CHAPTER VIII: The Unholy Trinity

This chapter pretty much revolved around the life of Ferdinand Marcos,
Imelda Marcos before and after she became the First Lady, and Kokoy
Romualdez with all his illicit affairs.

Mijares, the author, described Mr. Marcos as “Gaining national notoriety as

the gunman in the Philippines' first known political assassination in 1935,
he was sought by Filipino guerrillas in 1945 for allowing a Japanese
convoy to pass through his line unmolested, winning the presidency in
1965 and reelection in 1969 through "guns, goons, and gold," and
becoming the Philippines' absolute dictator by 1972.” (p. 176)

Imelda Romualdez Marcos as “A miserably poor, but good looking barrio

lass, salesgirl in a piano wholesale-retail store in the early 1950s, made a
personal beauty queen by a dashing Cassanova-like mayor of Manila,
"gobernadora" of the Greater Manila area, aside from being a meddling
First Lady in exact negation of Cardinal Wolsey's historical protest that
"power does not lie between the legs of a woman," the world's seventh
richest woman.” (p. 176-177)

Lastly, Kokoy Romualdez as “A law graduate too scared to take the bar
examinations, errand boy of newspapermen then being spoiled by
ambitious politician Ferdinand E. Marcos, thrown out of the “Supper Club”
gambling casino of Ted Lewin for so many “sabit” (unsettled gambling
debts), “husband-in-law” to many husbands (both in the United States and
in the Philippines), now among the wealthiest Filipinos and holder of
gratuitously acquired equity shares in numerous foreign corporations
established in the Philippines, absentee governor of his native province of
Leyte, pretending to play the role of a Henry Kissinger for his brother-in-
law-President” (p. 177)

This had been called during the martial regime as “trinity power” in
Malacañang. And when Marcos finally passes away, "Kokoy" Romualdez
will attempt to fill Marcos' shoes. Kokoy will want to govern at the expense
of Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos (second and only son of Ferdinand
and Imelda’s loose union) at some point.

However, there is an ever-present threat of Imelda and her brother, Kokoy,

carrying out their plan to shove Marcos out of his tenuous Malacañang
pedestal. This is one of the considerations Marcos makes when he reminds
his abusive and arrogant Cabinet members that the dictatorship has not yet
stabilized adequately. It simply suggests that the ill-gotten wealth they have
amassed from the Filipino people is insufficient because they want to
replace the president who permitted them to commit those misdeeds on a
much larger scale in order to steal even more.

The First Lady and Kokoy have devised a plan to eliminate or liquidate the
President. They're going slowly now, claiming to be "doing everything for
the greatness of "Da lord." However, they have a difficult time keeping their
reasons, goals, and movements hidden from the prying eyes of Marcos'
Ilocano relatives and cronies.

All signs point to a timeline in which the sister-and-brother team will attempt
to establish their own combined control over the Philippines, 1) in the event
of Marcos’ sudden demise through causes sans human intervention, or 2)
when they perhaps might be able to knock off Marcos and rule on their
own. This may be seen in Imelda and Kokoy's voracious and insatiable
desire to accumulate as much wealth as they possibly could, both together
and separately.

On the home front, the Imelda-Kokoy operations go simultaneously. Imelda

cultivates local leaders' support by summoning them one by one to the
Palace; Kokoy does so with the help of Secretary of Local Government
Jose Rono and the League of Provincial Governors and City Mayors.

As a result, the gambit is obvious. Upon Marcos' death, Imelda would

emerge as the only obvious successor, given her position as
"gobernardora" of the country's largest metropolitan area, while Kokoy
would advise and support his sister.

Alternatively, they may believe that one day they will be strong enough to
depose President Marcos and thereby accelerate their takeover of power.
Then Imelda will be known as Queen Imelda, with total freedom to travel
across the world and throw lavish parties.

By arranging the simulated referendum for Marcos, Kokoy is strengthening

his position among governors and municipal mayors. He also ensures that
presidential favors granted or sought for governors and local mayors are so
clearly stated that they cannot be awarded without his approval.

But, Primitvo Mijares believes that the Imelda-Kokoy dream is unattainable.

They are nothing without Marcos. Their strength lies in Marcos’ strength. 
In other areas of government, however, the members of the unholy trinity
appear to be working in such close harmony and cooperation that it is easy
to forget that Imelda and Kokoy have a Sword of Damocles hovering over
Marcos' head at all times. Imelda and Kokoy have their own operations in
which the President appears to be uninterested.

Imelda’s obsession is to make the rich families who ignored, despised or

shied away from her when she was not yet the First Lady of the land pay
for their impudence by now forcing them to pay obeisance to her as the
Lady Dictator of the Philippines.

But what they consider insufferable is the paranoiac fits Imelda goes into
when, without warning, she would regale them with tales of men and
women, young and old, dirty and unwashed, swooning over her as she
passes them. All these, she would claim, mean that the people have
nothing but love and admiration and adoration for her.

As for Kokoy, he has made a deal with Imelda that he would establish their
power base among the officials of the local governments, who are more
numerous than the members of the armed forces which they have written
off as "lost" in the event of a power struggle with Enrile et al upon the
disability or demise of Dictator Marcos. Imelda and Kokoy realize that they
cannot rely on the armed forces for support to any Ilocano leader of
consequence in a post-Ferdinand power struggle — for the simple reason
that 70 percent of the manpower of the public armed forces are Ilocanos.
Thus, Imelda and Kokoy are concentrating on the local officials, making
them swear personal oaths of loyalty to them.

What is the logic behind a man's metamorphosis into a dictator? It began

with Ferdinand E. Marcos' decision to assassinate Julio Nalundasan, and
continued with his sorrow over his murder trial and the understanding that
he had failed to accomplish a perfect crime in shooting down Nalundasan.
Realizing that the ghost of Nalundasan would continue to haunt him, as
well as the fresh ghost of his scandals and wrongdoing in the President's
office, which he had degraded, Marcos sought to cover all of this up by
plunging into dictatorship.

In actuality, the three members of the unholy trinity in Malacanang are

bonded by the immorality of their respective lives and their bankrupt
morals.
 

Important quotes:

 “It was from Enrile that I first learned one of the tried and tested tactics
being employed by the brothers and sisters of Mrs. Marcos to get the
President to “make them presents,” grant concessions or yield in violation
of established policies on certain contracts involving multi-million peso
deals.” (p. 179)

“But what they consider insufferable is the paranoiac fits Imelda goes into
when, without warning, she would regale them with tales of men and
women, young and old, dirty and unwashed, swooning over her as she
passes them. All these, she would claim, mean that the people have
nothing but love and admiration and adoration for her.” (p. 182)

“It is the immorality of their respective lives, their bankrupt morals,

that bind, as a matter of fact, the three members of the unholy trinity
in Malacanang.” (p. 185) - Carmellae