by the blatant lies and demeaning innuendoes being perpetrated here by a double-dealing bubblehead. It's not for this dimwit to say who I am.

At the same time, however, I'll let Cusipag the EINO draw a characterization of herself. Such a portrait could be derived from what she wrote, and currently does.

I'm not bothered because I know the truth of what I did, what happened, and what the real score was.

Friday 24 March 2023

Official Blames ToM and Partners for Stolen Footage

Volume 4, Issue No. 54

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Friday, March 24, 2023

~ By far, the unplanned chat with IEC owner Cecile Araneta yesterday revealed the number and identities of people suspected of having a hand in the stealing of film footage from The Filipino Web Channel. She named at least five associated with the holding of virtual Taste of Manila in 2020 and 2021, among them Rolly Mangante, Philip Beloso, Pepito Torralba, Jerome Peralta, and fake "international reporter" Dannasol Luna.

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CHANCE MEETING WITH I.E.C.'s CECILE ARANETA

At Least 5 People in ToM Named in Video Steal

The Revelation Comes In The Wake of a Lawsuit

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

"Half of the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears". - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

TORONTO - A chance meeting yesterday (Thursday, March 23) proved useful in clarifying many things about Taste of Manila (ToM) festival, its self-declared founder Rolly "kabise" Mangante, and his associates in the persons of Pepito Torralba (no relation to the upright couple Mon and Teresa Torralba), Philip Beloso, Dannasol Luna and her brother, and a certain Jerome Peralta, among others.

For months my contact with people I believed were responsible for stealing footage of my videos was through emissaries because no one had the gumption and courage to face me in person.

Look, they had the audacity to steal to promote themselves and ToM but are chickenhearted to man up to their misdeed.

FV Foods owner Mel Galeon was having a despedida party for Consul General Orontes V. Castro at his store in Scarborough and in came one of the invitees, Cecile Araneta, owner of the purported not-for-profit International Entertainment Company (IEC).

Her partner in IEC, Ramon Datol aka Mondee, has insinuated in one of his unbrilliant moments that Cecile was a scion of the ultra-rich Araneta family that owns the famous Araneta Coliseum and the 35-hectare Araneta City in Cubao, Quezon City. She neither denies nor confirms this claim. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/06/whats-in-name-is-araneta-araneta.html).

One not to let go of an opportunity to talk, I walked up to her and peppered her with questions. She appeared forthcoming, answered my inquiries except those involving her IEC's lawsuit against ToM, Mangante and his new contractor, SPARC (Society of Philippine Artists, Recreation and Community). (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/taste-of-manila-scored-for-false.html).

IEC was previously Mangante's partner, at least for the August 2022 edition of ToM where Cecile Araneta apparently lost a huge sum of money that went to the payment of royalty to ToM. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/volume-4-issue-no.html).

According to her, IEC came into existence only in March 2022, a good two years after another dubious not-for-profit called PESO (Philippine Event Services Ontario) headed by Philip Beloso staged virtual ToM festivals because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/02/virtual-taste-of-manila-fests-duped.html).

Araneta was practically distancing herself and her IEC from PESO, Beloso, and Mangante who she blames for stealing film footage from videos running at The Filipino Web Channel. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-avarice-of-festival-organizers.html).

Yet her image and that of Mangante's wife Nieves Mangante appearing side by side were manipulated and spliced to make it look like they were part of the news coverage. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_398v7dDQhQ).

Araneta also clarified that Dannasol Luna, the fake "international reporter", had nothing to do with IEC. "She had nowhere to go so she hanged out with us," she explains in Tagalog. (Full story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/04/international-journalist-in-taste-of.html).

It was Luna's brother, she said, who manipulated the video in his suspicious studio named lunatronix, which describes itself as "Your friendly All-in-One Stop Shop Services Neighborhood Company". This studio is unreachable online and in-person.

Araneta recalled Mangante telling her that it was justified to take film footage of the ToM coverage from The Filipino Web Channel because he allegedly "paid" for the videos.

Well, this is not the first time that Mangante lied; the first big lie he has successfully floated was his claim that he founded ToM. In truth, he stole the idea from the Philippine Consulate where he had worked as a driver.

Another justification for the steal was what Dannasol Luna had said to her that she "apologized" for what had happened to the videos. "She told me that she approached you during the press conference in April 2022 and said sorry," Araneta says.

Part of it was true - that I was at the press conference and confronted them for stealing, which Ramon Datol sidestepped by saying there was none because the copyright for ToM news coverage belonged to Mangante. That was preposterous.

