Prof. Copernicus thinks I am right (Last of 2 parts)

"I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you."
Robin Williams

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Three big historical events in February, March and April juxtaposed in the calendar of topics Professor Jozef Copernicus wanted to discuss with me one breezy afternoon in the blizzard-drenched Central Park.
First was the February 22-25, 1986 "People Power" EDSA Revolution in the Philippines; second, the March 15, 4 B.C. "Ides of March" in Rome; and third, the April 15, 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C.
In the first article, I narrated to Prof. Copernicus why the Philippines had a bloodless revolution and how prayers worked wonders and averted heavy casualties in EDSA. February topic settled.
For March, Prof. Copernicus came out swinging: "Who were the conspirators in Julius Caesar's murder and why it was dubbed the 'Ides of March'?"
I quickly recalled the effervescent Brutus.
"Brutus!" I muttered. "Brutus and Cassius."
"Who else?" chortled Prof. Copernicus while rushing forward, his left eyebrow twerking.

SENATORS

APV: "As many as 60 senators conspired to kill Caesar but not all of them participated in the actual assault inside the Theater of Pompey."
Prof. Copernicus: "How about Brutus and Cassius?
APV: "According to William Shakespeare and Plutarch, while the senators and Cassius were starting to stab Caesar, who was caught unprepared, he backtracked and tried to seek refuge when he saw Brutus hoping the latter would shield or defend him. All of a sudden, Brutus stabbed him in the back. Surprised, Caesar turned his back and chided his adopted son, 'Et tu, Brute?' or 'you also, Brutus?'"
Prof. Copernicus: "Right. Caesar died on the spot. Nobody saved him?"
APV: "He slumped dead in front of Pompey's statue and Mark Antony, his trusted bodyguard who was outside, failed to save him."
Prof. Copernicus: "And the Ides of March?"
APV: "A soothsayer had earlier warned Caesar would be harmed in (or before) the Ides of March. He laughed off the seer's warning and proceeded to the Theater of Pompey."

CONSPIRACY

Exit March and Rome. Enter April and Washington D.C. Conspiracy to kill Lincoln.
Prof. Copernicus: "You said Lincoln's murder was a result of conspiracy? All I know is he was assassinated inside a theater by an actor,  a lone gunman by the name of John Booth."
APV: "John Wilkes Booth was the gunman but up to 10 people were hanged in public after trial when they were found guilty of conspiracy."
"The execution of the conspirators became controversial," I proceeded, "because a woman named Mary Surratt was among those convicted and hanged. She protested her innocence up to the last hours and became unruly, refusing to be hanged simultaneously with the nine others."

HOUSE

I added: "Her only crime was she owned the boarding house used by the conspirators to plan the assassination. I learned about this account in a book I read inside the Barns and Noble bookstore in windy Chicago in 2008."
Prof. Copernicus: "It's not yet clear to me if it was a conspiracy. You mentioned the name Mary Surratt. She was hanged also? Honestly, I didn't know it was a conspiracy and a woman had been meted a death penalty. To settle the confusion, can you Google Lincoln's assassination and check if it was really a conspiracy and if a Mary Surratt was among those convicted and hanged?"
APV: "Yes, professor. I will do that now."
I took my mini iPad and Googled "Conspiracy Lincoln assassination."
APV: "Here, professor. It's a conspiracy and (I pointed to him) here's the name of Mary Surratt: (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/assassination-co-conspirators/)"
Prof. Copernicus (reading the link on the mini-iPad): "OK. You just taught me a piece of history. You are right. You win."

Prof. Copernicus thinks I am right (Part 1)

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." Thomas Jefferson

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Around past three o'clock one afternoon inside the cold Central Park, Professor Jozef Copernicus told me he instantly recalled having visited Manila after the 1986 EDSA Revolution.
"It was my first and only visit in your country," the professor mused. "I was a speaker in an international conference held in a hotel by the bay (Manila Hotel?)"
Professor Copernicus thought the Marcos family made the right decision to fly to Hawaii when the mob was already a cinch way from capturing Malacanang Palace evening of February 25, 1986.
The late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the professor insisted, should also be credited "for aborting a bloodshed that would have tarnished the reputation of your country (as the only Catholic in Asia)."

