February 16, 1978
Fort Bonifacio

Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos
MALACAÑANG

Sir:

I have just filed my certificate of candidacy for the forthcoming interim Batasang Pambansa elections for the Metro Manila region. I have joined a group of like-minded citizens under the chairmanship of former Sen. Lorenzo M. Tañada who are opposed to martial law and one man rule and who will present a democratic alternative program of government to the nation, through the Metro Manila electorate, during the campaigns.

I have been encouraged by your repeated invitations to the leaders of the opposition party to join in this electoral “experiment”, the first since you imposed martial rule and which you promised, if successful, would hasten normalcy.

Last Saturday, February 11, 1978 in Diffun, Quirino, your own defense secretary, Juan Ponce Enrille said that the reluctance of the administration critics to participate in the elections is a “major hindrance to national unity and solidarity.”

The Times Journal quoted Secretary Enrile to have said on the same occasion: “It is imperative for everybody to unite, participate and involve himself in this historical enterprise.”

Last Saturday morning (February 11) I contacted Defense Undersecretary Carmelo Barbero with the permission of my military custodian by telephone and requested him to ask you to release me temporarily so I can campaign.

I would like to reiterate what I told Undersecretary Barbero:

1. In seeking for my temporary release, I am willing to abide by any security regulation that may be imposed;
2. That I am even willing to campaign in handcuffs, and if this is not enough, I am even willing to wear leg chains similar to those used by my fellow detainees, provided I am allowed to speak to our people;
3. That I am ready and willing to post any reasonable amount of bond to guarantee my return to my detention cell immediately after the legally prescribed campaign period:
4. I give you my solemn word, I shall not even try to escape.

A year ago today, in a similar situation in India, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi stunned her nation when she suddenly called for parliamentary elections in the midst of a state of emergency (martial rule). Morarji Desai, 80, the leader of the old Congress Party and an implacable foe of Mrs. Gandhi suddenly found himself released from jail a few hours before the election announcement. A few days after the unexpected speech, Mrs. Gandhi formally ended domestic press censorship and ordered all state governments to release all political prisoners. (TIME magazine, Jan. 31, 1977)

This morning, according to the newspapers, the National Security Council meeting in Malacanang has denied the request of detainees seeking temporary release to campaign in the forthcoming elections, an action directly in contrast to the Indian precedent. I hope, the subsequent Indian experience did not in any way influence the NSC decision.

I am the secretary general of the Liberty Party, the major opposition party in this country. I have been elected mayor, vice-governor, governor and senator of the Republic. I am a determined candidate and it is in this context that I hope you will view my request in a more realistic perspective.

I am not asking for any special privileges or conveniences. As I said, I am willing to submit to any security arrangements provided my freedom of speech is not impaired.

Your own 1973 Constitution provides: Art. XII, Sec. 9 (1)

“Bona Fide candidates for any public office shall be free from any form of harassment and discrimination.”

All I ask is that I be given the same rights as any other bona fide candidate and I am even willing to have those rights diluted by security regulations of my military custodians.

You have ordered me held in solitary confinement and I have suffered in silence for the last five and a half years. You have limited my contact with the outside world to the immediate members of my family and my lawyers. Please give me this one chance to talk to our people once more – in this first election since the imposition of martial rule – in the name of simple fairplay and justice.

You have already driven my party to non-participation by your insistence on block voting which was obliterated from our election codes even by the Old Society which you have repeatedly branded as decadent and corrupt. I have decided to risk all and have accepted your invitation to participate knowing fully well that the electoral deck is stacked against the opposition. And in spite of your insistence of block voting which occupies the most ignominious page in our political history, I have dared to accept your challenge. With all these, will you still insist that I fight you, and the forces of government behind you from the solitary loneliness of my cell?

Please reconsider the recommendation of the National Security Council which must have been made in the belief that that is what you desired.

Sincerely yours,
BENIGNO S. AQUINO, JR.