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Freedom’s Unsung Heroes and Martyrs
Bantayog ng mga Bayani
Bantayog ng mga Bayani
QUEZON CITY – It is November 30, 2017, Andres Bonifacio Day or National Heroes Day. I am at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani’s Annual Honoring of Martyrs and Heroes. Today 11 martyrs and heroes will be recognized and their names will be etched on the granite walls to join more than 250 others who resisted the Marcos dictatorship.
Reading through the souvenir program, I find out that my friend, Dr. Ruben Mallari, former president of the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM) in the U.S., who passed away last year, was actually the one who inspired the Bantayog. Dr. Mallari went to the Philippines in 1986 to join the celebration of the ouster of the dictator and the restoration of democracy. He suggested that “a memorial be established in honor of those martyrs and heroes who fought for the cause of truth, justice, peace and freedom but died without seeing the dawn of freedom.” These martyrs and heroes might be forgotten in the daily struggle to rebuild the nation and its economy, the brochure stated.
For many years, Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation was headed by Senator Jovito Salonga. A quote from Salonga graces the front page of the brochure: “Hindi tayo maaring makalimot [We must not forget]. As long as we continue to remember the martyrdom and the heroism of those who in the darkest period of our nation’s history… gave their lives that we might become free, and as long as we resolve never again to allow the forces of darkness to prevail, this annual celebration will be truly a day of meaningful tribute.”
Senator Jovito Salonga
Senator Jovito Salonga
I am here for a personal reason: My father, Alfonso Yuchengco, is being honored as one of the heroes “… for his support to the Light-a-Fire Movement, helping call international attention to the regime’s growing abuses and repressive measures; for aligning himself with the ranks of those fighting for freedom and democracy, against a dictatorship that sought to control all political and economic power.”
The other ten new awardees are not familiar names to us, but their resistance to the powerful dictator deserves our attention. (Excerpts taken from souvenir program.)
Tayab (Arthur) Ayyungo Aboli was a member of the Butbut tribe. The Marcos government embarked on building a series of dams along the Chico River in the Cordillera region, which would have drowned settlements and farms, destroyed rice fields and burial grounds. It would have submerged communities in Mt. Province and Kalinga. Aboli joined the resistance, and the Marcos regime responded by sending in more troops who raided and killed some of the resistance leaders. In 1986, the group negotiated peace with President Cory Aquino. Aboli was only 57 years old when he succumbed to a lingering illness.
Cesar Tiaga Cayon organized the Lumad peasants, farm workers and the poor people of Northern Mindanao against the Marcos regime’s powerful logging cronies that would have denuded many forested mountains in the area. In June 1981, Ka Andy, as he was known, was killed in a raid of the village of Hinundayan in the mountains of Nasipit. The soldiers cut off his head to claim the reward.
Coronacion (Walingwaling) Chiva spent most of her life as a union organizer in Panay. She was arrested three times and despite threats on her life, she continued with her regular activities. One day, coming home from town, she and several women were preparing to cross the river when two men pointed a gun at her. She died from multiple gunshot wounds at 51 years old. She has become a legend of sorts in Iloilo for her unique, brave and outspoken nature.
Dalama (Elma Villaron-Tangente) was a champion of the rights of her community, the Sulod-Bukidnon of Panay. Its people had been enduring harassment by the military. She played a key role in the guerilla movement. She helped “reform the onerous sharing system between landowners and landless peasants, and she was able to broker peace pacts between the warring communities of Panayanon and Akeanon.” Dalama died with four companions during a police raid.
Jose (Fr. Joe) Pacturayan Dizon devoted 40 years to serving workers, the urban poor, landless farmers and fisher folk. He was a supporter of the underground movement and a leader in the open protest movement. He encouraged fellow priests to carry out the social teachings of the Church. He taught workers the value of self-organization, self-help, collective action, unionism, just wages and benefits. He died from diabetes complications in 2013.
Pablo Galvez Fernandez was born in Pandaraunan, a rural barangay in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras Province. He was active in the student movement in Iloilo and was elected municipal councilor of Nueva Valencia in 1971. He held the rank of 2nd Lt. in the Philippine Army and was assigned to Mindanao to be part of the military’s war against the Moro people. He refused the assignment and escaped court martial by going to the mountains. Fernandez was wounded and captured during a military encounter. His body was found with two bullet wounds below the eyes. He was only 25 years old.
Lumbaya Aliga Gayudan was another leader-resister from the Cordillera region protesting the Chico Dam project. In 1978, the Marcos regime launched a series of brutal raids on Kalinga communities where Macliing, another tribal leader, was killed. Lumbaya joined the New People’s Army and died of pneumonia at age 50. The dams were not built.
Antonio Ma. Onrubia Nieva was a journalist, union organizer and activist who devoted his life to the defense of press freedom, the rights of workers and the defeat of dictatorship. In 1985, he personally helped in the escape of Satur Ocampo, a political prisoner. In 1995 he was appointed secretary general of the Prague-based International Organization of Journalists, the first Asian to hold that position. He died of natural causes in 1997
Sabino Garcia Padilla, Jr. was an academic, anthropologist, artist and political activist during martial law. He led a group of artists in producing political materials. In Isabela, he became involved with the farmers’ struggles against Marcos cronies, Eduardo Cojuangco and Antonio Carag, to keep their land. In 1982, he was arrested with other activists in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. While imprisoned, he called for better conditions for all political prisoners. After the fall of the dictatorship, he earned his Ph.D in anthropology and focused on the rights of indigenous communities. He died of cancer in 2013.
Francis Superal Sontillano, from Iloilo, started his activist days at Philippine Science High School where he joined a group of young men and women demanding better conditions in school, e.g., lack of clean water fountains, functioning bathrooms, etc. By 1970, the group took their grievances to the streets denouncing the corruption and abuse under the Marcos regime. On December 4, 1970, the marches were peacefully chanting slogans when a pillbox was thrown into the crowd, hitting Francis in the head. The security guard who threw the pillbox was later charged and sentenced to death. Francis was only 15 years old when he died.
I am humbled at the courage and dedication of these men and women, who fought with their lives to resist oppression, and how their sacrifices have saved communities. I am reminded about my present state, the turmoil I face everyday with the current political situation both in the U.S. and in the Philippines, and ask myself, “Why am I not doing more?”
These men and women never gave up; instead they even gave their lives so others may have a better future. Rey Vea, president of Mapua, guest speaker and former political detainee wondered “whether I have made full use of the freedoms and democratic space and institutions that they have victoriously regained for us at such a great cost.”
Vea says it is important to tell the stories of struggles which, when “woven together, form a collective memory of a nation that can afford to forget only on pain of reliving the oppressive past. Never again!” Let’s hope the next generation listens to these stories.
For more info on Bantayog:
(Images of honorees from
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The Struggle and Hindsight
by Bong Wenceslao
-from SunStar’s ‘Candid Thoughts’ dated January 27, 2015
My uncle, Ribomapil ‘Dodong’ Holganza, passed away last Sunday, 25 January 2015. He will be remembered with fondness and love. This article below is a tribute to Dodong Holganza, whose determined defiance against the Marcos dictatorship during the Martial Law years defined him. Bong Wenceslao, himself a former detainee during his younger days, writes with pride about those difficult days; in the hope that we may remember, appreciate, and learn to thank the nameless people who – like Dodong – risked life and limb for this thing they called freedom. This is Bong’s salute to our Martial Law heroes, as embodied by my Tio Dodong.
The anti-Marcos watchdog.
THERE is a difference between living in the moment and looking back at that moment. In my experience, the difference is in the degree of certainty in assessing the moment and projecting its direction.
Remember the truism that hindsight is always 20/20? It means that people usually have a perfect understanding of an event “after” it happened. Before that event happened?
Uncertainty. Meaning that the vision is blurred.
I once lived inside the camp while undergoing “rehabilitation.” I swept the yard and, when somebody decided to fund the re-operation of the camp canteen, washed the dishes. Those were uncertain times, leading me to ask often: what will my future be?
One of my captors assured me that I do have a future still. I wasn’t sure then. But when I look back at that moment, I can now say that I shouldn’t have worried because I still had many years to live and many chances to grab ahead of me. Then again at that time, how can I really be sure of what my future would be?
Which brings me to my point. Years before the 1986 Edsa People Power uprising toppled the Marcos dictatorship, nobody actually knew for certain how to end the rule of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, or whether it would end at all. Those who lived and struggled during those “dark days” asked often: what would this country’s future be?
I recall that uncertainty when I remember Ribomapil “Dodong” Holganza Sr. and that fateful day on Christmas Day in 1982 when he and a few others were arrested in a house along Lopez Jaena St. for allegedly plotting to oust the Marcos dictatorship by armed means.
Tio Dodong’s signature photo: defiant, unbowed, even in jail…
I didn’t know Holganza personally, unlike his son, Jose Ribomapil “Joeyboy” Holganza Jr., whom I know during our activist days. In fact, our group of militants viewed Holganza and the other local political leaders who fought the dictator in a collective sense: as merely anti-Marcos, as opposed to social, reformers.
But I personally considered him the more “progressive” of the anti-Marcos political leaders in Cebu. That showed in the manner he delivered his message. He wasn’t bombastic or loud but I admired the way he strung Cebuano words together. I can only identify one other leader with that style of speaking, the former rebel soldier and senator Gregorio Honasan.
Later generations who were either too young to appreciate the events leading to the toppling of the dictatorship or were not yet born at that time seem to consider the 1986 Edsa uprising like it followed the normal course of events—-meaning they think it was that easy. But there was uncertainty in the outcome of the anti-Marcos struggle–which should make them appreciate those who persevered in it and even died for it.
A pleasant surprise: recognition is given from across the seas.
Many pushed for a peaceful, or parliamentary, struggle to end the dictatorship, but others used guns and battled Marcos’s minions in the mountains and in the urban areas.
Other thought sowing chaos was the way, and detonated bombs. One thing these groups and individuals could not be faulted for was refusing to act. Instead, they risked everything.
Recognition for fighting the good fight.
