SILAY CITY - The man called Marcos, whom the crowd cheered and adored in his prime as he campaigned for the presidency, was not driven into exile during the 1986 People's Power Revolution.

He also experienced the wrath of angry mobs as the dictatorship neared its end but did not die in a foreign land, and at 83 actually lives a comfortable life in retirement as an active lay leader of the San Diego Parish here.

But he is not serving the Lord in penance for a presidency gone sour, the Marcos who lives here was a manager of an insurance firm who with his wife, Thelma, now 77, is happy to tell stories of his brief moments of fame. Jesus Quevenco, who is called Marcos by his acquaintances, is a Ferdinand Marcos look-alike who, in the 60's, doubled for the real Macoy in Negros during his bid for the presidency.

Jesus told the DAILY STAR he was never a politician, he was a good friend of then Silay Mayor Romulo Golez who was a member of the Nacionalista Party.

So when the Nacionalista Party held its 1960s convention where then Senator Marocs made his bid for the presidency, Golez brought Jesus to attend the affair at the Manila Hotel as an NP delegate. After the convention he and Golez went to the senator's house in Mandaluyong and while they were waiting in the living room NP delegates who arrived from Mindanao started shaking his hand.

Jesus said he just smiled and shook hands not letting them know that he was not Ferdinand.

When Ferdinand and Imelda arrived the baffled delegates from Mindanao looked at him with puzzled looks, he said.

Golez who was a close friend of the Marcoses introduced him to Doña Josefa as the illegitimate son of her husband, Jesus said.

"She stared at me and said you look just like Ferdie."

Ferdinand who acknowledged their almost looking alike called him "Brod," he said.

When he came back to Negros, Jesus said he was asked to deliver copies of the book "For Every Tear a Victory" written by Marcos to the mayors.

And then one night in December 1964 his friend Mayor Golez knocked at his door at 8 or 9 p.m. and asked Jesus if he had a coat and tie.

"Mayor Golez told me Imelda had arrived in Negros and needed to go to Murcia town but Ferdinand had another commitment and could not come," he said.

"He asked me to go with Imelda to Murcia - all I had to do was escort her around the plaza and wave. The people waved back at me thinking I was Marcos," he said.

Linda Gatustalo, the wife of then Gov. Valeriano Gatuslao, approached me and said "Mr. Marcos can you please sit by my side," Jesus said.

I replied in Ilonggo: "Tya Linda indi ako si Marcos (I am not Marcos)" and she frantically called her husband to tell him that I was not the real Ferdinand, Jesus said.

On one occasion Marcos was slated to speak in Cadiz but he could not come so then political kingpin of northern Negros Armin Gustilo asked him to double for the presidential aspirant.

I sat in Gustilo's car and waved at the waiting people in Cadiz who were told that Marcos could not speak that day as he had to go to San Carlos City on some important business, Jesus said.

On another occasion the real Marcos had to go to Victrorias and I was asked to meet him at the Bacolod airport, Jesus said.

He said Marcos told him he could sleep at will so he always ended up looking fresh, and soon was fast asleep beside him. Jesus said he was left with the task of waving at the crowd and only woke Ferdinand up when they arrived in Victorias.

After Marcos won the presidency on Nov.9, 1965 Jesus said he got a telegram from the president asking him to send his biodata and to state what job he wanted in government.

Jesus said he did not ask for any position because he had his insurance business in Negros. He also refused requests by some politicians to double for the president again because he had a family to raise.

Then one time Imelda Marcos came to Negros Occidental to cut the ribbon at the inauguration of the new Social Security System building and she sent me an invitation to come, he said.

Jesus said when he got to the SSS affair he kept his distance but Imelda looked up and saw him and soon an aide came and brought him to her.

She called me "Junior" and as soon as she saw me she said "Junior, thank you for coming, what can I do for you?"

I told her I was okay, I was the manager of an insurance company but she persisted and asked "Are you sure junior?"

I then told her my wife was a teacher in Silay City and would like to be transferred to the GSIS and she told me to tell Thelma to go to Manila, he said.

Thelma said that, armed with a picture of her husband and Marcos together, she went to Malacañang and met Executive Secretary Rafael Salas.

She said she was brought into see Imelda who was fitting a terno who chatted with her and told her to return the next day to meet the president. The president gave her a handwritten note that said "I hereby direct the appointment of Thelma Quevenco to the GSIS."

"I started out as a casual employee and when the president saw me again he asked if I needed anything, I told him I would like to earn my promotions by merit," Thelma said.

"The president told me, if all my protégés were like you I would have no problems," she added.

Thelma later became operations manager of the Ministry of Human Settlements in Region 6.

When Marcos grew unpopular in the 70s Jesus' strong resemblance to the president gave him a taste of the ire of the people.

He said in the 70s he was walking down Escolta in a coat and tie when a group of protesting activists saw him and chased him. He said he slipped into a department store, bought a T-shirt to put on and walked out without the mob noticing him.

Then on another visit to Manila he and his wife were in the chauffer-driven car of a relative taking them to the airport when someone noticed him and an angry crowd, thinking he was Marcos, surrounded the vehicle. It took Thelma to convince them that he was not the real Marcos when she shouted in Ilonggo that he was her husband.

Jesus said he told his wife he did not want to go to Manila again after that experience.

When sugar prices began to plummet in Negros during the Marcos years, Jesus said he would meet friends who would curse the president and say that "bastard brother of yours".

As people's anger grew against Marcos so did that of some of the members of their own family. But for Jesus and Thelma, Marcos started out a good president and they blame the excesses of his later years as president on the abuse of some people around him and his being ill and nearly out of control.

"We never wavered in our support for Marcos, even during the snap elections, but members of our family joined the campaign for Cory Aquino," they said.

They said their outspoken daughter, Babette, even took an autographed picture Marcos had sent and burned it at a rally.

Thelma, however, said she was disappointed in Imelda. "She took advantage of her position."

But Mrs. Marcos, who could charm almost anyone, is a fighter and a survivor, she said.

We did not get rich from knowing Marcos because we did not take advantage so when he went into exile life just went on for us as usual, they said.

The Quevencos have 10 children who include a diplomat, a doctor, a lawyer, a travel agency owner and a banker, and they have 23 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Those are the joys of their life spiced up by the memories of encounters with Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, documented in fading black and white photographs.

But looking at Jesus today at 83 one wonders if Ferdinand would have looked the same had he not gotten ill and died.*CPG

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