To the end, Alex Esclamado continued his crusading ways. PHOTO Courtesy of Rodel Rodis.
Today, as the incumbent Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte continues to dangle the threat of Martial Law and snarls at professional media for doing its job, the story of journalist Alejandro “Alex” Esclamado becomes quite relevant and poignant.
In this guest post, Yvonne — a long-time member of Cyber Plaza Miranda — recalls the bravery of Esclamado who could have had an easy life. He was a province mate of Imelda Marcos – Raissa
Remembering Alex Esclamado and the tentacles of Marcos dictatorship
Guest post by Yvonne
When Raissa Robles was writing her widely acclaimed book ‘Marcos Martial Law Never Again’ I shared with her some leads on Alejandro “Alex” Esclamado, one of the many oppressed victims of Marcos martial law.
Alex was a victim of a different type of torture – economic and mental anguish.
What stands out about Alex is that he was an American citizen living in California; his torture highlighted the far-reaching tentacles of the Marcos dictatorship beyond Philippine territorial boundaries. And it showed clearly how the Marcos regime would stop at nothing to protect its dictatorship.
But Alex’s torture did not make it to the cut in Raissa’s book. [Note from Raissa: Actually, I ran out of pages. So I decided to concentrate on the torture and atrocities in the Philippines.]
I’m reminded again of Alex when House Representative Gary Alejano of the Magdalo Group filed an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte.
People are asking: why would Alejano file his complaint when it is likely to fail in the House where Duterte supporters comprise the super-majority? Surely, it is an act of futility, so they say.
Or, is it?
Maybe one of the reasons for Alejano’s action is the same reason that prompted U.S. Congressman Phillip Burton to take the floor of the U.S. Congress on October 8, 1975 to talk about Alex – to put into the official records of Congress the atrocities of Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship against Filipino-Americans so that those atrocities may not be forgotten by future generations.
Hopefully the impeachment complaint against Duterte will likewise provide a window where future generations of Filipinos can take a look back at the Duterte administration many years from now.
Indeed, after some 40 years later I’m able to glimpse back into a dark episode of the Marcos dictatorship, thanks to Congressman Burton. And because Alex and his fight against the dictatorship are not widely known in the Philippines, I want to share his story so that he may be a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving Filipinos.
Let me start by quoting from U.S. House Congressional Records of October 8, 1975, page 32448:
MARCOS THREATENS U.S. CITIZENS
The SPEAKER pro tempore:
Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. PHILLIP BURTON) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PHILLIP BURTON:
Mr. Speaker, according to reports published in Washington and San Francisco among other places, the Marcos regime in the Philippines, which is presently under investigation by the U.S. Attorney General for allegations of attempted bribery of a witness before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, is using intimidation, blackmail, and economic reprisals against American citizens critical of the Marcos regime. [NOTE from Raissa: Burton was referring to Primitivo Mijares, Marcos’ chief propagandist who had turned whistleblower and testified in the US Congress.]
A distinguished publisher, Alejandro Esclamado, owner of the Philippine News, has been singled out by the Marcos government in an attempt to silence American journalistic criticism of that regime.
I deplore these outrageous practices and I am asking the Attorney General to expand his investigation to include this matter. Such practices are all the more
shocking in view of the long tradition of deep friendship and respect between the
Philippine and American people. I am placing in the RECORD at this time two newspaper columns outlining this monstrous behavior on the part of a foreign government toward U.S. citizens.
With his speech Representative Burton provided the full text of the articles ‘THE MARCOS AFFAIR’ written by Jack Anderson and ‘ANTI-MANILA PAPER-EDITOR CLAIMS MARCOS THREAT’ written by Andrew Curtin. The articles have since then been included in the U.S. Congressional Records.
The U.S. Congress and Justice Department investigated the bribery allegation in 1975 – it charged that President Ferdinand Marcos offered Primitivo Mijares a $50,000 bribe not to testify on Capitol Hill about the widespread corruption and tyranny in the Philippines. When Mijares refused to accept the bribe, Marcos brought criminal charges against him and sought his extradition to the Philippines. Mijares was Marcos’ former press censor who turned against the dictatorship and wrote the widely revealing book ‘The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos’.
