96

YEAR in and year out since the Marcoses’ triumphant return to the country from their Hawaii exile, “Marcos Country” has celebrated Marcos Day. It has however become noticeable that as time drags on, the celebration is waning both in attendance and in luster.

If this of any indication, it is simply living up to the Filipino people’s penchant for easily forgetting the past—be they good or bad—that have shaped the present. In the very same manner that the Marcoses were warmly welcomed in their 1992 return by the Filipinos, well not all of them really, conveniently forgetting that six years earlier they were chasing this very same family out of Malacañang and out of the country. But the question that begs to be asked and pleads to be answered is: Are we in a better shape now?

Ferdinand E. Marcos’ 20-year reign had been clearly marked in the country’s annals as a “reign of terror”. It was called as such because Marcos did not tolerate those who opposed him. Declaring Martial Law in 1972 and virtually clothing himself with absolute power, Marcos did jail anyone who dared to contradict his wishes. But worse than this, his underlings went a tad farther as they erased those they deemed unrepentant oppositionists, which just the same were credited to Marcos, with or without his knowledge. 

Media outlets had been taken over by his cronies, and those who resisted were shuttered and the owners—as well as journalists who insisted on telling the truth as they see it—jailed or exiled, whichever they preferred. And with the press—the very vanguard of democracy and freedom—gagged and could only publish and broadcast approved but incomprehensible and unthinkable paeans to the dictatorship, Marcos did not have much trouble swaying the citizenry to dance to the music he chose.

But as much as freedom had become non-existent then and the government was somehow busy trying to steal from itself, lives of ordinary Filipinos had been insulated from hardship, poverty criminality and anarchy. Basic services reach Filipinos far and wide, countryside development was on a fever-pitch mode as evidenced by the countless landmark infrastructure constructed during Marcos’ reign, and the economy was surprisingly quite fine-tuned and was at par with the region’s other nations.

The only problem that hounded Marcos then was a stubborn and noisy opposition that was doing everything imaginable or otherwise to put its message across—Marcos was the Philippines’ death.

The opposition’s ringleader, Benigno S. Aquino Jr., had even thought of asking Marcos for a private heart-to-heart talk for the sake of saving the country from its imminent collapse. Because according to Aquino, the country was hemorrhaging from the massive corruption of Marcos and his cronies, and that it was only a matter of time before the country plunges into the abyss of economic and moral bankruptcy.

Aquino may have taken his own prediction seriously that he decided, over all the objections of his supporters and family to come back to the Philippines from his Boston exile just so he could square off with Marcos and speak his mind. He was met by a bullet just as he was alighting from his plane at the airport that now bears his name.

Aquino’s assassination became the opposition’s rallying point, and coupled by the worldwide financial crunch that exploded in 1983, the Philippine situation became turbulent, well at the capital at least as those who lived in the countryside were only slightly affected either because it was simply a political hysteria or the sanitized news that were reaching them were doing their jobs perfectly of misinforming the people. But whatever it was, the Filipino citizens that had the heaviest say—those living in the capital and its surrounding areas—were not only distressed by the situation but had been agitated to breaking point by a suddenly revitalized opposition force.

Faced with a revolution about to come to fruition, a very frail Marcos, whose health by then was alarmingly deteriorating, was forced to call a snap election in a desperate bid to calm a restless country.

Reasoning in a twisted logic that that she needs to continue what her husband started, Aquino’s widow, Corazon C. Aquino, stepped in to fill the void left by the slain oppositionist in an electoral duel with Marcos. Though tons of charges of vote-buying and election count rigging had been leveled against Marcos after the February 1986 election climaxed by the dramatic walk-out of several Comelec personnel during the counting, all evidence still pointed to a Marcos victory in the snap election. This however became moot and academic after two of Marcos’ top officials broke away and called on the people to oust the ailing dictator. Mrs. Aquino had been caught unawares by the dramatic change of events that she was nowhere near the capital when the revolution started and ended as she only had to claim the presidency when she resurfaced.

And as she began her rule, it became clear that she was very consumed by hatred and vengeance that she went after all of Marcos’ cronies, friends and even acquaintances, disproving all of her campaign spiels that she was for the reconciliation of the Filipino people to stave off the impending crisis. And she bungled one job after the other she came across the US’ offer of debt condonation during state visit. This offer was made after she was given a 50 or so standing ovation during a speech delivered at the US Congress. But she did the unthinkable as instead of accepting the offer, she mentioned with pride that the Filipinos are an honorable people and will pay their debts down to the last cent.

When Marcos was booted out of the country he left a $28 billion debt. When Aquino was through with the presidency, she upped this to almost $50 billion. Marcos accumulated the debt in 20 years, Aquino in six. And the supreme irony of it all is that she had the chance to erase it all.

Marcos may be called a lot of names but as the government has yet to win a case it has filed against the late strongman or his family it only shows that he is still not what they are picturing him to be.

And as “Marcos Country” celebrates his 96th birth anniversary, we still wait with bated breath on history’s final judgment on the man.