THE QUINTERO EXPOSE

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

(Author’s Note: Browsing Nene Pimentel’s book “Martial Law in the Philippines in the Philippines: My Story,” his political memoirs, I found a chapter on  the expose of Eduardo Quintero, a delegate of the 1971 constitutional convention that drafted the 1973 constitution, on how then first lady Imelda Marcos corrupted the convention by bribing delegates to come out with a constitution that could prolong the Marcos rule. 

Quintero’s expose graced the headlines of the premartial law era dailies, prompting then president Ferdinand Marcos to take a defensive posture. Suddenly, a lot of memories has cascaded into my mind, as I remember the political dynamics of those era. I was then in high school, when it took place, but the memories remain quite vivid. The following article is based on Nene’s book. Incidentally, Nene represented Misamis Oriental in the convention. This is for the millennials, who have yet to learn our history.)

EDUARDO Quintero was an ailing 72-year old former diplomat from Leyte, Imelda Marcos’s home province, when he took on the floor on May 19, 1971 to return the money, which he received as pay-offs to support the adoption of the proposed parliamentary form of government.

Quintero, brandishing wads of peso bills, also claimed he received the money as virtual bribe for him to oppose the proposed adoption of a provision banning the Marcos family, particularly Imelda, to run under the new constitution.

The occasion was the constitutional convention tasked to draft a new constitution to replace the 1935 Constitution, which political leaders of those days regarded a colonial charter since it was drafted under the American colonial rule. A total of 320 elected delegates comprised the convention, which had the posh Manila Hotel as venue.

In his book “Martial Law in the Philippines: My Story,” Aquilino Pimentel Jr., one of the delegates, recounted Quintero rose to express his support to the proposed parliamentary form of government, which Ramon Tirol, another delegate, earlier sponsored on the floor.

Immediately after delivering his statement of  support, Quintero, speaking on a matter of personal and collective privilege, dropped the political bombshell, saying he received from fellow delegates, who acted as agents for parties he did not identify, a total of P11,150, then a tidy sum, to influence the convention.

Speaking with a measured but deliberate tone, Quintero said he was turning the money to the convention for safekeeping, even as he deplored efforts of those parties for the convention to come out with a constitution that would enable Imelda Marcos to run for office ostensibly to replace Ferdinand.

As accurately recounted by Pimentel, the Quintero expose dominated the premartial law mass media, which aptly described the bribery as “payola” (Spanish equivalent for payoff) that involved not just Quintero, but a number of delegates as well. These delegates were closely allied with the Marcoses.

According to Pimentel, the form of government – the prevailing presidential form versus the proposed parliamentary - was among the most contentious issues in the convention.

The issue became more contentious, as no less than Macapagal sponsored a resolution calling for a unilateral ban on spouses and relatives of former and incumbent presidents to run in the first elections under the new constitution.

Ferdinand Marcos was supposed to end his term of office in 1973. He was first elected in 1965 and reelected in 1969 under the 1935 Constitution. This charter provided a four-year term of office for the president and vice president and a single reelection.

At that time, Marcos, prior to declaring the 1972 martial law that prolonged his ruled to become a dictator, was contemplating to field Imelda as his virtual successor. But the political opposition took every initiative to frustrate his plans.

Two weeks after the expose, Ferdinand Marcos retaliated using then Leyte Rep. Artemio Mate, who issued an affidavit claiming Quintero was a bribe taker. Judge Elias Asuncion, a native of Ilocos Norte and a provincemate of Marcos, issued a search warrant that enabled National Bureau of Investigation agents to raid Quintero's house in the Manila district of Sta. Ana.

NBI agents alleged they found cash of P379, 320 in an unlocked cabinet, drawing Pimentel to laugh at the raid as an obviously pathetic attempt to retaliate against Quintero. The public did not bite the NBI story.

The Quintero expose led to a probe by a ten-man committee on privileges Macapagal formed to handle issues of personal and collective privileges.

After nearly a year of investigation, the committee, of which Nene Pimentel was a member, received Quintero’s admission that Imelda Marcos was indeed the source of the money. Quintero’ said Imelda used delegates from Leyte to give him the payoffs.

Two months after the September 21, 1972 declaration of martial law, the committee, in its report, dismissed Quintero’s allegation of pay-off on what Pimentel described as a mere technicality. It cited Quntero’s failure to appear before the committee to subject himself to cross-examination.

Pimentel surmised that the committee report was made in duress since Marcos had already placed the country under martial rule. 

The martial law declaration led to the arrests and detention without charges of thousands of political activists and political leaders, creating a massive air of intimidation, fear, and suppression.

Through sheer manipulation, the 1973 Constitution drafted by the convention was bastardized to suit the Marcos dictatorship. 

It was scrapped and thrown away when the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution toppled the Marcos dictatorship and replaced by the 1987 Constitution.

But that’s another story.