Thirty Years Later . . . Catching Up with the Marcos-Era Crimes. Myles Garcia

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      There were eight early and most favored cronies of Ferdinand, so they got early pieces of the pie. They were, alphabetically, Roberto Benedicto, Eduardo (“Danding”) Cojuangco, Rudy Cuenca, Antonio Floirendo, Poten-ciano Ilusorio, Alfonso Lim, Juan Ponce-Enrile, Lucio Tan, and Jose Yao-Campos. Two of these, Benedicto and Ilusorio, were Marcos' so-called “brods” or fraternity brothers from the Upsilon Sigma fraternity from U.P.

      How was the pie divided? Benedicto was the Sugar and Media king; Cojuangco and Ponce-Enrile split the Coconut franchise; Floirendo, bananas; Campos, pharmaceuticals; Lucio Tan, tobacco, amongst others; Cuenca, construction; Disini, nuclear energy; Alfonso Lim, Sr., logging; the Zamoras and Kokoy Romualdez, mining; Bejo Romualdez, offshore gaming; and others. Of course, Marcos was “King of Kings.”

      Roberto Benedicto

      From La Carlota, Negros Occidental, Benedicto developed an early friendship with Marcos at the University of the Philippines and Benedicto supposedly treated the struggling Marcos to sandwiches while both were in school. A little kindness, regardless of the stripe of your soul, never hurts. The association continued after both graduated from law school in 1939.

      Although he was not a relative, Benedicto became part of the small Marcos circle in Malacañang and was one of the few with complete access to the president’s private quarters. Benedicto became the dictator’s favorite golfing partner. Largely in recognition of his loyalty to the dictator, he was showered with government sinecures and control over the choicest plums of economic activity. An ambassadorship (to Japan), the PNB chairmanship, and control over the country’s top exports formed part of the largesse Benedicto enjoyed.

      At the height of his power, Benedicto’s empire consisted of no less than 85 corporations, 106 sugar farms, 14 haciendas, other agricultural lands, the Kanlaon Broadcasting Network (27 radio stations, 16 television stations), seven buildings, ten vessels and five aircraft. Residential lots and house in Ermita (I had been at his main house in Ermita), 14 hectares of real estate in Bacolod City, a penthouse in Kanlaon Towers, Pasay; 13.5 million shares of Oriental Petroleum held through Piedras Mining, and membership shares at exclusive gold and country clubs such as Wack-Wack, Canlubang, Alabang and Marapara. The golf and country club shares alone were worth $491,000 in the mid-1980s.

      In return for the favors he received from Marcos, Benedicto served the dictator in a number of ways. On the political front, Benedicto worked as chairman of Marcos’ KBL party for western Visayas since it was organized in 1977 and delivered sizeable votes for Marcos’ candidates in subsequent elections. But the more important service Benedicto rendered for Marcos was as a most trusted front and as associate in many corporations and business deals. Benedicto was anointed a Marcos front man early in the dictator’s career of plunder and was even given a special power of attorney to deal on behalf of Marcos. The PoA, signed on October 14, 1976, gave Benedicto broad powers to act on behalf of Marcos, including the authority to receive payments, manage properties, and run business affairs. Benedicto is also known to have acted on behalf of the Marcos Foundation, a private trust that manages some of Marcos’ assets.

      Among Benedicto’s overseas properties were a sugar mill in Venezuela, a trading company in Madrid, bank deposits, mansions and limousines in California, and other properties in Japan and the US. His deposits in Swiss banks alone were estimated to be $200 million. Rafael Salas, Marcos’ executive secretary and Benedicto’s cousin, estimated in 1983 that his cousin had a net worth of $800 million.

      (Note: Benedicto’s adopted daughter, Kitchie, was my classmate at the same U.P. in broadcast communication studies. Kitchie went on to head operations of her father’s new network, Kanlaon Broadcasting Network, the only commercial network that was allowed to operate when martial law was declared while the other broadcasting and news outlets were shuttered.)

