BAYANI
Do not
begrudge me my burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani.
It was my
dying wish, even though this fiction has been manufactured by my family to
advance their political agenda, in which I no longer have an interest or stake.
After all, I
am dead…
Dead as the remains
of my bust at Tuba, Benguet, majestically blasted.
Dead as my handsome
wax likeness standing in for my corpse at my sometime mausoleum.
Truth is I really
wanted to be buried beside my mother at Batac, Ilocos Norte.
Quibbles
aside, know that I am a hero, bayani.
This claim
matters…
Please pause
awhile to contemplate it.
I am a decorated
soldier, the most bemedaled in Philippine military history!
Audie Murphy of
the U.S. Army received only 27 awards and medals.
I got 33!
Do not envy
me my medals, which radiate like five-pointed stars, old as the universe.
They flame
like the eight-rayed sun.
They shine
like the purest white of the Philippine flag.
They are
warrior red.
They are in
justice, peace, and truth, blue.
They are
golden laurels adorning my brow.
They are
golden lampstands honoring my valor.
They are
golden crowns capping my molars.
Do not pay
the least attention to my detractors who dispute the circumstances under which
I acquired these honors.
Fact is, they
are real awards.
Two medals were
awarded during the Second World War, the Gold Cross and the Distinguished
Service Star.
Admittedly, everything
else was awarded years after the war ended.
Eight are
campaign ribbons that all Bataan veterans and World War II Philippine guerrillas
receive…true, many of our compatriots have them.
I received
ten awards on a single day, almost twenty years after the war’s end!
Small matter
that I received the highest Philippine award for military valor, the Medal of Valor,
twelve years later, based on only two affidavits signed by my comrades-in-arms.
Why would my confreres
lie?
Take it from
me: it is the getting that matters.
Three U.S.
Army medals of which I am most proud were all given for different actions in
which I risked my life, even though I had never been assigned to patrol or
combat, only civil affairs.
Please
examine the authenticated photograph of my breast adorned by the Distinguished
Service Cross, the Silver Star, and the Order of the Purple Heart—this last I
received without any evidence of physical injuries, including scars!
General
Douglas MacArthur himself pinned the Distinguished Service Cross on my chest!
At the time,
he had exclaimed that if it were not for my exploits, Bataan would have fallen
three months earlier!
When he said
so, he bit down so hard on the stem of his corn cob pipe, it broke!
In 1947 General
Omar Bradley himself saluted me when he saw my breast emblazoned with six rows
of ribbons, headed by 22 valor medals!
Although Bradley
was suffering from double vision at the time—he was getting on, his eyesight
was failing, you see—you can be sure it was no mean display that embroidered my
svelte torso!
Trust me, if
you want to receive that many medals and awards, go after multiple different
awards for the same action—
You can get
eight, nine, ten awards for the same event, just by being persistent!
I was the
most decorated hero of the Second World War!
Only a
Christmas tree does better!
Iginuhit ng Tadhana!
In meekness
and humility, I received when I was president, U.S. Congress’ rejection of my application
for the Congressional Medal of Honor.
By then forty
years had lapsed from the time General Mateo Capinpin, following General Jonathan
Wainwright’s instruction at Bataan, had in writing recommended me for the
award.
The papers
were lost during the Fall of Bataan, so anyone living at the time who could have
contradicted my statement was dead.
I suppose that
when you have 33 awards and medals, one more, even if it is the U.S.
Congressional Medal of Honor, doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.
Does it?
I joined in
the defense of Bataan with the rank of Third Lieutenant.
By war’s end
I had attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, even though in the files of the United
States Armed Forces in the Far East and of the Philippine Commonwealth Army, there
is no evidence or record of my promotion beyond First Lieutenant.
Know that in
only 72 days, I was promoted from Third Lieutenant to Captain, this last
promotion from General Wainwright by telephone from Corregidor!
At the time,
he was encamped at Bagac, Ilocos Norte!
Don’t ask me
how he could have been in two places at one time!
In 1942, I
was promoted to Major and in 1944 to Lieutenant Colonel, both by “Unknown
Authority.”
Don’t ask me
how it happened—it is unknown even to me!
After the
Fall of Bataan, I joined my valiant comrades in the Death March, staggering
into Camp O’Donnell at Capas, Tarlac.
Released by
the Japanese in August 1942, I was soon arrested by the Kempeitai.
Tortured in
Fort Santiago prison, I escaped.
Just because
no one remembers I was there doesn’t mean I wasn’t.
After my
escape, I organized Ang Mga Maharlika, a
guerrilla band which was responsible for intelligence gathering, and conducting
sabotage and assassination operations against the invaders.
I led Ang Mga Maharlika during more than 300
skirmishes, conducting guerrilla operations in North Luzon, Baguio, Zambales,
and Manila, growing the band to 8,300 men at its peak strength!