That struggle was waged only a few decades ago but it seemed eons now. Its participants and leaders—or to put it in another way–those who survived, have gotten old or, like the older Holganza and Nenita “Inday” Cortes-Daluz before him, have moved to the great beyond.
I hope the succeeding generations wouldn’t forget that episode in our nation’s history when Filipinos, including Cebuanos, stood up for what is right. I hope that when they look back at the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, they wouldn’t use the benefit of hindsight.
That struggle was never easy and was fraught with uncertainties, thus the need to pay homage to those who either participated in it or led it—like Holganza, who died last Sunday. He will be remembered.
1. An excellent tribute Charly. However, as a frequent visitor to the Philippines I find it utterly depressing how many Filipinos hark back to ‘the Marcos days’ as if they were something to be celebrated!
Unbelievable also that his family in politics still have such large support having stolen a vast fortune for which the country are still paying, it makes it difficult to take Philippine politics seriously.
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Results 1 to 10 of 295
Thread: Mahathir questions Filipino-style democracy
1. #1
Mahathir questions Filipino-style democracy
Mahathir questions Filipino-style democracy
by RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 06/11/2012 4:06 PM | Updated as of 06/11/2012 5:22 PM
'Unbridled democracy yields mediocre leaders,' says ex-Malaysian PM
MANILA, Philippines - Malaysia’s Prime Minister of 22 years, Mahathir Mohamad today questioned Filipino-style democracy and raised the spectre of mediocre political leadership as the Philippines marks its 114th Independence Day.
Mahathir was conferred an Honorary Professor Title by the University of Santo Tomas this morning.
In his conferment speech, Mahathir said, “No doubt democracy is being practised by this country. But is it really what democracy is all about? Is democracy the end or the means? If we think that democracy is the end, then well and good. But why did we change from autocracy to democracy? Wasn’t it because autocracy had failed to deliver the good life that we wanted? We believed that since it is the people who disapproved of autocracy, then if the people were to rule the country, then surely they would rule themselves well.”
Later on in the open forum, Mahathir was told that his contemporary, former President Ferdiand Marcos was a dictator. His response, “Marcos was elected, he was elected after he was elected, power corrupts that’s what happens to him. your choosing him was still a democratic procedure, look what happens when you make a wrong choice.”
Unstable democracies, technological advances
Mahathir likewise pointed out that as seen in other countries, unbridled democracy is bad since it makes countries unstable.
“We are living in a tumultuous world, in a world of political turmoil, in a world of economic turmoil, in a world of social turmoil. We are seeing the collapse of moral values and of beliefs. All the things that we used to value are being questioned, scrutinised and in many cases rejected, to be replaced by what is called freedom, freedom which is enjoyed by some at the expense of others, often at the expense of the community as a whole.”
Mahathir pointed out that technology has been abused to undermine governments. “ We are seeing advances in technology, advances which bring great benefits but which are also open to abuses, negating much of the benefits. Privacy is being invaded. Secrets, including sensitive military secrets are being leaked in the name of freedom of information.* The whistle-blowers are hailed as heroes.* Nothing is sacred any more.”
Mahathir added, “When you create a problem by revealing people's official secrets, something has to be done about it.”
Demoracy and poverty
Mahathir noted that democracy was supposed to be the answer to poverty under authoritarian regimes, yet in many cases, it failed to bring progress.
Mahathir argued that people cannot govern themselves on their own, since not everyone will be competent to do so. “Why has democracy not delivered the good life we expected of it? Simply put, it is impossible for the people to rule themselves. There are too many of them and they cannot agree on anything. Government of the people, by the people and for the people would result in a stalemate, in no Government at all, in anarchy.”
Mahathir used this to justify his country’s brand of democracy. “So what do we do? Do we accept the failures of democracy or de we make some adjustments and sacrifice some of the liberalism of democracy so we may extract something from the system? I will admit freely that Malaysia is not a liberal democracy. We see democracy principally as providing an “easy way” to change Governments. No revolution, no civil wars, no Arab spring. Just vote and the Government will be brought down or re-elected according to the wishes of the people.”
Corruption and power
Mahathir pointed out that those who overstay in power do so to protect themselves from being haunted by their past in government.
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is a truism. But if one is frequently reminded that one day one will lose power and when that happens, others will hound you and make life miserable for you, that might help you overcome temptations. The more corrupt they are, the more they would want to hold the position for life.* They fear giving up power, because they know the people would rise and seek to punish them, even killing them.”
In the 2nd half of his speech, Mahathir shared lessons from his own term as Malaysia’s leader. One lesson is the need to minimize conflicts among its different races. ”This sharing and recognition of each others’ position reduced much of the tendency to friction between the races and ensured relative political stability - a necessity for economic development of the country.* Unfortunately, it makes national unity practically impossible.”
Need for industrialization, education
Mahathir also stressed the importance of industrializing.” Industrialisation became necessary because agriculture could not create enough jobs for the growing population. Jobless people threaten the stability of the country and undermine the very effort to create the jobs that they need.”
Mahathir said government must welcome more foreign direct investments, and help businesses. ”At a time when newly-independent countries were nationalising foreign-owned industries and businesses, we decided to invite foreigners, including the former colonial masters to come back and invest in industries in Malaysia.”
“Then we thought that Government must help businesses to succeed. The Japanese were condemned for doing this. But we saw no reason why Government should not help business to make profits. Twenty-eight per cent of the profits by businesses belong to the Government anyway through the corporate tax they had to pay. Basically the Government was working for its 28% of the profit. We were not just helping the businessmen to make profits.”
Mahathir said investments in education were made in this regard. “To increase the revenue of the people Government spent almost 25% of the national budget on education and training. Thus foreign as well as local investors were assured of a supply of educated and well trained staff.”
Successful ASEAN
Towards the end of his speech, Mahathir lauded the Association of SouthEast Asian nations for its help to its member-nations.
”I believe that ASEAN is the most successful of the groupings of developing countries, But in these troubled times, we need to come closer together, to cooperate more productively and to make use of our half a billion people as a market in order to gain more offsets for enlarging and diversifying our industries.* We also need to cooperate with the three dynamic Northeast Asian countries.*
" Malaysia had proposed an East Asian Economic Community to maximise the strength of our countries.* Things are finally moving in that direction.”
Mahathir added, “Really, the countries of Southeast Asia have great potentials for growth, prosperity and empowerment. All we need is people and leaders who love their country and people more than they love themselves.”
Doctors and lawyers
Mahathir also candidly answered questions from a panel of recators and the media after his speech.
Mahathir, a doctor by profession, was asked who between doctors and lawyers made better leaders. His reply: “Doctors do have certain advantage, we are methodical in the way we approach problems to cure a person … we look at the history doing physical exam and doing lab test before we conclude. He may be suffering from 3 different diseases and see which to experiment first. If the patient survives, good, If he dies, sorry. Lawyers argue too much.”
Nearly a decade after leaving office, Mahathir said he is far from retiring. “I'm still busy, I'm still much involved with the poltiics of the country.”
Asked about the one lesson he wants the next set of leaders to learn, Mahathir said, “If you want to be a leader, be a leader. If you want to think about yourself, there's no place for your own personal needs as a leader.”
* Changing The Face of The Game!
2. #2
Marcos and martial law
By Randy David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:00 am | Thursday, September 13th, 2012
Before it became wholly associated with the suicide terrorist attacks against the United States, Sept. 11 used to be remembered as the day Salvador Allende, Chile’s first elected Marxist president, was killed in the course of the military coup that installed the brutal dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. That tragic event started the reversal of democracy throughout Latin America.
By coincidence, Ferdinand Marcos was also born on that day. One wonders what could have crossed Marcos’ mind as he celebrated his 56th birthday, his first as dictator of his country, on that fateful day in 1973 when the socialist alternative was violently snuffed out in Latin America. Could it have confirmed his belief that dictatorship was the only way forward for developing nations?
Marcos imposed martial law on Sept. 21, 1972, purportedly to preempt a conspiracy between the communists and the oligarchic elite. He appealed to the middle and lower classes of Philippine society to help him build a “New Society” that would extirpate the virus of communism and free the country from the grip of the feudal elite. He called his project a “revolution from the center.”
It is easy to think the worst of any man if this frees us of any responsibility or guilt for what happened. Thus, we are not surprised that some of Marcos’ most ardent acolytes during martial law are today among his most vocal critics. But, to explain the rise of the Marcos dictatorship solely in terms of the overweening ambition and insatiable greed of one person is to strain the imagination.
The fact is, it was impossible for Marcos to put the entire country under martial rule without the armed forces who were willing to act as its executioners, without a public that was at least sympathetic to the plan, and without a US government that was willing to wink at the entire thing because it saw in Marcos a great ally and friend who would protect American interests. In short, Marcos could not have been the sole author of martial law.
His accomplices were not all generals or cronies. Some were otherwise thoughtful people—writers and academics, intellectuals and technocrats—who were dazzled by the prospect of being able to put their ideas in the hands of a president who had the will to realize them. They had no problem rationalizing their involvement with the dictatorship. Like many ordinary Filipinos at that time, they thought that what the country sorely lacked was a willful political leader that knew exactly what to do with power.
It is important to recognize this because the sooner we stop thinking of martial law as the deed of one man, the easier it may be for us to prevent its recurrence. Marcos’ evil genius lay in the fact that he knew what the Filipino people could accept, and what divided them against one another. He knew what America’s strategic goals were, and what it could abide as a global power. He knew what was happening in the rest of the world, particularly in the emerging economies.
He saw, for example, how the domestic capitalist classes in many Third World countries ended up being the junior partners of foreign capital because they were simply not big enough to compete. Thus, he was convinced that the state must nurture the local bourgeoisie and steer the economy in such a way as to give them the clout they needed to become pillars for sustained economic growth.
Marcos was particularly impressed by the progress attained by South Korea under the stern rule of Park Chung-hee. He wanted Park’s Asian model replicated in the Philippine setting. This was the same plan that Lee Kuan Yew had put in place in Singapore to compensate for that country’s smallness in size and lack of natural resources. On a much bigger scale, this was also the path that Deng Xiaoping chose for China from 1978 onward.