Dannasol Luna indeed approached me while I was filming and whatever she thought and mumbled to herself as an apology never reached my ear. It was simply an excuse to absolve herself, her brother, PESO, Mangante, Beloso, and Torralba of any guilt. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).

Wednesday 15 March 2023

FEATURE: Vet's Son Explains the Truth About Bessang Pass

Volume 4, Issue No. 53

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

Our latest as of Wednesday, March 15, 2023

~ The late Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos had the vision and daring to demand from Uncle Sam what had been promised to his people, writes guest writer Conrado "Sluggo" Rigor Jr., a media colleague who publishes and edits the Filipino-American Bulletin in Seattle, Washington. His family, dating back to his war-hero father, Conrado Rigor Sr., and mother, Erlinda Nicolas Rigor, had known the (Ferdinand Edralin) Marcos family up close and personal enough to vouch for what the man truly was, contrary to what has been spun through the years impugning his character. We yield this space to Sluggo who has a deep knowledge of the Marcos years.

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UNTOLD & UNKNOWN

Through Tear-Dimmed Eyes
Ferdinand E. Marcos' Vision and Daring

By CONRADO N. (SLUGGO) RIGOR, JR.

Editor-Publisher,

Filipino-American Bulletin (Seattle, Washington)

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” - Soren Kierkegaard

Partisan politics can be complicated in the so-called Third World. We live in highly charged times when we have to actively listen and do self-scrutiny, difficult though it may be. Democracy prescribes it. Stories must be told and be heard. If anger is part of the story,  we must understand where it comes from. And to respect it.

We pray that one day, factual tales as revealed can be researched and affirmed by responsible sectors so that accounts from entities who know, like a beloved mother, can help affirm yet untold and unknown truths.


SEATTLE, Washington - Two more days and our family will mark the passing in 1960 of Conrado Balaoro (CB) Rigor, Daddy to us, — after 62 long years. His demise at age 46 on that fateful night of May 13, 1960 totally changed the lives of ten people he left behind: a grieving widow and nine young orphans.

A generation has passed and there are stories that I, as carrier of an illustrious name, must share. Largely unknown, they must be passed on as lessons so that present and future generations are correctly informed. In the course of time many may have imbibed tales, formed opinions and values of their own. To my mind, because my family and I lived through crucial times, factual first hand accounts must be told. Over and over if necessary.

Nearly a year ago on May 9, 2022, a historic event happened in the old homeland. The son, the namesake of a revered Filipino leader has been elected by a record-setting number of Filipinos. History and redemption has taken place 36 years since Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was deposed, swept away by orchestrated kidnapping and exiled to an island state of the U.S. where he would eventually pass away.

My mother, the former Erlinda Gallardo Nicolas, was a die-hard loyalist of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. They were childhood friends in the province of Ilocos Norte, their parents were neighbors and dear friends. Both had attended the same high school and college in the University of the Philippines on Padre Faura St., Manila.

From the early 1960s, Mom had worked tirelessly for her classmate. She helped contact former school classmates for the dramatic Nacionalista Party presidential nomination at the Manila Hotel prior to the 1965 elections. When her classmate became president, she was asked what she wanted. When she evaded responding, she was assigned to the office of Executive Secretary Rafael Salas to help perform civic affairs work.

She later explained that the president wanted his loyal buddy to be spared from “dense politics” within the corridors of power. He personally asked her instead to be close-in chaperone to presidential mother Nana Sefa (Josefa Edralin Marcos). In the years that followed Mom spent most days at the private home of Nana Sefa in Paco, Manila where they planned and attended various activities together.

An amazing little-known story about the President, Mom related, was about the leader’s belief in ominous signs, intuitive spirit and sensitivity to premonitions. He confided that he acquired this “gut feel” from mentors as he was growing up in Ilocandia.

A remarkable episode happened one morning when he frantically ordered Palace staff to call Nichols Airfield and the Aviation Security Command. Barking on the phone, he ordered the airplane that son Bongbong (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., also BBM) and friends were to board to be stopped. The boy’s group complained and were disappointed. And the airplane proceeded on its flight. Next day’s news bannered that airplane’s tragic crash killing all passengers. It was one of Mom’s more astounding tales about FM who, even as a young man, she said, had displayed rare qualities and uncommon skills.

When Dad suddenly passed away from asthma complication, FM took Mom in as appointments and social secretary. By then he had become Senate President.

