13 more resign from government
THE MARCOS government lost 11 more prominent adherents – a Supreme Court justice, a brigadier general, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, the postmaster general, a consul-general and six consulate officers – during the night its erstwhile minister of defense and Armed Forces vice chief of staff stood siege in defiance of the government.
Two more, from the Bureau of Customs, joined them yesterday.
The most prestigious loss was Supreme Court Justice Nestor Alampay, whose resignation letter was read over Radio Veritas. It followed that of Post master General J. Roilo Golez’s which Golez himself read also on the same radio station.
Earlier in the evening, according to the Associated Press, retired Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Espino and Air Force Brig. Gen. Ramon Farolan had joined Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos they stood beleaguered inside the Ministry of Defense building inside Camp Aguinaldo “to express support.”
Farolan, who was Customs commissioner, was in fatigues and was quoted as saying he had resigned his position both in government and in the military.
An AP dispatch from Honolulu also said the Philippine consul-general there, Raul Ch. Rabe, and six consulate officers had announced they had broken with Marcos.
“We remain loyal to the government of the Philippines but we no longer recognize Ferdinand Marcos to be the lawful president,” the consular officials said in three-paragraph statement delivered to the Honolulu news media.
Rabe and his associates expressed solidarity with Ramos.
“We believe their assessment that the last presidential election was fraudulent to the extent that Ferdinand Marcos can no longer claim any legitimacy in the position that he continues to occupy,” the statement said.
They said they will continue performing their consular duties “until the legitimate President is installed and instructions are received by us.”
On the other side of the coin, the two holdouts also notched unexpected gains. For example, Enrile got surprise visit from movie star Nora Aunor, who had campaigned for President Marcos.
Coming in the company of movie director Behn Cervantes, Aunor embraced Enrile and congratulated him for his act.
At the Bureau of Customs, the latest to quit the service were Col. Guillermo Parayno, chief of the intelligence and investigation, and Manila port collector Bienvenido Alano.