This model privileged the concept of social cohesion and stability over individual rights. Wherever it was adopted, it entailed a great sacrifice in human rights and political liberties, leaving in its wake the killing, torture, and forced disappearance of thousands of dissenters in the hands of death squads.
By the time Marcos declared martial law, Philippine society was besieged by political instability, endless investigations in Congress, a rise in criminality, restiveness in Mindanao, and a communist movement that was attracting the youth into its ranks. Marcos’ own people staged bombings in the city in order to simulate a general breakdown in public order. By the middle of 1972, everything appeared to confirm what was on everybody’s mind—that the existing political system had reached its limits.
Marcos failed for many reasons. Fluctuations in the world economy were not congenial to the Marcos experiment. But perhaps, more important, the sense of national purpose that guided the Korean and Singaporean transformation proved to be weak in our case. The Marcos cronies became the corrupted version of the chaebols that spearheaded Korean industrialization. The frugality, simplicity, and austere ways that Park and Lee personified were sadly missing in our own leaders. Instead, “Imeldific” excess and pomp became the principal markers of the New Society.
It took almost 14 years for the Filipino people to dislodge the Marcoses from power. The patriarch is dead but members of his family are back in power. No one has been jailed for crimes committed in the name of martial law. The bulk of the money stolen from the Filipino people has not been recovered. This is not just a question of failed memory; this is the result of a flawed social system that remains vulnerable to the temptations of authoritarianism.
3. #3
By Peter Wallace
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:57 am | Thursday, September 13th, 2012
4. #4
To young Filipinos who never knew martial law and dictatorship
By Benjamin Pimentel
3:04 pm | Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
That was 40 years ago.
Think about it.
You know what, in some ways, they were right.
And it was.
Good point.
Just don’t believe those who say it was much better before.
You’ll hear it from Marcos’s old allies.
A delusion.
5. #5
Defying Marcos, Filipino Americans emerged as a force against tyranny
By Benjamin Pimentel
1:11 pm | Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
By then, it was growing.
6. #6
The truth shall keep you free
By Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:57 pm | Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
Can the Marcoses “Ilocanize” history?
Truly a separate republic, if only of the mind.
Two things they can bank on for a revision of history.
The first is time.
That is not a gap, that is a chasm.
The second is our lack of capacity for collective remembering.
The same is true of martial law.
To be concluded
7. #7
Prelude to martial law
By Ambeth R. Ocampo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
10:52 pm | Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
Four decades have passed since the official declaration of martial law by Ferdinand Marcos. For good feng shui Marcos tried to time significant things on dates that had his lucky number “7” or its multiples. Thus, Proclamation 1081, the declaration of martial law, was signed and dated Sept. 21, 1972, but its actual implementation took place two days later, on Sept. 23.
Now is a time to look back on those dark days, and we are fortunate that Marcos actually kept a diary, portions of which have been posted on “The Philippine Diary Project” ( that contains first-person accounts of significant events in Philippine history.
On Sunday, Sept. 17, 1972, Marcos spent the night in the old Goldenberg mansion down the street from Malacañang. The mansion had been restored by Leandro V. Locsin, a future National Artist, and was designated as “Ang Maharlika” or the State Guest House. Marcos referred to this place as “The Big Antique” and it was here, at 10 p.m., that he wrote this diary entry:
“The departure of our children has made the palace a ghostly unbearable place. I took a long nap (4:30-7:30 pm) in the room of Bongbong which has the worst bed [illegible] and the lumpiest mattress. And after an early simple dinner of sardines and pancit, I was able to browse in the library where to my delight I discovered the books I have been wanting to read for some time including: Fitzimmons, The Kennedy Doctrine, Sorensen’s The Kennedy Legacy, The Dirty Wars edited by Donald Johnson (some of the principles and lessons are outmoded), Days of Fire by Samuel Katz (The Secret History of the Irguny Zrai Sanmi and The Making of Israel), Chou-enlai by Kai-Yu, Room 39 by Donald Macfaddan (The role of the British Intelligence in WWII), the History of the World in the 20th Century by Watt, Spencer and Brown.
“I have invited the Liberal Party leaders (at least ten of their hierarchy) to come to the palace on Sept. 19th to be informed of what we have on the negotiations and agreements between the Maoists and the Liberals. The Liberal head, Sen. G[erardo] Roxas, issued a demand for us to point out the Liberal negotiating with the Communists, knowing full well that I refer to Sen. Aquino, his opponent for leadership in the party and wanting to disqualify Aquino by his own action. But the Liberals should not get out that easily. For some of the other leaders have been dealing with the Communists—Mitra, Yap, Felipe, Dy, Pendatun, Lucman, etc.
Then we have something more significant than a list of books Marcos wanted to read and what he had for dinner. This diary entry for Sept. 18, 1972, was written after lunch:
“We finalized the plans for the proclamation of martial law at 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm with the SND, the Chief of Staff, major service commanders, J-2, Gen. Paz, 1st PC Zone Commander, Gen. Diaz and Metrocom commander, Col. Montoya, with Gen. Ver in attendance. They all agreed the earlier we do it the better because the media is waging a propaganda campaign that distorts and twists the facts. So after the bombing of the Concon, we agreed on the 21st without any postponement.
“We finalized the target personalities, the assignments, and the procedures.”
On Sept. 19, 1972, Marcos wrote:
“Released the report of Sec. Ponce Enrile of Sept. 8, 1972 where he reported that Sen. Aquino had met with Jose Maria Sison of the Communist Party and had talked about a link-up of the Liberal Party and the Communist Party. So since I invited Sen. Pres. Puyat, Speaker Villareal I explained to the media which was covering us that when I invited the leaders of the Liberal Party I had wanted a private conference where we could, as Filipinos and for the welfare of our people, agree that neither party (Nacionalista or Liberal) would ‘link-up’ with the Communist Party but their refusal to attend indicated that the Liberals were in on the deal to ‘link-up’ with the Communists through Sen. Aquino.”
Diaries are self-serving and often published after the fact to explain how history was made. The diaries of Ferdinand E. Marcos form a primary source for the historian.
8. #8
Institutions fail to teach lessons of martial law
By Maila Ager
1:06 am | Friday, September 21st, 2012
MANILA, Philippines—When people say that life was better during martial law than today and that Marcos was right in imposing authoritarian rule, it suggests that something is shockingly wrong with the country’s key institutions, political analysts told
They say the academe, media and the government have all failed to educate the public well about the evils of military dictatorship. interviewed two respected political analysts and academicians Ramon Casiple and Clarita Carlos to understand the results of the survey conducted among students, street vendors and workers two weeks before the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the martial law declaration.
Why do you think the people today, especially students, have little or no knowledge of martial law?
Ramon Casiple: Unang-una, talagang ipinanganak sila after martial law. That’s a given. Pero yung malaki ritong kasalanan, yung pagtuturo sa ating formal education system kaugnay ng martial law period. Nakabase ito sa mga libro na either napaka bland nung handling ng panahon…Yung nakikita mo lang usually sa description nila, yung mga bagong infrastructures na itinayo, yung CCP. Hindi yung social impact ng martial law.
(First and foremost, they were born after martial law. That’s a given. But the big mistake here is the teaching in our formal education system about martial law.
The text books are bland. What you can usually see is the description of new infrastructures built during that time, like the Cultural Center of the Philippines not the social impact of martial law.)
Before martial law kasi or before Marcos in 1965, isa tayo sa mga better off economies sa buong Asia. By the time nag-end ang martial law, nasa bottom na tayo. Ang tagal mag-recover, in fact nagrere-rekober pa rin tayo hanggang ngayon. So yung mga ganun, hindi mo makikita kasi intangible yun e. Ang nakikita ng mga bata ngayon, mas mahirap ang buhay, mas magulo.
(Before martial law or before Marcos in 1965, we were one of the better off economies in the entire Asia. By the time martial law ended, we hit the bottom. It took us years to recover. In fact, we’re still recovering until now. You don’t see those things like that because they are intangible. What the young people see now is the hardship – that we are more chaotic now.)
May similar na kakulangan ang media kasi very strong ang impact ng media sa ating kabataan. Ni hindi nila dini-discuss ang martial law, only if there’s a celebration halimbawa, anniversary ng people power. But then wala naman in depth discussion.
(The media has its shortcomings, too. They have a very strong impact on the youth, but news organizations did not fully discuss martial law, only a token mention if there’s a celebration like people power anniversary. But then, there is no in-depth discussion.)
Clarita Carlos: Not surprising [people have little or no knowledge of martial law because] that’s a whole new generation after martial law. If you ask me about Japanese occupation, of course I will not have memory of something which I did not experience…And that’s 40 years ago.
But you know, in Philippine history, in Philippine government, depende sa teacher kung pahapyaw lang nyang iti-treat yun e…
(It depends on the teacher if he or she would just treat the topic in passing).
There’s a variety of exposure to this particular topic.
Should there be a need to remember martial law each year?
Carlos: But why it is important that one should remember this part of history? What about the other part of our history, equally important if not more important? In fact that you’re zeroing in on that particular part of our history, already tells you something that created a selection.
Selective yung memory mo kung ano yung tatanungin mo sa mga bata. Bakit hindi mo tatanungin yung Japanese occupation (You have a selective memory of what you will ask to kids. Why not also ask about the Japanese occupation?)
It also happened long before their time. Why don’t you ask about the Vietnam War, which also happens long before their time? Why don’t you ask the rice crises, the oil prices, equally important, di ba?
Casiple: Hindi remembrance ang usapin dito. Ang usapin din yung ma-internalize noong mga tao yung lessons ng martial law at hindi mo makukuha sa selebrasyon lamang ’yan. Dapat ’andun 'yung partisipasyon ng tao sa actual democracy para makita nila yung actual benefits.
(The issue here is not about the commemoration. The issue here is that the people should internalize the lessons of martial law and you can’t just get it through a simple celebration. The people should participate in actual democracy to be able to see and experience the actual benefits of it.)
Why do some people say they prefer the martial law period than the present?
