Selective poetic justice

Uriel C. Quilinguing .

JUSTICES of the Supreme Court and judges in lower courts deserve utmost respect for their competence and integrity in rendering decisions on cases; whoever is the ponente gets public attention. One of them was the late Justice Jose P. Laurel Sr. who would eventually become president of the Second Philippine Republic, a puppet government during the short-lived Japanese occupation.  

Were it not for Associate Justice Laurel, by a stroke of his pen, the 22-year-old lawyer from Batac, Ilocos Norte, would not have ruled this country this country as a dictator for more than two decades.

Forty-seven years ago, then President Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos placed the entire country under martial law. Perhaps only about a hundred thousand Filipinos may still have a glimpse of how, by a twist of fate, the Ilocano native manipulated his way to Malacañang palace.

For better context, the throwback should be much earlier.

In a blog, Issa Bacsa (Truth, Kindness, Simplicity, and Nov. 4, 2018) provided some the missing details on the killing of Ilocos Norte second district Representative Julio Nalundasan Sept. 20, 1935, a day after winning re-election against his two-time rival Mariano Marcos, Ferdinand’s father.

Nalundasan died from a sniper’s bullet, according the members of the Philippine Constabulary who conducted an investigation and subsequently filed criminal charges against businessman Nicasio Layaoen, based on the testimonies of star witness Gaspar Silvestre.

It was Silvestre who claimed of having seen Layaoen with a revolver that night and the latter’s house was near the Nalundasan’s. Police also recovered, from a vacant house adjacent to Layaoen’s house, rounds of ammunition and the .22 rifle which was believed to have been used by the killer.

The Court of First Instance in Laoag, however, acquitted Layaoen since the motive could not be established.                    

After more than three years (1938), the Division of Investigation (present day National Bureau of Investigation) of the Department of Justice, who conducted separate investigation, filed murder charges against Mariano Marcos, his brother Pio, son Ferdinand, and brother-in-law Quirino Lizardo.

“It was alleged that they conspired against the life of Julio Nalundasan. Ferdinand was selected as the triggerman because of his sharp shooting skills. Also, if discovered and convicted, Ferdinand would only be sent to Lolomboy reformatory school because of his age,” wrote Bacsa. Ferdinand was 18 at that time of the killing.

Another witness surfaced, Calixto Aquinaldo who said he accompanied Ferdinand and Lizardo about 9 p.m. of Sept. 20, 1935 at Nalundasan’s yard.

On Jan. 11, 1940, the Court of First Instance of Laoag under Judge Roman Cruz Sr. handed its decision and convicted Ferdinand Marcos and his uncle Quirino Lizardo, of murder and sentenced to be imprisoned of 10 to 17 years.

But the young Marcos, who topped the bar a year earlier with the record 98.01 percentage rating, managed to get away with a conviction for murder. Behind bars, he filed an 830-page appeal and argued his and of his uncle’s case before the Supreme Court on Oct. 12, 1940.

Eight days later (Oct. 20, 1940), Associate Justice Laurel overturned the decision of the CFI Laoag, the judge of which happened to be also a former political nemesis of Mariano Marcos. 

An excerpt of Associate Justice Laurel’s decision reads: “The judgment of the lower court, herein appealed from is accordingly reversed, and the defendants-appellants Ferdinand Marcos E. Marcos and Quirino Lizardo acquitted of the charge of murder and forthwith liberated from imprisonment and discharged from the custody of the law.”

Years later, book author Beatriz Romualdez-Francia, Imelda Romualdez Marcos’ cousin once asked President Marcos about Nalundasan’s killing and the latter’s response was: “Dala lang sa kabataan ko ‘yon.”            

If Associate Justice Laurel is still alive today, he could have resented his decision acquitting Marcos and his uncle from Nalundasan’s death.

As they say, the rest is history. But we cannot just turn a blind eye on the recorded human rights violations, extrajudicial killings and disappearances during the Marcos regime.  Amnesty International and task Force Detainees of the Philippines documented 70,000 incarcerations, 35,000 tortures, 3,257 extrajudicial killings, and 77 disappearances.

Those who may have a recollection of the incident must be more than 79 years old by now and there are only about a hundred thousand of them, out of more than 108 million Filipinos today.  Some of them may believe in selective poetic justice. 

(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club and was an editor in chief of this paper. For comments and reactions, email them to uriel_quilinguing@yahoo.com)