Ninoy Aquino, 1978 Interim Batasang Pambansa Elections, CINACORPE, and April 6, 1978 Noise Barrage

The Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP) Elections of 1978

In the early part of 1978, politics in the Philippines was about to undergo a big change. Previously, opposition to the martial law regime in Metro-Manila was dominated by the radical Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), with the reformist opposition being free-riders at best. The CPP’s primary method was the street rally, as was its wont in the pre-martial law days.  Now, Marcos was about to give the politicos an exercise that would enable them to deal with the CPP on equal terms.

This was an activity they were very good at, and which the public was extremely accustomed to.  I am referring to the April 7, 1978 Interim Batasang Pambansa (IBP) elections, but especially the campaign for the IBP’s 21 seats in Metro-Manila. The country’s last electoral exercise was the senatorial election of November 8, 1971, in which the opposition Liberal Party took 5 seats in the Philippine Senate, with the administration Nacionalista Party taking 3 seats. Marcos knew the opposition was already salivating for another electoral bout. He also knew that, despite the remoteness of victory, they could not resist the elections he was dangling at them.  

The IBP was created by the first of nine amendments to the 1973 Philippine constitution which were “overwhelmingly” approved in the November 16, 1976 referendum-plebiscite. The members of the IBP included “the incumbent President of the Philippines, representatives elected from the different regions of the nation, those who shall not be less than eighteen years of age elected by their respective sectors, and those chosen by the incumbent President from the members of the Cabinet." The IBP was intended to be a transitional body as the Philippines shifted from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government. It convened on June 12, 1978.

For the IBP elections, leadership of the opposition fell on the shoulders of imprisoned former senator Benigno S. “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. Along with Liberal Party leaders Jovito R. Salonga and Gerardo de Leon Roxas, Aquino had earlier taken a boycott stance, but later changed to participation when he saw the elections as a chance to mingle with the people after six years behind bars. He related this change of heart in his historic TV interview during the campaign.     

Lakas ng Bayan (Laban)

Aquino proceeded to build a new political party. He named the party “Lakas ng Bayan” or “Laban.” Laban decided to field candidates only in Metro-Manila, then called Region IV-A, where there were 21seats up for grabs. Laban chose Metro-Manila as the battleground because it reckoned Marcos would hesitate to cheat there, and it was the best place to make its case to the world. Besides, it was the best way to maximize the opposition’s meager resources. Aquino also announced that should Marcos not allow him to campaign in the streets of Manila, he intended to campaign from his cell.

Of the 21 Laban candidates, only two were outright CPP elements. They were Alex Boncayao of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) and Trinidad “Trining” Herrera from  from the labor and urban poor sectors, respectively. Another two candidates were sympathetic to the CPP, and they were Charito Planas and Jerry Barican. The rest of the ticket was a motley of pre-martial law national and local politicians, civic leaders, former constitutional convention delegates, and lawyers.

The prominent candidates, aside from Ninoy Aquino, were former senator Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo, former education secretary Alejandro “Anding” Roces, former Comelec chairman Jaime “Jimmy” Ferrer, former student leader Jerry Barican, former “Young Turk” congressmen Ramon “Monching” Mitra and Neptali Gonzales, and perennial senatorial candidate Juan T. David.

The Laban lineup represented a fragile coalition of Philippine Left and non-Left forces out to engage in electoral politics, the first since the declaration of martial law six years before. The small number of Left candidates in the Laban ticket, however, was a measure of the influence the CPP was exerting on Ninoy Aquino’s bloc. It was also an indication that the CPP leadership was not completely sold on participating in the IBP elections.

What was giving energy to the CPP’s participation in the IBP elections was the single-minded determination of its Manila-Rizal (MR) leadership. Filemon “Popoy” Lagman, MR’s passionate leader, looked at the election’s campaign as an opportunity to improve the CPP’s crowd-drawing capacity in Metro-Manila, regardless of the polls’ outcome. As always for the past three years, Lagman passionately viewed the exercise in the context of his much awaited general people’s uprising or “Rebolusyonaryong Sigwa” that will topple the Marcos dictatorship.

Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL)

For the IBP elections, President Marcos created the political party called Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL). KBL fielded candidates nationwide, and predictably enjoyed the machinery, finance, and logistics of the martial law regime. In Metro-Manila, it fielded a slate led by the First Lady, Imelda R. Marcos, who was concurrently the region’s governor, and human settlements minister.

The other prominent KBL candidates in Metro-Manila were: Deputy Human Settlements Minister and Imelda gofer Jose Conrado “Joly” Benitez, businessman Fred J. Elizalde, broadcaster and former senator Edgar U. Ilarde, former senator Arturo Tolentino, labor leader Roberto Oca, diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and former UP president Carlos P. Romulo, former Supreme Court justices Querube Makalintal and Jose P. Bengzon, former ambassador to the US Emilio M. Abello, and lawyer Rolando B. Zamora.

The Meeting to Establish CINACORPE

It was a foregone conclusion that Marcos was going to cheat in the IBP elections, and cheat massively. In the vain hope that at least some in the Laban slate would make it, an election watchdog brigade was seen as helpful by anti-Marcos civic leaders. These people were not part of the Laban machinery, but nonetheless sympathized with Ninoy Aquino and his candidates.  

Their idea was to mobilize volunteers who would be deployed as watchdog teams near the thousands of Metro-Manila precincts. These volunteers would report and document election irregularities such as vote-buying, ballot box snatching, and voter intimidation. I do not remember the exact number of precincts existing in Metro-Manila in 1978, but I remember that the civic leaders said around 10,000 volunteers were needed.

My assignment in the IBP campaign was to touch base with these civic leaders, who were fiercely anti-martial law, but were likewise fervently anti-communist.  I was instructed to help them establish an election watchdog group that would be independent of Laban.   When they were first approached by Left forces regarding the formation of such a group, they expressed misgivings, stating that generating the required number of volunteers was impossible. My job was to reassure them that enough warm bodies would come forward for this dangerous task.

In January or February 1978, someone called me at home and told me to attend a large evening meeting at the residence of Teresa Feria Nieva in San Lorenzo Village in Makati. I was told that Mrs. Nieva had been one of the leaders of the pre-martial law election watchdog Citizens National Electoral Assembly (CNEA). I also learned that she was the elder sister of my National Secretariat of Social Action (NASSA) colleague Maring Feria, and that Teresa and Maring were the sisters of lawyer, jurist, and constitutional convention delegate Jose Y. Feria

The meeting was held in a large rectangular patio in the Nieva residence. It started at about 8 in the evening. The chairs were placed at the edges of the patio in an oval configuration, with a broad expanse of floor separating the participants. In attendance were various representatives of Left influenced/controlled NGOs, peoples’ organizations, and civic organizations. This event happened 36 years ago and memories do fade, but I estimate some 25 to 30 people came.

I have forgotten who presided. My best bet is that it must have been Oscar “Oca” Francisco, a community organizer from NASSA, he with the booming voice.  I represented the youth sector as a former UP student, and being only 23 years old. There were other youth groups who were represented though, such as Student Catholic Action Manila (SCA-Manila) and Young Christian Workers of the Philippines (YCWP). There were also Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) young priests and seminarians. Teresa Nieva and her husband Tony welcomed us, and I think Mrs. Nieva must have started the ball rolling.

The ones I remember present, aside from Oscar “Oca” Francisco, were Gerardo “Gerry” Bulatao from the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), former detainee and Jose Rizal College (JRC) professor Loretta Ann “Etta” Rosales, businessman and former constitutional convention delegate Jose “Joe” Concepcion, activist priest Fr. Francisco “Fritz” Araneta SJ, and Fr. Francisco Tantoco, representing the  Knights of Columbus Philippines (K of C Philippines). Concepcion, Nieva, Araneta, and the Fr. Tantoco were not Left sympathizers or supporters. They were there mainly because of their anti-Marcos and pro-democracy sentiments. 