I would drive Mom every weekday to and from the Marcos residence on Ortega Street in San Juan. She was a regular fixture in the household as official receptionist and would meet with family accountant Cesar Dumlao about housekeeping needs and budgets. When our home in nearby Little Baguio needed minor repairs, Mom would ask Erning, the FM household’s reliable electrician and utility hand, for help.

At the funeral service for my father at the St. Ignatius Chapel in Camp Murphy, FM and then Justice Fred Ruiz Castro delivered impassioned eulogies. (Our family is fortunate to have preserved a 15-minute audio file of the eulogies delivered by then Senate President FM and Justice Castro in May, 1960.)

In his tribute, FM pointed to Dad’s “passion for anonymity.” He said that Dad “could have sought honor and distinction” but chose to be “a soldier and scholar.”  FM shared how he met Daddy again after college.  Like many in their age group who fought in WWII, both were members of the U.P. Vanguard that were drafted into the war. They met when FM was coming down from combat operations in Kiangan.

In his eulogy, FM said: “CB, racked even then by asthma and dysentery, was preparing his battalion to assault Bessang Pass which led to the surrender of General Yamashita.”  This statement is clear and outright proof that FM had attributed that triumphant final assault of the enemy to Dad. That also negates any contention that he had claimed to be the hero of Bessang Pass.

Years after Dad had passed, Mom would be so angered by anti-Marcos critics who accused FM of falsehood about WWII and his war records. Mommy explained that FM had taken every opportunity to order his aides and veteran-comrades to help stop the misleading, politicized tales about Bessang Pass and General Yamashita’s surrender. He had shared with Mom how embarrassed and disappointed he was with a certain military historian who had wanted to earn favor during the presidential campaign.

It was this ingenious Colonel, a published military historian, who had concocted “Operation of Enveloping Forces.” It was a clever narrative designed to include the unit of FM that was actually positioned as rear support eighty kilometers away so FM could be included in the operation against Yamashita. Bessang Pass is a narrow, rugged, foggy, slippery and leech-infested path leading to the Cordilleras 6,000 feet above sea level. A noted military strategist, Yamashita, high-ranking Japanese officers backed by 4,000 Japanese soldiers dug into ridges and caves for a last stand. Bessang is 20 nautical miles away from another historic battleground called Tirad Pass.

In a storytelling session, Mom had related about one lunch break in FM’s Ortega St. home when she and Ilocano cooks were joined by FM in the kitchen for “dinengdeng ken kam-met.” It was then that FM had emphatically asked his ka-ilian and classmate to forgive the “sipsip” historians who were rewriting WWII battle reports to portray him as a super hero — to the detriment of true war heroes like his comrade CB.

And this is why, he told Mom, he had emphasized during the funeral service in May 1960 their meeting at Bessang Pass and General Yamashita’s surrender.

Years later, when FM ran for re-election after he ended Martial Law, political opponents, as anticipated, resurrected false wartime tales.

In the torrid campaign season, FM as sitting President was target of intense black propaganda. An Ilonggo who professed to be Dad’s friend during the war, journalist Ernesto Rodriguez Jr., wrote a book, “Bad Guerillas of Northern Luzon.” He charged FM who, he stated, “falsely claimed to be the hero of Bessang Pass.” As if on cue, open attacks on the President were promptly picked up by the politicized tabloid Malaya-We Forum published by Jose Burgos.

Rodriguez had desperately searched for Mom who knew better to avoid him. The book author told me in a letter years later that he wanted so much to secure a photo of Dad but did not know how to reach Mom.

It was after the so-called People Power Revolt and after Mom had shared more stories about life as an army wife and untold truths about WWII that I began to understand the toxic tales circulated by Marcos haters and the Rodriguez book.

Malaya-We Forum was a staunch political ally of the Aquinos. When Cory Aquino became President after FM was exiled, Rodriguez was appointed mayor of his hometown in Iloilo. Rodriguez, during visits to the U.S., had phoned me from Boston. His daughter shared that her Dad would always meet with Sen. Ninoy Aquino who was also based in Boston. No wonder Mom had avoided the fellow. She suspected that he had likely wanted to project an affinity to Dad, identifying himself as the communications officer of the glorious and heralded 3rd Battalion of the USAFIP-NL 121st Infantry that led the assault on Bessang.