      Eduardo (“Danding”) Cojuangco

      The other Cojuangco family guy allied and identified with Marcos. A very ambitious man, Danding made his pile during the Marcos years with the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and cornered the coconut levy – with the Boss’ blessing of course. What was the coconut levy/monopoly? For years, farmers were required to fork over hard-earned money for a so-called coconut levy fund which never went to their welfare but instead became a PhP150-billion asset fought over by Danding, Juan Ponce Enrile, and others. These monopolies taxed the farmer for benefits that he would never receive, increased the difference between what the farmer received and what the world market paid for his crop, and successfully siphoned off a large proportion of farmers' incomes into the hands of Marcos's cronies. Marcos issued decrees that forced companies like Lever Brothers and Procter & Gamble out of coconut products markets, where they were paying market prices to farmers, and enforced a monopoly run by his friend Eduardo Cojuangco who paid half the world market price. Also, when one Zobel branch fought with their Soriano cousins for control of the venerable San Miguel Corporation, Cojuangco stepped in and grabbed Enzo Zobel’s sizeable bloc of shares bringing him closer to being majority shareholder.

      Danding’s sister-in-law is Imelda Ongsiako-Cojuangco, one of Imelda’s Bluest Ladies. Danding’s wife is the beauteous Gretchen Oppen, whom Marcos in his early presidential years, had his eye on very closely. This made for a sticky situation because Danding was a favored crony but tried to keep his wife away from the Boss. Nonetheless, in their flight from power in 1986, they were one big family when Danding, Gretchen, and retainers accompanied the Marcoses in the escape to Hawaii. And when he returned home, his cousin Cory sat in Malacañang. At the expiration of her term in 1992, Danding had the nerve to run for president. He came in third and bested his old patroness, Imelda Marcos, who came in fifth.

      As of late October 28, 2015, with some twenty-eight years in litigation, the anti-graft court, the Sandiganbayan ordered UCPB, to turn over 72.2% of its shares to the government. Plus, there are the persistent rumors that it was Danding who was behind the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, his cousin Cory’s husband—but which Cory refused to believe. Finally, there is the coconut levy, amassed to PhP150 billion, but is still a pending matter, among others, with the Philippine Supreme Court, as of early 2016.

      Rodolfo Cuenca

      One of the most obscene and shameless cases of overnight wealth hemorrhaging through presidential connections was that of Rudolfo Cuenca and his CDCP (Construction Development Corporation of the Philippines). A college dropout, Cuenca was a golfing buddy of Marcos and an early supporter from Marcos’ 1965 run. That long loyalty got more than amply rewarded in the twenty-year run of the Marcos kleptocracy.

      Much of the illegal wealth that Cuenca made in government contracts was overpricing a lot of heavy machinery that was used very little or was not even appropriate for certain jobs, but as long as the government was going to pay and if not too many questions were asked, then why not?

      At the height of the Marcos’ power, Cuenca headed a conglomerate that had a net worth of at least $750 million. Cuenca's son, Bobby, married Chingbee Kalaw Manotoc, daughter of a one-time Opposition senator, Eva Estrada Kalaw, and ex-wife of a brother of Tommy Manotoc who would become the first husband of Imee Marcos, Ferdinand’s oldest daughter.

      Juan Ponce-Enrile

      One of Marcos’ most agile henchmen, Ponce-Enrile was, like his mentor, once a brilliant corporate lawyer. Like Imelda, Ponce-Enrile was the bastard child of the daughter of a poor fisherman and a prominent local politician and lawyer, Alfonso Ponce-Enrile, but through sheer diligence and drive, ended up being one of the richest and most powerful men in the land, after Marcos, including marrying a prized trophy wife of Manila society, Cristina Castañer, of pure Spanish parentage.

      (Little known fact: when Mrs. СКАЧАТЬ