A longtime aide to Ferdinand Marcos says in a new book that the United States deceived Marcos into believing he would be transported to the northern Philippines during the 1986 uprising that propelled Corazon Aquino into the presidency.
Marcos and his family were instead taken to Hawaii, where Marcos died in 1989.The aide, Col. Arturo Aruiza, who followed Marcos to Hawaii, makes the claim of U.S. deception in his book "Ferdinand Marcos, Malacanang to Makiki." The title refers to the Philippine presidential palace and the part of Hawaii where the Marcoses took up residence.
According to the book, after Marcos left the presidential palace on Feb. 25, 1986, he and his family were taken to Clark Air Base, 50 miles north of Manila, where Maj. Gen. Gordon Williams and Brig. Gen. Ted Allen discussed arrangements to fly the former first family to his home province, Ilocos Norte.
The Marcoses were to leave Clark for the north the following day, Aruiza wrote. That night, however, Allen, the commander of the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Command, told the Marcoses they would be flown to Guam because Communist rebels were threatening the base, Aruiza said.
"We scoffed at the American fabrication that the communists were outside the main gate," Aruiza wrote. He said U.S. Ambassador Stephen Bosworth had changed the destination at the request of Mrs. Aquino.
Marcos loyalists have long maintained that Marcos never "fled" the Philippines but was "kidnapped" by the Americans.
Supporters of Mrs. Aquino, including Sen. Aquilino Pimentel and Sen. Rene Saguisag, have also confirmed that Bosworth asked the new president whether Marcos could be taken to Ilocos Norte and she refused.
Aruiza said he confronted Maj. Gen. Williams, the Clark commander, about the reason for changing the destination.
"Apologetically, he admitted there was great pressure from `higher headquarters' to fly us out of the Philippines," Aruiza said.
There was no U.S. comment immediately available.