The Philippine News, a weekly newspaper in San Francisco that was owned and published by Alex Esclamado, covered the bribery story extensively in its front pages. It was the latest of a string of explosive investigative news reporting by the Philippines News, the only major Filipino newspaper in the U.S. to oppose and fight the Marcos dictatorship from the start when martial law was declared.
Among others, Alex wrote extensively about the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino, and had strongly lobbied the U.S. Congress to cut off U.S. military and economic aid to the Philippines to manifest its displeasure and apply pressure on Marcos.
Alex and the Philippine News were at the receiving end of Marcos’ ire when the bribery scandal was exposed. Through his various emissaries, Marcos exerted immense pressure on Filipino-owned travel agencies in the U.S. to boycott and withdraw their ads from the newspaper. The travel agencies, which accounted for about 80% of the newspaper’s income, were intimidated into closing their advertising accounts. The resulting severe financial hardship for Alex and his family nearly caused the newspaper to fold.
The pressure on the travel agencies came in the form of requests for cooperation from Marcos emissaries. These “requests” were veiled threats that failure to cooperate with Malacanang would have adverse effects on the travel agencies. It was implied that the government would withdraw the privileges given to these agencies to engage in the travel and tourism business. Visitors and tourists to the Philippines were given privileges such as free customs inspection and other courtesies at the airport. Those courtesies could be withdrawn from passengers or clients of travel agencies that did not cooperate with the government. And the government could also deny visas, commercial papers and other documents to clients of the non-cooperating travel agencies.
Alex and his family ran into financial hardship as a result of the boycott. They lost all their properties that they had mortgaged to keep the newspaper running.
A Marcos emissary offered to buy the Philippine News for $10 million, an offer he thought the heavily indebted Alex, could not refuse. But Marcos was mistaken, Alex rejected the offer.
When the boycott, the threats, and the buy-out offer did not work, Marcos tried a different tactic – he financed new Filipino community newspapers to compete with the Philippine News to force it out of business.
Here is an excerpt from Andrew Curtin’s article:
“They’ve tried everything in their efforts to silence the paper,” Esclamado said. “Coercion, threats on my life, pressures on my family, attempts to buy me out. They offered me a very handsome price.”
Esclamado, his wife Lourdes and their seven children all are American citizens.
But some members of his staff are not, he said, and Marcos officials have subjected them to possible deportation by canceling their passports, compelling them to seek political asylum here.
“Every time we’d break a major story,” · Esclamado said, ”I’d hear from some anonymous male caller. He’d say things like I ought to be afraid for my life, or remind me that I had children who could be in danger.”
On three occasions, Esclamado said, he reported the calls to San Francisco police. “I asked the phone company if there was any way to stop or trace the calls and they said no, he said. “
“The basic issue here is freedom of the press,” Esclamado said. “What it amounts to is that a foreign government is trying to put an American newspaper out of business.
In 1989, Alex received the Philippine Legion of Honor Award from President Corazon Aquino. The award reads in part:
“For his distinguished and outstanding service to the country during the past 20 years. Often a lone voice in the United States, he relentlessly championed Philippine freedom and democracy without regard for personal safety in the face of the threatening might of the dictatorship.”
“Through his newspaper, the Philippine News, he continuously published the truth about the repressions of the dictatorial rule, suffering great financial loss and harassment of his family. His testimony before the US Congress revealing facts about the assassination of Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., and the oppression of the Filipino people, helped change US policy towards the Philippines.”
In 2011, Alex returned to his hometown in Leyte. He died there in 2014 after a long battle with illness.
leona says
Who was Jack Anderson? He was, among others –
‘Anderson’s work enraged those in power. President Nixon tried to smear him as a homosexual, the CIA was ordered to spy on him and, according to the Watergate tapes, a Nixon aide ordered two cohorts to try to kill the journalist by poisoning. His tax returns were frequently audited by the IRS.
“I have tried to break down the walls of secrecy in Washington,” Anderson once wrote in an article for Parade magazine. “But today the walls are thicker than ever. More and more of our policymakers hide behind those walls. Only the press can stand as a true bulwark against an executive branch with a monopoly on foreign policy information. It has all the authority it needs in the 1st Amendment.”
