Drag us to hell, Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos has dragged the spirit of democracy and justice with him inches deep in the ground, and Rodrigo Duterte has happily covered the casket with the first shovel of dirt. We either dig it all up, or tamp more dirt to it.
A few days after the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was given a secret hero’s burial, the Quirino Grandstand was quick to be filled with anti-Marcos groups along with student activists and Martial Law victims clad in black for the National Day of Unity and Rage.
With burning Marcos effigies and averse to Marcos banners, more than 1, 500 people marched to the streets in attempt to remind the current administration that tyranny was defeated and democracy was fought for in 1986.
The stories about the atrocities committed during Martial are neither myths nor propagandist movements to deface Marcos’ “golden” reputation. Data from Amnesty International show that 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured and 3,240 were killed under the Marcos dictatorship, which lasted from 1971 to 1986. Activists were kidnapped, tormented and killed and most of the missing bodies are yet to be recovered.
Some of the Marcos apologists even took their disgraceful orientation to social media when they seemingly “raped” a student activist, whose photo went viral online. Youth activist groups have been criticized for staging protests and demonstrations against the Marcos regime. They have been branded as hypocrites for speaking ill of the Marcoses and the murderous regime, as the apologists argue that none of them were “alive” then to be able to tell its realities today.
People have to be reminded that this entire Marcos issue is not just about a catfight between the yellows and the apologists.
To preserve the Martial law struggle through social media and protests on the streets does not mean the youth are ‘stupid’ or clutching on for ‘band-wagon’ mentality, it simply means they are brave and knowledgeable enough to accept the realities told by the victims and the undefiled history of the reign of the Marcoses and even courageous enough to fight, whether it be behind the screen or on the streets.
The last one who should be apathetic about all this is President Duterte, who remains unmoved despite the outcry of the nation. While there is no law prohibiting a hero’s burial for Marcos, Duterte should have at least thought about what the Martial Law victims and their families would feel after the plunderer and murderer who abused them was honored as a hero. The Martial Law victims, who until today still see in their nightmares the horrors of the Marcos regime, appeared as if they were tortured again, their stories revisited and their scars resurfaced.
The whole world rejoiced with the Filipinos when Marcos was ousted from power in 1986. But today, the same country raped by Marcos is honoring him and glorifying his contributions to the nation. On Nov. 18, the Filipino people defined what apathy really is and once again put a thief on a pedestal.
The people who were alive during the Marcos regime who continuously assert the late dictator’s magnanimity and utter greatness were either part of the problem before or too stupid now to inquire the realities of the Martial law era. Of all people, they should be the ones who can vividly remember the atrocities that took place during the infamous times of corruption and murder.
The arguments keep on circulating on the establishments and projects of the murderous dictator. Little do they know that the usual monthly salary they earn today could have been three to four times higher than usual, the 13th-month pay could be more than enough for holiday spendings, but the bad economic discipline and mismanagement of the Marcos dictatorship left us with little to no chance of settling the millions worth of debts left by the fallen regime in twenty years. And according to Transparency International’s list of the world’s most corrupt rulers, Marcos ranked No. 2 and have plundered US$5 to $10 billion from Philippines.
The Marcoses stole our future.
And they stole the truth from those who keep on blindly supporting their criminal family. The Marcos loyalists should not always be seen as the enemy, as they are also victims of the horrendous twist of realities. Sometimes, the ignorance of Martial Law history is passed on for generations in a familial lineage, and the defiled telling of the Martial Law story can be traced during the days of the Marcos rule.
Applying context and analyzing the social milieu, Martial Law did not simply impose 10 o’clock curfews, but instituted nepotism, despotism, remilitarization and strictly repressed press freedom. Marcos and his cronies owned media companies and the news stories to be broadcasted, let alone the television shows and movies to be screened in cinemas, were censored and cleansed of any anti-Marcos feature. Which perhaps explains why the horrors of Martial Law have not been told not until Marcos was ousted from power. Marcos appeared like a superstar on TV because making him look good was the job description of media men back in the days. Survival of the press meant saying something good about the Marcoses and surrendering to complete censorship
Now, how can the people move on when the love-spawns of the murderous conjugal dictatorship are still in power? When his other half is still unaccounted for all the money spent from the national treasury? When the murderous spirit of Martial law lives even up to our time in the spate of summary killings? With a strongman ruler at the helm of the Philippine government once more?
