Thank you for remembering

Having read the detailed report of Mateo Doctor (“Days after Ninoy’s death as seen from Malacañang,” Opinion, 8/31/13), I revisited, with dread and compounding fear, the scenes of one fateful day in 1986 when angry demonstrators burned and pillaged their way into Malacañang Palace and its grounds. It must have been very similar to the horrific scene that Colonel Doctor painted, when a phalanx of demonstrators meant to attack the Palace hours after Ninoy Aquino’s death in 1983. I can see it now: my father, Brig. Gen. Santiago Barangan, with his aide, standing, unarmed, behind a line of Marines, and a few feet away, the angry mob hurling explosives, broken bottles and stones.

The two scenarios, years apart, were matched as evidence of the gritty determination of my father to protect the Palace, as was his duty. In both instances, there was no blood shed among the demonstrators in spite of the heavy artillery, the Marines, the antiriot police and combat group. No guns were directed at the people—my father’s strict orders. In August 1983, Colonel Doctor mentioned firemen, policemen and soldiers dying from explosives hurled by demonstrators. In the latter incident, there were no deaths. Having lived through that incident, my father must have ordered the forces to lay down their arms to avoid any fatalities. I believe this, I know my father well.

I try to imagine my father’s silent face watch his countrymen whom he was protecting from bloodshed, as they burned, tore at and destroyed everything they could lay their hands on inside the Palace. His heart must have wilted watching the venom of rage overcome the very people he loved. The same people he fought for as a stalwart guerrilla in World War II. My father, the only high-ranking officer left to guard Malacañang, was doing his duty. His decisions were made with love for his country and countrymen.

We, his family, never knew the details of these incidents; my father, a disciplined soldier, always kept silent; he never talked about sensitive security matters. It was also his way of protecting us.  Colonel Doctor’s accounting of the August 1983 demonstration is the first time I have heard of this incident.

My father was a soldier; soldiers never die; they simply fade away. My father’s quiet bravery and his love for the Philippines, were validated and legitimized by Colonel Doctor’s report. General Barangan will always be alive because Colonel Doctor remembers.  Thank you, sir, for sharing.

—GERRI B. KORTEN,
Natick, Massachusetts, USA