(2 of 3)
That moral and symbolic victory was achieved in the face of seemingly insuperable odds. The shocking, still unsolved assassination of Opposition Leader Benigno ("Ninoy") Aquino Jr. in Manila last August awoke almost overnight a vigorous and vociferous opposition to Marcos' government. When Marcos refused to meet demands to guarantee the legitimacy of the elections, which had been previously scheduled, Aquino's younger brother Agapito ("Butz"), together with former Senators Jose Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada, resolved to boycott the voting. Salvador Laurel and other Marcos opponents disagreed. While conceding that they had little hope against the money and machinery of the well-oiled K.B.L., they believed that by winning even a few seats they could begin to challenge Marcos' system from within. Easier said than done. Though Marcos reluctantly liberalized the election code in March, the President's men artfully contrived to cut away at many of his concessions.
On election day, true to form, bottles of acetone, designed to counteract specially ordered indelible ink, appeared in some precincts; officials' relatives were seen voting five times in others. In Quezon City, 23,000 squatters were threatened with relocation unless they voted for the K.B.L.; in Manila some K.B.L. voters were rewarded with envelopes containing around $130. Tragically, the pandemonium of election week also resulted in 109 deaths, mostly caused by clashes involving guerrillas of the Communist New People's Army.
For once, the opposition refused to shrug off such election chicanery. As members of the government-dominated election commission inexplicably dawdled over counting votes, demonstrators conducted a candlelight march on Manila's city hall, waving placards that proclaimed, NINOY, YOU HAVE NOT DIED IN VAIN!, TALLY SHEET, NOT TALLY CHEAT! and ONE VOTE, ONE COUNT! In the capital's commercial center of Makati, a recount took away the victory of UNIDO Candidate Aurora ("Au-Au") Pijuan-Manotoc, 34, the former wife of Sportsman Tommy Manotoc, who is now married to the President's daughter Imee. Au-Au's outraged followers responded by storming the Makati city hall, flinging stones against the building and burning furniture in its courtyard.
Although the boycott movement drew no more than a few million of the nation's 24 million registered voters, Butz Aquino contended that it had indirectly helped the opposition cause by giving the K.B.L. "a false sense of security." Still, the boycotters remained skeptical that anti-Marcos forces could achieve meaningful reforms within the President's system. "Let's wait until the euphoria dies down and the dust settles," said Human Rights Lawyer Joker Arroyo. For its part, the newly elected opposition hoped to team up with disaffected K.B.L. members to steer government policy in a new direction.