Ninoy being set up as the 'Mad Bomber' (Continued from last Sunday's Postscript)

NO SEATBELT: As Ninoy drove us from Logan airport, I noted that he did not bother to wear his seat belt. I asked why and he explained that, on his doctor’s advice, he was not to have a restraining strap run across his chest.

I remembered that he had his heart surgery in 1980 in Dallas, Texas, which was the official reason why President Marcos allowed him and his family to go to the United States while a death sentence by musketry was hanging over his head.

(To this day, I have had lingering questions about the sensitive condition of his chest two years after surgery and the actual condition of his heart as exposed during the autopsy after his assassination in 1983 at the Manila airport.)

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FAMILY REFUGE: Soon we arrived at the Aquino house in Newton, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. It was modest, yet restful and homey as it nestled among the trees whose leaves were showing hints of creeping autumn.

Boston was where the Aquino family, reunited in a foreign land, spent the happiest years of their lives together.

Two friends chatting in the living room stood. Introductions were made, but I will not reveal their names here. Soon Cory emerged from inside and greeted us. Later, two of their daughters arrived. I did not see Noynoy or Kris.

Ninoy was thirsting for intelligence. He dominated the conversation, which centered on the conditions back home and the ongoing Marcos state visit.

As assistant managing editor of the Daily Express, which was owned by Marcos crony Bobby Benedicto, I was asked my opinion about many things. But I was also casting around for something to write.

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WHO WAS ‘DANDING’?: Ninoy was particularly curious about how long Marcos, reportedly suffering from lupus and other debilitating ailments, would last — and what could happen and who would take over if he went.

Except for details of the state visit, I could not add much to what I had already communicated to Ninoy in my replies to his missives sent through our friend Bren Guiao. (Bren would call first, then we met in the Express library. Looking back, para kaming daga hiding our trysts.)

Now and then the phone rang. Cory took the calls and, many times, returned to Ninoy to say it was “Danding” updating them on the schedule and progress of the Marcos visit.

I never asked who this Danding was, because I presumed it was Danding Cojuangco, Cory’s first cousin and reputedly almost a brother to Marcos. But if it was him, why was he relaying critical information to Ninoy?

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OVERNIGHT STAY: For lunch, Cory served us Filipino fare. I enjoyed most her exquisite adobo. (Years later, when cooking columnists/editors commented favorably on her adobo recipe, I understood.)

Gathering my notes and things late in the afternoon, I told Ninoy I had to fly back to Washington, DC, before the hounds of Marcos went berserk looking for me.

Ninoy said we still had a lot to talk about and convinced me to stay for the night. He showed me to a guest room on the second floor where I left my things. Freshening up a bit, I went back to the sala to continue the discussion.

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‘MAD BOMBER’: Ninoy was worried about reports that during the state visit, some bombs would explode in the Philippine capital and the rash of bloody incidents would be blamed on him as the “Mad Bomber.”

I also had heard of the plan to implicate him to a breakout of violence in Metro Manila. The Marcos-controlled media, in fact, had started to prepare the public mind for such a violent scenario.

Believing in his innocence, I decided to file a report about Ninoy’s denouncing in an interview such a false accusation and his appealing to his countrymen back home to remain calm and not believe the lie.

That was the story I wrote out of Boston that Ching Suva mentioned in her book “From Macapagal to Macapagal-Arroyo” recalling her 42 years of serving six presidents as a responsible officer in the Malacañang Press Office.

Part of the Marcos team tasked to keep in line the media covering the state visit, Ching was worried no end about my story. She knew I was writing it, because, in fairness, I told her.

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NINOY PHOTO: But if the Manila media at the time was under tight control, how did my story come out?

I did not intend it, but when I sent my story, our chief editor Pocholo Romualdez happened to be already flying to the US to catch the visit. He was unaware of what I was up to.

Presiding over the desk was senior editor Val Abelgas, who took my report in good faith. He was also unaware of the strict rules about not using any item that could overshadow the positive façade of the Marcos visit.

Sitting as the makeup editor of the Daily Express front page, Val even dressed up my story by inserting a one-column picture of Ninoy!

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REACTIONS: Ambassador Kokoy Romualdez ordered copies of the offending issue flown to Washington so he would see it.

He sarcastically told newsmen, “Hindi naman pala western press ang kalaban natin, kundi Daily Express.” Hearing of this, I made sure to be around when he chatted with the press. But he never said it when I was around.

My publisher Johnny Perez and my editor Pocholo Romualdez — both of whom I respect and admire as professionals — were embarrassed to the hilt by what I did.

One of them, guess who, told me in his hotel room where he had me summoned, “Dick, we did not have to go to Boston for that story.”

(NB: I intend to continue my Boston recollections in future Postscripts — time and memory permitting.)

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