CINACORPE Almost Gets Nipped in the Bud

After each person had identified him/herself, the meeting discussed two things basically: the current political situation in the Philippines at that time, and the feasibility of forming an election watchdog group. There was not much discussion or debate on the political situation, and that part was done in about thirty minutes. The nitty-gritty came when it came to the organizational part.

After the group agreed on the tasks of the watchdog, Mr. Concepcion said that it was useless to even start it if there was no certainty that we could mobilize at least 7,000 volunteers. He then asked the group how many individuals each could commit. This question was followed by a long silence. Mr. Concepcion interrupted the quietness with a frank proposal to call the whole project off. Mr. Concepcion’s threat to abort the preparations was followed by yet another moment of silence. 

The watchdog group was threatened with death even before it could be born. The Left activists, who each had instructions to goad the civic leaders present to form the watchdog group, were quietly panicking.  They all knew that without the guarantee of sufficient election watchers, Mr. Concepcion and Mrs. Nieva would pull out of the undertaking. And, without the two, there was not a chance in hell we could pull the thing off under the intense watch of martial law.

Mr. Concepcion and Mrs. Nieva were well-nigh indispensable because they had the network, experience, influence, and stature to put up an election watchdog group. They had been doing it as early as the Sixties, with the CNEA and an entity called the Citizens National Committee for Referenda, Plebiscites and Elections (CINACORPE). Furthermore, with people like them in the watchdog group, it would not appear like a communist front organization and turn off potential supporters or invite suppression from the dictatorship.

I Do Some Heroics

It was at this point that I did some desperate heroics. I told myself that I had to do something to save the situation. My mind was running. I also thought that a middle-of-the-road watchdog group was very necessary in the coming elections, which would pit a liberal-Left alliance against a dictatorship. There had to be a group, I said to myself, which would watch the precincts and expose the assured irregularities to the foreign media. Besides, it raced in my mind that I was strictly assigned to see through the group’s formation, so my best judgment demanded I do something.

Then, I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with CPP Manila-Rizal secretary Filemon “Popoy” Lagman a few months earlier in a CPP safehouse in Bulacan. I was interviewing Lagman for a report I was preparing about the CPP strength in Metro-Manila. I asked him how many students the CPP could mobilize for the planned actions during the IBP campaign. I recall Lagman gruffly telling me that with enough preparation, the CPP could easily put 10,000 students in the streets. I knew Lagman had a reputation for exaggerating his estimates, but at least I had a figure to cling to, I told myself.

To break the impasse, I raised my hand and spoke up. Posturing as best as I could, I told the meeting that the UP Student Committee for Student Rights and Welfare (SCSRW) I was once a chairman of could muster 7,000 students to volunteer for the watchdog group. I even dropped the names of a few UP student leaders as contact persons, when Mrs. Nieva demanded it. For good measure, I also told the group that I also had contacts with the Columban priests of SCA-Manila, and they too, could provide many volunteers.

My "7,000" Saves the Day

Mr. Concepcion’s face lighted up. He seemed relieved by what I said, and visibly glad that the watchdog group had a chance. Mrs. Nieva was also appeased, although I could sense unease in her countenance. I also discerned that she suspected I was bluffing, although she said she was glad of what I said. And, in reaction to my unabashed grandiloquence, the other activists in attendance could not help but feel relieved. They gave me grateful looks, which I acknowledged. What was amazing was that they actually believed my group had that many people.

After my “commitment” of 7,000 students, the group started to plan for training the volunteers, by discussing the contents of a training handbook. Mr. Concepcion also proposed to call the watchdog group CINACORPE ---- this was rousingly approved. It was almost 11:00 pm, and, after some snacks, the meeting was thanked and closed by Mrs. Nieva.

When I got home that night, Oscar “Oca” Francisco called me, and congratulated me for what I had done. I will never forget his line – “Your 7,000 saved the day.” I went to bed overjoyed with what I had done. I was a good soldier and had faithfully done my assignment. The following morning, I sent word to the higher ups that I had committed 7,000 or more activists to volunteer for CINACORPE. I warned them that they had better come up with this number on Election Day or else the trust of the allies would diminish greatly. I later learned that day that word of CINACORPE’s creation was spreading rapidly in the activist community.

