August 21 1983. It was a Sunday morning.
I received a message through my handheld radio for Brig. Gen. Santiago Barangan, the commanding general of the Presidential Security Command, to immediately call the Command Operations Center. We were in the house of a friend of the general in Greenhills, San Juan for the swimming lessons of his grandchildren. After making that call, the general and I hurriedly left, leaving behind his grandchildren who were then already in the swimming pool. He did not tell me anything.
Upon our arrival in Malacañang Park, I saw mayhem all around. I saw our soldiers rushing out of their barracks. I even saw our tanks and APCs (armored personnel carriers) hurriedly moving to different defense positions. Some of their crew were hurriedly putting on their uniforms as they ran after their vehicles.
I would learn later that former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino had arrived and was shot dead at the Manila International Airport.
I was a staff sergeant then and the security escort and confidential secretary of the general. I was on duty to the general 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In his private office at the ground floor of Maharlika Hall, I used to attend to his classified documents. I remember reading up-to-date reports about Senator Aquino. But, I do not remember reading any report about his arrival that fateful day.
Aug. 22, 2013. I was with the general in the Premier Guest House beside Malacañang when President Ferdinand Marcos was interviewed live via satellite by an American TV station. That was the first time I saw the President after his days of hiding.
The President came in a wheelchair, assisted by his close-in security personnel. He seemed to be already dead. He could hardly move. He looked very old, his skin so pale and his hair was thinning. The Palace makeup artists took some time to fix his face and his hair. To face the TV cameras, his close-in security personnel bodily lifted him up to a chair on a small stage.
I never saw the President again after that.
As I knew then, he had been very sick for several months. I was with the general when they initially hid him in the Nisa (National Intelligence and Security Agency) Compound in Quezon City and later on in a private rest house in Baguio City.
Malacañang attacked
Then, there was a very big demonstration. There were confirmed reports that armed communist groups had joined the demonstrators and they would force their way to the Palace.
Hundreds of military and police personnel from other units were called in to augment the security force of Malacañang.
That afternoon, upon advice from the Command Operations Center that the demonstrators were already at Mendiola Bridge, General Barangan and I went to the area.
The general and I stayed right behind the rows of Metro Manila Transit Corp. buses that were then hurriedly driven there to block the entry to the bridge.
In front were rows of antiriot policemen. Behind them were several fire trucks, ambulances and hundreds of other antiriot soldiers and policemen practically filling up the entire area from the bridge to Gate 4 of Malacañang.
As far as I could see, demonstrators covered the whole Claro M. Recto Avenue and nearby streets. They practically occupied all available spaces—from narrow sidewalks to wide streets. They were very unruly. Their leaders continuously hurled their rhetoric enticing their followers to attack us. Stones, broken bottles and concrete were thrown at us.
General Barangan ordered the ground commander to give the demonstrators up to seven o’clock that night to disperse. I relayed all of his instructions through my radio.
The deadline came, but the demonstrators refused to budge. Instead, they hurled more stones at us.
The general then ordered the ground commander to disperse the demonstrators. But the antiriot policemen in the front line could not move. The demonstrators pelted them more with stones, concrete and broken bottles and started to attack.
The policemen pulled back in disarray.
The demonstrators ran after them. Soon they were able to reach the line of buses and burned them.
The general then called in the Marines. That was a very wise move on his part. Then a grenade exploded behind one of the fire trucks—just several feet away from me and the general. I saw firemen, soldiers and policemen simultaneously falling dead beside me.
A stampede followed.
The antiriot soldiers and policemen ran for their lives. Even the fire trucks and ambulances carrying our dead and wounded hurriedly backed out and drove straight to the Palace compound. The whole stretch of Mendiola, from the bridge to the Palace gates, was suddenly deserted.
Only the Marines remained.
The general was right in putting them in front. At that point they were the only line separating me and the general from the very angry crowd. Then we heard heavy continuous firing from Magsaysay Boulevard. The gunfire became louder and louder and were moving rapidly toward us.
In panic, the demonstrators dispersed in different directions. But some continued with their burning spree, targeting houses and electric posts along their way.
From Legarda Street, the speeding convoys of military trucks appeared. The soldiers on board kept on firing their guns into the air as they rapidly moved toward us. They were from the PAF Combat Group.
We were saved.
The general then ordered the antiriot groups that ran away to reorganize in Mendiola.
After that operation, General Barangan and I proceeded to the Guest House.
I saw him talk to First Lady Imelda Marcos only.
Mateo Trijo Doctor is a Don Carlos Palanca awardee (1979, first prize). He was only an airman first class when he was assigned to Malacañang. He stayed there from 1977 to 1984. That was his first unit assignment. He retired as a colonel in 2009.