He was a muckraker as he loves to be.
leona says
Link
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/18/local/me-anderson18
arc says
in pinas, po, all the kuraps have to do is put a fentanyl addict in malakanyang and they’ll do the rest. did and do everything in the name of the fentanyl addict who does not know the extend to pinas territories and holdings. didnt even know where benham rise is and did not also know that outposts in west phil sea are all taken. he’s going to be sending military to occupy more of what’s in west phil sea. well, easy job yan ng military dahil there is nothing left to occupy there. they’ll come, they’ll see and then, go home, bigo. the flag that cannot be planted, well digong will just have to stick it up his nose! he,he, he. nose ring!
arc says
anyhow, very convenient na tumakbo si digong sa middle east sa semana santa mismo and wont be facing the fact that his blabbing about west phil sea is just blabbing and no substance. king of saudi arabia is anticipating meeting with digong kuno. yeah, right, kagagawan na naman ito nina andanar at ng mga tauhan ni digong, propping up digong; anticipated, meaning, purwesyo. why go in semana santa, why not go before?
leona says
‘The President made the clarification yesterday at the Davao International Airport shortly before departing for Saudi Arabia. His pronouncements came on the heels of Beijing’s voicing concern over his earlier statement that he had ordered the military to occupy at least nine islets and reefs under Philippine control.
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“For the information of China, we will not place there any offensive weapons, not even one gun,” he said.’
How about PANA? Sling-shot? Why do PDutz have to give an answer/statement every time China ngak-ngak about anything?
Not even one gun. . . Chinese boats arrives fully armed! China is a KADAMAY leader ngak-ngak.
Yvonne says
The conflicting statements and vacillations of President Duterte on many major issues involving China and the U.S. will not be lost to the scrutiny of Beijing. He will come across as an unreliable, if not unstable, foreign-policy maker.
As such, I don’t think Beijing will invest heavily in political capital with Duterte to the exclusion of leading opposition leaders in the belief that the next Philippine President could easily undo Duterte’s foreign policy.
leona says
China knows how to play well the Accordion. Stretching and contracting produces good tones.
PDutz knows only straightjacketorion! Just swallow all hard out of tunes!
he he
kalakala says
thanks PDI journalist for accompanying lascanas out of the country. excerpt from pdi: On Sunday morning at a rented place, which for now he would call home, Lascañas looked well rested and relaxed.
With his companions and the INQUIRER, Lascañas went out to walk around his new neighborhood and to have brunch.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/887799/davao-death-squad-witness-arturo-lascanas-leaves-ph-for-safety#ixzz4dkEshvtF
how about ma2ba2? bago ang katapusan ng march ay pinadalhan sya ng warrant of arrest ng davao city. non bailable. after that wala ng balita tungkol sa kanya. is he already inside the jail? natuloy ba ang pag alis nya ng bansa with his lawyer to file a case sa icc?
arc says
sorry po, I’m reminded tuloy of erwin espinosa, anak ng dating mayor espinosa na pinatay ni marvin marcos habang nasa kulungan. erwin ran and hid in dubai, but was brought back home after extensive manhunt. namataan ng tauhan ni sandra cam of volunteers ‘abetting’ crime and corruption, vacc. erwin was to used to pin down de lima. immoral daw kasi si delima and ought to be barred, sabi ni sandra cam, and now, mas masahol pala si speaker alvarez, and surprise, surprise, tahimik si sandra cam.
if de lima is to be barred for immorality, speaker alvarez must also be barred. not once did I believe de lima is drug coddler.
si lacson galit yata na nakalusot si lascanyas at hahabol ngayon.
leona says
. . .’the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF) signed an interim agreement that could eventually lead to a cessation of hostilities ‘
. . . ‘This interim agreement has been 31 years in the making.’
‘Tis an end always to begin anew another hundred negosyos for peace!
‘Tis not 31 years but 70 years since after WW II when the Huks came about.
Can our Army really get peace? Yes. But something is wrong getting it. Where is the wrong in it? Sa mga politikal leaders natin.
A fountain for negosyos. . . alam na natin. Can’t help those who do not know.
he he he
leona says
http://philnews.com/
arc says
abu sayyaf doesnt believe in any peace agreement, they piss on peace agreements at patuloy ang panggugulo at pangdudukot ng mga turistang pwedeng i-ransom. dati mostly sa mindanaw ang abu sayaff most active, ngayong sa rehimon ni digong, hanggang sa bisayas na ang abot ng abu sayyaf: lumakas ang luob, may basbas yata ni digong.
leona says
‘”Ang gusto ko lumaki kayo, mag boy scout, mag PMT (Preparatory Military Training), tapos maging ROTC kayo para may training kayo sa baril at paano makipag-away ng kalaban,” Duterte said during the Scouts’ Day Celebration on Monday.;
Susma! Watta message to our young scouts! Away-away! Have gun shoot kalaban!