I am proud to
have served with them, all brave fighters, no bandits or black-market hustlers.
When they
sold war materials to the enemy, it was undertaken solely as a cunning ploy to
gather intelligence.
Know that as
a guerrilla, I regularly tramped around barefoot, inuring myself to hardship.
All my
exploits I achieved barefoot!
Ask Ray C.
Hunt Jr., the U.S. Army captain whom met I met during the war!
In total, I
fought in 27 battles, some of them occurring in different places at the same
time!
Do not
believe those who say they never saw me at the Battle of Bessang Pass.
Proof I was
there: my story is identical to that of Colonel Conrado Rigor Sr.!
After the
battle, General Russell Volckmann confided to me that Yamashita had almost
surrendered to my intrepid guerrilla band!
I was not,
like Jose Rizal, a martyr.
On the
contrary, under my regime I martyred many thousands who opposed me.
Estimates put
it at about 70,000 imprisoned in violation of their human rights, 34,000
tortured, and precisely 3,275 killed or disappeared, of which 2,520 were left
as broken, dismembered, mutilated bodies for roadside recovery.
I take full
responsibility for it, everything.
After all, they
were every single one of them Communists, no exception.
True, some
denied it, even under torture.
Never believe
a Communist, I always say.
I did not,
like Andres Bonifacio, incite our
people to revolt against an oppressive colonial government.
It was my own
oppressive government that was overthrown by our people in a largely peaceful civilian
revolution.
Despite some world-class
play-acting…if I might say so myself, my talents are manifold…on my part and
that of my irrepressible henchman, General Fabian Ver…during a moro-moro televised live…I demonstrated laudably
high-minded efforts to restrain our loyal soldiers from inflicting excessive
violence on our unarmed people…with remarkable self-possession I guided them in
fulfilling their duty to defend my family, that is, our nation…yes, I was ignominiously
deposed.
Our
Philippine Air Force deserted me…I had little choice but to flee Malacañang, absconding
via a U.S. C-140 plane for what I thought at the time was a flight to my
homeland at Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
Turns out my
pal, Ronald Reagan, had misinformed the U.S. Air Force pilot that I had booked my
family a two-week vacation at Hawaii.
How could I
possibly have been planning a vacation when my family had brought with us
enough loot to last way beyond two weeks?...to be precise, 22 crates of $717
million equivalent in cash, 300 crates of assorted jewelry, estimated value
unknown, unset gems worth $4 million, assorted jewelry worth $7.7 million,
including 65 Seiko and Cartier watches, lustrous pearls filling a 12” x 4” box,
a 3-foot high solid gold statue bedecked with precious stones, gold bullion
worth $200,000, and $124 million in deposit slips to U.S., Swiss, and Cayman
Islands banks.
No, I did
not, like Emilio Aguinaldo, barter away
the Philippine state for the proverbial bowl of lentils.
When our
first president exchanged for lucre the declaration of our nascent independence,
he surrendered to our Spanish colonial masters the opportunity for us to
establish our first constitutional republic.
I did not
enrich myself so opportunistically while I served in government.
I was a rich
man before I became president…very, very, very
rich…
I did not declare
the full extent of my assets, among them, hidden vaults stacked with gold bars to
the ceiling a la Atahualpa, so that our people would not contemn me because of
my wealth.
Seeing in me instead
an exceptionally gifted man of humble means, they would vote for me.
Our people
gave me the chance to serve, all I ever really wanted.
Do not
believe the CIA estimate that I looted $5 to $10 billion from our treasury.
You don’t
believe the CIA, do you?
The World
Bank officially endorses the CIA estimate, true.
All the major
independent news networks, international and local, as well.
Professional
historians of good repute, too.
The latter
cite in support judicial rulings and legislative acts in the U.S., Switzerland,
Singapore, and the Philippines.
Not so long
ago the Philippine government passed “The Human Rights Victims Reparation and
Recognition Act of 2013,” awarding $246 million of some $683 million of my
Swiss bank deposits to 9,539 victims in the Hawaii class action suit.
So far, under
this law 75,730 claims have been filed and counting.
I concede
that many sources have invoked masses of circumstantial evidence against me—Imelda’s
extravagant shopping sprees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, including her
one-day $2,181,000.00 splurge in New York City; signature cards abandoned when
I fled Malacañang, for secret Swiss bank accounts in the pseudonyms of “William
Saunders,”“John Lewis,”and “Jane Ryan”; $1.2 billion missing in Central Bank
reserves, $6 billion missing in Special Accounts; 6.325 metric tons of gold,
also missing from Central Bank; $21 million worth of Old Masters paintings seized
by the U.S. government and liquidated in a 1991 Christie’s auction; The Crown
Building on Fifth Avenue corner 57th Street, also sold in a 1991
auction for $93.6 million; government sequestered tracts of land in Cagayan,
Manila, Tagaytay, Batangas, and Rizal, appraised at $12.62 million in 2006; $20
to $30 million of U.S. assets seized by U.S. federal officials in 2012; Imelda’s $23 million collection of jewelry and watches, primed
for auction; Imee’s secret offshore trust fund in the British Virgin Islands…
Recently, the
Philippine Commission on Good Government declared that in the period from 1986
to 2015, it was able recover $3.69 billion of my ill-gotten wealth.
