The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos Cabinet levels of the martial regime are making hay, the lion’s share still goes to the unholy trinity consisting of Ferdinand and Imelda, and Kokoy. Somehow, Benedicto is nearing approximation of the degree of sophistication which the unholy trio had perfected in their insatiable drive for wealth, and more wealth from their bleeding countrymen. One of the finest moments for Kokoy and Benedicto came during the second year of martial law. In May, 1974, the President unilaterally extended the Parity Rights for Americans in the Philippines. At the same time, he reversed the Supreme Court decisions in the Quasha case *6 (nullifying all sales of private lands to U.S. citizens after 1945) and the Luzon Stevedoring case *7 (banning foreign directors in corporations engaged in Filipinized industries.) In another area, at almost about the time that the “American theatre” was left open for Kokoy’s exploitation, Marcos made the Japanese theatre of investment available to his business front man, Benedicto. Marcos ratified the Philippines-Japan treaty of amity, commerce and navigation. Before this was done, however, Benedicto obtained his authorizations to corner for himself and the President all the arrangements by which Japanese investors might be allowed to avail of the “most favored nation” treatment in the lucrative Philippine market. The plunder of the Philippines by Marcos and his gang has been so thoroughly planned. The plans are being executed with precision. It just defies comprehension when people ask what Marcos and his gang intended to do with their loot. “They cannot take their wealth to their grave. Besides, we don’t think they are enjoying their wealth as wealth should be enjoyed,” people would say. The magnitude of thievery in which Marcos and his gang are engaged may never be assessed. Long after they shall have gone from this world, archivists and researchers would still be discovering bits of evidence of their wanton plunder of the country. (*6. Republic vs. Quasha (1972), 46 SCRA 160; Constitution, Article XVII, Sections 11 and 12.) (*7. Luzon Stevedoring vs. Anti-Dummy Board(l972),46SCRA 479; 1973 Constitution, Art.XIV, Section 5.)
Chapter VIII The Unholy Trinity Gaining national notoriety for his conviction as the gunman in the first known political assassination in Philippine history in 1935, sought by Filipino guerrillas in 1945 for allowing a Japanese convoy to pass his line unmolested, winning the presidency in 1965 and a reelection in 1969 through “guns, goons and gold,” absolute dictator of the Philippines by 1972 — Ferdinand E. Marcos. A miserably poor, but good-looking barrio lass, salesgirl in a piano wholesale-retail store in the early 1950s, made a personal beauty queen by a dashing Cassanova-like mayor of Manila, “gobemadora” of the Greater Manila area, aside from being a meddling First Lady in exact negation of Cardinal Primitivo Mijares
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