Truth be told, the ongoing debate about bloggers/vloggers against “journalists” does not amount to much because very few of them have that one essential requirement missing in their body of work; gravitas.
Both protagonists never bother to do their homework. If and when they do, the background is usually lacking which is why the audience do not get insights as to the four W’s and the H – Who, What, When, Where and How.
When Larry Henares began writing a column again in the Inquirer I was hooked. The Inquirer op-ed page then had three heavyweights; Max Soliven, Louie Beltran and Larry Henares. Apart from the news stories, they were the reason why the paper sold.
Writing is not just writing per se, in the same manner that not anyone can be a journalist, nor can anyone be a blogger/vlogger. It takes skill in getting your audience to appreciate what you are selling to them. In this case, it is both facts and opinion, as is the usual case with op-ed editorialists.
Few columnists today were as “connected” as the Big Three, as I like to call them. They came from diverse backgrounds but made it in what was the highest social circles then. In the case of Henares, he was to the manor born as his provenance is de buena familia and old rich ilustrado.
But between the three, it was Beltran and Henares who were the most creative with their writing. Beltran would have you laughing with his parody’s while Henares had you with his wit, sarcasm and descriptives of the factions in the administration’s post-EDSA, primarily that of Cory’s.
To my mind, this is what journalism is all about. Laying the facts before the public and letting them decide which side they want to take. It is so unlike mainstream media today which protects the oligarchs and the elite and leaves the public with their opinions to be taken as gospel truth even if they are outright lies. This is why impunity is more the norm than the exception.
It does not help also that the technological advancements have the youth and the millennials reading less, particularly about history, and more focused towards videos. The problem is the content is wanting. It does not promote discourse but actually denigrates it to the level of propaganda.
Unfortunately, the top honchos of the media outlets today who trained under the likes of Soliven and Beltran have not made a principled stand. They have let themselves be swallowed wholly by the system. It is now all about survival of the fittest. Thus the situation is best described as pathetic because none of them have made it a point to make the public interest paramount, in the true definition of journalism being the Fourth Estate.
I will be featuring Henares’ columns in the coming weeks to give the opportunity to those who have not had the chance to read his essays about anything and everything under the Philippine sun. It is my sincere hope that those who get to read him may be enlightened about what happened to our country and why we find ourselves where we are now. One must always read history in order to understand the present and be prepared for the future.
CHAPTER 14. Imeldific! Part 1. There is method in Imelda’s madness What made Imelda Marcos come up with a series of revelations that admitted her husband took over most of the Big Businesses of the land: PLDT, San Miguel, Fortune Tobacco, among others? Admissions that confirm the guilt of her husband and her family for economic plunder and ill-gotten wealth? All this time, it has been assumed that most people Marcos entrusted his shares to were secretly funneling funds to the Marcos family. Maybe, the fund source dried up as it must eventually do, and Imelda in retaliation is threatening to expose every one of them and send them all to jail, even if she may join them there. Perhaps. But the effect on the economy of the Philippines and its political landscape may prove devastating. What is the extent of Imelda’s claim? That the revelations are true has long been the suspicion of those in the know. JV Cruz testified that in his very presence Imelda personally handed over to Tonyboy’s father $30 million with which to buy out American interests in the PLDT. Mariano Quimson testified that three surrogates held the controlling shares of Bulletin for Marcos. Danding Cojuangco bought control of San Miguel with the proceeds of the coconut levy imposed by a Marcos decree. Kokoy Romualdez with his Opus Dei gang, blackmailed the Lopezes into selling them the Meralco at the market price at the time of purchase. And the Lopezes were allowed by Cory and PCGG Mat Caparas at the same purchase price, a bargain basement price way below the real market price at the time of re-purchase. In effect, Imelda claims total holdings of P500 billion worth of prime properties, the most lucrative businesses of the land. “We own practically everything in the Philippines!” She claims to have signed deeds of assignment, stock certificates and other documents proving ownership of these firms. All are contained in a 50-kilo black pilot’s bag which is the last thing she looks at before sleeping and the first thing she looks into upon waking up. And in this act, she is defended by Edsa hero Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, whose PECABAR firm as well as Angara’s law firm, handled many of the Marcos transactions. But why does Imelda come up with it this time? Senator Miriam claims Imelda’s confession is enough to send her to the prison and death by lethal injection for the heinous crime of economic plunder. The Communist assassination squad the Alex Boncayo Brigade promised to eliminate her and her family. Her own son Bongbong and daughter Imee complained to the press that “My mom’s gone crazy, she is totally ballistic!” Many expect to see a murder for hire contract on her life paid by those whose interests she threatens. After the 5th of the nine headline articles in the Inquirer series, Imelda is starting to chicken out and wants the Inquirer and the press in general to stop airing her “crazy” statements. But Pandora’s box has been opened, never gain to be closed.
