Remembering ambush of ex-Iloilo City mayor

“Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”

— Mao Zedong

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

BEFORE his 50^th birthday in March 1972, the late former Iloilo City mayor Rodolfo “Bagyo Roding” Ganzon survived an ambush that killed his four bodyguards on Mapa St. in downtown, City Proper.

The entourage of two cars reportedly came from the City Hall at past six o’clock in the evening a few blocks away when unidentified armed men peppered the vehicles with bullets.

According to the St. Joseph News-Press, a newspaper based in Buchanan County in Missouri, USA, three of the dead were policemen acting as Ganzon’s bodyguards. The other was his civilian driver.

Ganzon, a former senator and congressman, was “wounded on the shoulder but managed to fire back at the attackers with a Thompson submachine gun. Apparently, no one was hit,” reported the St. Joseph News-Press.

The bloody incident happened six months before President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. declared Martial Law on September 21, 1972.

Ganzon, a staunch Marcos critic, was charged and convicted with murder in a separate incident but spent time in jail as “political prisoner” until his release in 1986 where he was allegedly “forced” to campaign for Marcos versus Corazon Aquino in a snap presidential election in exchange for his freedom. 

 

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Because he was at odds with then Iloilo City congressman Fermin “Nene” Zarandin Caram Jr. over the violent control of Muelly Loney dock territory, it was rumored that Caram had something to do with the ambush.

The Carams used to be Marcos’ former allies during the pre-Martial Law years. But when the couple reportedly offended then First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, their asset, Filipinas Orient, then the country’s third largest domestic airline first licensed to fly in 1964 over the opposition of the flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL), was abolished.

It was supposed to be a move to rationalize the airline industry as part of Marcos’ Martial Law reforms.

Marcos granted PAL a domestic monopoly and allowed PAL to expropriate Filipinas Orient’s aircraft and charged Caram with plundering the firm, winning a court case to freeze all of Caram’s assets. 

Badly hurt, the Carams broke up politically with Marcos. 

 

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When Caram’s wife, Rosa “Tita”, was appointed as OIC Iloilo City mayor after the 1986 EDSA Revolution, she denied her husband, or family for that matter, had something to do with the failed attempt to kill Ganzon.

“Indi kami violenti. Public servants kami kag negosyante (We are not violent. We are public servants and we engage in business),” the Spanish mestiza lady OIC mayor remarked in halted Hiligaynon.

When Mayor Caram refused to run against Ganzon in the mayoral election, Ganzon, who ran and lost to newcomer Rafael Lopez-Vito for congressman in the 1987 elections, blasted the Caram couple in his political rally on corner Delgado and Jalandoni Streets, City Proper.

“Nahadlok si Tita (Rosa Caram) nga mag padalagan kontra sa akon. Kay man sadtong nag sabtanay kami ni Nene (Fermin Caram) gin hambalan ya ako nga putyong kuno ako. Ang sabat ko kay Nene, abi pamangkota si Tita kun matuud nga putyong ako (Tita is afraid to face me in the election because one time when Nene and I had argument, he accused me of being uncircumcised. I told him, why don’t you ask Tita if it is true that I am uncircumcised),” boomed Ganzon, then 66, who claimed Mayor Caram was “once my girlfriend.”

The crowd erupted in laughter. Political pundits claimed mercurial Ganzon’s outbursts were part of his sardonic style as a seasoned politician.

Paque Caram, the Carams’ son who ran unsuccessfully against Albertito Lopez in the congressional election in the second district of Iloilo, dismissed Ganzon’s allegations as “a total lie.” 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)

Nerve-tingling Iloilo news I can’t forget

“Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.”

—Hunter S. Thompson

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

ONE of the biggest and most unforgettable news we covered in Iloilo in the late 80s and early 90s was the spraying of water using a firetruck hose by the late Iloilo City mayor Rodolfo “Bagyo Roding” Ganzon of the combative city councilors, transforming into public bathroom the left portion (facing the Eagle Building) of the old Iloilo Freedom Grandstand in 1989.

