The Ombudsman ordered the filing of charges against Bobby Ongpin and a few others regarding that DBP behest loan case. Some time later, there was a response from Ongpin ordering his lawyers to vigorously fight the charges.
I read the Ongpin news items on my i-phone at the steaming Manila Pen ballroom amidst the cacophony of a thousand voices speaking at the same time during the Enrile book launch. I thought about Bobby Ongpin and I remember reading a revealing interview in Rogue magazine that he gave to our PhilStar assistant business editor, Marianne V. Go.
Bobby is one immensely interesting person and maybe he should be writing his book too… but it may have to be restricted to adults if it is to be complete with all the luscious details. Anecdotes I constantly hear about him never fail to reinforce my impression of a man who no doubt knows what he is worth, could be ruthless in obtaining his objectives but knows when he has to pour out his legendary charms.
I remember Washington SyCip relating to me the story of Bobby Ongpin walking into his office to be interviewed for a job at SGV. Before they could even sit down and talk, Bobby, not Wash, asked the first question. He asked Wash how old he was. Wash asked him why he wants to know. Bobby replied he wanted to know how long he had to wait before he can succeed him. Sheer chutzpah!
In the memoirs of Enrile, there are several interesting references to Bobby Ongpin. The most revealing one has to do with how the fearless Mr Ongpin seems to have been justifiably scared that he might be facing his life’s end during the early hours of the EDSA revolution.
The first inkling Enrile had that something was amiss was when Bobby Ongpin called him to ask why his military security men were arrested. He kept calling Enrile over the next few hours until Enrile was able to verify that they were indeed arrested and being held incommunicado by orders of President Marcos. That information apparently made Bobby even more jittery according to Enrile.
Let us read exactly what Enrile wrote…
“Bobby had a good reason to be scared. His overbearing attitude and his covert operations for President Marcos earned for him powerful enemies in and out of government. That was why he needed his security men badly.
“As early as two years before, I had to assign to him some security men from the Ministry of National Defense. This was shortly after President Marcos asked him to organize the so-called Binondo Central Bank…
“There was another reason why Bobby was scared. Before the Saturday when the 1986 EDSA revolution erupted, President Marcos had a secret deal with the Americans. This was kept away from the public. Bobby Ongpin negotiated with Philip Habib, the personal emissary of United States President Ronald Reagan and Stephen Bosworth, the United States ambassador to the Philippines…
“The deal was deliberately kept from Imelda Marcos and Fabian Ver for good reason. They were the subjects of the negotiations and agreements. The Reagan administration wanted, in a manner of speaking, to cut the heads of Imelda Marcos and Fabian Ver.
“Bobby Ongpin concluded five agreements with Habib and Bosworth. First was to remove Fabian Ver as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Second was to abolish the Ministry of Human Settlements that Imelda headed. Third was to remove Imelda from the Cabinet and to disqualify her totally from holding any public office. Fourth was to reorganize the Cabinet of President Marcos. And the last was to adopt a power sharing agreement between the group of President Marcos and the group of Corazon C. Aquino.
“I was also told that at the behest of the Reagan administration, President Marcos reduced the agreements into presidential decrees. The agreements and the presidential decrees were reportedly given to the Americans and were never published nor disclosed in the Philippines.”
Those “iffy” early hours when the Ver forces appeared to still have the upper hand must have indeed been scary hours for Bobby Ongpin. I don’t know if he will admit that today but it does seem from Enrile’s account that at least that once in fearless Bobby’s life, he actually experienced fear.
Even Enrile was fearful as he narrated how he left a final letter for his wife and looked with sadness at his house as he departed to take his stand at Camp Aguinaldo. These fearless men of the Marcos cabinet felt totally vulnerable during those times. If only for these first hand accounts of Enrile, reading his memoirs is a worthwhile investment of time and money.
The launch
That JPE book launch is an event no one but a Filipino can understand. Even to many Filipinos, it was completely surreal. Folks on opposite sides of martial law were present and seemingly chummy with each other from JPE and Oscar Lopez and the book’s editor, Nelson Navarro who was forced into exile in the US during martial law.
Also present at the launch were Chito Sta. Romana and Eric Baculinao who were both stranded in China by martial law. Chito had been back for a while following his retirement and Eric flew in from Beijing to give moral support to Nelson, a fraternity brod at Alpha Phi Beta. Kit Tatad who read the martial law decrees on TV and was the public face of martial law was there too. So was Kit’s current patron, VP Jojo Binay, a human rights lawyer opposed to martial law in his earlier incarnation before he became mayor of Makati.
Let us not forget Imelda Marcos was also present, looking lonely and ignored on the second row behind JPE and wife, P-Noy and the Lopezes. There too was Edna Camcam, a close friend of Gen Fabian Ver who reportedly claimed to have donated the roast beef. Ms. Camcam, according to the Enrile memoirs, spilled the beans to the former defense chief of plans of Fabian Ver to establish a military junta if Marcos died.
Where else can something like this happen... onli in the Pilipins.
There will also be replays on Studio 23 of the documentary based on the book. A two part series on Maala-ala Mo Kaya hosted by ABS-CBN President Charo Santos Concio are also forthcoming.
As for the question on why the Lopezes published Enrile’s book, Oscar Lopez, the Lopez family patriarch explained it this way:
“I know what most of you are wondering about as you listen to me now. What is the patriarch of the Lopez family doing here appearing chummy with the implementer of martial law? Why did ABS-CBN publish his autobiography when the network was the earliest casualty of the martial law regime?
“I know it is not easy to understand. Even for me, I most likely wouldn’t have thought this day possible. Perhaps with the passage of time… all 40 years of it… I try to view things from as many perspectives as possible. And I have realized that it helps to see, as well, the humanity of those of us who lived through that horrible time including those from the opposite side of the street…
“Johnny wrote that even he was a victim of the Marcos dictatorship… He also wrote about how his life was placed in danger as a military clique under General Ver plotted to assassinate him weeks before People Power finally erupted in 1986…
“Still, I have not answered why this Lopez would even want to have anything to do with the martial law administrator of Mr. Marcos. Not too many of you know that Johnny and I knew each other way back when we were both students in Harvard in the mid-50s. Johnny was working on his Masters at the Harvard Law School and I was also studying for my Masters in Public Administration at Harvard’s Littauer School now known as the Kennedy School of Government.
“We knew and appreciated each other as ordinary human beings, way before we had taken our respective roles in our country’s political and economic life. I suppose that makes a difference because we can go beyond the caricatures the public may have of who we became later in our lives…
“As to why ABS-CBN is publishing Johnny’s book, I know Gabby made that decision in the exercise of a media entity’s obligation to present as many sides as it possibly can, on matters, events or anything that is of public interest…”
Jokes
For nostalgia’s sake here is a sample of a martial law joke.
“Do you have a hobby?” Marcos asks the visiting Australian prime minister.
“Yes, I collect jokes people tell about me,” the guest replied. “And you?”
“Oh, I collect people who tell jokes about me,” Marcos replies.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco
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