An ugly bolo, a ribbon, and assassinations

Everyone was shocked to hear about the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe last July 8. Abe was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, the youngest prime minister post-war, and the first to have been born after World War II. And while some have accused him of historical revisionism because of his ultra-nationalist stand on certain historical matters, such as that the “comfort women” during WWII were not coerced into having sex with the Japanese soldiers or that at the very least the Japanese government didn’t have any role or responsibility for this, Abe nevertheless had a successful tenure as prime minister and world leader.

Political killings have always been part of social reality since tribal, village, and other leaders wanted to maintain power and appear to increase state disintegration and damage democracy. Today, political assassinations continue to play a vital part in political and social processes. America has had four sitting presidents assassinated: Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James A. Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901, and John F. Kennedy in 1963 while attempts were made on Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and Ronald Reagan in 1981. Even popes were murdered from time to time, with seven proven to have been killed at various points in history. The late Pope Saint John Paul II had several assassination attempts, with one being planned while he was in the Philippines in 1995.

However, none of our presidents have been assassinated during or after their terms, although at least one former chief executive was murdered in 1719. An angry mob, egged and cheered on by monks and other members of the clergy, assassinated Governor-General Fernando Bustamante in retribution for harsh measures enacted to correct the misappropriation of royal finances. Aside from his gruesome murder, his son was also killed that day, pulled from his horse, thrown into a filthy stable, dragged into a dungeon, and stabbed to death.

While rumored assassination plots are common, such as the Hukbalahap’s planned killing of Ramon Magsaysay, the closest assassinations against the Philippine presidency were of three presidential spouses: Alicia Syquia-Quirino, Aurora Aragon Quezon, and Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. Alicia and three of her five children were spotted and killed by Japanese soldiers as they were fleeing from their home in 1945 during the Battle of Manila. In 1949, Aurora Quezon, a daughter, and a son-in-law were ambushed by a group of Hukbalahap members and fired upon with machine guns, killing them and nine others. And of course, everyone knows how Senator Ninoy Aquino was gunned down in 1983. Note, however, that Alicia Quirino and Ninoy Aquino were both killed before their spouses became president, while Aurora Quezon after her husband’s term.

The only documented assassination attempt against a sitting president’s spouse occurred on December 7, 1972 when Carlito Dimahilig tried to kill Imelda Marcos during an awarding ceremony for her National Beautification and Cleanliness Contest. As the winners approached the platform and were greeted Mrs. Marcos, Dimahilig pulled his bolo knife and lunged at her to stab her in the chest. Interestingly, Imelda Marcos’s primary concern was not the attempt on her life. She supposedly asked why the instrument used was such an ugly bolo and that she wished they had put some kind of “yellow ribbon” or “some kind of nice thing” on the bolo. While this event was well-documented, some historians continue to question its authenticity, claiming it was simply a ploy to divert people’s attention from the fact as that was the year when martial law was declared. Clearly, this is something worth investigating further.

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It is an honor to be writing for The FREEMAN this month as it celebrates its 103rd anniversary on July 18. I wish Cebu's oldest existing newspaper many more years to come as it continues to serve the public in its capacity as, to echo a portion of its editorial in 1919: " (the press is) the leader, educator, and director of the people and likewise the interpreter, mouthpiece, and reflector as well."