When Marcos was ousted in Feb. 1986, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) was ready for operation. Cory Aquino who in influenced by the Lopezes decided to shelve the project costing the Philippines about $2 billion and the power crisis of 1990′s.
Then Cory gave Meralco back to the Lopezes for free. The Marcos regime paid the Lopezes for the utilities and made improvements thereon. This is why the Lopezes “as a token of gratitude” gave Kris Aquino lucrative contracts to host a show with ABS-CBN TV.
Here’s a timeline:
More betrayal: Part 2: 1986 to 1989
Feb. 26, 1986 – President Corazon Aquino reverts Meralco ownership back to the López Family, without requiring the Lopezes to pay for the state-funded improvements done during Martial Law. She also enacted an executive order that allowed the company to directly compete with Napocor.
March 5, 1986 – Cory Aquino despite objections from top military advisers, orders the release of Joma Sison, Dante Buscayno and other communists captured during the Marcos regime. Sison was the principal suspect in the Aug. 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing.
March 7, 1986 – Cory Aquino gives Wigberto Tañada son of former Sen. Lorenzo Tañada, the lucrative position of Bureau of Customs commissioner. When the power crisis started because the Bataan nuclear power plant was shelved as Cory Aquino’s favor to the Lopezes, Cory Aquino anointed Aboitiz to be the only importer of power generators at the expense of the Filipino people.
March 25, 1986 – Cory Aquino establishes a revolutionary government under Proclamation No. 3 abolishing the abolishing the Bataasang Pambansa (Parliament), the legislative branch of government and scrapping the 1973 constitution ironically saying that constitution was created during Martial Law.
June 16, 1986 – Cory Aquino sends her Secretary of Foreign Affairs to China to establish closer ties with the country she will later declare her ancestral land.
July 24, 1987 – Cory Aquino’s government files three more suits seeking the return of a vast fortune it says deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos stole from the country. One accuses a Marcos associate of taking kickbacks from the Westinghouse Electric Corp.
See: Suit revives claim of improper WE payments
Pittsburgh Post- Friday, Gazette July 24, 1987 page 9
April 15, 1988 – Cory Aquino meets with Chinese leaders in a state visit to her ancestral land. In Fujian province, Mrs. Aquino visited her ancestral village of Hongjian. Mrs. Aquino’s great-grandfather, Xu Yuhuan, lived there until leaving for the Philippines 120 years ago. In Fujian province, Mrs. Aquino visited her ancestral village of Hongjian. Mrs. Aquino’s great-grandfather, Xu Yuhuan, lived there until leaving for the Philippines 120 years ago.
“I came to China for reasons of state and for reasons personal to me, for I am both head of state of my country and , in a way, a daughter of this village,” she told 49 relatives she was meeting for the first time.
December 2, 1988 – The Philippine government announces that it is suing Westinghouse Electric Corp. for punitive damages over a $2.1 billion nuclear plant that Manila says is too dangerous to operate. President Corazon Aquino announced that the government had filed suit in New Jersey alleging that the company had bribed former President Ferdinand Marcos to win the contract.
See: MANILA SUES U.S. FIRM OVER NUCLEAR PLANT
Miami Herald – Friday, December 2, 1988 – 24D FRONT
April 10, 1989 – A U.S. judge was to decide on the merits of Cory Aquino government’s case against a U.S. corporation, Westinghouse. Washington lawyer Mark Augenblick said in a brief ARGUING AGAINST ARBITRATION. “We deal here with a criminal scheme of bribery, graft and fraud carried out by the defendants at the highest level of the Philippine government. It is a sordid tale of greed and corruption that resulted in enormous financial injury to the people of the Philippines.”
See: US Judge to Decide If Westinghouse Bribed Marcos for BNPP 04-10-89
By FRANCES ANN BURNS – Schenectady Gazette Monday, April 10, 1989 p. 2
Later Cory Aquino settled the case but did not operate the nuclear plant. So who do you think benefited from this scheme? The peso-dollar exchange rate was then around P26 to 28:$1.
September 1989 – Wigberto Tañada, now a senator chairs the justice and blue ribbon committees, undertakes the investigation of the Plaza Miranda bombing to look into Aquino II’s role in the bombing of his own political party’s rally on Aug. 21, 1971 when (Ninoy) Aquino II conveniently came in late thus was spared from the bombing.