In the two months before the elections, I became very busy working with Jose Concepcion and Teresa Nieva in getting more civic and pro-democracy personalities to participate in the newly formed CINACORPE. The three of us were CINACORPE’s de-facto secretariat. I often rode with Mrs. Nieva in her car, with her as the driver.

We made the rounds in Metro-Manila, visiting likely supporters. Mrs. Nieva phoned the contacts from her home, then off we went.  I remember having meetings in the K of C headquarters in Intramuros, in Cardinal Jaime Sin’s office at Villa San Miguel, St. Scholastica’s College, St’ Joseph’s College, barangay offices in Mandaluyong and Caloocan, and in Mr. Concepcion’s residence in Forbes Park. I also remember riding in his new Mercedes-Benz, with him and Mrs. Nieva at the back. All this time, we were busy writing CINACORPE’s handbook. The group held most of its meetings in Mrs. Nieva’s residence, with Etta Rosales being present not a few times.

The Laban Campaign in Metro-Manila: Kris Aquino Speaks at a Laban Rally

Laban took maximum advantage of the rally permits made possible by the IBP campaign in Metro Manila. Wherever there was a Laban rally, the Left mobilized its people to give the gatherings massive and boisterous audiences. These were instructed to make as much slogan-shouting and agitation as possible.

In a big way, it was muscle flexing time for the communists and national democrats. Never since September 21, 1972, had they enjoyed so much freedom.  For the first time, moreover, the innocent bystanders were no longer afraid to attend opposition rallies. Their numbers made the crowds swell all the more.

Ninoy Aquino's youngest child, Kris Aquino, just over 6 years old, rattles off  from memory
the names of the entire Laban IBP slate, to the delight of the crowd, in this Laban rally in
Plaza Sta. Cruz Manila, a few days before the 1978 IBP elections.

I attended many of these rallies, but the one I remember most was that held in Plaza Goiti, which was located in front of Sta. Cruz church in Manila. It was about 7 in the evening and the April heat was overpowering.  When I arrived, the plaza was sweltering with several thousand people. Alex Boncayao was on a stage, stirring the crowd with one rabble-rousing tirade after another.

Alex Boncayao seemed never to get tired, always speaking at the top of his high-pitched voice. I then heard Trining Herrera speak. She spoke in a calm, almost detached manner, in complete contrast to the blistering Boncayao. She spoke mostly about her torture and arrest by military agents, because of her urban poor organizing activities under ZOTO.

After a number of speakers whom I have already forgotten, a 7-year-old Kris Aquino spoke. I only heard her and not see her, because of the thick crowd. After a brief intro, the child glowingly spoke of her father, who at that time had been imprisoned for 6 years. I tried to raise my head above the crowd by standing on a concrete embankment to see Kris Aquino, but I was just too short and far from the stage see her. Be that as it may, I remember most her emotional account of the Aquino family visits to the detained Ninoy, and her plaintive plea for votes in behalf of her captive father. After Kris Aquino, her brother, Benigno Aquino III, delivered an impassioned, albeit forgettable speech.

March 10, 1978: Ninoy Aquino’s “Face the Nation” Interview

On the night of March 10, 1978, I watched Ninoy Aquino’s much awaited TV interview in a friend’s house on Annapolis St. in Cubao. Ninoy was not allowed to campaign in the streets as he had hoped. He was instead granted by Marcos a single live TV interview on the Channel 9 program “Face the Nation.” He was supposed to be grilled by a hostile panel composed of Enrique “Pocholo” Romualdez, Teddy Owen, and one other guy in dark glasses whose name I have already forgotten. Ronnie Nathanielsz, another Marcos minion, was the moderator.

Instead, the panel ended up being mesmerized by Aquino’s splendid performance. The foursome, in the first five minutes of the program, went through the motions of asking loaded and accusatory questions, all of which had nothing to do with the elections. Aquino seemed to have anticipated this, and immediately took the offensive. For the next hour or so, he argued his case, about not being a communist, why he chose to boycott the military commission trying him, and about his work “with” and not “for” the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He did so with the classic aplomb of a senator speaking on the hallowed floor of the old Philippine Senate.