NO CASUALTY

"It was supposed to be a revolution, right? But why nobody was shot; why no one was killed?" Prof. Copernicus inquired like a classroom teacher doing a recitation test.
"Nobody was killed, yes. There was no bloodshed because President Marcos rejected the appeal of Armed Forces Chief, Gen. Fabian Ver, to shoot the rebel soldiers led by Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and (AFP Vice Chief of Staff) Gen. Fidel Ramos, who were being protected by the People Power," I answered looking straight at both his eyes.
Prof. Copernicus: "And they were also being protected by nuns praying the rosary and holding the statues of Virgin Mary, right?"
APV: "That's correct, Professor! The nuns also gave flowers to government soldiers manning the tanks."

RELIGIOUS

Prof. Copernicus: "Filipinos are mostly Christians and deeply religious by nature?"
APV: "We were the only country in the world that has not experienced a bloody revolution; and basically we are mostly religious, having been Christianized by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 at the time when Martin Luther was starting to spread the protestant movement in Europe."
Prof. Copernicus: "We are talking about the EDSA Revolution, which happened only more than 20 years ago, but you are jumping to the events that happened more than 500 years ago. You are mixing the dates."
APV: "I'm sorry, professor. But they are related to the hypothesis on how we, Filipinos, became a Christian country." (To be continued)

An encounter with ‘Fighting From A Distance’ publisher

“There's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.” Talib Kweli

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY – Now that Marcos has fallen and there seems to have no more dictators lording over the Philippines with iron hand to fight against, is there a need for Filipino-American writer and activist Jose V. Fuentecilla to continue fighting from a distance?

In a chance meeting at the Madison Square Park June 17 during the 117^th Philippine Independence Day parade, Fuentecilla averred that he chronicled how his fellow Filipino exiles helped topple the dictatorship in the 1986 EDSA Revolution in his book “Fighting From A Distance.”

When (former Philippine President Ferdinand) Marcos was curtailing the freedom of the press, we were already here in the United States together with (the late former Senator Raul) Manglapus and other opposition leaders,” Fuentecilla said in an exclusive talk.

The University of Illinois graduate of communication studies was among the pre-cursors of the opposition movement in the United States during the Martial Law.

“In my book, I narrated our struggles and how we fought the dictatorship outside the Philippines where press freedom was among the first casualties during the Martial Law,” he explained.

INSPIRATION 

The “People Power” in 1986 served as the inspiration for oppressed citizens to rise up as demonstrated by the peaceful revolts of the Arab Spring and the fall of the Berlin Wall, Fuentecilla recalled in the book.

“Much has been documented about how the Filipinos achieved their historic feat on their home ground, on their own,” he wrote. “Much less is known about how groups of Filipinos living overseas, mostly in the USA, helped in this effort. Now for the first time, a book-length history describes their role.”

Fuentecilla’s book was first released in May 2013 by the University of Illinois Press.

It describes the personalities, the politics, the perils of conducting a US-based campaign against a powerful regime. And how they ultimately succeeded.

The University of Illinois Press has interviewed Fuentecilla in relation to the book:

During February of 1986, a grassroots revolution overthrew the dictatorship of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos.  Jose V. Fuentecilla was involved in the anti-Marcos movement in the United States.  Fuentecilla answered our questions about his new book Fighting from a Distance: How Filipino Exiles Helped Topple a Dictator.

Q: As a native of the Philippines who emigrated to the United States in 1968, how did you first view the Marcos regime?

Fuentecilla: When I completed my graduate communication studies at University of Illinois, I had plans to return home to apply what I learned. One of Marcos’ first decrees after imposing his dictatorship was to muzzle the press and imprison journalists. So, heck! Why enter the lion’s den?

MEASURES

Q: Were you surprised by the increasing measures the Marcos regime took leading to the 1972 declaration of martial law?

Fuentecilla: No. It was inevitable that he had to do what he did in order to consolidate his power — restrict the press, round up oppositionists and throw them into prison, dissolve Congress, employ the military establishment as his personal police, weaken the judiciary, etc.

Q: How did you become personally involved in the anti-Marcos movement?

Fuentecilla: At the founding convention of our group in Washington DC in 1973, whose history is the subject of my book, I was elected the first Secretary General. Hence I was an  on-the-ground participant of the Movement from its birth.

Q: Were there many Filipino immigrants who supported the declaration of martial law?

Fuentecilla: The Marcos regime was very successful in intimidating immigrant relatives and their friends to refrain from joining opposition groups in the U.S. Reports of roundups of oppositionists back home gave the impression that if they participated in any U.S.-based anti-Marcos activities, their kin back home will suffer consequences. As a result, our movement could not mobilize a large following.

Q: What was the most shocking event to affect the movement during the Marcos regime?

