Evelio Javier’s Impossible Dream
In order to understand what Evelio Javier did for the Philippines, one must consider what Ferdinand Marcos did to the islands.
When Marcos first ran for president, he could have run solely on his distinguished record in Congress. However, he decided to gild the lily by citing his service in World War II and the 27 medals that made him “the most decorated war hero of the Philippines.”
A survivor of the Bataan Death March, Marcos received three of those medals during the war. He obtained the other 24 decorations in 1962 while running for reelection to the Senate.
Historians later discovered that those two dozen medals were as counterfeit as his claims to have led a guerilla force of 9,000 men against the Japanese.
In fact, Marcos may have been a double agent. Filipino freedom fighters executed his father for collaborating with the invaders, and some questioned the son’s loyalty, too.
But few knew any of this in 1965, so the “war hero” swept to victory by a convincing margin, defeating the incumbent president. He won reelection in 1969. Then, to circumvent term limits, he declared martial law in 1972.
Meanwhile, Marcos introduced unprecedented corruption, converting the country into a world-class kleptocracy. He borrowed recklessly and embezzled public money on a…