The “bondying” or baby image was not there anymore.  Six years of detention had visibly aged Ninoy and removed all baby fat. He was wearing a new hair-do, with the crew-cut being replaced by thick locks covering his entire scalp. Also, the trade-mark white barong-tagalog with rolled-up sleeves and dark pants had been replaced by matching white bush-jacket and white pants. The new outfit gave Aquino a rugged appearance, which gave justice to the night’s mood of standing up to a dictatorship.  

But the vintage brainpower and high-speed delivery were still there, now heightened by seething anger. His memory seemed to have even improved in the loneliness of his cell, as he rattled off numbers, names, and places prodigiously. I remember most the way he effortlessly pronounced the name of Thai diplomat Sompong Sucharitkul!  To make matters worse for the interviewers, he seemed to have done his homework extensively --- leafing through a thick file to expose a secret Marcos plan to hire a foreign PR company to shore up his image.

Ninoy Aquino Steals the Show

It was Aquino’s show for most of the two-hour program, as the three-man panel seemed to just lazily sit on their chairs like studio props, enchantingly disarmed by this gifted man. As usual, Aquino could instantaneously shift from angry to resigned, from defiant to distressed, and from combative to friendly.

He was also a master of the sound byte, long before the term became a norm. When asked why he was running despite certain defeat, he related having told his doting mother, “Ina, kating-kati na akong makipagusap sa masa.” (Mother, I’m itching to talk to the masses)

When Ronnie Nathanielzs implied that he was unduly questioning the integrity of the military commission trying him, he curtly replied that it was their circumstance of being Marcos employees that was affecting their judgment, ending this with a deadly quip --- “Ikaw Ronnie, empleyado ka ng NMPC (National Media Production Center), maaatake mo ba si Marcos?” (You Ronnie, you are an employee of NMPC , can you criticize Marcos?)

When Aquino was given the last five minutes of the program to pitch for Laban, he flashed a most disarming smile, and profusely thanked the moderator for giving him time for a “commercial.” He first expressed his relief that he still had enough time to do so, after spending the better part of the show defending himself against various charges.

Aquino then related a heart rending, against-all-odds story that successfully painted the opposition, and himself in particular, as the intrepid underdogs. The way Aquino endearingly told it, I thought, all the lolos and lolas (grandfathers and grandfathers) out there must have been crying. Referring to the Comelec and its chairman, Aquino uttered something like “Kanila na yung rules, kanila pa yung referee, pero ok lang.” (They own the rules and they own the referee, but it’s ok)

Ronnie Nathanielsz then thanked the guest and the panel, who by then, had been effectively stunned by Aquino’s personality.  Nathanielsz subsequently closed the program. All of us watching in the living room looked at each other and agreed that we had just watched a virtuoso performance, one that will be talked about ages and ages hence.

The April 6 1978 “Noise Barrage”: I Saw It All in A Taxi Ride 

On the night of April 6, 1978, the historic “Noise Barrage” occurred in in Metro-Manila. This was the first non-CPP initiated mass protest under martial law.  It was the brainchild of the Partido Demokratiko-Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) aka the Social-Democrats, aka the “Soc-Dems.” At that time PDSP was led by Fr. Romeo “Archie” Intengan SJ.

The call to conduct the protest was made by the PDSP about a month before the elections and mainly through word-of-mouth and leaflets. It told the public to make as much noise as possible with anything they could lay their hands on, such as pots, pans, and car horns, on 7 or 8 pm of April 6, the eve of the IBP elections. It confirmed that Laban not only had an alliance with the Left, but with the PDSP as well.

I decided to survey the extent of the noise barrage, as soon as it started. I took a taxi cab, and told it to go around Metro-Manila. Along the way, I picked up fellow activist and now UP professor Jo Cabuniag. Our jaws dropped at what we saw. As the cab made its way through such thoroughfares as EDSA, Aurora Boulevard, UP Campus, Quezon Boulevard, Quiapo, and Taft Avenue we saw people lining both sides of the streets banging on pots, pans, and wash basins. Cars, jeepneys, taxi cabs, buses, and trucks were also rhythmically honking their horns as if to shout the middle accented Laban word. The entire metropolis seemed to have come out in support of Ninoy Aquino’s candidates.  

