Thirty Years Later . . . Catching Up with the Marcos-Era Crimes. Myles Garcia
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country sequestered by the PCGG (with a 2006-appraised value of PhP511 million), two Cessna planes, a sea vessel owned by Sierra Madre Wood Industries Incorporated, and various assets in the name of Alfonso D. Lim—be returned to the Republic.
The anti-graft court also found that “For one Filipino out of 55 million to own, operate or in one form or another be financially interested in more than 600,000 hectares out of a total forest land of 14 million hectares is certainly unfair, unacceptable, and unconstitutional by any standard."
“So influential was Lim, Sr that he and Taggat Industries and sister companies (Sierra Madre Wood Industries, Inc., Pamplona Redwood Veneer Incorporated) received certain timber-related benefits without the knowledge, let alone approval, of the MNR [Ministry of Natural Resources]."
Lucio Tan
The perfect epitome of the self-made taipans (first generation mainland Chinese immigrants to the Philippines), Tan started out with almost nothing and rose to being one of the two richest men in his adopted country. But that success was not without controversy—tax evasion charges, lucrative friendships with presidents Marcos and Estrada which indeed landed him prime business opportunities in the country.
Tan knew Marcos even before FM became president. But it was during the Marcos years that Tan grew phenomenally rich. In 1966, he started Fortune Tobacco, which in a dozen years, going into the martial law years, would become the country’s largest cigarette manufacturer, and the cornerstone of Tan’s business empire. Critics have charged: “It was during martial law that Tan apparently developed his extensive patronage relationship with Marcos, winning extensive tax, financing and regulatory concessions in exchange for direct cash payments and political contributions to KBL (Marcos’ political party) and its candidates.”
During that protected period, Asia Brewery was set up in 1982, challenging the monopoly of San Miguel Corp. and therefore in direct competition with the other crony, Danding Cojuangco, who had gained control of the venerable San Miguel Brewery. It was speculated that Fortune and Asia Brewery’s quick rise to the top would not have been possible without special tax breaks from Marcos who, of course was cut in on the two big conglomerates.
In 1984-85, two years before the Fall of the House of Marcos, Tan tried to do a Disini in acquiring residency in Austria, using the same mechanisms and politicians which secured Austrian citizenship for Disini. While money was no object in that pursuit, it didn’t work out for Tan, and he failed to secure Austrian papers.
In 1993, Tan secured control of the country’s airline carrier Philippine Air Lines (PAL). His other businesses which flourished during martial and make up the rest of the Tan portfolio are Allied Bank, Philippine National Bank, Century Park Sheraton, Tanduay Distillers, Eton Properties, and University of the East, the biggest private university in the Philippines.
Most of these companies were investigated and sequestered after the fall of his boss, Marcos. But in December 7, 2007, the Philippine Supreme Court curiously removed the state’s sequestration of Tan’s companies, decreeing that “there can be no question that indeed, petitioner’s orders of sequestration are void and have no legal effect.” Really? As of 2015, Tan retained his spot on the Forbes List as the Philippines’ second richest man, with assets of $5.4 billion.
Geronimo Velasco
One of the most enterprising of Marcos’ cronies and the richest member of his cabinet was his energy minister, Geronimo Velasco whose “oil and energy” portfolio proved to be very lucrative both for him and Marcos. A former president of Dole Pineapple Philippines, the local subsidiary of Castle & Cooke, Velasco’s net worth at the time of Marcos’ fall and when government agents were starting to investigate him, was estimated to be around $50 million. He had properties in the most expensive areas of the Philippines and California, as well as the following corporations: Bataan Refining, Dole, Manila Memorial Park, Phil. Aerospace Dev. Corp., Phil. National Bank, Republic Glass, and at least thirty others as of the Manapat book listing in 1991.
Hers
Imelda, of course, when it seemed like she was going to become Heir Apparent later on, had to have her own support network of allies, financiers, generals, local politicians, etc. The Blue Ladies from the 1965 and 1969 campaigns were a start. (More on the Blue Ladies in Chapter III.)
First on Imelda’s “Most Favored” List were her brothers and sisters, starting with the brother closest to her, Benjamin (“Kokoy”). Not only was the small-time lawyer and one-time gofer for Marcos, one-time ambassador to the US, China, and Saudi Arabia, but Kokoy also got among the biggest spoils of war and peace from his sister and brother-in-law. Kokoy ended up being the majority shareholder of Meralco Company (formerly owned by the Lopezes) and Benguet Consolidated, the oldest, most lucrative mining company in the Philippines and first one traded on the NY Stock Exchange.
A second brother, Alfredo (“Bejo,” father of my ex-classmate, Margarita), got the shipbuilding and (off-shore) gambling concessions (later transferred onshore), among others. Sister Alita was married to Rudy Martel, whose family and own the Harrison Plaza/Century Park Sheraton property and steel (Marsteel), also among other concerns. There are others.
Antonio Floirendo
The best example of a “His and Hers” crony, who played and fulfilled the roles that serviced both Sir and Ma’am, was Antonio Floirendo, also sometimes known as “the banana king” during the heyday Marcos years. Floirendo started his career as a car salesman in Davao City (southern Philippines), selling Ford vehicles and parts in the late 1940s (although he graduated with a degree in mining engineering from Adamson University).
From Manapat’s book: “He overcame those modest beginning by slowly and shrewdly cultivating his connections with ruling politicians, starting from the administration of president Carlos Garcia in the late 1950s. He perfected the art of currying the favor of politicians during the 20-year rule of Marcos and used it to join the select group of Marcos cronies.”
“At the height of his economic power, Floirendo held one of the biggest banana plantations in the world, fronted for Marcos in a New York-based international sugar trading company, and served as Imelda’s dummy in many multimillion real estate deals in New York and shell corporations based in the Netherlands Antilles. He is now a millionaire with interests in agri-business, real estate, banking, and transportation. A high point in this former car salesman’s social climb was the marriage of his son, Antonio, ‘Tony Boy,’ Jr. to a Filipina who had earlier won the Miss Universe title.”
(That was Margie Moran who won the Miss Universe title in Greece in 1973. Today, she runs the Floirendo family’s Davao Pearl Farm, which used to belong to the Aguinaldos. Floirendo’s daughter, Linda, also married another son of Manila’s mestizo, Forbes Park-elite, Tonet Lagdameo, whose father was an ex-Ambassador to the US during Marcos I-Era years; Tonet’s older sister is married to Oscar Lopez, and an older brother, Tito, is married to Aurora Cojuangco, Danding’s youngest sister. So again with the crisscrossing, ruling Manila elite connections.)
Manapat continues: “Beyond serving as a business associate of the Marcoses, Floirendo is also a close friend who catered to their personal needs. When the Marcosess were in Davao, they stayed at the Floirendo mansion in the mammoth banana plantation Floirendo owned. The estate has a magnificent house, complete with a pool and waterfall. They threw lavish parties for the First Family and flew down planeloads of guests, food and drinks and entertainers from Manila, right in the midst of deplorable living and working conditions of the plantation workers. Wealthy and politically prominent, Floirendo figured as one of the more faithful businessmen in Imelda’s back-up group of Filipino industrialists. He was a regular member of Madame’s entourage in her trips abroad and invariably underwrote a good portion of her traveling expenses. When Mrs. Marcos visited New York in October 1985 to speak during the 40th anniversary of the United Nations, Floirendo was part of her caravan. In that trip, he was feted as Guest of Honor in one of the dinners with Mrs. Marcos as a reward for his services to the Marcos couple.”
Floirendo