The First Clinton-Trump Debate

The Clinton-Trump debate the other night reminds me of our debating

days in San Beda College (Mendiola) Manila, Philippines. Lessons on

Principles of Logic and Argumentation and Debate were very helpful

tools as I faced the challenges of professional life - be it as a lawyer,

business executive, or other fields of endeavor.

Argumentum Contra Factum Non Valet Illatio. (Arguing against facts is an invalid inference).

This does not require further explanation. The objective is to search

for the Truth. Once the facts are determined and asserted, no party

should be able to argue against it. Contradicting the facts would be a

falsehood defying the rules of Logic.

Americans are currently witnessing a widespread array of “untruths” or

“lies” mostly perpetrated by the Republican Presidential Nominee

Donald Trump. Getting away with it during the primaries, he is now

expecting to succeed in spreading the same lies in the general

election against Clinton.

The application of this principle is reinforced by the use of FACT-CHECKING.

Ab esse ad posse valet illatio. (From existence to possibility is a

valid inference).

Clinton applied this principle effectively at her first debate with Trump.

Many (Democrats and Republicans) have been exerting efforts for the

release of Trump’s Tax Returns. But the latter refused to allow its

release because he is supposedly being audited.

In the debate, Clinton asserted that Trump is hiding something. She

asserted the following:

          “First, maybe he's not as rich as he says he is.” (Is he

really worth 10 billion dollars?)

          “Second, maybe he’s not as charitable as he claims to

be.” (Did he really donate to the poor, hungry and disabled?)

         “Third, we don't know all of his business dealings, but

we have been told through investigative reporting that he owes about

$650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn't

want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that

he's paid nothing in federal taxes, because the only years that

anybody's ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them

over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license,

and they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax.”

For this Trump commented, “That makes me smart.”

Again, as Clinton stated,  “So if he's paid zero, that means zero for

troops, zero for vets, zero for schools or health. And I think

probably he's not all that enthusiastic about having the rest of our

country see what the real reasons are, because it must be something

really important, even terrible, that he's trying to hide.

And the financial disclosure statements, they don't give you the tax

rate. They don't give you all the details that tax returns would. And

it just seems to me that this is something that the American people

deserve to see. And I have no reason to believe that he's ever going

to release his tax returns, because there's something he's hiding.”

For tax returns that Trump filed and were discovered, they showed that

he did not pay any federal income tax implying that it was a smart

move. For tax returns that are still unreleased, it is very possible

that no or very little taxes were also paid.

“From Existence to Possibility is a valid inference.”

MARCOS ‘ War Time Activities

 Marcos’s wartime activities during World War II can be divided into the following:

1.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits in Bataan (Period Covering January – April, 1942);

2.                  Non-Heroic Exploits around the Philippines (Period Covering May, 1942-December, 1944); and

3.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits in Kiangan, Mt. Province (Period covering January – April, 1945).

Notice that the first period covers only about four months; the last one covers also four months while the middle period where no heroic exploits or no medals awarded to Marcos covers about two and a half years which is most of the wartime period.

Analyzing the events, if you center on MacArthur’s presence, the wartime activities of Marcos can also be divided into the following:

1.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits while MacArthur was around;

2.                  Non-Heroic Exploits in the absence of MacArthur; and

3.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits after the return of MacArthur.

This article focuses on the first period.

The Alleged Heroic Exploits in Bataan while MacArthur was still around.

It was in Bataan where he allegedly earned his first medals. As his drumbeaters led by his hagiographer Hartzell Spence wrote, “Marcos single-handedly delayed the Fall of Bataan temporarily”. In another instance, it was proclaimed that “Marcos delayed the Fall of Bataan by three months”. Later on, the apologists declared that he “considerably” delayed it, and during his 1982 US State Visit, his Ministry of Information settled on the delay as “weeks”.

It was also alleged that MacArthur called him a one-man Army. He allegedly received among others not only a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star and a Purple Heart but he was also recommended for a US Congressional Medal of Honor.

When World War II broke out, the Philippines was still a colony of the United States. The Philippine Army and the fighting guerillas were all under the command of the United States Military. Awards, decorations, back pay benefits, reparation and other claims were reviewed and granted by US military authorities. Any of the former involving World War II is kept in the US military archives. All documents and files supporting any claim or award are stored in pre-designated archives. Decisions on any application for reparations or recognition for back pay benefits are also found in the same archives.

