Jessica Soho shares eyewitness account of Marcos during 1986 campaign: 'There was blood trickling down his arm'

As a veteran broadcast journalist, Jessica Soho has witnessed many important moments in history.

That includes the tail end of President Ferdinand Marcos' regime in the Philippines, back when she was still early in her career as a news reporter for GMA Network.

In the pilot episode of "The Howie Severino Podcast," Jessica shared a snippet of her coverage of the late dictator during the campaign for the 1986 Snap Elections against Corazon Aquino.

"He was in the middle of a speech in Caloocan and then he stopped. He just suddenly stopped and he disappeared from the stage. When he came back out, he was being carried by people," she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Jessica said her cameraman was able to capture footage of Marcos with blood trickling down his arm.

"And then before we knew it, Imelda [Marcos] was already singing on the stage. You know, I think it was some sort of a ruse probably because there was talk at that time that Marcos was sick," she said.

The award-winning broadcast journalist said there was talk of Marcos bringing a portable dialysis machine wherever he went.

"The theory was he stopped his speech in the middle because he probably was not feeling good and then they brought him somewhere. Then when he came out, he was being carried so it wouldn't be too obvious," she said.

"And then there was blood trickling down his arm and Imelda was singing on the stage."

Aside from that moment, Jessica also saw Marcos in the aftermath of the People Power Revolution, when his family fled to Hawaii.

At that time, Marcos was already dying of lupus.

"There were only two journalists who were allowed to see him in the hospital while he was sick—me and Danny Buenafe," she said. "They let us see Marcos in the hospital. He was all shriveled up and looked pale."

Asked for what she thought about the Marcos era in the Philippines, Jessica remained true to her perspective as a journalist.

"I think we should go by facts," she said. "We should have more written history about what really happened and we should respect history and respect people's experiences and eyewitness accounts."

—MGP, GMA News