Alis diyan!
THE MARCOS regime looked pathetic as it gasped its last breath the other night. Ferdinand Marcos’s curfew order effective 6 p.m., was a big joke as millions of Metro Manilans cheered their hearts out, danced in the streets, or revelled celebration over the departure of an unpopular regime.
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Marcos sounded like a ghost as he was forced to utilize a raspy telephone to try to reach out to an angry people. And when he was finally able to go on Channel 9 at 8 p.m., he was a ghost of his old self — his voice slurred, his heroic image gone, a figure no longer feared but instead pitied. As Marcos spoke, word filtered out from Washington, D.C., that the U.S. government was demanding that Ferdinand Marcos step down.
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Marcos’s woes were compounded when his men were either defecting to the Ramos-Enrile leadership or getting sick. Some of his political lieutenants were either trying to affiliate with the new government or to take the first airline flight out of the country. But what really hurt the Marcos regime was the “rebels” take-over of the hated Channel 4 and its radio stations. Gone thus was the once-potent propaganda arm of Ferdinand Marcos. And as the wails of Channel 4 came tubling down, fake Filipino Ronnie Nathanielsz was seen scaling a wall and scampering away to an unknown destination. The scared propagandist looked white as a sheet, according to reliable sources.
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Even without the heroism of Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos and Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, there was no way for the Marcos regime to stay in power. It lost the support of disparate and many forces. Tue regime was opposed by the political Opposition, the Catholic Church, the moderates, the youth and students, the middle and upper classes of society, a large segment of the impoverished poor, the professionals, etc.
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Outside the Philippines, the Marcos regime’s foes were even more formidable: an influential sector of the Reagan administration, the U.S. Congress, the American press, civilized countries of the world shocked by the rape of the electoral process, etc. Denied recognition by the world, the regime had nowhere to go but down.
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The Marcos regime’s pillar of strength tottered at the very end. Only the fanatical KBL minions were left to implement last-ditch efforts to prop up the regime, the other KBL leaders got scared and started to pack up for unknown destinations. The overstaying generals became Ferdinand Marcos’s only hope of survival.
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Now it can be told. When news of the Ramos-Enrile rebellion broke out in Cebu City last Saturday, Corazon Aquino did not panic and did not take the first plane out. Instead, she weighed things out and planned where best to go to spend the night. Cory and her loyalists knew the possible danger she faced.
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With Monching Mitra, Nene Pimentel,John Osmena brother Peping Cojuangco, Cory spent her night in monastery downtown in Cebu City. They were without the usual retinue of unarmed security men. Foreign and local newsmen eager to get statements from them either stalked the houses of Opposition sympathizers in Cebu or the Archbishop’s Palace. The newsmen’s search proved utile.
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Cory Aquino spent most of her time praying. She led prayers with the nuns in the monastery and her political associates. Before noon the following day, she held a press conference to convey her support to Enrile and Ramos and the people who massed at Fort Aguinaldo to give aid to the two “rebels.” Bea Zobel and other close friends saw Cory off at the Mactan International Airport tarmac where she boarded a private plane for Manila.
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Aides of Cory Aquino are quietly laying down the stage for the new government. They have been spending sleepless nights to discuss who will recopy the sensitive positions in government and what novel programs to implement to revive the nation’s hopes for survival. Cory, too, will soon be burning the night lights to make the final decisions that will lead the Philippines back to the road of progress.
