No shot had yet been fired, but when Hermie Rivera faced the wrong end of an assault rifle on the Palace corridor he thought he would be the first casualty of 1986 People Power revolution.

Rivera’s confrontation with the Galil-wielding son of President Ferdinand Marcos followed his father’s decision to go on national television to reassure the world he would not attack the rebels.

A trusted press officer with full access to the inner Palace sanctum, Rivera had arranged for Marcos’ television address hours after Washington had warned of dire consequences if the President mounted an offensive.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr., nicknamed Bongbong, had opposed his father’s decision taken on the second day of the breakaway by rebellious Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Gen. Fidel Ramos, the Armed Forces deputy chief of staff.

 A mainstay of the popular late 60s, early 70s dzHP news team, Rivera said he had been called to the Palace at around 6 p.m. on that lazy Sunday – Feb. 23, 1986 — and had taken with him dispatches from Washington to brief the President.

Read more