That day they took Ninoy away from us

(Adopted from original column first published in The Philippine STAR of Aug. 21, 2012.)

YELLOW RIBBONS: Where were you when opposition leader Ninoy Aquino was murdered 30 years ago yesterday while in the custody of uniformed agents of the Marcos military apparatus upon his arrival at the Manila International Airport?

This has been a question that friends ask one another as we recall that Sunday when gunshots were fired and the sky darkened and fell on the oppressed Filipino people.

It was Aug. 21, 1983. I was in our old house in Pasay cleaning the car when the radio said Ninoy had just been shot upon his arrival from Taipei, back from a three-year exile in the United States.

The welcoming yellow ribbons tied around lamp posts, fences and tree branches suddenly seemed to hang limp and ashen. I wanted to consult Ninoy’s sister Lupita Kashiwahara, but could not contact her.

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‘EXPRESS’ EXTRA: The worst possible scenario of Ninoy’s being dead on the spot flashed in my mind, knowing the master shot at the back of the head that government assassins had been employing with a 100-percent success rate.

Slipping on my shoes, I rushed to our Daily Express office at 371 Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila. As assistant managing editor, my main chore was putting together the front page.

My mind was riveted to dashing out a four-page EXTRA edition on Ninoy having been shot upon his return.

Before leaving, I got a call from our business editor Ernie Tolentino, who went to work before noon, that he heard the news on the car radio on his way to the office.

I asked him to gather the day’s latest page pasteups (this was before the advent of electronic page composition) and start processing the wire stories for an Extra. He knew what to do.

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CENDANA CALL: Ernie edited the reports, gave instructions to typesetting and the pasteup team led by Jun Flores, the fastest pasteup artist in the industry.

By 2 p.m., we had completed the signature of four pages when I got a call from Information Minister Greg Cendaña, a dear friend and media colleague at the Palace. He inquired if it was true we were putting out an Extra.

“Yes, we are,” I replied. “Haven’t you heard? Ninoy has been shot at the airport at baka patay na siya!”

He said “Yes,” but told me not to go ahead. He said running an Extra might just alarm the people.

I argued that even without our Extra, of which I planned to have just 20,000 copies printed, surely people here and abroad would have heard of the big news anyway.

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ON OUR TOES: Our target was to have it out in the streets by 4 p.m. Newspaper dealers were already at Circulation waiting to grab their bundles of the prized Daily Express Extra.

We were arguing over the point of going ahead with the Extra when Greg said, “O sige, kung ayaw mo!” and banged the phone. Poor him, he must have been under severe stress.

We normally would not make money on an Extra edition. The professional point was actually to show readers and the general public, as well as the staff, that we were perpetually on our toes and could react fast to any developing news.

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TURNING POINT: What I did not know was that after Greg failed to convince me to drop the Extra, he called up our bosses, prompting one of them to rush to the office and scuttle the entire operation.

To say that the abortion was a big letdown to the motivated staff is an understatement. I felt right then that that single event was a turning point for a number of professional journalists laboring in the Marcos-controlled media.

It was ironic, but the People’s Tonite tabloid, then under the stewardship of presidential brother-in-law Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez put out an Extra on Ninoy without much problem or interference from Malacañang.

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FAREWELL TO FILMS: The next day, our veteran airport correspondent Maning Silva reported to the desk and turned over his pictures and his rolls of film.

Although there were efforts to bar photographers from any vantage for taking shots of the tarmac where Ninoy lay bleeding, Maning and a few other newsmen who knew their way around and enjoyed extraordinary access were able to get good shots.

“Eto,” Maning said, turning over his materials, “Kayo nang bahala rito.” As he walked away, I could sense how he felt. Years later, we talked about it, and I was able to confirm my reading.

Later in the day, Jolly Riofrir, a photographer identified with Malacañang (I am not sure now in what capacity), came over and collected the films. I could only guess what happened to them.

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PERSONAL NOTES: Brooding over the aborted Extra, I recalled one of Ninoy’s notes smuggled to me weeks earlier about his decision to finally come home.

He remarked lightly, among other things, that he would now be able to pay his “utang” to my twin sons -- Peter and Paul -- who are his godsons. We were all looking forward to his homecoming.

That Ninoy was my kumpadre was one of my closely guarded secrets at the time, considering my holding a responsible position in a paper owned by Marcos crony Roberto S. Benedicto.

It was Pocholo Romualdez, Express chief editor, who brought me onboard and “inflicted” me (his term) on Philippine journalism. I would say that more than half of what I know in the trade, I learned from Pocholo, acknowledged in the business as the editor’s editor.

Courier of those small folded notes to and from Ninoy was our common friend Bren Z. Guiao, father of Rep. Yeng Guiao (1st Dist., Pampanga). More of Bren’s risky liaison job are found in my Postscripts of Oct. 6, 2011, Nov. 9, 2010, and Aug. 2, 2009.

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