Word: manila
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...most of the 5,000 people in Manila's plush International Convention Center, the explosion at first seemed to be a sound effect: they had been watching a noisy slide show depicting U.S. Admiral George Dewey's 1898 defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. But the blast was a real one: 18 stunned and bleeding delegates to a convention of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) emerged from the hall after a bomb exploded only 50 ft. from their host, President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines...
...profound embarrassment for Marcos, who only minutes earlier had assured the ASIA delegates that political terrorism in his troubled country was "a nightmare that we hope is past and gone." A terrorist group calling itself the April 6 Liberation Movement, after a massive 1978 anti-Marcos demonstration in Manila, had warned the travel agents to boycott the convention. Even though terrorists had set off some 20 bombs since August, killing one person and injuring scores, American embassy officials in Manila and the FBI assured ASTA that the chances of an incident were small. To make them even smaller, Marcos...
...received a warning last month signed by the most visible anti-Marcos group--the April 6 Liberation Movement, which claimed credit for many of the bombings during the autumn--Marcos gave impassioned personal guarantees of safety to the travel agents. These importunations prevailed enough to draw 3500 delegates to Manila, which had taken two years to prepare for the event. The dictator wrapped the visitors in an imposing cloak of security, giving an impression of impenetrability. The delegates packed the convention hall to hear Marcos assail the Western press for exaggerating his problems and ask his visitors to take stock...
...Philippines' national airline, who informed him he had a plane reservation back to his homeland--first class--further evidence that Marcos wants him back to salvage order. Aquino shakes his head, pensive. "Marcos knows I can help control the students--my constituency." That might defuse the tension in Manila, since 700,000 inhabitants of the country's largest city are students. He glances at a newspaper. "Bombings in Mindanao--I hadn't heard of problems there. Things are getting out of control...
...will even return to Manila, a city he describes as "worse now than during World War II. There's a bomb scare every ten minutes, and a checkpoint at every bridge." While he says he has "lost his appetite for power," he adds quickly that "I will never turn my back to the call." He is fully aware of the risks he faces. "Marcos can arrest anyone. He even has a device he calls 'preventive arrest.' Now he's paranoid. Frankly, I don't know what he's going...