For APEC, Mr. Aquino borrowed from Mrs. Marcos’ Potemkin tricks

The manner by which Mr. Aquino and Mr. Marcos further enriched the rich was of two different strains. Mr. Marcos chose a set of favored oligarchs, gave them special business sectors that operated like monopolies, the competition token if not non-existent.

There was one group for food and beverage, one group for communications, one group for sugar, one group for cargo handling at the Manila ports and so forth and so on. Mr. Marcos also made sure old-line, blue-chip companies were moved into the hands of cronies. The media was under the control of less than a dozen people, the same cronies, the same names that controlled the other profitable economic sectors.