Cleopatra’s nose, Imelda’s cyst

Readers often ask how I come up with column topics when Philippine history, as we know it, is centuries-long and complicated. Timeliness is key. For January, I frame the past with the present in terms of: New Year celebrations and rituals, fireworks, the traslacion of the Nazareno de Quiapo, the feasts of the Sto. Niño in Tondo and Cebu, as well as the rowdy fiestas that accompany them: Sinulog in Cebu, Ati-Atihan in Kalibo, and Dinagyang in Iloilo. The top three results of a quick online search for Jan. 16 events yielded the establishment of the Lung Center of the Philippines (1981), the accession of Philip II as King of Spain (1556), and a reference to the wave of protests in 1970 that is now known as the “First Quarter Storm.” One could fill column space on each of these topics, but I wanted something based on a more relevant primary source.

On Jan. 16, 1970, the Official Gazette records that “President Marcos in the morning received a few callers at the Executive Hall, and worked on State Papers the rest of the day.” At 10 a.m., he received officials of the International Chamber of Commerce led by its president, Dr. Manuel Lim, then he inducted the new officers of the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines, led by Felipe Delfin of the Aklan Press-Radio Club. Individual callers were Msgr. Mariano Gaviola of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Jose Teodoro from the Philippine Consulate in Seattle, Asian Development Bank president Takeshi Watanabe, and acting Public Works Secretary Manuel B. Syquio, who personally reported on the post office fire the previous night. The President skipped a dinner jointly hosted by the Philippine Society of Mining, Metallurgical, and Geological Engineers and the Geological Society of the Philippines; he was represented by Board of Investments chair Cesar Virata, who read the President’s speech.

There is no Official Gazette entry for Jan. 15, 1970, because the late President was preoccupied with a personal matter. He was out of Malacañang, sleeping at the Veterans Memorial Hospital from Thursday, Jan. 15, to Monday, Jan. 19, 1970. Former first lady Imelda Marcos underwent surgery described in diary entries written in the hospital:

“Meldy’s cyst in the right breast has been removed and found benign—as the report says the mass is a fibrocystic disease.

“When Inday (Dr. Paciencia Disini) brought out the specimen, I was shocked at the size. It was about three inches by eight inches and a quarter of an inch thick. Dr. Pantangco and Ferriols were the pathologist[s]. Dr. Pacifico Yap, assisted by Dr. Uy, performed the operation. Dr. Quintin Gomez was the anesthesiologist, assisted by Inday. Present were the heart specialists, Dr. Juanita Zagala and Dr. Pedro Cruz.

“We slept at the hospital last night at about 11:30 and woke up at 5 a.m. when she was injected with some sedatives. Operation started at about 6:15, frozen section after 15 minutes, and finished (sutured) at about 7 a.m. A little depression was left at the site, but the opening was only about three inches long.

“Reinstated my appointments for the day and met with the different chambers of commerce … the Provincial Press Federation, Bishop [Mariano] Gaviola, and Mr. Watanabe, the President of the Asian Development Bank.

“The whole city is still talking about the supposed rift between the sugar bloc and me. Yesterday [Roberto] Bobby Benedicto went to see [Alfredo] Piding Montelibano [Sr.], called me by phone, and I talked to Piding, who was ill with influenza, and he promised to come and see me at the Palace on Monday.

“We were all agreed that the cyst of Meldy was benign, as it had not changed in size for the last two years, and in fact has actually reduced in size. But she was beginning to contaminate everyone with her tension, including me.

“Meldy is resting well and ate Chinese lugao from Ralph tonight. Bongbong kept us in stitches with stories of his first dance and the children’s parties he has attended.

“Horrors, Mother says she will be 77 next month and feels like 20 after [stem-cell treatment], Dr. Meliano, and Switzerland. What a lot of these people in this room would give to feel like 20, [e]specially Zita Feliciano, who is trying to peek into my diary.

“All these women around here, I bet, are all wondering if they have lumps in their breasts.”

These personal references will be ignored by most historians as trivial or irrelevant. Instead, they will focus on Marcos’ notes on antigovernment student demonstrations, and his plan for alarm systems under the Barrio Home Defense Force. Jan. 16, 1970, is reconstructed from newspapers, oral history, personal diaries, etc. History is like individual snapshots over time—never complete. From sources that give different points of view, historians can’t be objective when their choice of sources, to use or discard, is subjective. If the history of the world were different depending on the size of Cleopatra’s nose, how might Philippine history have unfolded if the cyst on Imelda Marcos’ breast were malignant?

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Comments are welcome at ambeth.ocampo@inquirer.net