I RECEIVED a letter from former Marcos regime Prime Minister and Finance Minister Cesar E. A. Virata to correct what he thought was a mistake I had made in my column entitled, “PNoy’s Marcosian Predicament.”
Apparently, Virata had misread the part of my piece that recounted an incident in Washington DC, shortly after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. In it, I recalled that we, together, rewrote an official statement of the Marcos government on the dastardly murder.
I am reproducing that exact part, which Virata said was inaccurate:
“An official statement was crafted by the Ministry of Public Information for publication in the US press, giving the assurance of a fair and thorough probe by an ‘independent commission’ headed by Chief Justice Enrique Fernando. But it needed an attribution to a high official of the Marcos government. Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Romulo, who was at the United Nations, balked at the suggestion that the statement should be attributed to him. He reportedly declared, ‘If you use my name, I will deny it.’
“Prime Minister Cesar Virata, who was at the World Bank at the time, was then asked if the statement could be attributed to him. He agreed but only on condition that he would be allowed to rewrite it. However, when it was finally rewritten, based on his suggestions, he changed his mind and decided against signing the document.
“I am personally familiar with this. I was in the room alone with Virata, in Washington DC, reworking and rewriting that document with him.”
It should be obvious that I was referring to a point in time after the Aquino assassination – not the day of the murder. However, Virata apparently thought I meant August 21, the day Ninoy was killed. This was what he endeavored to correct in his letter, stating:
“The fact is I was not in Washington DC at the time Senator Benigno Aquino was shot on August 21, 1983. I was taking an afternoon nap at my home in Philamlife, Quezon City and was awakened by my military assistant Lt. Col. Angelo Reyes who informed me that Sen. Aquino had been shot and that President Marcos was going to make a statement on TV at 4 pm that day. You will recall President Marcos did not appear himself. Only a photo of him was shown.”
And Virata concluded: ”I am recounting this only to show that I was in Manila on August 21 and not in Washington DC and could not have worked on the document you mentioned.”
I completely agree that Virata was not in Washington DC on the day Ninoy was killed. Neither was I. I was, in fact, driving several fellow members of the Knights of Columbus to a fourth degree initiation in Intramuros on that very day. And when we drove by the Manila International Airport, which was surrounded by Aquino supporters waving yellow ribbons, we saw a helicopter taking off.
For some mischievous reason, I remarked: “They got Ninoy.” And we all agreed to spread the “rumor” at the KC initiation that “something had happened to Ninoy at the airport.”
Hours later, after the KC affair, when I picked up my wife at her gift shop at BF Homes in Parañaque, I saw the news of Ninoy’s assassination being announced on TV. I was stunned. Dazed, I heard myself muttering, “I was only joking.”
At any rate, while Virata and I were not together on August 21, I distinctly remember being with him in a room in Washington DC several weeks after that, reworking the text of an official government statement with the heading, “An Appeal for Justice and Fairness.”
Intended for publication in the leading US newspapers, the statement tried to reassure the American public that the Marcos government would “ferret out the truth of this affair and…bring the matter to justice.”
ou see, then Philippine Ambassador to Washington DC, Kokoy Romualdez, and Information Minister Greg Cendaña had sent for ad agency executives, Louie Morales, Greg Garcia III, and myself (I was president of Advertising & Marketing Associates at the time) to help neutralize the negative reports in the Western press in the wake of Ninoy’s murder. Pointing out that we were not familiar with the American PR environment, we suggested instead that a US firm be hired. It was thus that we accompanied Cendaña to New York and Washington DC to look for such a PR shop.
When the Malacañang press office crafted the statement and Virata was tapped for attribution and he insisted on rewording it, we were asked to help. Greg and Louie could not cancel their trip home, while I still needed to visit my sister in Maryland. So, Cendaña asked me to volunteer. That was how I found myself with Virata, rewriting the document.
After I had rewritten the statement, to Virata’s grudging satisfaction, he asked me if I thought he should sign it. My reply: “You’re the only credible person left in this government and you’re trying to negotiate the rollover of loans. I don’t think you should.”
“I thought so,” said Virata. And he added that he would call up Malacañang about it. He never signed the statement and it was never published. But I have a photocopy of it, in case Virata wants to see it.
Having said that, I can understand why our former prime minister misread my reference to him. He is, after all, going on in years. I believe he will turn 84 this December. I’m much younger than he and I sometimes make the same mistake.
But I’m glad that he wrote me that letter because it provides some interesting insights on the Aquino assassination. Here’s an excerpt:
“At 2am the next morning I received a call that Mrs. Marcos was requesting me to go to Malacañang. Some other cabinet members were there as well. The President did not meet with us. Only later did I learn that he had undergone an operation.
“The next day I received word that the President had requested Chief Justice Enrique Fernando, Speaker Querube Makalintal and myself to represent the Executive Branch in paying respects to the family. Unfortunately Mrs.Aquino denied us permission to do so. Since I had to leave for a two-dav meeting in Istanbul, Turkey the next day, I sent a personal note to Butch Aquino expressing my deepest condolences.”
And here’s another interesting excerpt:
“To provide you with additional information on what I actually said and where I said it, I will add that in Turkey I was interviewed by a reporter of the Financial Times asking me about the killing of Senator Aquino. I told him that the President had formed an investigative committee headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I also said that aside from the suspects, some elements of the government should also be investigated. When that was reported and printed in the Financial Times, I received a call from Minister Gregorio Cendena (sic) asking me if I was misquoted. I replied I was not. He then asked whether I could retract my statement. I said I would not. I told him that I would repeat the same statement if I was asked by the Manila Press when I came home. There were no subsequent calls from Manila.”
How many high government officials would have had the guts to do that, in defiance of Marcos? Indeed, I was right about Virata’s credibility and integrity.
Now, about his misreading my column….well, nobody’s perfect.
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