Fuentecilla: The assassination on August 21, 1983 of a Filipino Senator (Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino) who returned to Manila on that date after three years in the USA for a heart operation. His murder at the airport upon his arrival was the spark that led to a gathering “people power” revolution that finally forced the Marcos family to flee the country in 1986.

Q: How much resistance did the exiles encounter from the U.S. government in their attempts to lobby for anti-Marcos policy?

LOBBY

Fuentecilla: Lobbying the U.S. government to limit military aid to the Marcos regime because of its rampant human rights abuses was the focus of their activities. We won allies in Congress but the White House administration, concerned that Marcos will retaliate against the U.S. bases in the Philippines for any military aid reductions, continued to support his regime in the 14 years that he was in power. Indeed it was this support that prolonged his rule. Ironically, it was a U.S. helicopter that flew him out of Manila and gave him refuge in Hawaii where he died.

Q: Did the Movement for a Free Philippines lean any particular way ideologically?

Fuentecilla: There were two main groups opposing the regime in the U.S.–  one allied with a leftist militant armed anti-Marcos New People’s Army operating throughout the

Philippines; the other was our group which preferred a non-violent return to democracy by various groups of society: students, workers, businessmen, the clergy, etc.

Q: Did you reflect at all on your experiences “fighting from a distance” when you saw the wave of political change that resulted in the Arab Spring?

Fuentecilla: Yes, as we watched the triumphant masses overthrowing dictators with minimal bloodshed, we said, “Been there! Done that!” It has been cited many times that the Philippine “People Power” revolution of some 20 years ago was the template of the Arab Spring.

We're luckier we never fled on boat

"The feat of surviving is directly related to the capacity of the survivor." Claire Cameron

By Alex P. Vidal

LOS ANGELES, California -- WE remember during the 1986 presidential snap elections in the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) ran a blitzkrieg in the mass media that if the communists will win, the Filipinos would end up as the next "boat people" of Asia.

Marcos' propaganda machine wanted to paint rival presidential candidate Corazon Cojuangco Aquino's UNIDO opposition party as left-leaning or "communist."

Many voters, out of ignorance and fear combined, swallowed the smear campaign hook, line and sinker.

The scuttlebutt was that Tita Cory and her vice presidential candidate Doy Laurel were backed by the communists that threatened to take over the reigns of the government if the pair defeat the tandem of reelectionist Marcos and vice presidential candidate Arturo Tolentino.  

VIOLENCE

Footage of "boat people" and other macabre violence that allegedly took place when the communists overran Vietnam in the 1970s were played up repeatedly on national TV.

Marcos and Tolentino "won" but were toppled by the People Power in the EDSA Revolution months later. 

The pre-election paranoia proved to be a hoax.

Filipinos did not become "boat people" when Tita Cory and Vice President Laurel ascended into power in a revolutionary government. 

The rest is history.

We have experienced so many catastrophes in the past, political, economic, etcetera, but we never left the Philippines on board dilapidated boats and seek refuge in other neighboring Southeast Asian countries,

In every crisis, Filipinos became stronger and united. We always survived.

We recalled the "boat people" episode when hundreds of immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar recently landed in Indonesia and the Philippines after floating for months on overcrowded boats.

Many of them were suffering from dehydration and they were weak and starving, it was reported.

MIGRANTS

It was believed that as many as 8,000 migrants may be adrift in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca, living in conditions so squalid that the United Nations has warned of an epidemic of “floating coffins.” 

Some governments in the region have reportedly turned away migrants.

The Los Angeles Times reported that "many of the migrants are fleeing desperate poverty in Bangladesh, while others are ethnic Rohingyas, a persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state who have been violently attacked, denied citizenship and confined to squalid ghettos at home."

It was in the 1970s and 1980s when the immigration of thousands of people from Southeast Asia impacted American-Vietnamese relations and gave rise to new communities of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong Americans in the United States. 

"Known as boat people for escaping Southeast Asia by sea, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians (predominantly Vietnamese) generated a political and humanitarian firestorm for the international community, the United States, and Vietnam," reported the New American Nation.

WAVE

It added that the first wave in 1975 included 140,000 South Vietnamese, mostly political leaders, army officers, and skilled professionals escaping the communist takeover. 

"Fewer than a thousand Vietnamese successfully fled the nation. Those who managed to escape pirates, typhoons, and starvation sought safety and a new life in refugee camps in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong," added the New American Nation. 

For many, these countries became permanent homes, while for others they were only waystations to acquiring political asylum in other nations, including the United States.

