Wrong History as Propaganda

The Internet is abuzz when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), by virtue of its Freedom of Information policy, declassified over 12 million pages of secret documents online. There are “millions of documents… from the Nazi war crimes to mind-control experiments to the role the CIA played in overthrowing governments in Chile and Iran.” As you guessed it, this is huge! Suddenly a treasure trove for historians is made available.

But then came another trending topic first forwarded by a certain Carlos Munda, a Duterte supporter, that in a declassified document from the CIA, President Corazon Aquino in her capacity (as reposted by several websites), “‘requested US airstrike that could ‘kill Filipinos’ during the 1989 coup’”.

The phrasing is a click bait, and is sure to anger Filipino netizens who usually wouldn’t bother to open the article and read, and critically analyze. In fairness to the article, it featured a screenshot of the one page document. On the other hand, I myself checked it on the CIA website and have successfully verified it to be true. [Click here for the actual document]



But it would be a great injustice to history if we take this document apart from its given historical context. To do so would be to misconstrue its original meaning and misunderstand it. The December 1989 Failed Coup Attempt was fully documented and disclosed by the Fact Finding Commission and released on 3 October 1990. (The full disclosure document here). To give you an overview, the Corazon Aquino Administration suffered seven (7) failed coup attempts led by either the Marcos loyalists, or the Reformed the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) led by Gringo Honasan. The RAM were the same guys who defected from Marcos on February 1986 and who were provided the civilian buffer by millions, in the event that came to be known as the EDSA People Power Revolution.

In August 1987 coup, when the rebels were retreating from their attack of the Malacañan Palace, they were able to gun Cory’s son, Noynoy Aquino’s convoy, killing 3 of his bodyguards and wounding him, having been shot at five times. Up to this day, fragments of the bullet are still lodged in his neck.

These coups were serious enough that the United States offered assistance to the Philippines numerous times, one of which was cited in the primary source in focus.



*Map of Coup Attempts and Military Interventions after Marcos, from the Historical Atlas of the Republic (2016).

As anyone can assess, the situation was desperate. But this does not excuse the fact that Cory Aquino as President would order “killing Filipinos” and that as the document attests, it entailed an involvement of the U.S. military which was, according to opposition congressmen, “unnecessary and unconstitutional.” However, this demands a second look. The phrase, “CIA docs reveal Cory requested US airstrike that could ‘kill Filipinos’ during the 1989 coup” does not completely capture the meaning of the straightforwardness of the document. Scroll up again and take a look at the primary source and examine it. Key words are the phrase lifted directly from the text:

“THE LOS ANGELES TIMES AND THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTED LAST WEEKEND THAT THE AQUINO GOVERNMENT ASKED FOR AIRSTRIKES BUT U.S. OFFICIALS REFUSED BECAUSE OF POLITICAL RISKS IN KILLING FILIPINOS.”

The document says it was widely broadcasted by LA Times and the Washington Post (hence public knowledge), that the Aquino administration’s contemplation of using airstrikes was not a done deal but was under negotiation and discussion. It never said Aquino insisted on using airstrikes EVEN when the U.S. officials told her the risks.

To further the argument that this was a discussion between two parties and was not yet a done deal, here in the same document:



“RAMOS SAID AQUINO TOLD PLATT TO DISCUSS THE OFFER WITH MILITARY OFFICIALS.”



Also consider the entire text’s context. It was the United States that “initiated offer to help,” hence, when the idea of U.S. military involvement was put on the table, and Aquino “asked” for an airstrike, the U.S. officials showed her the risks, and CLEARLY she acquiesced. U.S. war planes indeed only “provided air cover” for the Philippine ground forces to attack the rebels.

Given that the Fact Finding Commission described the 1989 Coup as an “extensive conspiracy” that had been planned to be “conducted with speed, surprise, and surgical precision against key facilities of a government in crisis” and even covered widely by the media, there was no conspiracy here, as if this were secret knowledge only revealed now.

Furthermore, look at the time stamp of the document itself. [Screenshot below]

It was declassified and approved on “2013/09/25″– that’s almost four years ago! So this particular document was not part of the recently declassified CIA docs as purported.

One must ask, why only now? This reveals some ulterior motive of this slight misinformation, that if peddled by fake news websites, do not clear our historical lens but further blurs it, to our detriment.

History, while at many instances, tells a lot of things about politics and the internal goings on in the halls of power, it should always strive to be impartial and therefore apolitical. Like all our past presidents, Corazon Aquino had lapses and errors in judgment. The indiscriminate military firing of protesting farmers at Mendiola on 22 January 1987 that led to 15 dead and the subsequent principled stand of the late Sen. Jose W. Diokno’s by resigning from the Aquino Cabinet due to the incident, comes to mind.

*A scene from Mendiola, 22 January 1987 (Credits to GMA News)

But I’m posting this issue here to encourage readers to be critical in your reading of the Internet, and don’t take news and fake news for what they are. Let us not be lazy. If we are to be researchers, or historians even, remember the unwritten rule–always check the primary sources, corroborate, and always see the bigger context of the document, its provenance, its author. Only then can we make a sound and rational conclusion.

History, an interpretation of past reality, is complex. If we are not careful, we will miss the nuances and the gray areas that would have enriched our historical understanding, and this will make us ready victims of political propaganda.

PS: The CIA declassified documents remain a treasure trove for historians. Who knows what documents still lay there? Interesting times.