Marcos in exile: one year after

On February 26, 1986, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos arrived in Hawaii via US military air transport, after being ousted from the turbulent Philippines by a “peoples’ power” and military backed popular rebellion.

Marcos commemorated the one year anniversary of his overthrow as “a day of mourning.” Our Hawaii cor respondent, Ed Rampell, reports on Marcos in exile at Hawaii, one year after:

Ferdinand Marcos still vows to return to the Philippines, one year after a popular uprising forced him into exile at Hawaii.

The deposed dictator disputes the usual interpretation of the chain of events resulting in his overthrow. According to Mar cos spokesman Gemmo Trini dad, Mr Marcos “is still legiti mate president of the Philip pines. He was not really ousted by a people’s power popular revolt. The President was re moved by the US government and practically kidnapped to Hawaii. The State Department is behind this move, because they couldn’t accept the Presi dent’s independence in running our government.”

Mr Trinidad says the Mar coses are marking the one year anniversary of their forced de parture for Hawaii as; “a day of

mourning for the death of democracy in the Philippines.”

The official spokesman went on to say that: “President Marcos will, of course, return to the Philippines. It’s his birth-right as a citizen to be there. He’s a Filipino through and through.

His human rights are being denied by the government of Mrs Aquino.”

Mr Trinidad says the exiled leader expects “the Aquino government to collapse in the

near future . . . and for the Communists to take over.” If Mr Marcos resumed the presidency, Mr Trinidad says that he’d “confront the Communists head on. ” The Marcos spokesman alleges that the current administration in Manila is soft on communism and eschews negotiations with the New Peoples’ Army and the Peoples’ Party.

Mr Trinidad asserts that the nuclear free provisions of the

new Philippines constitution render “the US military bases there useless.” He says Mr Marcos opposes the anti-nuc lear constitutional clauses and would extend the leases for the American installations, which lapse in 1991.

Mr Trinidad adds the Mar coses have “a hard time under standing the US decision to back Mrs Aquino” and “feel sorry for America for picking a lemon . . . They feel sorry for the Filipino people and wish to restore democracy there, but are not personally depressed” on the anniversary of their arrival in Hawaii.

The Republic of the Philip pines’ Hawaii Consul-General, Tomas Gomez, regards the Marcoses as “psychopaths” and “criminals” motivated by greed and lust for power. He says that the couple “take the

cake when it comes to white collar crime” and are guilty of massive human rights viola tions, including “the assassina tion of Nino Aquino,” the slain husband of President Corazon Aquino.

Mr Gomez says that his gov ernment will seek to prosecute the Marcoses overseas, since their return to the Philippines is considered undesirable by the current administration there.

The Consul-General insists “Marcos spells surefire danger. ”

Mr Gomez went on to say that “Hawaii is the perfect place to keep the Marcoses, because they are very visible and can easily be reached by writs, subpoenas. ”

He also contends, however, that “Marcos has been using Hawaii as a base of operations to destabilise the Philippines.

Marcos is behind the coup plots, including the Manila Hotel rebellion in July and the recent TV station seige.” Mr Gomez alleges the former presi dent “supplies renegade sol diers with money.”

The Consul-General believes that only a small minority of Hawaii’s 150,000 Filipinos are Marcos loyalists. He says that key Hawaiin politicians, such as Lt Governor Ben Cayetano, the

first person of Filipino ancestry to hold that seat, strongly sup port Mrs Aquino and her gov ernment On February 25, the Hawaii State Senate, House of Repre sentatives, the City and County of Honolulu, and the State’s mayors, Senators and Con gressmen issued resolutions celebrating and endorsing the Philippines Revolution. Hon olulu Mayor Frank Fasi de clared it “Corazon Aquino Day.”

Since their arrival in Hawaii, the Marcoses have lived at a US military base, a beachfront house, and now a mansion in posh Makiki Heights. There’s a local controversy over payment of taxes on the mansion. Imelda Marcos released a record and continues to receive publicity for shopping splurges.

Ferdinand Marcos made an exercise video showing the 69year-old ex-President working out, although he claims that he cannot fly to the continental US to testify in court for health reasons. Mr Marcos, who has no valid travel documents and desires to return to the Philip pines, refers to Hawaii known around the world as a “paradise” as his “prison.”

Like Napoleon at Elba, he plots and plans to return home.

Top: The Marcos Mansion.

Above: Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.