The reporters of the Washington Post and the New York Times, researchers and historians have scoured and meticulously examined the Philippine War records. They found no documentary evidence supporting any of the awards allegedly given to Marcos. John Sharkey of the Washington Post interviewed Philippine and American survivors of the war and looked into the personal files of Marcos at the U.S. military records center in St. Louis, Missouri. He found no evidence to substantiate the claims of Marcos. He also could not find “any independent, outside corroboration” to buttress the claim that Marcos was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

According to US Army rules and as recorded in the files, awardees usually receive a letter from the GHQ of the appropriate command such as USIP, USAFFEE, SWAP, AFWESPAC, etc; and general orders that contain the details of the citation.

When asked about the absence of any authentic documentation, then Marcos’ Minister of Information Cendana came up with a very convenient excuse; “the fire that burned a portion of the military archives in St. Louis, Missouri.”

Colonel Boni Gillego who also did extensive research on the issue came up with this response to Cendana’s lame excuse; “It seems that this fire was so selective and discriminating as to destroy only the documents among others that would substantiate Marcos’ claims. Actually, most of the documents in the St. Louis archives had been previously duplicated and dispersed to other archives. In effect, it is not difficult to reconstruct a veteran’s record once certain details such as date of birth and serial number are furnished.”

Gillego went further by citing some examples. One is the case of Sgt. Ambrosio Lappay of Angadena, Isabela - an unsung but genuine, not counterfeit, war hero. There exists on record G.O., dated March 13, 1942, issued by USAFFE Headquarters awarding him for “extraordinary heroism in action in the vicinity of Trail No. 7 and the Pilar-Bagac Road, Bataan, Philippines on 17 February 1942.” He also noted that the order was issued less than a month after the performance.

Another example mentioned by Gillego is the case of our ace Captain Jesus Villamor (after whom the Villamor Air Base was named). He received his Distinguish Service Cross Medal per G.O. No. 48, USAFFE Headquarters, dated 21 December 1942 for engaging Japanese zero fighters in aerial combat on the 10^th and 12^th of December 1941. It was General MacArthur himself who pinned the DSC Medal on Villamor.

Marcos allegedly received a letter from Major J.A. Marshall, Assistant Adjutant General, USFIP acknowledging the validity of his claim. To verify the assertion in the letter, Sharkey requested the Department of the Army for confirmation. The reply to Sharkey was that “search of USFIP special and general orders has found nothing conveying an award to Marcos.”

As Sharkey was doing his research, he also found two official lists of some 120 Americans and Filipinos who were awarded the DSC during the Bataan campaign. One list was transmitted to the War Department in Washington, D.C. by General Jonathan M. Wainwright on April 12 shortly before his surrender. The other, “List of Recipients of Awards and Decorations issued between December 7, 1941 through June 30, 1945,” was compiled by General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo after the end of the war.

The name of Ambrosio Lappay appears in both lists. The name of Ferdinand E. Marcos does not. Strange!

Marcos’ Foreign Affairs Secretary Carlos P. Romulo authored the books, “I Saw the Fall of the Philippines” (Garden City, Double Day, 1946) and “I Walked With Heroes” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1961). There was no mention of Marcos in either of the books. The heroes that Romulo walked with did not include Marcos.

In Romulo’s broadcast, “The Voice of Freedom”, the exploits of heroes in Corregidor and Bataan were told. Survivors said Marcos was never mentioned. Yet this man was depicted by his hagiographers as one who singlehandedly delayed the fall of Bataan by three months.

William Manchester, author of “American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1978) never mentioned Marcos despite citing Romulo as one of his sources.

Paraphrasing Boni Gillego; “To borrow Churchill’s felicitous phrase, Marcos’ award for his Bataan exploits is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.”

Regarding the alleged statement of MacArthur that “Marcos was a one man Army”, no confirmation could be found in the General’s own “Reminiscences” (New York: McGraw Hill, 1964).

Lastly, Marcos claimed that he was recommended for a U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor ala Sergeant York of World War I and Audie Murphy of World War II. General Wainwright allegedly gave instructions by phone to General Capinpin to write the letter of recommendation. The letter was supposedly lost during the confusing transfer from Bataan to Corregidor.

Like the others no authentic document supporting the claim could be found. Marcos had the chance to confirm the instructions and recommendation from General Wainwright and General Capinpin, respectively when they were still alive. As Gillego asserted, it was not done because it was untrue. Expectedly, no U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor was ever awarded.

