Seagrave, Sterling. The Marcos Dynasty. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
485 pages.
Edward Lansdale had just installed Ramon Magsaysay as Philippine
defense minister and planned to run him for president, but first he had to
deal with the peasants. "In an area thought to be harboring a team of Huk
guerrillas, Lansdale's ambushers snatched a peasant one night, punctured
his neck with two holes, vampire-fashion, hung the body by the ankles to
drain it of blood, then put the corpse back on the trail. When the peasants
found the toothmarked bloodless corpse, the entire Huk unit moved away.
The novelty of these games amused Lansdale, who slyly passed them on as
combat anecdotes, enchanting his CIA superiors.... Lansdale's experiments
were given top priority." (page 145)
With friends like these, the Philippine elite had little need to
maintain democratic appearances. Fake war hero Ferdinand Marcos was elected
in 1965, declared marshall law in 1972, and then defrauded his countrymen
and partied his way into the hearts of U.S. celebrities for the next 14
years. Also included are several chapters on "Yamashita's Gold" -- the
apparent source of much of Marcos' wealth. There's still $100 billion or
so that hasn't been recovered, which attracted treasure-hunters such as
the John Birch Society and, as recently as 1986, John Singlaub, who wanted
the gold to fund his anti-communist campaigns.
ISBN 0-06-015815-8
Extract the names from this source
Back to search page