In 1982 I took a leave from my job as advertising manager of DMG-Volkswagen. A communication and public relations practitioner, I was contracted to join the advance delegation to the state visit of FM to US President Ronald Reagan. In late June, as correspondent of the Bureau of National & Foreign Information (BNFI) under Director Amante (Amang) Bigornia, I was issued a diplomatic passport and flew on PAL Business Class to San Francisco with Amang. For the next four months, I was billeted at the San Francisco Press Club on Post Street. I worked with local Filipino-American publications and community organizations in preparation for FM’s state visit.

The anti-Marcos campaign in the Philippines and in the U.S. had grown more intense. Front-page articles pounded heavily on FM’s “questionable war records and fake medals.”  The Bay Area-based publication Philippine News owned by Alex Esclamado, an expatriate businessman and former lawyer of the Lopez-owned Meralco and Benpres corporations, waged scorching attacks on FM. WWII veteran Bonnie Gillego, an anti-Marcos campaigner, joined Esclamado in media demolition campaigns centered on FM’s wartime record.

Every workday, I would be with Information Attaché Angelo Castro Sr. and newsmen Dave Baquirin, Jorge Bernal, Frank Perez, Quezon Mangawang, Art Padua to name a few. Now and then, senior news editor Rod Reyes would visit from Manila.

Manong Angelo, during a weekend session at the St. Francis Hotel Lounge where beer and cognac helped us relax, confided to me about a plan crafted by Director Amang. A quiet and intense bureaucrat widely respected in the trade, Amang, an Ilocano, was a combat soldier and radio man in Dad’s 3^rd Battalion, USAFIP-NL 121st Infantry Regiment.

Manong Angelo’s revelation shocked me. Because WWII tales and Bessang Pass were hot stories that had reached the U.S. and constantly front page material, the son of the hero of Bessang Pass, no less, was part of the FM delegation! Of course I was dumbfounded. I recalled how Mommy had engaged in serious conversation with Amang at times when I attended briefings at the BNFI office in Malacanang. Their office buildings were next to each other. Looking back, I believe that Mommy was happy that her eldest son, namesake of his father, was helping nullify degrading reports about FM.

Months after FM was kidnapped (repeat: KIDNAPPED! as Mommy had insisted) and flown away to exile, Mommy would passionately declare: “No matter what… Ferdinand will always be my President!” As the US military helicopter took off from Clark, Mom’s friends on board confided that FM had looked around the huddled passengers and did a roll call. He was said to have asked: “Where’s Erlinda?”

And so….for the next 36 years, rewriting of history to diminish and defame the name Marcos would be undertaken by powerful forces. The demolition has been so thorough, extensive and deep that even the novelty-driven Guinness Book of World Records would tag FM insultingly as “the world’s worst highway robber.”  All positive accounts and records about the Filipino leader would be rewritten, slanted, cancelled or thrown out. Destruction of the man’s worth, character and credibility before the world was plain for all to see.

One asks: Why?

Impartial and apolitical researchers have almost similar responses. It was only President Marcos who had the vision and daring, it is said, to demand from Uncle Sam what had been promised his people: WWII Veterans’ Pension and Benefits, the Coconut and Sugar Levies, and reconstruction of the country as part of WWII Reparations.

After the war, FM and UP Vanguard comrades joined by war widows gathered to organize themselves to formally claim from the U.S. promised war veterans’ benefits. By then, FM had become a congressman and helped organize the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP). General Emilio Aguinaldo and Fernando Poe Sr. were some notable charter officers of the VFP. Dad was the organization’s first Secretary General.

He also joined Asian Pacific leaders who proposed an independent regional expansion of SEATO (Southeast Asian Treaty Organization), the forerunner of what is now ASEAN.

When these were shelved by three U.S. Presidents, FM “ventured to the deep end” as described by foreign policy pundits.  He knew that his country sits in a geo-politically sensitive area but proceeded anyway to demonstrate the Philippines’ sovereignty and independence. Asian leaders praised him for this. On record, FM is the first democratic Southeast Asian leader to break through the Bamboo Curtain.

FM brought with him glamorous First Lady Imelda who charmed Chairman Mao with the world-renowned Bayanihan Dance Troupe and colorful cultural mementos. Mao Tse Tung was impressed as his country was then undergoing a cultural upheaval.

Before my family and I migrated to America in 1985, Mommy — groaning and through tear-dimmed eyes —shared more untold tales about military family life, wartime experiences, friendships and associations she had kept in her heart.

Compelling episodes about her buddy Andy were very much among them.

Mom’s words sums up the man. Upon learning of FEM’s exile, she said: “He is a noble Filipino, war hero, son of a dignified and respected family… one destined to lead.  Our people must know… and never forget.” (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).