MESSAGE – LNMB vs. MARCOS

(Read at the Philippine Embassy Rally on September 7, 2016)

by

Tina M. Maynigo

We speak as former refugees from the Marcos dictatorship. My father, Raul Manglapus, founded the Movement for a Free Philippines (MFP) to influence the US government to withdraw support for the Marcos dictatorship.  Manglapus found it hard to change the US policy toward Marcos because the prevailing political, military, industrial, complex were hesitant to disappoint a supposed war hero.  Because of this perception, Manglapus organized a committee led by Colonel Bonifacio Gillego and Dr. Gaston Ortigas to research the truth about Marcos.

They discovered the following:

1. his medals were fake;

2. he was a fake hero, his war exploits were all fabricated;

3. his  Maharlika claims were adjudged to be false and criminal;

4. his regime committed human rights violations and atrocities; and

5. Marcos and his cronies plundered the country.

During this same period, both the New York Times and the Washington Post conducted the same investigation of Marcos and his fake medals and reached the same conclusion.

The 1986 Edsa people power revolution ousted Marcos from office.  He was removed as President and Commander in Chief by a sovereign act of the people.  This sovereign act is a higher act than an act by a military tribunal or a civilian tribunal.  It cannot be questioned because once a revolution succeeds, then it becomes legitimate and valid.  The 1987 constitution is based on the edsa revolt.

You cannot change that act without invalidating the constitution.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) regulation states that if you are a medal of valor awardee while you are in the military and after you retire you join the government and while in government you are dishonorably discharged for an offense, you are no longer qualified to be buried in the Libingan ny mga Bayani (LNMB)

Marcos was not a medal of valor awardee.  His medals were fake.  He is not a hero,  And he was ousted from office by a sovereign act of the people.  AFP regulations clearly disqualify him from being buried in LNMB. 

Our stand is based on facts not emotion.  We oppose the Marcos Burial at LIbingan ng mga Bayani!

Dreaming...Hoping...Living...Fighting...Succeeding

Below is An article that I wrote six years ago (August 31, 2010). I thought that my new Facebook friends and relatives might be interested in reading it.

Dreaming…Hoping…Living…Fighting…Succeeding

August 28, 1963 was the day I first set foot on U.S. soil. I arrived in San Francisco, California together with a plane full of teenagers coming from Asia. We were designated as “Ambassadors of Goodwill”. I was one of the American Field Service (AFS) International Scholars selected from several countries. We first assembled at the beautiful campus of Stanford University and then we were dispersed all over the United States to live with American families and to study our senior year of high school. We were commissioned to learn the American culture, customs and traditions and to impart our own native culture to the local American community we lived in.

August 28, 1963 was also the day that marked the realization of a boyhood dream. As a boy coming from the rural town of Rosales, Pangasinan, Philippines who used to walk past the “Hanging Bridge” over the Totonogen Creek daily, I felt triumphant reaching the “Golden Gate Bridge” over the San Francisco Bay, to finally land in the place which Daniel J. Boorstin described “….. a land of dreams. A land where the aspirations of people from countries cluttered with rich, cumbersome, aristocratic, ideological pasts can reach for what once seemed unattainable. Here they have tried to make dreams come true.”

As the Philippine contribution to the evening talent show in Stanford University, I became part of a trio who rendered the song entitled “Maalaala Mo Kaya?” (Do You Remember?). Yes, indeed. I still remember that day and that night. Paraphrasing the words of Filipino poet, Rolando Carbonel, “it was beyond forgetting – part of my dreams, my early hopes, my youth and my ambitions – that in all my tasks I can’t help remembering…” 

August 28, 1963 was also the day when about 2800 miles away, at the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his now famous, meaningful and historical speech, “I Have a Dream.” He said, “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I arrived in Seal Beach, California the next day to start a year of learning and teaching new ways. I attended Huntington Beach-Marina High School which I understood to be the most modern high school in the United States at that time. A school of no black enrollment, I was one of only two foreign students – the other coming from India. On inquiries regarding the Philippines and India, we both became “call centers”. With John F. Kennedy (JFK) as President, and Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) as Attorney General, it was a year of great inspiration, high achievement motivation, and definitely, of big dreams. JFK spoke of landing on the moon within a few years and exhorting the American people to, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” RFK made famous the words of George Bernard Shaw, “Some people see things as they are and say, why? I dream of things that never were and say, why not?”

