RECYCLABLOG 9: Isn’t He Lovely? The Story of Victor, Nonoy and Katol

What does the limp of 80’s balladeer Nony Zuniga have to do with the lowly, ubiquitous “katol”? It begins with a “Lovely” story.

If you still remember, in 1980, Metro Manila experienced a rash of bombings from the months of August through October. On September 6, 1980, a Philippine-born American citizen from Los Angeles, California, almost killed himself and injured his younger brother as a result of an explosion of a small bomb inside the American’s room at the YMCA building in Manila. Found in the foreigner’s possession by police and military authorities were several pictures taken sometime in May, 1980 at the birthday party of former Philippine Congressman Raul Daza held at the latter’s residence in a Los Angeles suburb. Among those also identified in the pictures were Senator Jovito R. Salonga and his wife. These prominent Filipino opposition were photographed together with the bomb blast victim. His name: Victor Burns Lovely Jr.

Victor Lovely was rushed to the ICU at the V. Luna hospital and placed under the direct custody of Marcos chief of staff General Fabian Ver. While recuperating from near fatal wounds, the Lovely brothers (Victor, Romeo and Baltazar) were held incommunicado. Shortly afterwards, they were charged with subversion, illegal possession of explosives and damage to property. But the bombings continued.

On September 12, 1980, bombs once again exploded in Metro Manila including one which resulted in the death of an American lady who was shopping at Rustan’s Supermarket in Makati and others which caused injuries to a number of persons. The targets were Marcos crony-owned establishments. Meanwhile, Victor’s youngest brother Romeo was presented to the media during the President’s anniversary television radio press conference. During the live nationwide broadcast, Romeo implicated Senator Salonga in the bombings. Still, the bombings continued.

On the night of October 4, 1980, more bombs were reported to have exploded at three big hotels in Metro Manila, namely: the Philippine Plaza, Century Park Sheraton and Manila Peninsula. The bombs injured nine people. A few days later, on the night of October 4, , Marcos had just finished delivering his speech before the International Conference of the American Society of Travel Agents at the Philippine International Convention Center when a small bomb exploded near one of the men’s bathrooms. One person was in the bathroom when the bomb went off. It was Nonoy Zuniga. He was preparing to entertain the American travel agents during one of the conference intermissions. The explosion badly mangled Zuniga’s left leg that it had to be amputated. Thus the iconic cane while crooning the 80’s hit “Never Ever Say Goodbye”. Salonga was arrested a few days after in Makati Medical Center where he was confined for respiratory problems. He was kept in detention for weeks without charges until his release for humanitarian reasons. The person who snuck in the  explosive was a 28-year old woman, Doris Nuval. Ironically, Nuval’s father was a friend and advisor to Marcos. She was eventually arrested. Nuval and Lovely gave a face to the radical non-communist anti-Marcos group called the April 6 Liberation Movement. Its name comes from the historic April 6, 1978 noise barrage that occurred on the eve of the first parliamentary election under Marcos’ New Society. For four hours in 1978, the metropolis was filled with the noise of banging pots, tooting horns and shouts of “Laban!Laban!”, giving Marcos a preview of the future People Power. The April 6 Liberation Movement was actually a metamorphosis of an earlier radical group, the “Light-A-Fire Movement” whose leaders where arrested prior to the rash of bombings. Led by  businessman Ed Olaguer, the “Light-A-Fire Movement” followed the tactics of an “Arafat/IRA” style insurrection of bombings and small arms actions in the urban areas against the government . The “terrorist” nature of the group initially scared off political sympathizers and had very little support so they had to choose strategic targets with the cheapest form of terrorism: arson. Their weapon of choice: Katol. The procedure was incredibly simple: light a shortened mosquito coil and leave it near a highly combustible area; the coil was extremely predictable time-wise, untraceable and you could get one at any corner sari-sari store. The group set off fires at the Sulo Hotel, Rustan’s and the floating casino. The government took notice and the fires made headlines. But as the group planned for a more “incendiary” route using C4 explosives (the type allegedly used in the Glorietta blast), they were arrested while meeting at a Quezon City home. The members were exposed, among them AIM professor Gaston Ortigas and a 60-year old grandmother Ester Jimenez (mother of the Paredes boys Jim and Ducky/they were all convicted and sentenced to death by electrocution in 1984). But the exiled Filipino opposition also took notice of the movement’s early success. They were emboldened and decided to continue the radical tactics. The chief promoter was Lopez family friend Steve Psinakis. But after the arrest of Victor Burns Lovely, the military cracked down on its alleged supporters. The movement eventually petered out. 

Years later, after the EDSA revolution, many of its supporters finally came out in the open. The most surprising revelation was that the radical movement was supported by Jesuits Toti Olageur (brother of Ed) and the respected historian Fr. Horacio dela Costa. Business tycoon Alfredo Yuchengco also came out in the open as one of the very few businessmen who actively financed the group. GMA’s National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales was also a participant, himself actually carrying out some of the bombings. Today Doris Nuval is project director for the Knowledge Channel; Gaston Ortigas a peace advocate; Ed Olaguer is fighting his demons; Steve Psinakis is now known as the father of Manila chic socialite Geni Psinakis, proprietor of trendy Zuzuni resto in Boracay and Nonoy Zuniga is a doctor still walking with a cane.

Source: http://indiosbravos.blog.com/2011/05/03/recyclablog-9-isnt-he-lovely-the-story-of-victor-nonoy-and-katol/