It’s Not Just Marcos Jr. vs. Aquino III And Why We Should Say : “Never Again”

By Leandro D. Quintana

A recent headline reported that President Aquino has asked Vice-president Binjay to deal with the Marcos camp clamor for the burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

Sad to say the president cannot take a Pontius Pilate, wash-my-hands attitude on this matter. The crimes of the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr. were not limited to the torment and torture of the Aquino family. Millions of Filipinos, in myriad ways and for a long and agonizing time, were reduced to sheepish and humiliating acquiescence while the Marcos clan, their cohorts and cronies plundered the country. Those unfortunate enough to give voice to their aspirations for freedom and fairness, or otherwise got into the cross hairs of the powers that be, ended up incarcerated and many more rotted in ditches, victims of the “salvaging” onslaught of the martial law regime. The nation, for sure, must not forget. Neither must it consider the Marcos survivors, Imelda and the children, mere and benign onlookers during the twenty year carnage. The Marcos “rape of the Philippines” was a collaborative family affair.

President Aquino’s late mother, Cory, was right in refusing the hero’s burial upon the return of Bongbong’s father in 1989. And the Filipino people at that time, not too far removed from the country’s nightmare of the previous two decades, overwhelmingly supported Cory’s decision.

While there is a whole new generation that has emerged who never had to live under the yoke of the Marcoses, it is necessary for them to learn as much of the sordid past as possible. Very much like the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, those of our generation who know of the profligacy of the Marcoses, must embrace and pass on the vow that “never again” will we have their likes as our leaders. The candle that lights the past misdeeds may flutter and memories fade as the winds of revisionism are blown by those who most benefit from a “Marcos” revival; thus it behooves us to be the bearers of the torch to enlighten the new generations and those yet to come. Never again must the Marcoses come to power.

Another headline also announced that Marcos Jr. claimed that had his late father never been deposed, that the Philippines would be “another Singapore”. Totalitarianism, he seems to argue, is the requisite route to the economic upliftment of the country. He fails to mention that when Marcos Sr. ruled with an iron fist for close to twenty years the only segment of society that were uplifted were those who belonged to the power elite. In fact many enterprising Filipinos who had successful businesses often woke up one morning with a knock on their doors, visited by Marcos cronies who wanted to take over their domains for a pittance.

This claim by Marcos Jr. is indeed an eye opener for the country. He has, perhaps unwittingly, revealed his hand as to what he might do should he ever become president: he would emulate his late father and become a latter day despot to complete the rape of the country that the older Marcos started but was stopped only by the force of a people who had had enough and unceremoniously ousted him in 1986.

“Never Again” should be the battle cry of those who are determined to not see their country relive the mistakes of its past. And President Benigno Aquino III should lead that cry. This is one obligation he cannot, and ought not , delegate to anyone.

ldq44@aol.com