Kalaban who? Yun gusto mo!
he he
arc says
e, sa ganyang mga bata, sino naman ang kalaban kungdi kapwa pinoy’t kaeskwela? kapag hindi magkasundo, e magpatayan sila. on top of that, meron tayong death penalty and children’s criminal age is going to be lowered to 9yrs. digong is truly bugok.
bcoolman says
To Duterte and Alvarez:
A philandering husband is indeed CORRUPT whatever you may perceive him to be. And so I ask you, what will prevent you from being corrupt now that you occupy the highest and the 4th position of the land? Who really is the whitened sepulchre among you are fooling?
leona says
Does Islam allow ‘mistresses’? Christians No.
‘Wives’ Yes. Christians No.
That’s philandutering and Alvarezings’ new logics.
he he he
Yvonne says
While we’re waiting with much anticipation for Raissa’s next blog topic, let me add a “postscript” to the current blog topic.
The Philippines News continues to be published in the U.S. under a new owner and publisher. There are now about six major Filipino community newspapers being published weekly in California – they are all ad-supported and available free to readers; understandably they are in stiff competition over limited ad dollars from advertisers.
Previously, the Philippines News under Alex Esclamado initially sold for 0.50 cents a copy, afterwards it was forced to raise the price to $1.00 to survive when travel agencies withdrew their ads from the newspaper under threat from the Marcos administration. Now, it is also available free to its readers.
The Philippine News, and about two others, continues to serve the Filipino community with unbiased news coverage, one newspaper is noticeably anti-Aquino/pro-Duterte with strongly slanted news coverage even long after the elections, and one newspaper is known to include full-page spread of infomercial regularly from Pastor Quiboloy, a known Duterte supporter.
raissa says
Hi guys,
I’m still working on my Jimmy Bondoc, Gava Gives pc.
raissa says
FYI, I’m preparing a post on the funding of the Luneta rally and Jimmy Bondoc. I just had a long discussion with him that lasted nearly two hours. I also interviewed the CEO of gavagives.com
Yvonne says
We will await for your new post with great anticipation. I have a comment to share when your piece comes out because I find something very fishy and disturbing, to say the least.
sam says
Me too… something is running inside my head … as i always say “i hope i might be wrong”
Yvonne says
Let’s get it out fast when Raissa finally posts her piece. I hope I can get out mine soon before the info I want to share disappears on the information superhighway.
sup says
Buddy is calling you…. :-)
http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/04/06/17/opinion-unmasking-pagcorin-aid-of-legislation
raissa says
Thanks, Buddy Gomez.
leona says
Buddy calls. . . ‘PAGCOR has now become the very quintessence of a people’s aching need for transparency and accountability!’
PAGCOR…rupt! Tranferingcy! Accouninstability! . . . on the funds.
An abused agency. Very quinpestilence to the people aches!
All Buddies calling! Thanks Buddy!
he he
leona says
Gava. . .
We are Gava Tech Pte Ltd., a Singapore registered startup composed of passionate and highly technical professionals exposed in various charity foundations, marketplace and donation processing systems. In August 2016, we piloted Gava, a crowdfunding platform that puts fun and purpose into the act of giving. We also launched our mobile app which gained 25,000 downloads in just 3 months.
Focused on gift campaigns, we serve couples, celebrants and charities by enabling them create their own campaign page, use our share tools to raise funds from anyone and receive those in multiple ways.
In this screen age where younger generation are completely mobile and social, Gava aims to cultivate the virtue of generosity and make it a lifestyle. The vision of the team is for Gava to be top of mind when it comes to gifting, celebration of life and helping more people help more people. We dream that someday, through our platform, giving will be part of every land, every culture and every age. Because we believe that generosity is never about the amount, it is all about the heart.
O.k. Gava or gaba, ‘di ko masiguro.
Lex says
These events,facts & circumstances MUST be highlighted for the people to know the stark truth.Let’s not allow indecent, immoral, deceitful,paid DuDirty,BBM et al trolls destroy our revered legacy & struggle vs tyranny & injustice,Marcosian edition.