Casiple: Well unang-una, ang tingin ko malaking usapin dyan ang poverty. Kasi nandun yung expectation na right after martial law, bubuti na ang buhay ng mga tao. Of course, alam natin na complex ang poverty. Hindi naman martial law lamang ang pinag-uugatan nito.
(First and foremost, I think the bigger issue is poverty. Because there is big expectation that after martial law, the people’s lives will get better. Of course, we know that poverty is a complex issue. Martial law is not the only the root of it.)
Ang malaki talagang na-address, yung question ng demokrasya and to a large extent, 'yung accountability.
(What was really addressed was the question of democracy and to a large extent, the question of accountability.)
Sa pagbagsak ni Marcos, hindi automatic na gaganda ang buhay nila. Ang ginawa lang sa tingin ko ng pagbagsak ni Marcos, tinanggal mo yung isang tinik na nagpapahirap sa tao na harapin ang problema sa buhay…Hindi mismo yung ugat ng kahirapan ang na-address.
(With the downfall of Marcos, there was no guarantee that life will get better. What his downfall did to us, I think, was that the thorn that was causing all our miseries disappeared. But it did not really address the root of poverty.)
Carlos: Yeah because for me, siguro ’pag tinanong mo rin ako, ako din yung martial law period [is my preference] except yung one instance na nag-intrude sila (military) sa academic freedom namin. Kasi minsan nagtatanim sila ng estudyante tapos merong isang professor dyan ng history na nagsabi ng against Imelda Marcos, e na-preso din sya dahil hindi nya alam may nakatanim pala sa klase nya.
(If you’d also ask me I also vote for the martial law period except that one instance when they intruded into our academic freedom. Because they sometimes planted students in schools. There was a history professor who said something against Imelda Marcos and soon found himself in jail because he did not know that there was a spy in his class.)
Bukod dun, siguro all the rest was all right. Yun nga ang mahirap, nag-husga na agad tayo kay Marcos hindi pa natin sinasaliksik bakit nya ginawa yun . E talagang ang gulo-gulo ng bansa natin and only a martial law regime can people be really disciplined.
Like yung maliliit na bagay, hindi sila nagji-jay walking, maliliit na bagay but bigger things for the discipline of the nation, di ba?
(That’s the problem, we were quick to judge Marcos without digging deeper why he did it. The country was really in chaos and it was martial law regime that made people practice discipline. Those little things like pedestrians finally using designated crossing lanes; it’s a small thing but bigger things for the discipline of the nation, right?)
For Carlos, “Marcos really is our best President.”
“Because it was very peaceful, it was very orderly,” she said, noting it was during under martial that the country’s crime rate made a dramatic drop.
It was also only during the Marcos administration that bureaucratic reforms, she said, went in full swing.
In 1965, Carlos said, Marcos started reforms in the bureaucracy but department heads opposed the move.
“Ten years later, saka n’ya (Marcos) nabalasa yung gobyerno. It really takes a martial law regime to do bureaucratic reform,” she said.
She said that the Edsa1 revolt in 1986 that ended the 14-year-old dictatorship was triggered only by the collective sentiments of the people in Metro Manila.
Stressing that the people power is basically a Manila event, Carlos asked: “What about the rest of the country?”
Carlos, however, acknowledged that people may view martial law differently based on how it affected them or their loved ones.
For those who suffered during that period –either because their loved ones were killed, jailed or became victims of human rights abuses –they would fight moves to impose martial rule again.
“Definitely kasi kasama kami dun sa lumaban sa martial law at marami kaming kasamang namatay, na pinahirapan na na-torture (because we were part of those who fought martial law. Many of our companions were killed or tortured),” Casiple said.
“Alam mo yung epekto sa mamamayan, kaya talagang hindi ka na babalik sa period na yun. Kaya nag-people power (You know the effect to the people that’s why you will never return to that period. That’s why we had people power),” he said.
Casiple said corruption in the government during the Marcos regime was systematic, the peace and order was in shambles but unreported in the media because the press was censored.
This was the reason, he said, some people think that the country was more peaceful during martial law than today.
“Kung may nangyayaring mga krimen at that time ay hindi naman talagang nababalita kasi sinong magbabalita e yung nagbabalita nasa loob ng kulungan? (If there are crimes being committed, they were not really reported because who will report them when the true journalists are in jail?)”
Last edited by Sam Miguel; 09-21-2012 at 08:42 AM. Reason: Re-read to make sure I got it right that Clarita Carlos said all those idiotic things. Yep, she did.
9. #9
Why the DND Should Fire Clarita Carlos
^^^ Pseudo-intellectual Clarita Carlos should shut the hell up. Why the DND-AFP Establishment has kept here around all this time truly insults the intellect.
10. #10
‘We were not rebels but simply a family’
By Susan F. Quimpo
1:48 am | Friday, September 21st, 2012
(First of a series)
(Editor’s Note: The following is a chapter from the book “Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years,” put out by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2012, written by Susan F. Quimpo, an art therapist who provides counseling for human rights defenders and victims, and by Nathan Gilbert Quimpo.)
December 1981
I had to go to school. I clutched thick folders to my chest, wrapping both arms around them. There was no need for my notes that day, but I felt I had to hold on to something, even if it was only folders stuffed with notes for a test I had taken days ago.
It was the last day of school before the three-week Christmas break. A few exams were scheduled, but these were the exception. Even the faculty were lenient, for they too were excited about the biggest university event of the year, the evening’s Lantern Parade.
The college theater group I belonged to had a good shot at winning first prize. Ramonlito, the group’s artist, had designed a 6-foot lantern; its thick cardboard frame was to take the shape of a pyramid or in keeping with the season, a Christmas tree. But as always, the group was bent on making a statement, and the well-attended Lantern Parade was the perfect venue.
The lantern’s black frame would be scored into a template of cutout human forms, and red cellophane would be stretched underneath this cardboard scaffold. It was to be mounted on bamboo poles and lit from within, casting crimson shadows of quivering human forms. From top to bottom, the lantern would be covered with faces of society’s underprivileged as though they were trapped in the pyramid cage. The overall effect was meant to be disturbing— weary creases on a farmer’s face, gaping mouths uttering silent screams, hate clenched in fists, and eyes gawking, questioning the morality of Yuletide celebrations void of Christian charity. Ramonlito’s Christmas tree was to be wrapped in blood and garnished with rebellion.
It was the season for reconciliation, however temporary. Employers gave gifts of fruit and honey-laced ham to workers they exploited all year. Seasoned protest marchers refrained from converging at Malacañang, the presidential palace, to burn the American flag and Marcos effigies. And members of the communist militia, the New People’s Army, came down from the hills to visit kin while the government troops pretended not to notice. Even at the university, differences were dismissed as moneyed sorority girls joined the most militant activists for the Lantern Parade.
I should have been excited, wanting to help piece together Ramonlito’s lantern for the competition. But joining the day’s festivities was hardly the reason I left for school that day.
My sister-in-law Tina had visited the family residence the night before. The fact that she came was a surprise. After two raids, it was safe to assume that our apartment was under military surveillance. It was deemed “too hot,” taboo to anyone even remotely suspected of having links to the communists, forbidden to Tina, so recently released from prison.
“Visiting too soon?” I chided, partly reminding her of the risk she was taking. Tina did not smile. It was unlike her not to exchange the usual greetings. Her voice was calm but her face was pale with anxiety.
Death in Nueva Ecija
There was news that her husband, my brother Jun, had been killed in a barrio called Kalisitan in Nueva Ecija, a province three hours by car north of Manila. That was all that the “courier” said. Even he did not know the details.
Jun had often alluded to his death, and half-jokingly requested that his wake be held at his alma mater, the University of the Philippines. UP was his refuge, and it had become mine, too. It offered an asylum to those weary of the statutes of martial law. Within its walls was freedom—freedom to organize, discuss and protest, at least for a few hours a day. UP became the breeding ground for activists and soon-to-be revolutionaries. Jun had thrived here; Jun had changed here. And if he were to die, it was only fitting that he come “home” here.
Early the next day, my sisters made the trip to Nueva Ecija. I stayed in Manila, assigned to go to school and arrange a wake for a brother I wasn’t even sure was dead.
The Catholic chapel at UP had always been modest. Even at Christmas, the star lanterns and paper cutout trimmings hardly changed its homely appearance. The prayer pamphlets from the morning Mass lay uncollected on empty pews. I made my way to the chapel’s administrative office, not really knowing what to say.
A wake
“I’d like to arrange for a wake.”
“When will you bring the body?” the clerk asked, her voice crisp, almost uncaring. Secretly, I thanked her; I could not have dealt with mock sympathy.
“I don’t know. You see, I’m not even sure he’s dead.” I took a deep breath and fumbled for an explanation. The clerk’s reaction was one of blunt realism. She turned to a colleague and remarked that it was yet “another student killed by the military.” Only a couple of weeks before, this same chapel had played host to the body of a slain student activist.
I walked to Palma Hall Annex where I knew my friend would be. It was cool, the skies were clear, and the weather was perfect for the night’s festivities. I stared at the road, pacing slowly, as though counting the spots where asphalt caved in, where gravel and dirt basins caught the monsoon rains. In me, there was no room for reconciliation.
The night before, the family had tried piecing together a description of Jun—scars, moles, birthmarks, anything that would be distinguishable should his corpse be badly bruised or mutilated. It was hard to remember how he looked, and even harder to remember who he really was.
Passive observer
For the last seven years, I saw little of Jun and my other siblings. It would be simple to blame their absence on their avoidance of military raids, imminent arrests and detention. But I knew that my family had drifted apart long before the political persecution began. I was the passive observer who for 10 years witnessed the heated exchanges at the dinner table. My parents could not understand why their children would want to organize and join street demonstrations and risk losing scholarships. What was remotely wrong with acquiring a good college education to ensure for oneself a comfortable future?
