Fighting from a Distance by Jose V. Fuentecilla

Author:Jose V. Fuentecilla [Fuentecilla, Jose V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Ethnic Studies, American, Asian American Studies, History, Asia, Southeast Asia, Political Science, Political Freedom
ISBN: 9780252095092
Google: EYJDsNK_7PUC
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2013-04-01T04:01:31+00:00

I have been told of plans for the launching of a massive urban guerrilla warfare where buildings will be blown up, and corrupt presidential cronies and cabinet ministers assassinated along with military officers who have engaged in wanton and rampant tortures of political prisoners. There are plans to disrupt tourism. Also to kidnap the children of corrupt aliens who have exploited our people mercilessly and who have profited immensely from their Palace connections…The guerrillas are well-educated, articulate young men and women who have patiently studied the latest tactics in urban warfare. If there is such a thing as the Light A Fire Movement, let me assure you Mr. Marcos it will not be the last. More are coming, better trained and better prepared…This is no idle talk.2

Marcos dismissed the threat. In a speech on August 8, he said: “today the media is full of lurid tales about somebody who is supposed to be mounting a rebellion against the Philippines. Such a fantastic tale is so stupid, so ridiculous that I cannot dignify it by a comment…We should instead not only ask [the doctors] to cure his heart but cure his mind as well.”3

Less than two weeks later, on August 22, nine explosions rocked Manila, causing minor damage and injuring two people. The April 6 Liberation Movement, a reference to the April 6 street “noise barrage” of the last elections, issued a two-page manifesto, saying in part: “This is only the beginning. We have decided to use force against a repressive regime that has refused to listen to reason…Today bombs have exploded in the business establishments owned by Marcos cronies and allies. Tomorrow we shall strike again.”4 They did strike again, on September 12. A number of people were injured in the bombings, and an American woman was killed while shopping at Rustan's Supermarket in Makati, Manila. On October 4, more bombs hit three big hotels.

The A6LM advised the delegates to an upcoming convention of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) to cancel their October 20 meeting in Manila. “We ask you to sympathize with our cause,” its letter said. The government and the FBI assured the ASTA that the chances of an incident were small. Extra security had been added, with three thousand personnel assigned to protect the convention site. But the meeting went on as scheduled. Marcos himself assured them that “the nightmare…of fear and apprehension” in the Philippines under martial law was “past and gone.”5 So when the five thousand delegates at the International Convention Center heard an explosion while they were watching a noisy slide show of Admiral George Dewey's 1898 flotilla blasting the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, they thought that it was part of the sound effects. But it was a real bomb, and it had exploded barely fifty feet from Marcos. Eighteen delegates, eleven of them from abroad, were hurt. The ASTA canceled the public sessions, and many delegates fled to their hotels, packed their bags, and flew out of the country.

The next day, the Bulletin Today reported arrest orders for thirty suspects.

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