But like Hamlet’s, there is method in Imelda’s madness as we shall soon see at the conclusion of these broadcasts. I sat down with Ponce Enrile and the chief of his staff (good-looking dame!) at the Via Mare, and he told me in pride that he is the best lawyer every trained in Ateneo, UP and Harvard. He and the other lawyer of Imelda, Ed Angara are no fools. Their PECABAR and ACCRA law offices documented all of Marcos’ transactions. Watch out, there is a lot more to this. Part 2. Non-existent gold and PCGG’s failure Where did Marcos get the money to buy all these lucrative corporations being reclaimed by Imelda Marcos? Christine Herrera’s Inquirer expose is full of Imeldific fairy tales, chief of which is how Ferdinand Marcos got super-rich. Imelda claims he was already fabulously wealthy when he met and married her in the early 1950s. Marcos had come upon the gold hoard, weighing 1,000 tons, plundered by General Tomoyuki Yamashita from various Asian countries, when Marcos was a guerrilla leader during the World War II. The Golden Buddha was included in this gold find. Through smart trading in the 1970s when the price of gold jumped from $32 to $400 per ounce, Marcos managed to quadruple his gold holdings. It was this personal wealth that Marcos used with the help of his trustees to acquire several American-owned properties in anticipation of the expiration of parity rights enjoyed by the Americans up to 1972. Marcos would dip into his personal treasure every time money was needed to bankroll government projects, which the bankrupt government could not afford. When Marcos and his family fled to exile in Hawaii in February 1986, he left the Philippine government with $28 million in foreign debt. Imelda’s claim of 4,000 tons of gold would be more than half of the gold reserves in Fort Knox. I have been personally connected with the search for the so-called Yamashita treasure, and have to admit that most are the wild imaginings of confidence men and crooks out to fleece stupid investors abroad. The so-called gold certificates (xeroxed copies) being held by Imelda are fakes, according to Swiss prosecutor Cosandey who personally looked into the Kloten airport for any evidence of its existence. Steven Zuellig, a Filipino of Swiss descent who married into a banking family in Switzerland, and who was commissioned by Ramos to help recover the unexplained wealth of Marcos, reported that all Imelda’s claims of a gold hoard are false. PCGG lawyers were able to trace the source of the Marcos wealth, although it failed miserably in its mission to recover it. Simply it was plundered from the Filipino people, leaving them bankrupt and destitute while the rest of East Asia prospered. The failure of the PCGG to achieve its mission can be traced to the fact the law was defective to begin with. Under the revolutionary powers Cory acquired at Edsa, she should have confiscated the Marcos wealth outright, and challenged the Marcoses to prove their ownership. Under her revolutionary powers she should have summarily instituted forfeiture proceedings of the now sequestered assets. The way the law was put up, Presidential Decree no. 3, the government merely sequestered the properties and took the burden of proof upon itself. Thus Salonga’s concern for democratic due process even for the enemies of democracy gave the Marcoses a chance to freeze the ball till their friends again take over the government. Second, the PCGG’s fiscal agents did not bother to give back the properties to whom they were stolen. They were more interested in substituting themselves in place of cronies, and installing themselves in the lucrative board seats of the big businesses. Worse than that, as mere fiscal agents they were not bound by any oath of office and many used their positions to enrich themselves. The loss of so many corporations so obviously owned by Marcos, is due to their bungling, incompetence and crookedness.
Henares is no fan of the Marcos’ but this is also true for the US, despite his being a graduate of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. Readers will be able to understand why the Philippines lagged behind its Asian neighbors despite the fact that it was the first colonized country to gain independence after World War II.
Henares will go on later to expose the corruption which went on at the PCGG. This would have an impact later on when the tide turned and the Marcos’ are back in power. This is just what happened last May 9. Proof that what goes around, comes around.
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