Originally published in Spot.PH on September 11, 2017, the centenary of Marcos' birth. The blurb for it stated, "We are far from being able to take stock of his life." Which is true. F. Sionil Jose sent me a note to compliment me on this piece, which I appreciated very much, since he was old enough to have known Marcos personally. This article was the product of three stories told me by contemporaries of Marcos.