The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos I may be blaming the Supreme Court unjustly for the cloak of legitimacy that the martial regime enjoys. But the Supreme Court's "priority" of things leads one to suspect the tight-rope walking it is trying to attempt under the martial regime. The case of Aquino et al vs. Enrile, et al, G.R. No. L-35546 was filed as early as October, 1972. The suit was a petition for, habeas corpus and was therefore of the highest individual privilege. It was decided adversely against the petitioners only last September 17, 1974. And yet, when a suit (Javellana vs. Executive Secretary) was brought to challenge the validity of the ratification of the new martial law Constitution, the Supreme Court took less than two months to decide it. The decision was promulgated on March 31, 1973, and it became the major basis for the dismissal of a privileged suit filed five months earlier. With the cloak of legitimacy stripped off the martial regime of Marcos, it now becomes appropriate to sound a note of warning that the illegal ruler of the Philippines does not speak for the government and people of the Philippines; foreign governments should therefore be wary about swallowing Marcos’ socalled solemn commitments to foreign nations. They should be wary about concluding treaties and agreements which might be disowned by a legitimate Philippine government that could come into being any moment now.
Chapter XVI Plans in Perpetuity During the 1965 election campaign of Marcos to oust then incumbent President Diosdado P. Macapagal from Malacanang, the heckling slogan devised for the Palace occupant was "Lis dyan. . . nakakahiya." (Get out. . . shame on you!) Now, the unexpressed motto of Marcos and the ruling clique is: "Patayin mo muna ako.” (You will have to kill me first before I yield.) Marcos will not yield the dictatorship, the seat of power, alive. Someone, or a power mightier than the combined strength of Marcos and the guns of martial law will have to evict the man out of Malacanang. Senator Jovito R. Salonga, one of the victims of the Plaza Miranda bombing, voiced his own suspicions about Marcos' presidential plans in perpetuity more than a month before the Miranda grenade-bombing. Maniwala kayo, hindi bababa 'yan sa Malakanyang. (You better believe it, he [Marcos] will not leave Malacanang). I know he will not relinquish the presidency, and I have a few guesses on what he might just do,” Salonga prophetically told a group of Liberal senatorial candidates. His group then was the POSS team, which stands for the first letters of the last names of senatorial candidates Salipada K. Pendatun, John H. Osmena, Salonga, and Melanio T. Singson. Salonga forewarned his Colleagues about his suspicions on Marcos possibly resorting to political trickery or gimmickry to perpetuate himself in power when he dbserves that they were being over-confident over the results of the pre-election poll surveys showing that the Liberals would sweep the 1971 mid-term elections, and therefore, the 1973 elections. At the time, the Liberals were already speaking in terms of Marcos becoming a "lameduck"' President. Primitivo Mijares
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