FERDINAND MARCOS (Ika-17 na Bahagi)

“NO more ‘kill, kill, kill.’” Ito ang dumadagundong na pahayag ni Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., hepe ng PNP. Ito ang direksyon ng PNP sa ilalim ng kanyang pamumuno. Tuluyang tinalikuran ang itinakwil na digmaan kontra droga sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni Rodrigo Duterte. Bagaman maraming namatay sa giyera ni Duterte (mahigit 6,000 sa talaan ng PNP o lampas 30,000 sa mga human rights groups), hindi ganap na nasugpo ni Duterte ang ilegal na droga.

Hindi dahil kampi si Azurin sa droga at sampu ng mga drug lord. Hindi naniniwala si Azurin na ang ang pagpatay sa mga nagtutulak at gumagamit ang sagot. Hindi ang pagpuksa sa kanila ang tatapos sa problema. Sa kanya, mas makatotohanan kung tutukan ang pinanggalingan ng droga at bigyan ng pagkakataon na magbago ang mga nalulong. Kailangan bigyan ng edukasyon tungkol sa droga ang mga mamamayan upang mawala ang pangangailangan, aniya.

Pinakatampok sa administrasyon ni Duterte ang giyera kontra droga na kinakatawan ng “Project Double Barrel” ng PNP. Sa ilalim ng Circular Memorandum 16-2016 na ibinaba sa unang araw ng gobyerno ni Duterte ni Bato dela Rosa, hepe noon ng PNP at senador ngayon, may dalawang bahagi ang Project Double Barrel: “Oplan Tokhang” at “Project High Value Targets.” Legal sa ilalim ng Project Double Barrel ang tuwirang pagpaslang sa mga nagtutulak at gumagamit ng droga. Binigyan ng circular-memorandum ni bato ng batayang legal ang mga PNP at iba pang alagad ng batas na agad puksain ang mga sangkot sa drog.

Pakay ng Oplan Tokhang ang operasyon kontra droga sa mga barangay at pangkaraniwang tao ng lipunan. Pakay ng Project High Value Targets ang mga nasa itaas ng lipunan. Kasama sa huli ang mga pulis at iba pang alagad ng batas na sangkot sa kalakalan ng droga at mga hulidap at iba pang ilegal na operasyon. Hindi nagtagal, nagharap si Sonny Trillanes at Gary Alejano ng sakdal na crimes against humanity laban kay Duterte at mga kasapakat sa International Criminal Court (ICC). Sumusulong ang sakdal na ikinatatakot ni Bato at ibang sangkot. Kinabahan si Duterte at itinigil ng walang opisyal na pasabi ang giyera kontra droga.

Hindi lahat sa PNP ang naniniwala sa digmaan kontra droga ni Duterte. Marami ang walang bilib. Batid nila na walang matinong kahihinatnan sa hinaharap ang programa ni Duterte. Hindi nakakapagtaka ang direksyon ngayon ng PNP sa ilalim ni Azurin. Mas makatotohanan at may pag-asa na magtagumpay. Kahit si BBM ay takot na masangkot sa mga sakdal na nasa ICC. Kaya ibang direksyon ang tinatahak ng kanyang administrasyon.

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Halaw ang mga sumusunod sa isang aklat na aking tinatapos tungkol sa diktadura ni Marcos.

BLUEPRINT OF MARTIAL LAW GOV’T

Even his political enemies conceded that Ferdinand Marcos possessed a sharp legal mind, which was his asset in his political success. Marcos did not lose sight of making everything in his martial law government as legitimate and acceptable as possible from a strictly legal standpoint. After he ensured an intimidated, repressive, and silenced situation, where the people went into submission after the Sept. 21, 1972 declaration of martial law, Marcos focused his attention to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, which was coming to a close to draft a new constitution after a little over a year of work. The 1971 Constitutional Convention was originally housed at the plush Manila Hotel, but it moved out three months before the martial law declaration to the newly built City Hall building of Quezon City after its annual rent contract with the Manila Hotel ended sometime in July, 1972.

Marcos planned to use the soon-to-be drafted constitution to become the constitutional basis – or blueprint – of his martial law government, which he knew would be widely criticized in the international community for its excesses, including the massive human rights violations. Marcos felt the new constitution would give his martial law government the platform where it could stand with a semblance of legality, which he badly needed so that it would be viewed as the necessary evil. The new charter would be his golden chance to prove his point and obtain the mantle of legitimacy. Marcos did not waste time. This was the basis to call his martial law government a form of constitutional authoritarianism. Later, he used the oxymoronic “smiling martial law,” which triggered cynical remarks from the token opposition.

Incidentally, the 1971 Constitutional Convention became a part of the series of bombings to justify the martial law declaration. On Sept 18, 1972, or three days before he signed the PP 1081, a bomb exploded in the toilet of the session hall of the 14th floor of the Quezon City Hall. It was the second bomb to explode that morning; the first was the one in the toilet of a trial court in the sixth floor of the same building. The delegates, staff, and the people in the gallery scampered for safety and evacuated. Witnesses said they saw military vehicles in the City Hall’s vicinity minutes before and after the twin explosions. They claimed to have seen some guys sporting military hair style or crew cut hair within the vicinity. They surmised the explosions were handiwork by some people with connections to the military.

Amid the pandemonium created by the series of bombings to create the prelude to martial law declaration, Marcos decided to arrest delegates who were critical of him and his martial law and plan to manipulate the draft constitution. Upon martial law declaration, 11 delegates were arrested to weaken the opposition within the Constitutional Convention. The list of arrested included Delegates Napoleon Rama, a journalist and associate editor of the hard-hitting newsmagazine Philippines Free Press; Jose Mari Velez, a broadcast journalist, who was with ABS-CBN; Bren Guiao; Natalio Bacalzo; Jose Concepcion Jr., who later became a Cabinet member in the post-Marcos government; Ernesto Rondon; and Jose Nolledo, a prolific writer of law books.

Also arrested were Teofisto Guingona Jr., who later rose to become vice president and senator; Alejandro Lichuaco, a nationalist economist; Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who later rose to become a Cabinet member and senator, and Enrique Voltaire Garcia IV, a lawyer who later died of leukemia; and George Viterbo. Delegate Raul Manglapus, coming from a speech engagement in the United States, was stranded in Tokyo when he heard the martial law declaration. He did not go home and went back to the U.S. in an unwanted exile. Delegate Heherson Alvarez escaped through the backdoor and went on exile to join Manglapus in the U.S.. Diosdado Macapagal, Convention president, suspended the plenary session for a few days, but reconvened it shortly to finish its works. What took place between September 23 and November 28, 1972 could not be ascertained with finality. Until now, it has been the object of conjectures.

On November 29, 1972, Macapagal met Marcos in Malacanang, where the former gave the latter the copy of the draft constitution. Until now, it is not clear how the Convention completed its works. Its official records were reported to have been transferred and stored in the old building of the state-owned National Development Company in the Manila district of Sta. Mesa. A fire of suspicious origin and circumstances gutted the building and the Convention records.[18] But what was notable in the draft constitution, which Macapagal submitted to Marcos, was the presence, or presumably insertions, of what could be regarded as objectionable provisions. It could be said the 1973 Constitution was a charter completed under duress. Pimentel said certain provisions could have been inserted by Macapagal himself. In what could be regarded as an act of opportunism, Macapagal urged a number of delegates to sign the draft constitution to generate an overwhelming majority before he submitted it to Marcos. Pimentel said in his book that no less than Delegate Manuel Concordia admitted to him he got paid P20,000 “to invent” the minutes of the meeting to reflect the objectionable provisions. (Itutuloy)