The councilors, led by Rolando Dabao, Dan Dalido, German Gonzales, Larry Ong and Eduardo Peñaredondo and other bystanders, ended up literally drenched, their bravery had no match to Bagyo Roding’s fury.

As Bagyo Roding singlehandedly held the firetruck hose with both hands and aimed it at the plucky aldermen, reporters, who gathered on Mapa St., watched with bated breath. 

“Indi ya man ina pag papiswitan a. Pahugon ya lang na sila (No, he won’t pull the hose’s trigger. He only wants to threaten them),” the late Antonio “Tony” Laniog, reporting for the defunct dyBQ Radyo Budyong, quipped.     

“Ano nga indi man. Ara gina uyatan ya na ho (I bet he will really hit them because the water hose is now in his grip),” remarked the late dyFM Bombo Radyo Iloilo reporter and future city councilor Armand Parcon.

“Standby lang ta ara na sila gapalapit na (Let’s standby and watch as the group moves in),” the late Rene Porras of the defunct dyRP Radyo Tagring told driver-anchorman Tawtaw Cervantes.

 

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Laniog was wrong; Parcon was right. As the city councilors approached the famed grandstand, Bagyo Roding frenziedly pulled the trigger and barked, “Hijo deputa, wala kamo respeto sa rule of law (Sanobabitch, you don’t have respect for the rule of law).”   

As the small delegation scampered into different directions, Gonzales, a former Martial Law inmate in the 70s, bemoaned, “Ipaylan ka namon kaso. Ma kakas ka gid (We will file a case and you’ll be removed from office).”

“Atras! Atras ta anay. Ga salig siya nga may dala siya bombero (Let’s retreat. He is being backed by a firetruck),” Ong, the source of all the trouble, appealed. 

The feud between Bagyo Roding and the “rebels” started when the mayor confiscated Ong’s office key in the Sangguniang Panglunsod. Ong, who supported Bagyo Roding’s rival, Engr. Timoteo “Nene” Consing, Jr., for mayor in the previous election, decided to hold office at Plaza Libertad. 

Together with fully armed security men, Bagyo Roding forcefully drove Ong, et al away from Plaza Libertad, thus the defiant Ong decided to hold office at the Freedom Grandstand.

However, before the group could reach the area, the determined Bagyo Roding ambushed them.

They filed charges of abuse of authority, intimidation, oppression, grave misconduct, disgraceful and immoral conduct, and culpable violation of the Constitution against Bagyo Roding.

On May 3, 1990, then Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Luis T. Santos issued a preventive suspension against Bagyo Roding for another 60 days, the third time in 20 months, and designating Vice Mayor Mansueto “Mansing” Malabor as acting mayor.

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INCOGNITO. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew that there were times when you didn't want to be recognized. For example, according to Merriam-Webster, a myth tells how Zeus and Hermes visited a village incognito and asked for lodging. The apparently penniless travelers were turned away from every household except that of a poor elderly couple named Baucis and Philemon, who provided a room and a feast despite their own poverty. The Romans had a word that described someone or something unknown (like the gods in the tale): incognitus, a term that is the ancestor of our modern incognito. Cognitus is the past participle of the Latin verb cognoscere, which means "to know" and which also gives us recognize, among other words.

MARITES STORY FROM DAILY NEWS. Up until recently, Miley Cyrus “had no idea” about the wrecking ball effect her mother’s recent marriage to her younger sister’s ex-lover had on the once tight-knit clan. In August, Tish Cyrus, 56, married 54-year-old actor Dominic Purcell, who reportedly previously dated her 24-year-old daughter Noah Cyrus.

“Noah and Dominic were seeing each other in a friend with benefits way, off and on,” an unidentified source told People. The hunky “Prison Break” star and Noah Cyrus reportedly stopped seeing each other before her mother, whom the insider said was aware of the relationship, pursued Purcell.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)