I Come To Bury Marcos, Not To Praise Him

“Hon, ano ba ginawa ni Marcos talaga, ha?”

D is turning 21 years old this year. When he was born, the country already had Cory Aquino as president for four years. The euphoria of being the world’s darling of democracy had given way to coup d’etat attempts and, several years later, power outages. For him, the Marcoses can be reduced to the legendary shoes of Imelda. Even the phrase “martial law” isn’t top of mind. Forget about Plaza Miranda, “salvaging,” political prisoners and cronyism; to him, they are meaningless words. Why? Because no one bothered to tell him exactly what happened 39 years ago, as well as the years leading up to it and the ones after that.

Are we that such a forgiving nation? Or are we just forgetful? I fear we are not passive amnesiacs; worse, we would rather forget. But why? They say that the Filipinos are one of the happiest people in the world. Maybe a reason why is because we easily let go of the past. I have no problem with letting go of the past, so long as what we let go are feelings of anger, hurt and a desire for revenge or payback. But we should never let go of the lessons we learn from our past, our sense of justice and the determination to never let past atrocities happen again. Too bad we throw away the baby along with the bath water.

So now the Marcoses are back in power. And they and their minions want to finally have Ferdinand E. Marcos buried in the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.

It will do us well to heed Marc Anthony’s words in Julius Caesar, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Let the younger generations hear of the evils done to our country by the Marcoses and their ilk! Let not their wrongdoings be buried in pomp and circumstance and national denial. I come to bury Marcos, not to praise him.

So I told D of the time when the Philippines was ahead of everyone in Asia. I told D of Marcos who declared martial law to prolong his stay in power, and of his cronies that plundered the country. And I told D that, five presidents after, our country is still struggling to get out of the hole that the Marcoses and their cronies and supporters buried us in.

Hon, ano ba ang ginawa ni Marcos talaga? Inilibing tayong lahat, ang sambayanang Pilipino, sa utang at hirap.