It was also a year of turbulence, challenges and excitement. I still remember vividly where I was and what I was doing when JFK was assassinated. It was in a speech class – the class which gave me opportunities and challenges to represent our high school in speech tournaments

Involving original oratory, impromptu and debate. The opportunities won me several 1st place trophies and gold medals, a Philippine Free Press Magazine feature and an interview with the Washington Post. Living in the beautiful beach cities of Southern California in the year of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones in the middle of a sexual revolution, it was an era full of excitement and “Happy Days”. Meeting with Robert F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C. at the end of a yearlong journey was obviously the most exciting and unexpected consequence of a realized boyhood dream.    

“I shall leave you now with a heavy heart. But believe me I shall be coming back. When I do, you shall be proud of me,” said my valedictory address. Back in the Philippines and proud as a hometown boy making good in America, I entered college with even bigger dreams. We had to

dream big, for as Johann von Goethe said, “dreaming small dreams has no power to move the hearts of men.” Becoming president of the Student Council, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors and recipient of San Beda’s Abbot’s Award, the highest award on Academic Excellence and Student Leadership, I was luckily recruited to join the Christian Social Movement and became the leader of its youth arm. We called it the Young Christian Socialists of the Philippines (YCSP).

Together with some noble, idealistic, visionary and patriotic men and women, we had a dream: “the creation of a Philippine society based on human dignity, built on justice and dedicated to progress – where every man may develop and fulfill himself according to his ability and in the service of his fellowmen.” We also dreamt of political equality, economic parity and social equity for all.

As Dom Helder Camara said, “When we are dreaming alone, it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality.”

Leadership of the said youth group brought me to places like the Vatican successfully advocating for Post-Vatican II church reforms, and to several countries in Europe and Latin America joining other members of the International Union of Young Christian Democrats (IUYCD) in espousing the democratization of Christianity and the Christianization of democracy.

About 7 years (1970) after rendering that song “Do You Remember?” in Stanford campus, I came back to the U.S. as one of the youth delegates to the World Youth Assembly in New York City sponsored by the United Nations. As in 1963, it was also a year of turbulence. The Vietnam War was raging, liberation movements were being born and rapidly growing and the youth worldwide were restless. Outside the assembly was another conference which brought together the revolutionary movements in the United States. Invited as one of the speakers, I met representatives of the Black Panthers Party, the Puerto Rican Young Lords, Women’s Liberation Movement, Gay Liberation, Gray Liberation, Black Community for Self-Defense and many more reform-minded organizations. I made sure to visit the headquarters of the Puerto Rican Young Lords at the Bronx, New York City and that of the Black Panthers Party in Oakland, California before going back to the Philippines.

For many Americans, Martin Luther King’s dream remained as one, and the means to achieve it progressed or retrogressed from peaceful to a more radical aggressive manner.

Another 7 years later (1977), I came back to the United States with my family, as a United Nations-registered political refugee, having fled a country run by a dictator. Disguised as Muslim barter traders, we traveled via kumpit or pump boat, chased by pirates in the high seas and escorted by Muslims armed with sub-machine guns and a Badjao (seaman) navigating a compass-less boat.

Living in the United States was always temporary for me. I never adjusted to permanent residence and citizenship status until many years later despite being qualified much earlier. As we got absorbed by the American way of life, and as we raised our natural born Filipino and American children, our dreams were also “deeply rooted in the American dream.”

Never losing our Filipino cultural identity, and having benefited from the struggles, sacrifices, advocacies and challenges faced by both our Filipino and American forefathers, my family joined the ranks of dual citizens who are very appreciative of what they have achieved and dedicated.

Life is all about dreams. “Dream, dream, dream,” sang the Everly Brothers.

“Dreams are the touchstones of our character”, said Henry David Thoreau. “Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions,” Edgar Cayce also said.

Eleanor Roosevelt told us, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” while Robert Conklin asserted that “Dreams get you into the future and add excitement to the present.”

August 28, 2010 is the 47th year anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. The latter spoke of his dream, his hope and his faith. Mormon Glenn Beck also spoke of MLK’s dream but focused on restoring honor and faith. Christian preacher Al Sharpton also commemorated MLK’s speech but spoke more of still unfulfilled dreams.

To many others, they echo Edward Kennedy’s words, “The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.”

To Joe Darion, “Dream the impossible dream. Fight the unbeatable foe. Strive with your last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable star.”

To me, by all means let us all dream. For it is in dreaming that we hope; it is in hoping that we live; it is in living that we fight; and it is in fighting that we succeed.