My siblings reasoned that the dictates of the times were different. The protest marches were indicative of a national movement demanding significant change. The hopelessness of the common man’s poverty, the corruption in government, the monopoly of power by the oligarchy, the effects of neocolonialism, and the age-old conflict over land ownership—these problems had now come to a head. And though to some the debates were little more than youthful rhetoric, my siblings spent evenings poring over Marx, Lenin and Mao in search for answers. For them, to ponder self, family and material comfort amid pressing times was an indulgence they couldn’t afford.
The Palma Hall Annex was bustling with activity. Even the stairwells were teeming with students piecing together oddly shaped lanterns. My friends blocked one of the corridors, littering the floor with sheets of cellophane and craft paper. Our lantern was far from done.
I managed to pull Ramonlito and a few others away from the crowd. Calmly, I excused myself from helping with the lantern and briefly explained my predicament.
“My family received word that my brother was killed. I still do not know the circumstances.” I pretended not to notice their baffled faces and retreated for a solitary lunch. I did not want to be consoled.
“Hello, Lulu? It’s Susan.” Lulu was our devoted housekeeper. Constantly aware that our phone may be bugged, she had the good sense to keep conversations short.
“No news, Ate Susan. In fact, no one has called.”
Neighborhood a garrison
Martial law. No two words had a greater impact on my life. I grew up on a street called Concepción Aguila, a fifteen-minute walk from Malacañang. With the onset of martial law, our neighborhood turned into a garrison. First came the 24-hour shift of palace guards manning wooden road blocks. Soon the roadblocks were replaced with heavy iron barricades densely warped with barbed wire. Then the rickety wooden police outpost at our street corner was torn down, and solid concrete stations, complete with toilets and telephones, were built. During curfew hours, the army trucks would often come and empty their hulls of soldiers. Police cars with squawk boxes joined the party. Residents needed special car passes to enter the area. Soldiers randomly checked pedestrians for IDs certifying they lived in the district. Like prisoners, we needed the military’s permission to enter our own homes.
Then the military raids began, at first to ensure that the homes around the palace were stripped of civilian-owned firearms. But as years passed, our apartment was singled out, and this time the raiding teams were bent on making arrests.
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A little self-serving is allowed now and then right? Please click through to read my little essay on bad history and how it is affecting our understanding of EDSA 1.
2. "Look at those toy soldiers playing at war. For years they had nothing better to do than to march in loyalty parades and bang the heads of civilians who could not fight back. Now they ask these same civilians to keep their asses from being blown off."
- Anding Roces, February 24, 1986
3. I have always looked at the anniversary of People Power with mixed feelings. On the one hand, we removed a dictator from power. On the other, many Filipinos don’t even understand that we used to be under the thumb of a dictator; much less what that entailed. There is this disturbing concerted effort to remake Marcos and whitewash his, and his supporters, excesses, human rights violations, and gross totalitarianism.
More disappointingly, we still see espoused misguided and antiquated political theory on the part of our so-called intellectuals that essentially support dictators and dictatorships.
It is not only that we (as a people) do not learn from our mistakes. It’s that our ‘leaders’ refuse to change, refuse to learn from their own errors. They continue to plod the same course, espouse the same hackneyed beliefs, and basically carry themselves with a disturbing sense of self-satisfaction and superiority.
In essence, our national forgetfulness when it comes to Martial Law allows them to maintain their positions of power with impunity.
4. ellobofilipino:
Here’s something which tackles the aftermath of the 1986 People Power Revolution from an economic stand point. It is also a good read for those who seem to fantasize much about what the Philippines would have been if Marcos remained in power.
Still, much remains to be done. And the promises and dreams of the 1986 People Power Revolution have yet to be realized. The challenge though is no longer with those who fought against the Marcos dictatorship from 1970-1986. It is no longer with those who marched to EDSA and the different population centers all over the country in that week in February. It is now with the younger generation who have yet to fully grasped the essence of the revolution and why it was called People Power. I hope the country’s youth does not shrink from the challenge.
Walden Bello has also written extensively and critically (accurately of course) on the failures of post-EDSA government developmental policies. Chiefly, those that were implemented under Ramos. His remains one presidency that continually gets a suspicious and wholly unwarranted pass when it comes to economy and political (ie the militarization of civilian government and additional empowerment of military leadership vis-a-vis civilian oversight) structural issues. There are significant reasons why his nickname was “Mr. Ten Percent”.
One of the chief criticisms you hear concerning Cory was her decision to pay back Marcos-era loans (funds that ended up in their and their crony’s pockets). It’s something I’ve used as well. I wish she had gone the way of Argentina and said “We’ll pay 25 cents on the dollar and if you bitch, 10 cents per dollar.” But alas, she didn’t. However, I do not think she should have begged for debt amnesty for a couple of reasons; which I think parallels the thinking within the administration at the time.
The Philippines was economically, politically and socially in shambles. Capital was much needed for the Philippines to commence fixing the country; capital that likely had to be sourced from international institutions and private investors. The country was capital starved. As well, I believe the Cory admin wanted to present an image of the Philippines as being a stable economy that was cognizant of their responsibilities and pay off debts.
I do believe that was the thinking, rightly or wrongly. And while I wish she had gone Argentina on the creditors, there at least was something thinking behind the decision. The fact though that subsequent governments have done little to actually pay down the debt and instead increased it (to the point that under GMA debt servicing reached 30%+ of our budget) is abominable. That was a result of completely wrong-headed policy decisions geared towards free trade and an open economy.
It’s not popular right now to say, but the ‘87 Constitution was right in the sense of limiting foreign ownership and protecting domestic businesses. It was geared towards organic development and protection of Philippine businesses. For examples of successes, you have China (to some extent), India (again to some extent), Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore etc. These were economies based on the old Hamiltonian forms (American school of economics) that has proved successful in rebuilding countries. Ramos/Erap/GMA went in the opposite direction, undercutting domestic manufacturing and industrial pillars (like agri).
That is one of the real economic tragedies post-EDSA. Not that she chose to service the debt; but that the policies necessary to attract and retain capital were never implemented. The Philippines had a golden opportunity, with the heightened positive sentiments on the country, to attract investors and manufacturing/industrial investment. Even just mining our diaspora at the time, imagine all of the Filipinos who returned to the country desperate to help.
That momentum was of course retarded by things that you rightly mentioned; namely Cory mistrusting some and the military demanding more power (Oh JPE). Anyway, another subject for another post!
One of the big disappointments though has not only been our lack of job creation (again, if not more of an issue of the Ramos/Erap/GMA regimes) is our lack of grassroots educational development. The curriculums haven’t been revamped, new schools and classrooms built or teacher education and training improved/created. I always remember what one ex-Secretary of Education said; you can tell the priorities of a government by its budget. Pre-Marcos the largest slice of government budget (30%+) went to education.
During Martial Law and since the majority has gone to defense spending and other areas. The politicization of the military is one of the enduring legacies of Marcos and then Ramos.
Yesterday there was this discussion Twitter about developing the country; in small doses. And one journalist kept saying it has to be leadership! Leadership has failed! etc etc.
Of course leadership has failed, of course we keep electing the wrong people into office. Of course there seems to be a dearth of leaders on the horizon. It’s precisely because we aren’t generating any new ones. And that is a by-product of our failure to develop the human capital of the country. What we need is to infuse multi-disciplinary thinking back into our curriculum; we need to start educating citizens, not export commodities.
What EDSA gave us was the opportunity to do that. Something we didn’t have before.
5. ellobofilipino:
The words from the “hope of the nation” made my heart ache. I wonder what the families and friends of those who fought and died for freedom against the Marcos dictatorship would feel if they watch this.
I was just thinking the same thing; and I’m not sure if I ever could, or would.
As I mentioned on twitter, I’ve been asking and talking with some of the old opposition leaders and members for some of their memories and stories of ML and EDSA. And the hope, the dreams and what they felt and were fighting for is so damn inspiring. You can see it in their eyes when they talk about it.
And you can see the slight bitterness, even among those who are still active and fighting, when they talk about what came after.
I think one of the students actually said: Then Korina…
It’s impossible to get mad at them; that’s their education, that’s their grounding in Philippine history. And knowing the reputation of the PCIJ, I doubt they really edited for shock value.
We wonder how and why we haven’t progressed since EDSA. It’s really not a surprise. It’s not that we haven’t learned, it’s that we haven’t taught.
- Anding Roces EDSA I.
My favorite #EDSA1986 quote. Brings a whole new meaning to ‘bandwagoning’.
7. EDSA Forgotten.
It’s in the Filipino DNA in truth; this attraction to mass movements and communal action. On much smaller scales we see it during fiestas; the annual Black Nazarene fiesta in Quiapo. There millions of Filipinos throng the streets in celebration. It’s found in preparations months in advance, saving, scrimping and getting for town fiestas. We love a good party, we love to celebrate en masse. We are a communal people.
It was this spirit that was captured so perfectly in EDSA I: Four days where the religious and the secular were one in goal and spirit. To the streets some people brought their iconography, their rosaries, their faith in God. For the nuns and the faithful who stood before guns and tanks, it was their shield. For others who did the same, love of country acted the same. All brought their faith in country and each other. They shared that spirit, and were strengthened by it. It helped overcome fear and steady a people in their purpose.
Writers like Anding Roces called it our fiesta revolution; because there was a communal sense of experience. Instead of consecrating the rites and rituals of faith and expression to an icon, the icons were along for the ride. They were another expression of the feeling that circulated through the streets that day.
It was…spiritual.
What was above was the Filipinas of our heroes. What was within was the Filipino we’ve always wanted to become. What we congregated to recognize was the opportunity to become, to create and to find a new dream, a reborn hope.
There is one thing I will always remembering hearing about EDSA growing up: What was beautiful was not the four days, it was the fifth. And unlike that old joke that God rested on the seventh day, after creating opportunity with four days of labor, Filipinos on the fifth day did go back to the streets. To clean. For those who saw it, yes the four days were beautiful, the fifth day was a miracle.
This is the forgotten side of EDSA. Not the four days of togetherness in the brotherhood of Filipino. We’ve been trying to find that at every turn. It was the fifth day, when Filipinos tried to start rebuilding, that we must remember. That we have to recapture. The first four days were about creating opportunity, the fifth day was about nation-building.
