Shamelessness of Marcoses and Shoddy PhilStar Reporting

Disgusting and revolting are the two adjectives that immediately came to mind as I read the February 18 issue of the Philippine Star carrying a statement from Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that his late father, the former dictator, ought to be buried in the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani (Heroes Cemetery). What triggered the younger Marcos’ demand was the burial in the same Libingan of recently deceased, by suicide, former AFP chief Gen. Angelo Reyes.

If Reyes merits the honor of a hero’s burial why not his father? he argues. He then elaborates that the deposed older Marcos was a “war hero” and the country’s “longest serving president”.

Marcos Jr. may think that all of his countrymen are either complete amnesiacs or are totally impervious to the facts and would blindly accept his contentions.

Well, let’s take a look at his rationale.
War hero? Here’s what the January 25, 1986 report from the Los Angeles Times had to say disputing Marcos’ claim to heroism:

‘The reports, based on U.S. Army records uncovered by historian Alfred W. McCoy, said the Army repeatedly denied requests for postwar recognition of Marcos's purported guerrilla group, describing his claims as "fraudulent" and "absurd."
In Washington on Friday, a State Department official said that "the public record speaks for itself," and there are "no grounds to second guess the findings of military officers who reviewed the case 40 years ago."’

The Philippine Star report also reinforced Marcos Jr.’s assertions citing supporting statements by senators Ponce-Enrile and Honasan perpetuating the “fraudulent” and “absurd” claims.

Abhorrent as the heroism claims may be what really must rub the nation like “salt to the wound” is the justification that Marcos Sr. be given a hero’s burial because he was the “longest serving president”. Excuse me? How did his term last 20 years? Oh, yes, he did so by usurping all powers on September 21, 1972. And thereafter went on an orgy of plunder and enrichment for his family and friends in a scale neither seen nor equaled in the 20th century.

And while his regime was already characterized by violence perpetrated against “enemies” both perceived and real pre 1972, this was raised to unequaled proportions after he took absolute power. Opposition leaders, journalists and even students were summarily rounded up and jailed. Opposition leaders like Eugenio Lopez Jr., Sergio Osmena III and Benigno Aquino Jr. all went on hunger strikes to call world attention to their plight. Others, less famous, languished and were subject to torture and all kinds of depravities, meriting visits and negative reports from Amnesty International. Murders numbered in the thousands, by some counts, and disappearances of people who had offended the regime or even some of its lesser lights had become commonplace. “Salvaging” was a cruel moniker used to describe the killing of many. He robbed the country of its wealth, and scarred his nation’s soul with his murderous brutality. He deserves a place for scorn, not veneration.
After the dictator died in 1989, his wife Imelda had the shameless temerity to ask that he be buried at the Libingan ; there was palpable national convulsion to the very thought! The sins of Ferdinand Marcos, his family and his friends, can not and should not be forgotten. Time may jade people’s memories and atrocities may wane in its intensity and viciousness, but surely we cannot desecrate further the memories and sacrifices of the thousands who met cruel and unjust fates by now treating the perpetrator of their agonies to a hero’s burial.

And what really is upsetting about the Philippine Star report is that this newspaper that once upon a time had a great journalist the late Max Soliven at its helm, seems to have printed en toto what reads very much like a press release from the Marcos p.r. office. No mention of the fact that the claims to heroism were strongly questioned and that the longevity of his “term of office” was the result of the abrogation of the country’s constitution and its democratic traditions. And oh, yes. Max was one of the very first people hauled to jail when Marcos declared martial law. He, and the thousands of victims, not Marcos, are the heroes. Too bad Max has gone to his reward; had he been alive the Marcos press release would not have found print in his venerated newspaper; at least not without the inclusion of data and facts that definitively contradicted the spurious claims .

Gloria’s Legacy: Corruption, Dishonor, Power Plays and now Death

The sad and tragic death by self-inflicted gunshot wound of former AFP chief Gen. Angelo Reyes, and the ongoing revelations by former AFP budget officer George Rabusa that claim routine multi-million peso payoffs to top military brass during the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, gives us a glimpse into how the ex-president might have operated.

In ousting duly elected Joseph Estrada via “people power II” was a quid pro quo of future payoffs offered by then vice-president Arroyo to the armed forces leadership for their overt support of Erap’s rapid dethronement in 2001? There was much speculation that such an “arrangement” had taken place; recent events now seem to give the erstwhile suspicion a stronger tinge of validity.

The late Angelo Reyes became a Gloria favorite during her 9 year stint, receiving multiple, high profile cabinet appointments. This is not to say that Reyes was not qualified for the positions nor did he fail in any of his cabinet assignments. But in light of the payoff revelations it is certainly not a stretch to imagine less than noble motives on Arroyo’s part.

I’ll stipulate that the late General Reyes may have been an honorable man who took pride in his integrity and that he actively participated in the removal of Estrada for purely altruistic and patriotic reasons, i.e. that the latter had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” and was guilty of “plunder”. Yet in a moment of weakness he may have succumbed and yielded to the largesse and generosity of Madame Arroyo and accepted the going away present when he retired from the AFP. Tragically, it is that sense of honor and integrity that may have led to his suicide. Perhaps he could not face life, his family and his country knowing that he had accepted millions of unearned pesos when he retired, funds that should perhaps have gone to raising the salaries of the underpaid enlisted men he commanded. Sadly, we lost a good man.

The best way for the country, and the present leadership, to render Reyes death some valuable meaning is to doggedly and publicly pursue the truth about the payoffs. What it will uncover perhaps, among other things, is one of Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo’s “strategies” for staying in power. She saw how the many coup attempts launched against her predecessor Corazon Aquino hogtied the latter’s tenure and she was determined that such a fate not befall her regime. And it seems that she calculated that the best way to keep the military leadership in line and backing her was to give them a “financial incentive” to continue supporting her.

Arroyo also took other steps that would make her “untouchable” and enable her to slither away from any attempts to hold her accountable for the debauchery of corruption that characterized her administration. In a column I wrote before the May elections last year (“The Sham and The Shame”) I pointed out that what had driven her frenzy of midnight appointments, including that of the Supreme Court’s chief justice, was an elaborate scheme to ensure that she had the means to subvert and undermine Benigno Aquino III should the latter try to carry out any judicial efforts to bring her, her family and other key members of her administration before the bars of justice. And, so far, it seems that she has succeeded.

For sure the military leaders who willingly took the bribes need to be held accountable; yet we cannot ignore the fact that the giver of the bribe is just, if not more, culpable. And we surely cannot believe that when 50 million pesos changes hands at the highest levels of the military that the “commander-in-chief”, which Arroyo was, was not aware of it.

Corruption was elevated to an art form in the Arroyo administration. Her near Machiavellian power plays to retain tenure as long as she could are well known. Now we can add the death of an honorable man to her legacy. In my view she has blood on her hands. She must not be allowed to “slither” away one more time.