Name Spoken With Reverence Even Today : Ilocos Norte: It’s Still Marcos Country

Before Rudolfo Farinas decided to run for governor of the province of Ilocos Norte, he flew to Hawaii three times and sought the blessing of his old political godfather, deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos, and the advice of Imelda Marcos’ personal palmist.

Farinas’ chief political rival, Congressman Roque Ablan, whose 80-year-old mother, Nana, is running against Farinas in Monday’s local elections, also consults with Marcos. He calls the former strongman almost every day.

The province’s front-running candidate for deputy governor, Orlando Abadilla, is a renegade army colonel, the former personal bodyguard of Marcos’ son, who is running his campaign from a solitary confinement cell in a Manila military prison. He is being held on charges of trying to overthrow the government of President Corazon Aquino and restore Marcos to power.

Political observers say the colonel is almost sure to win.

‘A Kind of Hero’

“To us Ilocanos, Col. Abadilla is a kind of hero,” said another congressman, Mariano Nalupta Jr., who said that he, too, remains loyal to Marcos. “Why? Because he was trying to overthrow the government that robbed the power from President Marcos.”

That’s just how it is in Ilocos Norte, the land where Marcos is still king, the land that time and the Aquino revolution left behind.

This is, after all, Marcos’ home province, and he treated it generously during the two decades of his presidency. He built roads here, tourist facilities and irrigation systems that helped make the province bloom.

So much so that two years after he was deposed and discredited, his name is still spoken with reverence. It is considered virtually impossible to win an election here, even as a councilman in the smallest of the province’s 23 towns, without the blessing of “the old man in Hawaii.”

Umbrella Holder Favored

Even the man who was Marcos’ official umbrella holder, Ben Sarmiento, is regarded as sure to win one of the mayoral races, simply because he protected Marcos from the sun for so many years.

Candidates have covered their campaign jeeps with photographs of Marcos. Many wear the T-shirts they wore in Marcos’ last presidential campaign. And his name is evoked in speech after speech by candidates who concede that they cannot win unless the voters are convinced that the candidate still believes in Marcos.

Congressman Ablan said that candidates for mayor all use the same technique in their speeches.

“In rallies,” he said, “we say, ‘Do you want President Marcos back?’ and they all shout, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ And then we tell them to vote for us, and it will happen.”

Political analysts say the specter of Marcos is proof that the grassroots political machine Marcos used so deftly is still the principal force in this northern part of Luzon Island. But Marcos supporters deny their opponents’ charges that the former president, who is accused of having looted the country of billions of dollars, is financing their campaigns.

Not Just Money

“Without the machinery of Marcos, no amount of exhibiting his picture or money will make you win in this province,” Ablan said. “Here in the north, it is not the money that makes the machine go. It is the respect and love for Mr. Marcos.”

So powerful is the machine that President Aquino appears to have decided that it is better to use it than fight it. In a move that has shocked the Marcos faithful here, Ablan has struck a political alliance with Aquino and her powerful younger brother, Congressman Jose Cojuangco Jr., whose party is supporting Ablan’s mother and his entire slate of mayoral candidates.

“Why not?” Ablan said when a reporter asked how he could join Aquino and still be loyal to the man she helped overthrow. “Mrs. Aquino promised me that she will continue the projects of Mr. Marcos, and that’s good enough for me.

‘Still Marcos Country’

“They (Aquino and her party) know that this region is still Marcos country, so it would be useless to fight us. So I said, ‘Gentlemen, why fight if we can work together? Just as long as we can maintain our identity. We are KBL (the Marcos party), and we will never turn our back on President Marcos.’ ”

Asked if such an alliance does not indicate hypocrisy on the part of President Aquino, who blames all the Philippines’ troubles on the Marcos regime, Ablan replied: “No, it’s not that. It’s just that she’s waking up to realities.”

Already, the Aquino-Ablan alliance appears to be causing divisions in this last bastion of Marcos support in the country. Farinas, the candidate for governor, has split with Ablan, charging that Ablan is turning his back on the Marcos family.

Farinas is a former mayor of Laoag, the provincial capital, and he concedes that the younger Marcos, Ferdinand R., who used to be governor of Ilocos Norte, is responsible for his being mayor. He says Ablan is using the Aquino family to create a political dynasty of his own.

“Marcos made his son governor,” Farinas said. “That was progressive. But Ablan is going the other way. He’s making his mother governor.”

Little Talk of Issues

Amid all the charges of personal wrongdoing, there has been little discussion of the issues. The campaign has focused for the most part on who is or is not turning his back on Marcos.

Farinas has charged that Ablan’s mother is not 80 but 83, that she is senile and incapable of dealing with the Communist insurgency.

“Mrs. Ablan cannot carry an Uzi (a submachine gun),” Farinas said. “In fact, her son would have to carry Mrs. Ablan into battle.” Farinas describes himself as “an intellectual warlord.”

Ablan charged that Farinas is a drug addict who is perpetually on cocaine.

“They portray my mother as weak and collapsing,” Ablan said, “but she is fit and trim, and she does it without taking any drugs--uppers, downers, especially cocaine. Farinas is on drugs.”

Farinas denies the charge.

Dynasty Concerns Bishop

Perhaps the most independent voice in Ilocos Norte these days is that of the Roman Catholic bishop, Edmundo Abaya, who is friendly with both Ablan and Farinas. Abaya said that to the voters, the cocaine charge is of less importance than the dynasty charge.

“In the barrios,” he said, “they don’t even know what cocaine is. So which is more important, cocaine or dynasty?”

Abaya said he is distressed by the campaign.

“It’s the old politics,” he said. “It’s just the Marcos people coming back. The same dirty tricks. It’s very disappointing and very frustrating. In the beginning, Mrs. Aquino wanted to dismantle the old Marcos machinery. Now, she’s trying to put the machinery ba1667965044politician.”