The tragedy, as so many say, about EDSA is that we are forever chasing it’s ephemeral feeling. If anything, one of the things that has undermined EDSA I are attempts later on to recapture lightning in a bottle. With EDSA II and III, we went to the well one too many times. We keep trying to recreate the utterly unique. The more we reach for it, the more it slips through our fingers. In the process, the more we lose and the more opportunities pass us by. We’ve grown up thinking that EDSA I is what has to be recaptured: That feeling of togetherness needed to depose a dictator and create chances for greatness.
In truth, what we should remember is that fifth day. When Filipinos came together to clean up dirty streets, to sweep away the dirt and filth and trash. In other words, the detritus of a revolution and the leavings of a dictatorship.
We cleaned up the streets. But forgot to finish the job. We missed what was left behind when the heads of government took flight. Remnants of the system remained, echoes and ghosts capable of wrecking havoc. The cronies survived. And eventually, they came out of the woodwork and returned to prominence; in some cases, they never left the spotlight.
The clean up should have continued on the sixth day and beyond. And it should have been comprehensive. Rebuilding cannot be half-assed. It was to be as comprehensive as the revolution itself; else a country misses that chance to move forward. The brilliant thing is we still have that opportunity. We haven’t frittered away our chances to truly rebuild, to truly recapture the essence and spirit of EDSA. In a sense, that is a testiment to the resilience of our people. We survived Spain and America, fought the Japanese, and died doing so. We remain, albeit slightly rudderless and wayward. Our history and its lessons somewhat forgotten. Our identity slightly damaged. But, we remain.
While we have made gains in areas, we can do so much more. We have the freedom to express ideas, to change the system and make sure that gains felt by some, are felt by all. EDSA was the People Power revolution. The importance of power is remembered by some, the people remain forgotten. We have to retrace our steps, in a sense. To re-anchor ourselves to our history. To remember, that no matter the background, the creed, the color, we are Filipinos. With all the inconsistencies and potential that entails. That was the dream of our heroes in the 19th century, in the dark days of the Occupation and during the fall of Martial Law: To be free Filipinos. We’ve somewhat lost that sense from our day to day lives; we’ve forgotten that rebuilding takes steps and has no shortcuts. It takes time, it takes cleansing and it takes remembering.
For that’s the true lesson of EDSA 25 years after; the forgotten lesson. Not that a people can rise up and reclaim a country. But that people can, together, clean up a nation.
9. "
When President Ferdinand Marcos was airlifted from the Philippines on a United States Air Force jet on February 1986, he left behind an economy in shambles. The average yearly income was US $540 per person, and like many averages, this concealed vast disparities. While the rich lives in an ostentatious splendor symbolized by the legendary extravagance of the Marcoses, the majority of Filipinos could not afford to consume the minimum daily calorie requirement…
The magnitude of the Philippine development strategy’s failure can be appreciated by comparisons with neighboring countries. In 1962, per capita income in the Philippines was comparable to that of Taiwan, and one-quarter of that in Japan…In 1986, it was one-seventh of Taiwan’s and three percent of Japan’s. Infant mortality in the Philippines in 1986 was equal to that in Vietnam, a country on which the US had rained bombs rather than banknotes*. The Philippine external debt burden, measured by its ratio to national income, was the heaviest in East and Southeast Asia.**
James K Boyce, The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era
*During the Marcos regime, the United States lent approximately $4 billion.
**Foreign debt in 1962 was about US $360 million, that rose to $28.3 billion in 1986.
10. On Marcos and Lies about Marcos
I guess this is how @iwriteasiwrite expresses his anger against what the son of the deposed dictator said about his father’s years in power.
I myself actually find some people’s thoughts on the 1986 People Power and how the country has been on a downward spiral since, to be preposterous. Those who make that claim clearly do not seem to understand the concepts of public governance and social and political evolution.
Much of what the country is today is still a result of the dysfunctional structures which were erected by Marcos and his cohorts during their years in power. Here are some samples: Danding Cojuangco still owns San Miguel Corporation; Lucio Tan still owns Philippine Air Lines; and Juan Ponce Enrile is still a Senator. And these three are just a few of the others who have placed themselves comfortably in society during the years of the Bagong Lipunan.
I guess the problem with us Filipinos is we rarely make people account for their actions. Instead of running after these people and making them pay for what they did during the dark years of democracy, we welcomed them with open arms and kissed them on the cheek (much like what we also did with the Japanese collaborators).
And then in the years after dictator’s death, his family comes back with his son speaking in big bold words: The country is now worse than what it was during our father’s time! If given the chance I would reply: Of course it is! And it’s because your father and your family took a lot of the money away; installed your friends in the economy; and killed the able political leaders who could have revived this country!
My dear countrymen, do not distort history just because we are now in a sore spot. It doesn’t help. Nor does it make the economy or society better. All it does is confuse the younger generation on what really happened during the 20 year dictatorship. It makes the Martial Law years seem like the golden age of Philippine history. And it is an insult to the memory of students, workers, farmers, the religious, and opposition politicians who died in the struggle to rid the country of tyranny. If those who died for freedom could only rise up and walk, they would now be slapping the dictator’s son for sure!
I agree completely with you, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that gets my attention faster than someone attempting to argue that the Philippines was better off during the Marcos regime. The data to the contrary is voluminous. And even a modicum of research into the period aptly demonstrates that, even after the wholly corrupt presidency of GMA, the country on the whole is better off: Even with something as simple as actually having elections without soldiers staring you down and not-so-subtly indicating for whom to vote.
I know that the pro-Marcosites want to distort history and resurrect his image, but we cannot allow that to happen. Quite frankly, that is a complete and total disservice to the men and women, like you said, who were persecuted for something as simple as speaking their minds. Even watching people like JPE and FVR irritates me to no end, especially this time of year.
Where were they when the Plaza Miranda bomb went off?
When journalists were being arrested in their offices?
When opposition leaders from civil society were being tagged for assassination?
When students were persecuted and human rights was essentially eliminated from the discourse?
When a sham of a Constitution was foisted on an unsuspecting people in 1973?
When elections became a mockery and the only way to express displeasure was via banging pots and pans and honking car horns?
Oh right. They were plotting, planning and executing the moves of the dictatorship; while benefitting all the while.
Martial Law was the darkest time in Philippine history for one simple reason: It was Filipinos colonizing and exploiting Filipinos. The Japanese Occupation may have had more death and destruction, while the American Era stole our hard-won sovereignty, but they were external forces. Colonizing this country at the point of a sword. Martial Law was Filipinos persecuting, killing, exploiting and destroying their countrymen and their country. For nothing more other than self-gratification.
For those out there, I wonder if they realize that the crippling debt burden we still experience today is because of Martial Law. That the Filipino people had to take on responsibility for behest loans that were taken out by Marcos and funneled to shell corporations owned by cronies and frontmen? Or even this whole concept of state sponsored labor placement, a practice that is incredibly damaging to the fabric of the country and retards our ability to organically grow as an economy, began during Martial Law? Ostensibly, to get rid of unemployed people so Marcos could use low unemployment as an example of his great and wonderful New Society.
I say that for many the country has not improved; and by that I am referring to the impoverished. Gains have not redounded to their benefit. But, the fact is, in every meaningful way, we are better off. We can speak our minds, we can vote in an election, we can go out without being rounded up by the police for breaking curfew. And we can have hearings on television questioning the culture of corruption in the AFP.
That the country poverty-wise has not improved dramatically is most definitely a by-product of the structures and people empowered during ML; people who are still running around this country with impunity, fancying themselves the cream of the Filipino crop. When I say that the country has not improved broadly and deeply that is a call for Filipinos and especially those with the power to affect the course of this nation positively to look within and see where change has to begin. From there, we have to realize that nation-building is not as simple as changing the head of state. It must begin by cleaning up government and basically using the systems and processes that were put in place by Cory after ‘86. Not continually deriding them and falling into the trap of supporting the return and empowerment of antiquated power-mongers.
Those who actively support and continue to dream of a return to a totalitarian regime are nothing more than petty tyrants in their own right.
(Source: iwriteasiwrite)
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The REAL story of the last 25 years since the EDSA People Power Revolution
Twenty five years ago in 1986, former President Ferdinand Marcos was the most reviled Filipino on the planet. He was the bad guy in a world-renowned story that billed a bunch of people dressed in yellow waving “L”-shaped hand gestures as its main protagonists. Fast forward to today, and a “debate” on whether or not Marcos should be buried as a hero in Fort McKinley rages. The push to make this happen is led by the former President’s son Fedinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr — who is now a Philippine Senator. From being absolutely non-negotiable the prospect of regarding Marcos as a “hero” is now being considered.
Twenty five years ago in 1986 also saw another celebrity, the venerable Jim Paredes, tear up (metaphorically) a document that is famously worth more than its weight in gold — a writ of entitlement to live and work in the richest nation on the planet: a United States Green Card. Paredes was — through his song writing prowess — instrumental in turning a gathering of kibitzers in a main Manila thoroughfare into a “magical” focal point of “Filipino pride” as well as secure the general association of this event to two of the wealthiest feudal clans in the Philippines — the Aquino/Cojuangco extended family. Perhaps caught in the euphoria of what was then a successfully concluded “revolution”, Paredes thought that he no longer saw a Green Card as the valuable ticket to security that it still is. At least that is my armchair psychoanalysis that helps me make sense of such an otherwise insane move. Today, Paredes’s main base of residence is in a comfy home situated smack in the middle of the vast urban sprawl of shopping malls and McMansions that is the Western Suburbs of metropolitan Sydney in Australia.
The last 25 years that Filipinos will be celebrating on the 25th of February is therefore a story with two plots: (1) the steady creeping in of the Filipinos’ renowned collective amnesia, and (2) our a-la Holden Caulfield epiphany that was a quarter of a century in the making.
President Marcos’s transformation from bad-ass dictator into an icon qualified for a hero’s burial summarises the first plot. Jim Paredes takes care of the second plot having come from being someone utterly unable to come to terms with the Truth about Filipinos to one with a remarkably lucid understanding of the fundamental character traits of Filipinos that account for our chronic inability to prosper.
