Lies told by Marcos, Gregg Jones and Salonga's "witnesses" on the Plaza Miranda bombing
Marcos, Gregg Jones and Salonga's "witnesses" on the Plaza Miranda bombing are being presented as eyewitnesses to matters that, in reality, are not of their personal knowledge and are pure fabrications meant to destroy the growing prestige of the CPP and the revolutionary movement. In fact, their supposed "testimonies" are also fabrications attributed to others. The statements of these so-called witnesses are so contradictory to each other. "Testimonies" from traitors to the revolution and those with grave accountabilities are likewise dubious due to the fact that the sources have motives to malign and destroy the Party and the revolutionary movement. Not one shred of genuine evidence for truthful analysis could be gleaned from any of them.
Col. Victor Corpus. Corpus' statement that it was the Party's central leadership that planned the massacre and that he was present during the planning is a complete lie. He was not a member then of any central Party organ. He had just defected from the enemy army and the raid on the armory of the Philippine Military Academy had just been conducted, where he endeavored to prove himself. It was thus impossible for him to have witnessed any meeting of the Party's central leadership.
At the time he made this statement, he had clearly gone over to the enemy side, had been fully reintegrated into the AFP and made a sudden jump to the rank of lieutenant colonel, had a new house and lot, a car and other properties in New Alabang Hills. He was already writing his Silent War that proposed the strategy and tactics of Oplan Lambat Bitag to fight the New People's Army and the revolutionary movement and was likewise sowing intrigues against the Party and the revolutionary movement. It was not surprising for the government and the armed forces of the reactionary state to have trusted him enough to appoint him intelligence chief of the AFP.
Ariel Almendral. To pass responsibility for the Plaza Miranda massacre to the Party and to Comrade Sison, Almendral used the case of a certain Danilo Cordero. Cordero was a Red fighter tried for mutiny by a military tribunal of the New People's Army in 1972. Tried along with him were two other Red fighters who were mistakenly accused of having taken part in the mutiny. In his desperation, Cordero tried to pass himself off before the judges as a confidant of the central leadership. He rode on the Marcos line and said that it was the three of them who were ordered to bomb Plaza Miranda. Not long after, he retracted his statements, which were then set aside. He was nonetheless found guilty of mutiny and punished. His two other co-accused in the mutiny case who, though innocent, were likewise implicated by Cordero in the story he concocted about Plaza Miranda, were absolved and went on to become fine comrades and Red fighters. They became martyrs of the revolution in armed encounters with the enemy.
Even Gen. Alfredo Lim, who investigated the Plaza Miranda incident when he was Western Police District chief, said that regarding Cordero's implication of Comrade Sison, "this version would not hold since it was based on hearsay. Cordero, in claiming responsibility for the Plaza Miranda bombing was only trying to ingratiate himself with his comrades who had then put him on trial.
Almendal "testified" in the senate investigation on the Plaza Miranda bombing to pay for his huge debt of gratitude to Salonga and the latter's son Steve. Salonga and his son Steve acted as his godfathers and financiers when Almendral ran as the Liberal Party's candidate for congressman in the first district of Laguna in 1987.
Aside from Almendral, Salonga had no other direct source for his pieces of "evidence". His "data" from other "witnesses" were all picked up by Salonga from Jones' book.
Ruben Guevarra. Guevarra, a former Party leader, was captured by the enemy in 1981. Even before his arrest, he had already been removed from the Party leadership due to numerous disciplinary cases. In his first years in jail, he said nothing against the Party and Comrade Sison. He even protested his illegal detention and the repressive conditions of his incarceration.
In time, he was coopted through the various privileges and financial benefits extended to him until he eventually turned traitor and joined the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP) as an operative. Since then, he has changed his tune and joined the chorus against the Party and Comrade Sison orchestrated by the DND and AFP then under Gen. Fidel Ramos. He and Almendral only tried to make their stories consistent.
Ibarra Tubianosa. Salonga also again made use of the words put by Jones into Ibarra Tubianosa's mouth. Jones makes it appear that Tubianosa points to Comrade Sison as the brains behind the Plaza Miranda bombing. But in fact, Tubianosa never said anything to this effect. Jones himself acknowledges Tubianosa's demurral in a footnote in the book. Salonga neglects this exception.
Ricardo Malay. In reality, Jones' main source for most of his hearsay, and even for a lot of what he attributes to Tubianosa, is Ricardo Malay. But Jones tries to obscure this fact. Malay harbored resentments against the Party, blaming it for the hardships and misfortunes he experienced in the revolution that he was unable to endure. This led him to concoct stories and accusations against the Party and its leaders.
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