November 1989 – Wigberto Tañada’s appointment as Bureau of Customs was not wasted as Wigberto conveniently did not finish the inquiry citing the failed coup in Nov. 1989 against Cory Aquino.
Sen. Wigberto Tañada led the “Magnificent 12”, the group of senators who rejected a new lease for the US Naval Base in Subic and rid the Philippines of the U.S. bases in Clark and Subic.
March 5, 1992 – In the middle of the power crisis, Pres. Cory Aquino settles the lawsuit against Westinghouse settle lawsuit. During the 1986 election campaign against Marcos, Aquino promised that the plant would never be operated if she was elected. Naturally, the Lopezes wanted her to win since they do not have nuclear technology.
Aquino made good on the promise not to operate the plant but agreed to honor debt commitments until the legality of the loans was determined.
From this time on presidential daughter Kris Aquino was never without a TV show contract from Lopez-owned ABS-CBN and its affiliates.
The Philippines pays $300,000 a day in interest on the plant loans. That has led to calls from congress and the media to stop payments on the Bataan loans even before the issue is settled in court.”
Pres. Cory Aquino, Westinghouse settle lawsuit 03-05-92
Kentucky New Era Thursday, March 5, 1992 Page 6A
By Joseph Neff – Associated Press Writer
Winners: The Lopezes and Cory Aquino’s Kamag-Anak Inc. Losers: The Filipino people.
REFERRENCES:
Proclamation No. 3, s. 1986
Posted on March 25, 1986
http://www.gov.ph/1986/03/25/proclamation-no-3-s-1986-2/
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See:’Bombing proved Sison’s logic correct’
By Jovito Salonga – Philippine Daily Inquirer June 18, 2001
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Wigberto Tañada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigberto_Ta%C3%B1ada
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AQUINO government frees COMMUNIST guerrilla leaders 03-05-1986
Williamson Daily News, Wednesday, March 05, 1986
Page 14
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Philippines Seeks Ties With China 06-16-86
Wilmington Morning Star / Monday, June 16, 1986
Associated Press
PEKING — Salvador Laurel, vice president and foreign minister of the Philippines, praised China as a model for developing countries Sunday.
“We come to you not only in friendship but we come to you to learn,” Laurel said on the first day of his official visit here, the first visit to China by a top Filipino official since President Corazon Aquino took power in February.
Yuchengco said his government hopes the talks will contribute to righting a trade imbalance that favors China.
(Salvador Laurel was the son of traitor and collaborator Jose P. Laurel the president of the Japanese-sponsored government during the Japanese occupation in World War II.)
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Cory Aquino meets with Chinese Leaders 04-15-88
Deseret News Friday, April 15, 1988
Page 2 A
1986 – 1989: Filipinos betrayed once again (like mother like son)
Mrs. Aquino and Li are likely to discuss the warfare in Cambodia. Both China and the Philippines, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations back the resistance forces battling Vietnamese troops in Cambodia. (Cory Aquino supported the Cambodian genocide that Vietnam opposed.)
In Fujian province, Mrs. Aquino visited her ancestral village of Hongjian. Mrs. Aquino’s great-grandfather, Xu Yuhuan, lived there until leaving for the Philippines 120 years ago.
Village residents waved yellow banners and Chinese and Philippine flags and set off firecrackers while a school band played.
At the Xu family ancestral temple, which had been restored and painted for the visit, Mrs. Aquino burned incense and bowed three times before the memorial tablets.
“I came to China for reasons of state and for reasons personal to me, for I am both head of state of my country and , in a way, a daughter of this village,” she told 49 relatives she was meeting for the first time.
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Cory Aquino meets with Chinese Leaders 04-15-88
Deseret News Friday, April 15, 1988
Page 2 A
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Philippines Seeks Ties With China 06-16-86
Wilmington Morning Star / Monday, June 16, 1986
Still another betrayal this time like father like son.
Philippines Seeks Ties With China 06-16-86
Wilmington Morning Star / Monday, June 16, 1986
Associated Press
PEKING — Salvador Laurel, vice president and foreign minister of the Philippines, praised China as a model for developing countries Sunday.
“We come to you not only in friendship but we come to you to learn,” Laurel said on the first day of his official visit here, the first visit to China by a top Filipino official since President Corazon Aquino took power in February.
Yuchengco said his government hopes the talks will contribute to righting a trade imbalance that favors China.
