Rebels Seize TV Studio, Cut Marcos Off Mid-Sentence

Rebel soldiers seized the government television studios today and cut President Ferdinand E. Marcos off the air in mid-sentence as he vowed from the presidential palace to remain in power.

Millions of Filipinos saw Marcos’ face dissolve into wiggling lines and static in a graphic demonstration that his 20-year grip on the Philippines was slipping.

Four hours later, the station was firmly under rebel control and back on the air with new announcers, who welcomed viewers to “free television.” Some marines who had come to oust the rebels wound up laying down their weapons and switching sides.

Marcos had gone on the air from the safety of Malacanang presidential palace to disprove rumors that he had fled.

Five people were injured in the battle for Channel 4, but news of its fall brought more than 3,000 jubilant neighbors into the nearby streets, where they celebrated with rebel soldiers.

Large oil portraits of Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos were dragged out of the plush offices and burned. Embracing soldiers and civilians shouted, “We have won!” and “Cory, Cory!” in support of opposition leader Corazon Aquino.

Rebel forces, who numbered only a few hundred when the rebellion began Saturday but picked up formidable military and civilian strength Sunday, began the offensive on the radio station shortly before 9 a.m.

About 50 elite rangers who had been guarding Radio Veritas, the anti-Marcos, Roman Catholic Church-run radio station, boarded military trucks and advanced on Channel 4’s studios, about three miles away.

They wore upside-down Philippine flags patched to the sleeves of their uniforms and tied strips of red, white and blue cloth on the barrels of their rifles to distinguish themselves from loyalist forces.

The rebel rangers were reinforced by about 50 members of a police SWAT team, who arrived in a convoy of passenger minibuses to join the assault.

As the rebels approached the studios, they came under fire from a small force of Philippine constabulary and air force security men barricaded inside.

The combined rebel force entered the three-story studio building and moved from room to room as Marcos’ nationwide address was playing on monitors inside the station.

“We are brothers; don’t shoot,” shouted the last of the overpowered defenders in the studios.

The rebel announcers promised a new editorial policy for the station, which had been run by the state-owned Maharlika Broadcasting System, named after the World War II guerrilla unit Marcos said he commanded.