As this piece goes to press, preparations are already being made for the Silver Anniversary celebration of the 1986 EDSA “People Power” “revolution”. The obvious point of this exercise is for people to re-live the experience and re-visit the lofty hopes and aspirations of the Filipino that it had come to represent. Indeed, the sort thinking at work in the lead up to this political fiesta is quite consistent to what Mr Jim Paredes described as what might be the “Filipino archetype”…
Unfortunately, Filipinos are renowned for our ability to pervert otherwise noble ideas. And like most other things, we managed to turn this one — this “revolution” — into a sad joke. Like Filipinos who, themselves, had increased their numbers into the enormous value-crushing scales we see today, Edsa street “revolutions” had been carbon-copied many times over the last 25 years for specific political ends — each one a copy of the previous copy. And as anyone who’s tried photocopying photocopies could attest to, the copies get progressively paler in comparison to the original.
As if that irreversible degeneration with each iteration of copying weren’t enough, the last major Philippine street revolution was buried by the very woman who started it all — no other than former President and 1986 EDSA “revolution” “hero” Corazon “Cory” Aquino…
In a country peppered by souls still heady and giddy about Fiesta Revolutions of past, the rallying cry in response to an impeachment bid against President Gloria Arroyo that catastrophically failed to pass Congress on 06 Sep 2005 was once again — you guessed it — FIESTA REVOLUTION! Led by no less than Madame Ex-President, former Time Woman of the Year, and Ms 1986 “Revolution” herself — Ms Corazon Aquino, what may now be billed Edsa IV (or Commonwealth Avenue I, as the case may be), promised to be another spectacle of sorts. This time there was no particular heir-to-the-throne around which the fete was organised. If it succeeded in its bid to amass enough warm bodies in the streets to make a statement, it would have marked a new low in the practice of a concept that Filipinos fancy themselves to have invented back in 1986. If it had failed, it will have further served to highlight the utter ridiculousness of how Filipinos conduct their affairs.
And failed miserably it did. Bursts of little street protests sporadically erupted in Manila’s streets in the days following the House dismisal of the impeachment bid, but none even remotely approached the kind of numbers these would-be anarchists crowed in the days leading to Tueday. Each were in fact smaller in number than the equally ridiculous street gathering in Makati on 25 July.
That “ridiculous street gathering in Makati” on the 25th of July in 2005 should already have served as a warning to Cory of how big a joke Philippine street rallies had become. had an interesting report on that Ayala Avenue street “rally”…
It looked like a huge street party with an interesting mix of characters… Street vendors were out in full force, peddling corn on the cob, boiled bananas, fish balls, deep-fried chicken gizzards on a stick and scoops of ice cream on hamburger buns…. Music and entertainment were another crucial component, keeping the crowds from drifting away. Pop stars crooned on a huge stage and the “Sex Bomb” dancers–a group of young women in tight white tops and blue capri pants–did the classic bump and grind.
The recently-published Schedule of Events that will make up the 25th Anniversary of the 1986 EDSA “People Power” “Revolution” promises a whole circus of activities and exhibits that will surely make it look like a kind of a Great Leap Forward. But in the same way the Chinese people, at some point reflected and regarded the Truth that said “Leap” never happened in their own recent history, we will eventually have to face the Truth ourselves and take stock of options around how best to move forward once the same realisation sinks in.
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19 Responses to The REAL story of the last 25 years since the EDSA People Power Revolution
1. The Lazzo says:
If I recall, Australia requires a very hefty initial deposit for immigrants (something in the millions of pesos?) that they will hold for about a year to ensure that they don’t just get the card, do a few things and leave. Now that’s something worth more than its weight in palladium.
2. stoney says:
… was just thinking, would it be possible that the people power revolution was the result of the pilipino’s misplaced curiosity? i know that there was a broadcast by the catholic radio station calling for the masses to go to camp crame and camp aguinaldo at the time to prevent the tanks and soldiers loyal to the then president from storming the camps, and the first ones to respond were catholic nuns and followers. i have spoken to a few people who’ve actually been there 25 years ago and i asked them what compelled them to stand in front of the tanks and barricade the gates of the 2 camps, is it really for the love of the country? is it really to call for a change in our country? were they really willing to die for the country? a few have said yes, but many of the more honest answers that i’ve heard said that they merely want to see what’s going on, so they went there (in short, gusto lang mag usyoso)… to celebrate such a momentous event in the philippine history, i honestly believe that it would be more fitting to learn what the real story behind it and what the pilipino people are willing to do in order for the supposed ideals of EDSA people power revolution be upheld, otherwise, it would be just another circus in EDSA … btw thanks for the post mr. benign0
• kickapoo says:
From my current standpoint, anything that might take place in the streets of Manila where theres horde of people is worthy of my curiosity. Im sure its the same as it was when I was in grade school when EDSA1 took place. Imagine high ranking military officers like Enrile and Ramos defying Marcos. Then add some hakot crowd, like the nuns, priests and maka-Corys. It only takes a 1 hour trip from anywhere in Manila if youre going to Camp Crame. So being the ever usiseros Filipinos are, walang duda na usisaan lang yan, Pag dating dun shempre konting tanong..”anu daw…”..”anung nangyayari…”…then the rest is well, history.
But it is said that “History is written by the victors.” Throughout the years, this EDSA myth have been glorified to absurd heights. And now that an Aquino is leading this country, I guess well be exposed to more of these, glorificiations..oh that sounded wrong…more like Aquinofications and Conjuancofications.
OT: Philippine Military Academy Alumnus wanted their homecoming to be festive and that they agreed to not mention anything about politics for that certain event. Well, leave it to our commander-in-chief to politicize the event with his awesome “FINGER-POINTING” skills as exhibited in his speech.
3. Homer says:
Twenty-five years later, we still have an Aquino in office, and the Marcoses are still part of the political landscape. Isn’t this enough proof that we are doomed to repeat the past? So what’s there to celebrate after 25 years of EDSA1? Haha, what a funny question.
• Jay says:
Only The Lopez’s have the right to celebrate. With Marcos in office, they couldn’t do their thing. Now they get to propagate how fortunate they are because they were able to grow in Cory’s term and beyond.
• Homer says:
Yup….and their networks love to remind us of how “they were wronged” during the years of dictatorship. It’s only lately that some people are realizing Marcos knew what this family was all about, and what they were capable of back then. Today, both families are still part of our culture.
Happy 25th, idiots!!!
• kickapoo says:
25 years after EDSA1, look at the Lopezes now, they have:
Studio 23
The Filipino Channel (TFC)
Bayad Centers
7 companies that generate power
A stake in MERALCO and Panay Electric Company
3 Real-estate development companies including Rockwell
First Balifor, a leading construction company
FPIC, sole operator of the largest oil pipeline..ung tumagas sa makati
7 manufacturing companies mostly engaged in power and circuits
Most of their companies are joint ventures. 60% lopez owned, 40% foreign.
So kung aalisin ung 60-40 provision sa 1986 constitution, ang mga Lopezes ang unang magre-reklamo..”Not if they can help it”…
Hmmm….60-40 provision….1986 Constitution…..Marcos out….Lopez in….hmmmm……
• Peste says:
I hear there’s a story about this. Some time in the 1960s Lopez (the patriarch I think) held a party at his residence for society’s who’s who at that time. When then president Diosdado Macapagal arrived, the host was notified, presumably so that the usual courtesies would be performed. Nah, I don’t give a damn, said Lopez like the haughty kingmaker that he thought he was, that Macapagal person is on his way out anyway. Now it happened that an up-and-coming politician named Ferdinand Marcos overheard this remark. He made a mental note not to suffer the humiliation by this Lopez sonofabitch like Macapagal got, and the rest was history.
• ici says:
forever na tayo in the lopez’ evil clutches…what’s the use of elections? let’s just wait for their anointed one.
they hate gloria so much because gsis almost got hold of meralco…hehehe…she’s probably the only president who tried to do that.
4. Jay says:
EDSA was nothing more than those AKO MISMO movements. Freedom, Democracy and Justice? Those were franchised by Cory and her cohorts. And her family continues to franchise it and sadly, make money out of those poor, deluded souls who didn’t know what it is to earn those words in full. Hell, even the CBCP managed to get on the gravy train and managed to put their own political will in the constitution.
5. killem says:
anong masama sa paglilibing ky marcos sa libingan ng mga bayani? ang taong naging pangulo ay may karapatang mahimlay doon,Ito ay isang pribelihiyo na ibinibigay sa mga naging pangulo ng bansa na walang bahid politika. Panahon na ibigay kay pang. marcos ang nararapat sa kanya.
6. anon says:
filipinos deserve what they get.
no passion, intellect or courage means they will always be used and abused and the vast majority consigned to abject poverty.
• ici says:
pinoys don’t give a crap as long as they get their daily dose of willy and telenovelas…and the powers-that-be know this all too well.
7. Hyden Toro says:
EDSA was a Fake Revolution; lead by Political Opportunists, with Cory Aquino, as their Mascot. The CIA operatives were in the background, pulling the string. I have no sympathy for Marcos, or any of these politicians. Marcos-Enrile-Ramos – these notorious triads, corrupted the AFP. They politicalized the AFP. Like Adolf Hiltler did it to the German Wermacht Army. Hitler incorporated his SS Waffen Brigade, into the German Waffen Army. to have a full control of Germany, prosecute the Jews and German political opponents, and wage wars.
Marcos, being a hero…I have no complain on this issue…He fought courageously in the Battle of Bataan. And, was recipients of Medals. My father, my uncles and most of my relatives; fought also in the Battle of Bataan and Corregidor…and at the ending of the war….in the Battle of Bessang Pass. The Aquinos were Japanese Collaborators. Benigno Aquino, Sr., was the Vice President of Jose Laurel, in the Japanese Puppet government…or Filipinos, who were Maka-Hapon. Those Filipinos who put a “bayong” with holes to see, over their heads. Point out to the Japanese Secret Police, who were Filipino Guerrillas. Many of my relatives, were executed, because of these traitors…
Our question should be: What are the accomplishments of EDSAs? Who have gotten rich? Who have gotten so poor? Are we better off? Are we importing rice and sugar? Was Feudalism removed?
