Photo: Boyet Mijares (left) and his father Primitivo Mijares. Screenshot from the documentary ‘Batas Militar’

Secrets are really meant to be found–a reason why it is often difficult to keep one or many just to yourself. Every man needs to be able to vent out his guilt (or sadistic joy, depending on who’s talking) over his deepest and most vile secrets to a confidant. Even the cold and calculating dictator Ferdinand Marcos needed such a friend whom he could pour his heart and soul into. And that person was Primitivo Mijares.

Mijares was Marcos’s right-hand aide. He was a journalist but he was working closely with Marcos. He was pretty much his executive assistant, ready to answer to the President’s needs as soon as he was summoned. As a columnist for the Manila Chronicle, he had some influence in the and was the regime’s media relations go-to-guy.

In 1975, Mijares defected…