(Salvador Laurel was the son of traitor and collaborator Jose P. Laurel the president of the Japanese-sponsored government during the Japanese occupation in World War II.)
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US Judge to Decide If Westinghouse Bribed Marcos for BNPP 04-10-89
By FRANCES ANN BURNS – Schenectady Gazette Monday, April 10, 1989 p. 2
Washington lawyer Mark Augenblick said in a brief arguing against arbitration. “We deal here with a criminal scheme of bribery, graft and fraud carried out by the defendants at the highest level of the Philippine government. It is a sordid tale of greed and corruption that resulted in enormous financial injury to the people of the Philippines.”
The 1991 power crisis was created by Lopezes-Cory Aquino-Aboitiz when Cory Aquino was persuaded by the Lopezes not to operate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. After coming for a homecoming visit from China, Cory was determined to get rid of the Americans. Cory sued Westinghouse electric alleging bribery. Later she settled for some amount and the Philippines was stuck with the World Bank loan. While the Lopezes got the government owned Meralco for free.
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MANILA SUES U.S. FIRM OVER NUCLEAR PLANT
Miami Herald – Friday, December 2, 1988 – 24D FRONT
The Philippine government said Thursday that it is suing Westinghouse Electric Corp. for punitive damages over a $2.1 billion nuclear plant that Manila says is too dangerous to operate. President Corazon Aquino announced that the government had filed suit in New Jersey alleging that the company had bribed former President Ferdinand Marcos to win the contract. Westinghouse has denied any wrongdoing and says that the plant is safe with minor modifications. It also has said that U.S….
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Suit revives claim of improper WESTINGHOUSE payments
Pittsburgh Post- Friday, Gazette July 24, 1987 page 9
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The government filed three more suits yesterday seeking the return of a vast fortune it says deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos stole from the country.
One accuses a Marcos associate of taking kickbacks from the Westinghouse Electric Corp.
The new civil suits filed with a special anti-graft court, add 13 defendants to the government’s legal attempt to recoup Marcos’ alleged “ill-gotten wealth.”
Each seeks return of the $10 billion the government says Marcos plundered during 20 years in power, plus $2.5 billion in various damages. The three suits raise the total sought so far from more than 100 defendants to $57.7 billion.
One claims businessman Hermino Disini “obtained staggering commissions from Westinghouse in exchange for securing the nuclear plant contract from the Philippine government.”
It accuses businessman Rodolf Jacob of executing the contract and claims Westinghouse “built an inoperable nuclear facility in the country for a scandalously exorbitant amount that included defendants’ staggering commissions.”
Westinghouse spokesman Ron Hart said the company has acknowledged paying about $17 million in commissions to two corporations associated with Disini for “obtaining and implementing the contract for the nuclear power plant,” but added:
“There have been numerous private and governmental investigations and there has been no evidence that nay of the commissions were passed through to Marcos or his associates.”
He said two authoritative agencies, including the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, had supported the Westinghouse position that the plant is ready to take on nuclear fuel.
Westinghouse has not seen the lawsuit, the spokesman said.
The plant, on the Bataan peninsula northwest of Manila, has not begun operation.
Philippine officials demanded that Westinghouse install more saFety features following the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident, and this pushed the cost to more than $2 billion. President Corazon Aquino scrapped the project after she succeeded Marcos in a February 1986 civilian-military revolt.
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Later Cory Aquino settled the case but did not operate the nuclear plant. So who do you think benefitted from this scheme? The peso-dollar exchange rate was then around P26 to 28:$1.
BNPP – Aquino, Westinghouse settle lawsuit 03-05-92
Kentucky New Era Thursday, March 5, 1992 Page 6A
By Joseph Neff – Associated Press Writer
Excerpt:
“Opponents claimed the construction was shoddy and the plant was unsafe. During the 1986 election campaign against Marcos, Aquino promised that the plant would never be operated if she was elected.
Marcos was overthrown in a popular uprising two weeks after the fraud-marred elections and Aquino was installed in office.
She made good on the promise not to operate the plant but agreed to honor debt commitments until the legality of the loans was determined.
The Philippines pays $300,000 a day in interest on the plant loans. That has led to calls from congress and the media to stop payments on the Bataan loans even before the issue is settled in court.”
From: Aquino to discuss out-of-court settlement with Westinghouse
The Pittsburgh Press Wednesday, March 4, 1992 Page A10
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