Others were shouting, flashing the Laban “L” sign with their thumb and index finger, and holding Laban emblazoned placards and streamers. Along the route, I saw several burning tires in the middle of the road, which slowed down the traffic. I could have sworn even the prostitutes plying the Quezon Avenue and Quiapo areas joined in, judging by their outfits. They flaunted 1 meter long 2 feet wide pieces of cloth on which was painted “Laban,” and on Quezon Avenue near Aberdeen Court, many jammed the signs on the cab’s windows, as I told the driver to slow down.

I asked the cab driver to repeat the route we had just taken, and still Jo and I saw the same thing --- people making noise and shouting their throats hoarse. Our road trip lasted about two hours. Jo and I called it a day at about 10:30 pm on Roosevelt Avenue with people still fearlessly remonstrating. I would say that, easily, two hundred thousand people participated in this historic action.

For a moment, I had the wishful thought that Laban could perform well in the next day’s polls. I also grudgingly admitted that our perennial adversaries, the Social-Democrats, had scored a magnificent coup. They judged the people’s temper well, and had brilliantly figured out a form of protest. Their indubitable logic was: if you cannot get the people to march on the streets because of restrictions, then the next best thing is for them to make noise, and a lot of it. Absolutely vivid thinking by the Soc-Dems.  From thence on, even the communists would adopt this protest form, even using the same name that has stuck through the years --- “Noise Barrage”

The IBP Election Results

As for the April 7, 1978 Philippine elections, Marcos made sure that not one of the Laban candidates would win. He did it with massive spending, cheating, and intimidation. His principal instruments were thousands of thugs or “Barangay Tanods” (village watchmen) who engaged in such activities as ballot box snatching, vote buying, intimidating watchers and teacher canvassers, and hauling paid voters (hakot). Besides, if a KBL victory could not be produced at the barangay level, there was always the Commission on Elections (Comelec) who would doctor the final results and proclaim the winners. The Comelec chairman at that time was none other than the great Marcos underling Leonardo B. Perez.

KBL swept the elections in Metro-Manila, bagging all 21 IBP Region IV-A seats. Waldo Perfecto, an unknown KBL candidate who was no. 21 in the final tally, got more votes than Ninoy Aquino. Alex Boncayao, one of the two CPP candidates in the Laban slate, was so incensed at Laban’s “defeat” that he lost no time in joining the New People’s Army (NPA) after the elections. He subsequently died in an encounter with government troops in Bongabong, Nueva Ecija.

Trining Herrera, the other leftist candidate, went into hiding.  The moderate candidates and their supporters, like Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo, Teofisto Guingona, and former senator Lorenzo Tañada, tried to stage a protest rally against the election cheating, but were quickly arrested. Ramon Mitra, a Laban candidate, made a famous promise not to shave his beard “until Leonardo Perez learns how to count.”                

The Failure of CINACORPE

As for the CINACORPE, little came of it. The 7,000 student volunteers that CPP –MR head Filemon “Popoy” Lagman told me he could produce did not materialize. And to think I was so naïve as to even slightly trust his word. Mrs. Nieva and I set up office at the Knights of Columbus headquarters in Intramuros. Up to this time we had not met any volunteers yet, when they should have showed up a week before the elections so we could train/orient them.

We waited for the volunteers to come, intending to give them even cursory training, but all who came were some 30 or so high-school students from SCA-Manila. I could see the frustration on Mrs Nieva’s face. When they arrived, Mrs. Nieva was completely aghast at their youth, immediately saying, “They’re just babies!” She felt they were too young to stand up to the armed goons who would surely descend on the precincts on Election Day. Not even the UP student activists that I had bragged so much about came. Needless to say, I was so embarrassed, both to Mr. Concepcion and Mrs. Nieva for falling short of my commitments. All of our problems were overshadowed, however, by reports of massive irregularities in  thousands of Metro-Manila election precincts.