Word: aquinos
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After seven years and eight months in prison, Aquino has no small sense of irony. He knows Marcos could not afford to let him die of a heart attack in jail without creating a martyr and risking the collapse of the regime. He knows he alone can help Marcos stem the ever-swelling tide of revolution in a country that, as he says, "has been under martial law for far too long." Although he bounds about the placid office in Coolidge Hall with energy remarkable for someone just weeks removed from major coronary surgery, he knows the danger...
Animated and overflowing with nervous tension, Aquino continues. "I don't want my country to go the way of Iran and Nicaragua. If Marcos falls and brings all the institutions down with him, we will have anarchy. It will take ten, maybe 15 years to rebuild. My friends and supporters back home will say, 'Marcos is going, why don't you move in for the kill? But we have to be able to pick up the pieces, to maintain a semblance of order...
...Aquino draws a sordid picture of the Philippines, one that seems vaguely familiar. He says that the story of Marcos' slipping hold on power can be applied roughly to the 14 military dictatorships that have fallen in the last year. "Look, after eight years of martial law, Marcos is losing his grip on the levers of control. If you remove political rights of the people and bring in economic prosperity, you can stave off opposition. But when the economic situation deteriorates, the levers get beyond control...
...Aquino insists, "Marcos has no one to blame for the mess but himself. I keep telling him to negotiate now, while he's still comparatively strong, and give freedom back to the Philippines while he can still dictate terms. I tell him not to wait until it's too late. But that's the tragedy of dictators--Somoza, Pol Pot, the Shah--they all wait until it's too late...
...receives a formal invitation to return home--he speculates the public offer was merely a "trial balloon"--Aquino will give Marcos four "minimum demands." His conditions are restoration of freedom of the press, freedom of assembly for students, labor's right to strike and "honest, clean, orderly elections...