Fascist-turned-warlord politico
With his participation in the coup attempts, Aguinaldo knew he could never become a general. He resigned from the military. To further rise in wealth and power, the shortest possible route open to him was to become a politico.
Since he landed in Cagayan in the 1980's, Aguinaldo had long been preparing for that eventuality. Thus his "image-building", goons and guns honing, money-collecting, and "image-demolishing" and physical elimination of his would-be opponents in the electoral battles ahead.
His guns, goons, gold, psywar tactics, military backing and "special operation" to physically eliminate his would-be strongest opponent, sealed the victory of Aguinaldo. The AFP combat units, armor, guns and facilities were mobilized to support his political ambitions.
When he first ran for governor, he positioned his armored personnel carriers near the polling precincts in the districts and towns of his rivals. Voters were terrorized and bribed by Aguinaldo's boys who pointed guns at them with P100 bills attached at the end of the barrels.
Aguinaldo's campaign was bankrolled by the Koumintang, whom Aguinaldo directly approached for a deal. In exchange for a large sum of money, Aguinaldo allowed Taiwanese to freely enter Cagayan and engage in illegal fishing, illegal recruitment and smuggling.
Before the 1990 elections, Aguinaldo engineered the murder of Tito Dupaya who was then planning a comeback, and was a strong contender that even Enrile could not defeat in the 1970's. His bloody "electoral operations" made Aguinaldo governor for three consecutive terms, and later as congressman of the third district of Cagayan since 1998.
From the time he became a career officer of the AFP, and more so when he became the PC provincial commander and eventually a bureaucrat capitalist, he began to amass wealth. He acquired assets through landgrabbing, extortion, corruption and through the criminal syndicates headed by the highest ranking officials of the military and the civilian bureaucracy. (see related article)
When he became Cagayan provincial commander, he set up the ISLACABA (Isabela, Laguna, Cagayan, Cavite, Batangas) Jueteng Connection with Col. Tirso Gador.
It was then that he became partners in crime with the former Calauan mayor and Laguna jueteng kingpin Antonio Sanchez. Aside from the huge profits Aguinaldo raked in from jueteng, logging concessionaires called him "Mr. Ten Percent" behind his back because he forced them to pay him 10% of the income of logging companies in Cagayan.
One of the businessmen he extorted from was Don Augusto Dy, owner of Tropical Wood Industries Inc. (TPWII). Aside from collecting his share of the profits, Aguinaldo also used TPWII as a base for intelligence-gathering.
Since he came to power, Aguinaldo considered the provincial treasury and other properties of the provincial government as his own. Construction materials bought cheaply from Manila were consistently overpriced in his financial reports so he could pocket the balance.
Aside from buying prime real estate with jueteng money, Aguinaldo used government equipment and construction materials to set up and maintain Oasis, a luxury resort.
In the mid-1990s, the Sandiganbayan filed graft charges against Aguinaldo for failing to account for P1 million from the Cagayan provincial budget.
The defeat and demise of Aguinaldo
In the May 2001 elections, Aguinaldo again used his tested psywar tactics, intimidation and vote buying. Even in Tuguegarao City, he threatened every barangay captain who openly supported his opponents or who did not openly support his candidacy.
Threatened by the widespread unity focused against him, he tried hard to link the open mass organizations with the armed and illegal forces of the CPP, NPA and NDF. Expectedly, he maliciously attacked the revolutionary movement's alliance work and mobilizations. But he utterly failed in all this.
Aguinaldo was defeated by a landslide in the electoral campaign. Not only did his opponent win. So did the progressive political party Bayan Muna that he attacked everytime he opened his mouth in public, also win resoundingly in the province and in the nationwide electoral contest on May 14. It signalled the up and coming destruction of the self-styled "legend" that was Aguinaldo and the end of his brutality.
Aguinaldo built an image of seeming invincibility. "The Eagle of Cagayan" was how he fancied himself, like the title of the movie made to glorify a fascist. He armed himself to the teeth and surrounded his "nest" with a pack of police and military men. His paranoia led him to put up layer upon layer of security around his house. He even went as far as to circulate the ridiculous story that he had an amulet to ensure his safety, as he fabricated tales about his being immortal and legendary.
In the end, the self-proclaimed "legend" stood no chance against the death sentence the revolutionary movement and the masses meted out against him. Aguinaldo's iron fortress, throng of armed bodyguards, political and military influence among his peers, and even his fabricated amulet could not shield him from meeting the punishment he deserved.
His death is a victory for the people.
| RECORD OF AGUINALDO'S ANOMALIES
Jueteng. Aguinaldo immediately took over jueteng operations in Cagayan as soon as he became governor. The privince's jueteng kingpins paid him up to P500,000 a month in protection money. He also ran the ISLACABA Jueteng Connection.
Logging. From the customary 10%, Aguinaldo began to ask for 20-30% of logging concessioners' profits since becoming governor. He controlled Sta. Teresita Wood Industries Inc. that had a logging concession in Lasam and Paco Valley. This, despite his declarations against logging.
Smuggling. Illegal human and drug traffic regularly occurred between Taiwan and the municipalities of Buguey and Sta. Ana located along Cagayan's Pacific coast. The provincial PNP, the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard as well as the mayors of Buguey and Sta. Ana and the Alien Control Office in Cagayan were Aguinaldo's co-conspirators in this venture. Big fish caught by Taiwanese fishing boats within Cagayan's territorial waters were brought to Sta. Ana for cold storage. After the fish's innards were taken out, illegal drugs such as shabu and concaine were placed inside the fish cavity before transport.
Marijuana traffic. Along with his co-conspirators Conrado Balweg (punished by the NPA in December 1999) and Abrino Aydinan of Cordillera, Aguinaldo ran an extremely lucrative marijuana trafficking business, selling the drug to pushers in Baguio, Zambales and Metro Manila.
Illegal recruitment. Aguinaldo facilitated the illegal recruitment of Cagayano fishermen to work on Taiwanese fishing boats as apprentices. Despite their meager wages, Aguinaldo exacted P500 a month from each recruit for the duration of the contract. But he never lifted a finger whenever the fishermen, who were used by the Taiwanese for illegal fishing and drug trafficking, were arrested, imprisoned and executed in other Asian countries. |
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