A historical moment in time

By Herbert Vego

TIME flies, everybody says, and that’s because certain things that happened long ago remain “recent” in our consciousness.

One moment in time takes me back to 56 years ago in the eye of the First Quarter Storm.

The First Quarter Storm refers to a series of student protests against the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the first quarter of 1970.

As the 20-year-old news editor of The Quezonian – school organ of the Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) — I covered the January 26, 1970 student rally in front of the old Congress building in Manila while Marcos was delivering his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Marcos had just been re-elected President against Senator Sergio “Serging” Osmeña Jr. amid protests over the use of “goons, guns and gold” during the campaign period.

I was there with fellow members of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) led by the late Edgar “Edjop” Jopson.

The radical Kabataang Makabayan (KM) dominated the multitude of 50,000 students shouting “Marcos, Hitler, diktador, tuta!”

Their chants, however, were drowned by loud speakers that echoed the President’s SONA on “national discipline”.

When it was all over, I saw Marcos and First Lady Imelda walking out of the building toward a waiting limousine.

All of a sudden, a cardboard coffin marked “demokrasya” and a papier-mâché crocodile were flying but missed the couple as bodyguards barred the surging, booing rallyists.

The next scene saw the police bludgeoning students with truncheons. I was among those lucky to have escaped unscathed.

Four days later, on January 30, the students once again massed before Congress. A violent police dispersal that followed resulted in the death of two students, one of whom was our schoolmate, Fernando Catabay.

Marcos’ 1970 SONA would eventually unfold in history as the beginning of the “First Quarter Storm” against an emerging Marcos dictatorship.

It would also make a good alibi for Marcos to declare martial law two years later in 1972, obviously to perpetuate himself in power.

Historian Ambeth Ocampo described the theme of the elder Marcos’ SONA — “National Discipline: The Key to Our Future” — as “not in effect that day”.

Ocampo found a way to discover Marcos’ diary and reproduced the entry so dated, where the late former President blamed the SONA invocation of a famous priest for helping to bring about the violent rally. A quotation from the diary said:

“The invocation of Father Pacifico Ortiz, Ateneo head, was in poor taste. It castigated the government, referring to goons, high prices, streets not being safe, the threat of revolution and how the citizens were ready to fight for their rights even in the barricades. It was an attempt at the state of the nation. I hope he is happy with what he has helped to bring about.”

The January 23, 1970 entry in Marcos’ diary, on the other hand, had Marcos citing the suggestion of then Col. Fabian Ver (head of the Presidential Security Group) that the “the conspirators be eliminated quietly before they prejudice our country and democratic institutions.”

Sixteen years later, the EDSA People Power Revolution in February 1986 eliminated the 20-year Marcos regime and paved the way for President Cory Aquino to take over.

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MORE POWER SUPPORTS INNOVATE ILOILO

HAT’S off to Innovate Iloilo, a public-private movement that aims to make the city and province of Iloilo a premiere innovation hub of the Philippines by 2030.

This we learned from Innovate Iloilo’s executive director Renan Herrera when he guested on the “MORE Power at Your Service” radio-video program.

Herrera told show host Angel Tan that, with funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Innovate Iloilo has collaborated with leaders from the academe, business and engineering sectors to equip the youth with skills aimed at hitting its 2030 target.

Innovate Iloilo has acquired 30 robotic kits from abroad.  These would enhance the beneficiaries’ skills in engineering, arts, science and mathematics.

Herrera revealed that MORE Power’s President /CEO Roel Castro is deeply involved in the innovative activities of Innovative Iloilo.

We are not surprised, knowing that Sir Roel is also the president of the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation (ILED).

ILED is a public-private sector partnership aimed at making Iloilo a highly-preferred investment destination.