Marcos Truth: Marcos Did Not Bomb Plaza Miranda; It Was Sison (Archive)

It has been said by many Filipinos that one of the major events that motivated the declaration of Martial Law by the late President Ferdinand Marcos which also resulted to the EDSA Revolution in 1986 is the Plaza Miranda bombing in 1971. The late President Marcos who has been maltreated by Filipinos because of his alleged massive graft and corruption, human rights violation, and dictatorship among others was earlier named as the mastermind and blamed of the bombing.

The said historical and long-time controversial bombing happened August 21, 1971 at the Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila. This was during the political rally campaign of the Liberal Party which killed nine people and hurt about 100 politicians and audience. Included those injured were former Liberal Party President Gerardo Roxas, Roxas’ wife Judy Araneta- Roxas, Sergio Osmeña Jr., and former Senator Jovito Salonga who later asserted that Marcos was not the brain of the incident. Instead, he pointed Jose Ma. Sison as the head of the said bombing which cause a lot of political and social turmoil in the country and even destroyed the name of the late Marcos. Truth is, it was actually Jose Maria Sison, a leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), not Marcos who initiated the incident according to Salonga. This was highlighted in his book A Journey of Struggle and Hope and has been stressed in several press releases.

On various interviews with Salonga, he said Sison knew that the people would blame Marcos for the said event. This then would cause chaos in the country. It was said that with that bombing, the membership in the CPP-National People’s Army increased against the Marcos leadership. Thus, destroying the latter’s leadership through various means of intervention by the group. It was Sison’s intention then to really confuse the people and cause anti-Marcos acts while strengthening their organization.

In Salonga’s book, his prime evidence of naming Sison as the main author of the bombing is a story of Ariel Almendral. Almendral in a conversation with Salonga in the US in 1986 introduced himself as a member of the CPP-NPA. According to him, Sison instructed a person named Danny Cordero to do the bombing. Almendral knew the information after meeting Cordero in Sierra Madre who had admitted and boasted that he was actually instructed by Sison to do the attack. The book also contains stories of an anonymous who claimed to be the driver of Cordero on the said bombing and of Victor Corpus in connection to the said incident. With this, Salonga then who has been against Marcos’ leadership has freed the latter of a sin he never committed. This is a Marcos truth.

The labeled-dictator Ferdinand and his family have been accused of so many crimes by the Filipino society. Majority look at the Marcoses as evil and as a sinner. However, with their innocence in the said root of Martial Law, it is just right to say that Filipinos must also be open-minded to other stories. They could be also innocent of other accusations which they never did but they have been long and patiently suffering.