Dayot’s mind

“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Buddha

By Alex P. Vidal

IF it were Salvador “Doy” Laurel, instead of Mrs. Corazon “Cory” Aquino, who became president via EDSA Revolution in 1986, Ilonggo lawyer Ernesto “Ernie” Justiniani Dayot would have been appointed as chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

“Or, panyero Ernie would have been given an ambassadorial position,” the late lawyer Joselito “JT” Barrera once told a group of journalists, while hosting then visiting senatorial candidate Frank Chavez.

Barrera was one of the few Ilonggos privy to Dayot’s closeness with Vice President Laurel, the fifth Prime Minister of the Philippines until his position was abolished.

Barrera said Laurel was most impressed with Dayot in one of the Nacionalista Party (NP) events they both had attended because of the latter’s intellect and photographic memory especially when narrating historical events.

When Laurel was secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs from March 1986 to February 1987, he would invite Dayot and other Ilonggo NP leaders to a private dinner.

“Politics were mentioned occasionally during the private dinner, but we talked mostly about our girlfriends,” lawyer Pascual Espinosa Jr., founder of the Save Our Nation Movement, said in jest.

Dayot, 80, always believed in the power of the Ilonggos to excel in arts, science, academics, sports and politics.

SUPREMACY

“The Ilonggos have always strove to regain their economic supremacy like in the past when the port of Iloilo was at its busiest and that time Iloilo City was dubbed the ‘Queen City of the South,’” Dayot averred.

Dayot, a native of Dingle, Iloilo but now resides in Brgy. Nanga, Guimbal, Iloilo has identified “a major stumbling block” in the Filipino politicians’ propensity to engage in patronage politics.

Delays in implementation of big projects were blamed for the snail pace of Iloilo’s development in the past.

“Delayed construction of the infrastructure like roads and bridges has taken a heavy toll with the viability of other economic projects government or private that could set high the gear of production for the ultimate progress of Iloilo,” he lamented.

Because of this, Dayot stressed that the economic growth of the province and city has to depend on the management of the powers-that-be.

He pointed out that there is the linkage of the economic growth and the political power, a kind of partnership most common and prevalent in developing countries.

“Like horse and carriage, they are complimentary,” Dayot said.

Like many Ilonggos, Dayot believes that there are more positive and great things to be proud of in the city and province of Iloilo, which boast of intellectual and political landmarks.

ILONGGOS

He cited the following achievements of Ilonggos:

-Molo was called “the Athens of the Philippines” as it produced senators and jurists in the land and abroad;

-Chief Justices Victoriano Mapa and Ramon Avancena graced the Supreme Court of the Philippines;

-Raymundo Melliza sat in the Cuban court;

-Delfin Jaranilla was appointed after the war in the international tribunal that tried war criminals;

-the three senators produced by Molo district, Iloilo City were Rodolfo Ganzon, Esteban de La Rama, Jose C. Zulueta;

-other Ilonggo senators were Fernando Lopez who became vice president; Oscar Ledesma, Ruperto Montinola, Tomas Confesor, who became a famous guerrilla fighter as governor of Panay and Romblon in the darkest hours of the occupation;

-Governor Confesor’s letter of reply for an offer of surrender to the Japanese Imperial Army was a classic defiance of the might of the enemy, and a great display of valor that reverberated in the Halls of the U.S. Congress;

-in the revolution against Spain in 1896, the patriotic fervor of the Ilonggos was never wanting as it was tried and tested in the battlefields;

-the Ilonggo resistance was led by Gen. Martin Delgado of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo and ably assisted by Gen. Adriano Dayot Hernandez of Dingle, Iloilo and hosts of other generals and officers in command;

WORLD WAR

-in World War I, Sergeant Ramon Sobejano of New Lucena, Iloilo was a recipient of the most decorated soldier fighting in Europe;

-in World War II, Captain Jose Calugas of Leon, Iloilo received the most coveted and highest medal of honor in the U.S. Army, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

“As ideas make history,” sighed Dayot, “Iloilo had its height of intellectual activities; it was a beehive of several local and national daily newspapers that projected the burning issues of the day.”

Dayot said from the rank and file editors and writers, came the names of Flavio Zarragoza Cano, the “Ilonggo Cervantes” whom Senator Claro M. Recto had the profound admiration and respect.

He also cited Ezequil Villalobos of Manila Bulletin; Rex Drilon, a political scientist and writer and the first Filipino president of the Central Philippine University (CPU); Stevan Javellana, whose book, “Without Seeing the Dawn,” was translated to several languages. It’s about a story of the Japanese Occupation in the country.

“The Ilonggos today, wherever we are, can look back with great pride of our legacy of greatness,” concluded Dayot.