I am in China at the invitation of the Chinese government.
On the plane going here, I had time to reflect on my friend, BayanKo adviser Jose Alejandrino, who continues to be a mystery to me.
After I announced the launch of BayanKo on Facebook, he offered to return to the Philippines to help me. I didn’t know much about him. He said he had been the assistant of FVR but I never heard of him. When I asked people who had served in the Palace, they said they didn’t know much either. They didn’t know where he came from or what he did. He was so low-key few knew of his existence.
He returned twice to the Philippines, after the assassination of Ninoy Aquino and now to help BayanKo. He was close to Ninoy’s brother, Butz Aquino, and helped Cory by working in the shadows. Judging from his memoirs, he played a quiet but highly effective role.
Many suspected he was CIA. My friend said, “It is true I was recruited twice but I said no. However, I was willing to help by providing political analysis. There are many self-proclaimed CIA agents in this country. I am afraid I am not one of them. I am not as intelligent as they are.”
I asked Gen. Joe Almonte, the former National Security Adviser. Yes, he said, he knew Joey Alejandrino but was reluctant to tell me more.
Who is this man who prays to God and the Lord answers his prayers?
Who is this man who has a direct line to many world leaders?
Who is this man who can see into the future?
He predicted, among other things, the fall of the Shah of Iran, when and how the 1991 Gulf War would be fought, the fall of Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev, the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency, the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, and the 2008 financial crisis in the United States.
I read his memoirs ‘The Journal of an Unknown Knight’ that was published in the United States. It was also read by FVR, by JoeAl and by many people around the world. It received many five-star reviews on Amazon.com. I also read his Ancestral History on Facebook. Both very impressive for a man who lives a simple life and disposed most of his material possessions.
My friend is descended from a long line of Philippine revolutionaries. Among them, Gen. Jose Alejandrino y Magdangal who studied with Jose Rizal in Ghent, Belgium, his two brothers (Joaquin and Pastor) who served in the Tinio Brigade, the three Natividad y Alejandrino brothers (Mamertito, Salvador, Benito) who all rose to become generals in the Revolutionary Army, Pio Valenzuela y Alejandrino, co-founder of the Katipunan and friend of Andres Bonifacio, the Huk leader Casto Alejandrino y Jurado, and my friend’s father Jose Alejandrino y Medina who was a militant labor leader in the 1930s before he joined the foreign service.
His detailed Ancestral History shows his French daughters descending from kings, nobles, and bishops.
Then there is his CV which I read. Between important positions that he held, I noticed an intriguing gap. The CV just states that between June 1978 and June 1983 he worked for Ashland Oil International as a consultant to its president Charles Dougan. His job, he wrote in his memoirs, was to find oil to fill Ashland’s refineries which were operating below capacity after the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979.
I wonder, did my friend’s work include Iran? Ashland lost its oil refineries in Iran. His memoirs remain silent about this period. Why? In his fb album, he has pictures of his Iranian girlfriend. So he must have been in Teheran.
When I asked him, he told me, “Carmen, let’s skip the subject. You will have the answers... but not now. Before I am gone, I promise to send you documents that tell the story. You can write another bestseller.”
When we went to Alinao, Batangas to accompany his youngest daughter deep sea diving, I noticed his body was pocked with what looked like bullet holes. I asked him about them. He didn’t answer.
The mystery about my friend continues.
When I met with the National Transformation Council, former Defense Sec. Bert Gonzales warned me a ‘DPA’ (Deep Penetration Agent) would enter their ranks. They repeated the same thing to GMA, mentioning my friend’s name.
The former president defended my friend. “Joey, a DPA? No, no, that can’t be. I have known Joey a long time. He is not a DPA.”
My guess is the NTC was not happy with my friend for detaching BayanKo from the NTC which was calling for the ouster of President Aquino. My friend said we had to leave the door open to dialogue with the Palace. It was easy to oust a president, he said, but more difficult to place another to govern the nation without destabilizing the country that could lead to capital flight. There was another way, he said, without elaborating what it was at the time.
I myself don’t believe my friend is a DPA. We will never know everything he did in the past. All we know, as he himself wrote many times, God gave him what he wanted, ‘an exciting and adventurous life.’ What I am certain is he believes firmly in God and Country and his heart is with the downtrodden.
It is like in the film ‘Shane.’ Nobody knows where he came from and nobody knows where he went after getting rid of all the bad guys. All we can see at the end of the film is that he rode away on his horse into the sunset.
My friend continues to amaze me. When the National Chairman of the Katipunan, Ernesto Herrera, said at the meeting held before I left for China that he wanted healthcare insurance coverage for his five-million card-bearing workers, my friend told me he would arrange it. He made one phone call to one of the biggest healthcare insurance companies in the world. The chairman of the board replied by email he would send his CEO. Less than an hour later, the CEO wrote to my friend giving him the details of his arrival.
My friend, who really are you?