Philippine Ex-Officer’s Life Linked to Aquinos

Ramon A. Alcaraz fondly recalls a time three years ago when the late Benigno S. Aquino Jr. and his wife, Corazon, visited Alcaraz’s spacious home in Orange to discuss the autocratic rule of then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos in their native Philippines.

“She (Corazon) would say no more than ‘Are you ready for lunch?’ or ‘Do you want more coffee?’ “Alcaraz said. “I never dreamed she would some day be president. But we are very proud of her.”

Alcaraz, a 72-year-old former Philippine Navy commodore who was once jailed by Marcos, came to the United States in exile in 1973. For the next 13 years, while methodically expanding his real estate holdings here, Alcaraz was also quietly involved in an underground anti-Marcos movement.

Now that Marcos and his family are gone and Alcaraz’s old friend Corazon Aquino is president, Alcaraz continues to actively fight Marcos.

He is chairman of the Los Angeles chapter of the Liberal Party of the Philippines. He also is working with a Philippine Senate commission in an effort to recover what may be billions of dollars in assets that Marcos and his wife, Imelda, are suspected of taking from the country.

As part of that effort, Alcaraz made public U.S. Customs Service documents that he claims show the Marcoses brought with them more than $7 million in assets last February when they fled to their $1.5-million Hawaii beach house. Most of it, according to the customs list, was in pesos and more than 100 pieces of jewelry, such as jeweled tiaras and a set of earrings, bracelet and a brooch of sapphires, rubies and diamonds valued at $1,487,415.

“We want all of the Marcos’ assets returned to our country,” Alcaraz said Sunday. “The man is a thief.”

Alcaraz’s devotion to his native country is evident throughout his fashionable home in the hills of Orange, where he lives with his wife, Concepcion, and their 21-year-old daughter, Ramona, a student at Chapman College.

Flags Decorate Living Room

Two floor-to-ceiling flags, one American and one from the Philippines, decorate the living room. The foyer is dominated by 3-by-4-foot photographs of Alcaraz throughout his career. Two of them show him with former Philippine presidents who preceded Marcos. One shows him with Eisenhower and another shows him with Corazon Aquino.

In yet another photograph, he is pictured with her husband, Benigno, who was gunned down on the tarmac at the Manila airport as he returned to the Philippines after three years in exile. On the photograph, taken just one month before Benigno Aquino was assassinated on Aug. 21, 1983, Alcaraz has written the words, “martyr, patriot.”

Alcaraz said he was 17 when he first met Benigno Aquino. Aquino’s sister was married to one of his shipmates. The two remained friends while Alcaraz rose through the military ranks and Aquino’s political career progressed.

Their ties strengthened when both found themselves in exile in the United States.

Alcaraz said he voted for Marcos when the latter came to power in 1966. But he was soon disillusioned when Marcos began dismantling the Philippines’ democratic form of government. Alcaraz himself was fired as Navy chief of staff by Marcos. In 1972, when Marcos declared martial law, Alcaraz and Aquino were both sent to prison. Aquino, who by then was Marcos’ chief rival, remained in prison for eight years. But Alcaraz was released after a month and was allowed to leave the country for the United States.

Alcaraz had run a chain of pharmacies before leaving the Philippines and had some assets to bring with him. “I came here in 1973 just in time for the real estate boom,” he said, to explain his prosperous surroundings.

But Alcaraz said he kept a low profile in the United States. Anti-Marcos meetings were held in secret, so that there would be no reprisals when he and others returned to the Philippines for visits.

When an ailing Benigno Aquino was released from prison in 1980 and allowed to go to the United States for heart surgery, Alcaraz said the two friends met several times for “strategy sessions” on how to end the Marcos regime. Never at any time, Alcaraz said, was Corazon anything more than a dutiful wife. The Aquinos lived in Boston and spent a short time in Dallas, where Alcaraz would travel to see them.

When Benigno Aquino was granted permission to return from exile, he and his wife visited the Alcaraz family in Orange just a month before the assassination.

“I was numb for a year,” Alcaraz said of his friend’s murder. “I was deeply saddened.”

Alcaraz continued his underground work, which he said he believes helped pressure the Reagan Administration to urge a reluctant Marcos to hold a new Philippine election last year.

Then Alcaraz saw Corazon Aquino, as Marcos’ opponent, interviewed on television.

“It was amazing to see her grasp of the political situation,” he said. After seeing her in succeeding interviews, Alcaraz said, “I knew then she was the only one who could unite the country against Marcos.”

Since “Cory” Aquino came to power a year ago, Alcaraz has been back to the Philippines. But although he no longer must remain in exile, he said home for him now is the United States.

“Leadership in my country belongs to the young,” he said. “Besides, I can do more for her (President Aquino) in this country.”

For years, the aging commodore displayed the flag of his native land with the red side up, which signifies turmoil in the land. Since Marcos’ defeat, his flag has been displayed with the blue side up, for peace.

Alcaraz said he is not troubled by the recent military attempt to unseat Aquino. It may end up a good thing, he said, by helping to weed out Marcos leaders remaining in the military.

“Look at the pictures of 200,000 people in Manila cheering her (last) week,” he said Sunday. “She has been heaven-sent.”