Yvonne says
Agree. So please share the blog post to others.
arc says
lex, apparently, digong’s multiple personalitied trolls are not doing enough and can barely bring money and tourists in. digong still has to go to middle east sa semana santa mismo at magpalimos duon. ang limos ng china kulang na kulang yata at hindi kasya, kaya naglalakbay na naman si digong, spending money on overseas travels on top of pinas hosting asean forum. spending money and gotten nearly nothing in return. he was promised much by participating nations, promises only, nothing actual.
sa middle east, I doubt if digong will be trusted by heads of state there, many of them are devout muslims and devout followers of allah. if they found out that digong is acting like an infidel and dodging religious duty like being one of the people on their most sacred semana santa, they wont like it. you cannot really trust a person that dodges and think nothing of religious duties.
sa middle east, muslims are particular of their religious duties, and even travel to mecca at least once in their lifetime. they would not think of dodging religious activities. heads of state in middle east will probly promise digong many things just to get him out of their country. out of mind, out of sight.
Den says
In today’s turbulent times, silence is not golden. It is complicity. It is not the time for silence.
We do not condone criminals just because we are against the death penalty. It is because the rule of law and the rehabilitation of offenders is not only the more viable long-term solution, but it also protect the innocents from abuse by those given excessive authority.
We do not promote drug abuse just because we protest the killing of drug users. It is because killing the users is not the solution to the problem. Stopping the drug trade will. Going after the big-time drug lords will. Punishing the coddlers in the police and government will.
We do not curtail freedom of speech just because we condemn the blatant abuse of favored status enjoyed by public personalities to spread lies and misinformation. Those who are given the platform to influence through their words and actions bear a greater responsibility to speak the truth and do what is right. To knowingly and willingly mislead people is treason and betrayal of everything that our heroes fought and died for.
We do not shame the Filipinos and the Philippines by speaking out against the ills that plague our society. When Jose Rizal wrote and publish the Noli and the Fili, was it to shame the Filipinos and the Philippines? Had Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela not spoken out against black discrmination in South Africa, could Apartheid have ended? Truth does not shame. Truth hurts so we can see what ails our country.
The times call for courage.
Courage to stand up and speak out even if by doing so you invite ridicule and scorn.
Courage to stand resolute despite the overwhelming odds.
Courage to persevere even when those you fight for see you as the enemy.
When silence becomes complicity to evil, it must be drowned by the noise of truth.
Yvonne says
Well said @Den.
leona says
‘…rehabilitation of offenders’ KADAMAY offenders occupies the public and private properties. Now, the housing units.
They are now being rehaBILI to make more offenses on whatother things to occupy.
So? What rule of law? Nada! Rule of lowlessness nga!
KadaMO nila! [they’re so many]
Padamay ang role.
arc says
kadamay want everything for free. if water is connected to the houses they forcibly occupied, maybe, they dont want to pay water bills, ganon din yata sa electricity: gagamit sila pero ayaw mag-bayad. kadamay should be charged a fee, amelioration or others kahit subsidized. I think, the houses should not just be given to them, they can stay and live, on the condition that the land belongs to the govt. so years later, kadamay cannot sell the land where the houses are. else kadamay forms a big unified bloc and sell the whole subdivision or village to the highest bidder. and got themselves easy millions.
leona says
Informal settlers….used to be SQUATTERS, professionals and amateurs.
Public utilities like Meralco, Nawasa, Pldt, Cable TVs atbpa, will put CONNECTIONS to their illegal structures. They never secure building permits but legit homeowners are REQUIRED to show legit papers prior to any ‘connections’.
Ganoon ba? No wonder… life is happy and messy in ‘Pinas!
Their song could be ‘We’re the People! We’re the world!’
he he he
arc says
socialism, communism, etc. the state owns everything. kadamay may stay but cannot have properties owned by the state. dapat pinahiram lang sa kanila ang mga houses, and when times comes, the state can have the properties back.
vandr says
KADAKMA it is.
very good logic.
