(READ: Imee, Bongbong Marcos were beneficiaries of illegal Swiss foundations) Aside from being the First Lady, Imelda was also the governor of Metro Manila from 1975 to 1986. This is out of the 10 charges involving Swiss-based private organizations she set up while in office. Seven years later, the court agreed that these funds were of “criminal provenance.”īongbong’s mother, Imelda Marcos, was found guilty of seven counts of graft in November 2018. In December 1990, the court ruled in favor of the transfer of these assets worth around $356 million to the Philippines. In another case, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court froze all of Marcos’ bank accounts in Swiss banks. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals backed the Hawaii court’s decision in 1996. They sought damage or reparations from the Marcoses for human rights violations and the court awarded $1.96 billion to the claimants. But people still insist that it’s shady, fine, that’s your business.”ĬONTEXT: The Marcos family has won and lost several cases regarding their ill-gotten wealth and human rights violations both in the Philippines and abroad.įor instance, the US District court in Hawaii in 1995 ruled in favor of 9,539 Martial Law victims in a class suit. All the things, ‘we discovered this,’ all of them have been proven as lies. Just think of the things that were being said in ’86, February, March, April. When asked what his truth was, he said in a mix of English and Filipino: “And the truth is not what you’re saying. I’m really tired of hearing lies that have already been disproven, not necessarily about my family, about me.” STATEMENT: Towards the end of the interview, Gonzaga asked Bongbong what he was tired of hearing. In the few months before Marcos’s ouster, the dissonance between his sickly appearance and the government’s constant assurance that he remained “strong” grew obvious, fueling Filipinos’ apprehension even more. It was only in 1985 when intelligence and congressional sources finally disclosed the illness to be systemic lupus erythematosus. Former Associated Press (AP) Manila editor Miguel Suarez only came to know about the existence of Marcos’s disease through opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. The exact nature of this illness, however, was kept under careful wraps by Malacañang. Marcos’ sickness crept up on him as early as 1979. If he was ever seen as tired, it would be refuted by allies and denounced as his being “at the peak of health.” If Marcos wasn’t lifting weights, he was either jogging or sparring. The former dictator’s persistent ailment was therefore disguised with the promotion of a strong and health-conscious image in order to combat rumors. Any speculation regarding his weakening was quickly dismissed as either mere cases of the flu or fatigue. My father was, before the term was invented, he was a ‘health freak,’ and he would exercise at least an hour a day, sometimes twice a day.”ĬONTEXT: The Marcos administration was tenacious in hiding the former President’s failing health. STATEMENT: In a conversation about maintaining his health, Bongbong said his father influenced him to be fit: “It’s my father’s influence. Antonio Sotelo shared how military groups slowly began to defect to the rebels in Camp Crame because of their refusal to harm civilians in the process. There were also millions of Filipinos along EDSA keen on overthrowing the dictator and blocking his loyal troops from leaving Camp Aguinaldo. Rebel forces therefore were able to launch attacks on the Villamor Air Base as well as Malacañang Palace, destroying Huey helicopters and strafing Palace grounds, respectively. The presence of these forces were largely due to the defections of Enrile and former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Fidel Ramos. The Post reported that there were signs that control was slipping away from Marcos at the time, because officials at the presidential palace ordered employees to go home, as heavily armed marines patrolled the palace grounds. They also held four battalions of Philippine troops, each amounting to approximately 700 soldiers. We then flew to Guam.) Which is what happened.”ĬONTEXT: According to a report by the Washington Post, Juan Ponce Enrile, who was the defense minister at the time, said that rebel forces held the helicopter strike group of the Air Force, which had been fully armed with rockets and machine guns. I can’t say I was, because, militarily, we had an advantage. Responding to a question on whether he was scared at that time, he told Gonzaga: “No, I wasn’t. STATEMENT: According to Bongbong Marcos, his family had the military advantage during the People Power Revolution. Below, we provide context for five of Bongbong Marcos’ statements said during the interview.
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