Let’s cut to
the chase.
Who do you
choose to believe?
I may have
committed very many sins in my life, but stealing money from the Philippine people
is not one of them.
Numerous indeed
are my detractors, but surely my word shines forth honorably, underpinned redoubtably
by the integrity of my 33 awards and medals, all of which were gained at
suicidal risk to my life and to those of my men!
Historians, economists,
journalists, many others say that during my term as president, the Philippines transformed
from the second most dynamic economy this part of the world into the “Sick Man
of Asia.”
They say we
were left behind by our neighbors in East and Southeast Asia—Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea—countries or societies that posted
annual growth rates of five percent or higher.
They say we
lost two decades of development—beginning in 1982 when our per capita gross
domestic product began to decline, recovering its value only 21 years later, in
2003.
They say that
from 1984 to 1985, we experienced the worst recession in our history, our gross
domestic product contracting each year by 7.3 percent…that during the 21-year
period under my rule, underemployment rose from 10 to 33 percent of the
population…that real wages dropped by as much as 73 percent from 1966 to 1985…that
inflation shot to 50 percent in 1984…that the poverty rate increased from 41
percent in 1965 to 58.9 percent in 1985…that our foreign debt ballooned from
$4.1 billion in 1975 to $8.2 billion in 1977 to $28.3 billion in 1986…that our
national debt equaled 58.63 percent of our gross domestic product in 1986…that
the peso-dollar exchange rate plummeted from Php3.92 to one dollar in 1969 to Php8.54
in 1982 to Php18.61 in 1986…that I resorted to “crony capitalism,” awarding huge
projects and entire industries to my political allies, resulting in
inefficiency, bankruptcy, and stagnation in the manufacturing sector…that I
spent $2.3 billion to build the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, generating tens of
millions of pesos in annual costs, besides zero electricity.
Let’s put it
this way.
Are you going
to listen to eggheads?
Or will you believe
your eyes?
Anyone can fabricate
mountains of statistics…I should know.
Now, infrastructure—you can’t make that up.
Under my
administration the Cultural Center of the Philippines was built…Folk Arts
Theater…Philippine International Convention Center…Makiling Center for the
Arts…Nayong Pilipino…Coconut
Palace…People’s Park in the Sky…Philippine Heart Center…National Kidney and
Transplant Institute…Lung Center of the Philippines…at least 20 power plants…30
state colleges and universities…11,472 meters of bridges…105,000 km of roads
and highways…230,000 public housing units…irrigation facilities for 1.5 million
hectares of agricultural land…nationwide telecommunications systems…innumerable
public schools…
As for cronies,
my answer is that you can’t build this country working just by yourself.
You’ll need industrialists,
financiers, technocrats, all sorts—what’s wrong with that?
It was a Golden Age for the Philippines under my
regime—a shining sun of peace and order, discipline, economic development,
industrial growth, tourism and foreign investment, patronage of the arts, entertainment,
movie stars, boxing legends, beauty queens…the halcyon days of the Miss
Universe Beauty Pageant, the Thrilla in Manila,
the Manila International Film Festival…the Bolshoi Ballet, Dame Margot Fonteyn,
tenor Placido Domingo, pianist Van Cliburn, “Ol’ Blue Eyes” Frank
Sinatra…Brooke Shields, Franco Nero, Ben Kingsley, Robert Duvall, George
Hamilton, Peter Ustinov, Priscilla Presley, Jeremy Irons…Smokin’ Joe Frazier,
Muhammad Ali…Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran, Aurora Pijuan, Melanie Marquez, Amparo
Muñoz…the good, the true, and the beautiful!
I don’t want
to toot my horn, but I also can’t resist telling the truth.
I am the most
decorated soldier in the history of the Philippines, a hero surpassing Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo…indeed, if I
might say so, any other Filipino who has preceded and who will succeed me in
Philippine history…I, who have endured endless defamation by the world at
large, who expended his prodigious genius to serve his country unstintingly
without any desire for personal gain, wish to be laid to rest only as a Filipino…hero among heroes, yes, bayani, because after all, the title
goes with the real estate…
Muhammad Ali
is not the greatest.
I am the
greatest Philippine president.
I am the
greatest.
Originally published in J Journal, Volume XI, No. 2 (Fall 2018), pages 3-11
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| Young Marcos with fake medals—Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Order of the Purple Heart |