“the houses were there for sometime, no one occupies, so we did”.
bduts eventually gave the units to them.
sabi pa, “what to do? lumalaban, magkakasakitan lang, mahihirap naman sila.”
taralets, kanya-kanya na tayong DAKMA…lalaban din tayo..hehehe
arc says
ginawa rin yan ng tsina and occupied our territory. hindi kasi kayang ipaglaban ni digong kaya ibibigay nalang ang benham rise, shoal at iba pa.
andrewlim8 says
QUESTION FOR THE DAY:
If Duterte uses the “smell test” in firing corrupt officials he appointed, where just a “whiff” is enough to be removed, then why can’t he smell the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses?
Does he need to see a nose specialist?
Yvonne says
Duterte ran strongly on his platform of anti-corruption, and that’s why he took away the votes from Binay. Remember that from being a front-runner, Binay became the bottom dweller during the last presidential elections. Duterte did not take away votes from Roxas who was consistently running 3rd in surveys but finished 2nd.
For a relatively new administration, the Duterte government is already mired in several allegations of large scale corruptions which is contrary to the platform for which he was elected. No wonder his satisfaction rating is continuously going downhill.
Thus Duterte has no recourse but to fire some of his close allies or supporters to burnish his image and arrest the downward trajectory of his popularity.
It is all about image-making, and not about any real attempt at fighting government corruption. That’s why he can’t smell that of the Marcoses.
vandr says
yes, imo, it’s only a damage control move.
to mitigate the free fall.
as he is lying to the max, there is no way but fall.
hope he does a turnaround.
the beter 180 deg turn is to dig the wax, return the neck-brace sorceress behind bars and catch the chinks he let loose, to name a few.
leona says
O’ but I’m sure Duterte can smell alright that of the Marcoses but Duterte now is using that OXYGEN mask for breathing that of the Marcoses smell!
Duterlain perfume!
leona says
. . . ill-gotten wealth smell of the Marcoses? . . . that’s a trillion $$$$$$$$$$$$ smell!
canadadry says
Well said!
You just put in a few words what we all wanted to say which pretty much sums up Du30 regime: buhusan ng perfume Ang baho ng Marcos. Thank you for articulating.
karlgarcia says
Thanks Yvonne and Raissa.
leona says
OOT…but getting hot and hotter…
…more ‘firing’ that is ‘killing’ of gov’t usecs or otherwise…
Recall that movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’…scene of burning German soldatens jumping out of the pill boxes due to flame thrower fire by invading Allied US soldier…
‘Don’t shoot ’em! Let ’em burn!’ was one comment of a US soldier. Sizzling hot!
he he
Yvonne says
Thank you, too.
Yvonne says
Thank you Raissa for hosting my essay. Although I wrote it in remembrance of Alex, it is also a tribute to your courageous and tireless efforts to be in the forefront of the people’s fight to safeguard our freedom and protect our democracy against tyranny and dictatorship.
A free press is a tyrant’s worse enemy and, expectedly, unbiased professional journalists like you will bear the brunt of attacks from tyrants and their minions, just as they did with Alex. The relentless attacks, innuendoes, and threats on your person, in your blog site, and even in your twitter account, are not lost in us CPMers who share in your fight to preserve our freedom and democracy.
Please continue with your advocacy with the same vigor, courage, persistence, and great personal sacrifice as you have always done. We CPMers are solidly behind you.
leona says
Just to add on Alex Esclamado. . .
Alex Esclamado…I remember he was a “Jr.”? too…comes from Southern Leyte, if I’m not mistaken from Maasin or town of Macrohon, So. Leyte. He and his Family is known in those places.
He was a good fellow and came from simple good folks. He helped so many WW II veterans who went to the US as ‘immigrants’ and/or to collect their Back Pays, etc. He would house the Veterans by all means at his own expense plus any other assistance he could do for them.
He was also a WW II guerilla member, am not sure if regular or not. A busy man he was for our WW II Veterans plight here and specially in the USA. His wife’s name is Loli ( correct my spelling).
I came to know him for only about 6 months everyday and not much between us was exchange. As I said ‘So busy siya.’ My regrets.
Yvonne says
Alex was from Padre Burgos, Leyte, and a graduate of FEU. He was married to Lourdes or “Luly” (Sounds like “Loli”). Yes, he fought very hard for the welfare of Filipino farm workers in California and WWII veterans. He also worked very hard for the passage of an immigration law which substantially increased the quota of Filipino immigrants to the U.S.
Tambay says
thanks for this inspiring story Yvonne!
Yvonne says
And thank you for reading.
kalakala says
very informative. maraming salamat po.
duquemarino says
Agree