The issue of who got to be burried in the “Libingan ng mga Bayani”, is not a political issue…it is a Truth Issue…who really fought and sacrificed, during those dreaded times…and who collaborated with the enemies. Give any Filipino Hero, their due!!! No matter what his political color is…
8. pugot says:
AAAY NAKO, I GIVE UP. Nothing will change in the Philippines. The majority of the people will always be gullible and stupid. The minority with money will always have full control. So, instead of me trying to be a heroic, nation builder in a short life span of say 80 years, I’d rather look after me, my family and close friends. I will play the corruption game, get rich and survive.
You know what? maybe we’re just complaining too much. The French Revolution resulted in years of struggle. So did the American Revolution. I mean, 25 years is not enough to say this revolution was a failure right? If we look around Manila, I’ve seen progress and improvements. My only gripe is those goddam yellow banners still planted along Roxas Boulevard. I wish somebody would burn ’em or spray paint ’em. WE GET IT, PUTANG INA, SANTO AT SANTA SI CORY AT NINOY. THEY ARE THE BEST. AQUINOS ARE THE VICTIMIZED ANGELS AND THE ONLY SOLUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES.
PUWEEH! I will officially campaign for Bong Bong Marcos and I want the Marcoses back in Malacanang. I don’t care anymore.
MABUHAY ANG KORUPSYON! Let’s face it guys, it’s the only way of life in the Philippines.
• Hyden Toro says:
The more things change…the more they stay the same…or even get worse…like our situation..”.pa-ikut-ikutin ang mga ulo natin, ang mga kumag na ito.”..
9. Jack says:
I’m sorry ordinary Filipinos are not to be blamed. I’m from India and we had Gandhi and the non-violence revolution that promised heaven and 60 years down the line…ask anyone in India..they would under the British were much much better than today….
We are under loot..nations wealth is been coned off to swiss mafia banks, while the ordinary people suffer…. this is the same story everywhere we go… ordinary people suffer even in America..look at the number of prisoners in US..highest in the world…its insane what they do in America if we are on the right side of things…
Please do not come out for a revolution…all revolutions are staged by the elite…the power structure that we do not see on TV is intact for 1000’s of years…if you love your family and don’t wanna get shot in the head for no good at least an hour of research before coming out of home for a change…
There is no truth in the world…only conspiracy…search for freemasons in google
10. kickapoo says:
After 25 years since EDSA People Power 1, we have Ninoy Aquino as hero, Cory Aquino as saint, Kris Aquino as a moral spokesperson and is on every billboard in Metro Manila endorsing products from electric fans to whitening pills, and Ninoy Aquino as the current president.
Poverty is still rising.
Crime rate still rising.
Prices of basic commodities still rising
toll rates and public transport rates still rising
water and electric utilities still rising
and Gas prices preemptively rises
Who the heck wants to go to EDSA shrine this February 25 to celebrate? Not me, I have nothing to do with it. EDSA 25th Anniversary is for those people who GAINED alot when Makoy was ousted.
And to those people who are actually going, Good Luck! I hope youll be happy. And do this “panata” every year till the day you die. And afterwards, while you go home to your barong-barong beside the river of garbage, these elites will be going to their mansions riding expensive million peso cars.
What an effin life…
11. J_ag says:
More intellectual flatulence once again from the one side of the gaseuous pair. For soemone who has not engaged in any form of political struggle either in the mainstream or ifnormally but for a blog.
Not a fan of jin paredes but for what it is worth he puts himself out there.
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James Fallows
James Fallows: Philippines
• The Heartbreak of History, Philippine Dept.
Time passes but too little changes in the Philippines.
Twenty-three years ago, shortly after Corazon Aquino had replaced Ferdinand Marcos as president of the Philippines, I traveled through the country and wrote an Atlantic article called "A Damaged Culture." Mrs. Aquino was then still in the late stages of being perceived as a world hero. Her husband, Benigno, had become the martyred symbol of the anti-Marcos resistance after he was murdered by government goons as he got off a plane on his return to Manila. (His body on the tarmac, below.) Mrs. Aquino was the living symbol of the "EDSA revolution" of 1986, which with relatively little violence* had succeeded in driving Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos from power and appearing to open a new age of reform and promise for a long-suffering people. After the revolution, Mrs. Aquino had addressed a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress and been chosen Time magazine's Woman of the Year.
But what I saw and heard in the country suggested that much less had changed than reformers and friends of the Philippines would have liked to think. For instance, as I wrote back then:
In a sociological sense the elevation of Corazon Aquino through the EDSA revolution should probably be seen not as a revolution but as the restoration of the old order. Marcos's rise represented the triumph of the nouveau riche. He was, of course, an Ilocano, from the tough, frugal Ilocos region, in the northwest corner of Luzon. Many of those whom he enriched were also outsiders to the old-money, old-family elite that had long dominated the country's politics. These elite groups, often referred to in shorthand as Makati (the name of the wealthy district and business center of Manila), regarded Marcos the way high-toned Americans regarded Richard Nixon: clever and ambitious, but so uncouth.
Corazon Aquino's family, the Cojuangcos, is part of this landowning elite... Since the Spanish days land has been concentrated in a few giant haciendas, including the 17,000-acre Hacienda Luisita of the Cojuangco family, and no government has done much to change the pattern. "You could argue that real land reform would lead to more productivity, but it's an entirely hypothetical argument,' an Australian economist told me. "This government simply is not going to cause a revolution in the social structure.' Just before the new Congress convened, as her near-dictatorial powers were about to elapse, Aquino signed a generalized land-reform-should-happen decree. Most observers took this as an indication that land reform would not happen, since the decree left all the decisions about the when, where, and how of land reform to the landowner-heavy Congress.
It is very hard not to think of this history when reading today's NYT story, by Norimitsu Onishi**, about the latest front-runner for the presidency -- the Aquinos' son -- and the ongoing importance of the family plantations.
As the NYT says:
The land problem has drawn fresh attention since Mrs. Aquino's son, Benigno Aquino III,declared his candidacy for the May 10 presidential election, running on his mother's legacy of "people power." Though Mrs. Aquino made land reform a top priority, she allowed landowning families to eviscerate her distribution program. Critics say there is no greater example of the failure of land reform than her own family's estate.
For the past five years, the family has been fighting in the Supreme Court a government directive to distribute the 10,000-acre Hacienda Luisita -- the second-biggest family-owned piece of land in the Philippines, about 80 miles north of Manila -- to 10,000 farmers.... Criticized for his family's position, Mr. Aquino, 50, the front-runner in the presidential election, announced recently that the family would transfer the land to the farmers after ensuring that debts were paid off....
"No, we're not going to," Mr. Cojuangco, 47, said in an interview here. "I think it would be irresponsible because I feel that continuing what we have here is the way to go. Sugar farming has to be; it's the kind of business that has to be done plantation-style."
There are more desperate and brutally-run countries than the Philippines, but I don't know of any whose self-limiting cycle of politics is sadder.
For some previous installments on this subject, see here and here. More when our "categories" function in our web site is restored and I can link to others in the Philippine category.
* The violence was minimal in part because, after decades of propping up Marcos, the U.S. government threw its weight against him and in favor of the reformers. Among the officials who played a crucial role in this policy was the young Paul Wolfowitz, as described here. His success there no doubt played a part in his thinking a similar quick transformation would be possible in Iraq.
** General policy on talking about newspaper stories: When there's something nice to say, be sure to include the reporter's name! When it's a complaint about the latest screw-up by the WaPo or whomever, I avoid the name unless that person's tendencies are central to the critique. Reporters have enough problems...
More »
• "A lot has changed. Nothing has gotten better."
A Filipino-American friend, who works for an American high-tech firm and is now based in China, writes about the reaction to Corazon Aquino's death inside the Philippines. So much about this note brings up the powerful and opposing feelings that I have had on every experience in the country: admiration for the heart and passion of so many individual Filipinos, and pretty much outright despair at the predicament in which they all seem trapped.
I'm in Cebu, visiting my mom and dad for the weekend. I was here the morning Corazon Aquino passed away. The outpouring of emotion and respect across the country has been tremendous. Coverage has been literally nonstop on [the main news channel] ANC (they're actually showing a live shot now of her body being prepped for transfer from La Salle Greenhills after the public viewing) and they've been replaying and reliving memories of her rise to power and the EDSA revolution....
I was just a little kid in 1986 (I was 10), and for me, it is a very powerful reminder of how passionate the Filipino people can be and how this became such an iconic moment of democracy for the rest of the world.
A few things struck me as quite interesting about "Tita Cory's" passing:...I thought Hu Jintao's statement of condolences was also gracious and obligatory, but colored by the idea that People Power didn't go so well in Tiananmen Square in 1989. (Media here is even citing people in Beijing shouting "Cory! Cory!" during the TS protests, but I've never heard that before).
The fact that she will not receive a state burial befitting a former president is also fascinating. The idea that, even in death, she and her family opted to continue her life as a private citizen is a strong statement for leaders everywhere. As her family has stated (starting with Ninoy), public service is just that: Service. "After that, you're done. You're nothing," said Ninoy. [Ninoy = her assassinated husband, senator Benigno Aquino.]
And finally, after taking my father to an afternoon of sabong (cockfighting) here in Mandaue City, we talked about the state of the country in his eyes since EDSA. He came to the U.S. in May of 1972, just four months before Marcos' declared martial law. He is a former priest who was in seminary since the age of 15 and witnessed the US routing of Japan from Sorsogon as a small boy at the end of WWII. Now he and my mother are back to live the rest of their lives in their home country. What's changed?
"A lot has changed. Nothing has gotten better." And he's right.
While the financial and metro centers have burst with commerce and flash, there's still such an incredible disparity here between the rich and poor, moreso than I've seen in China, or any other place I've been, for sure. The government is still dealing in graft and corruption (something my father is actually working against here, via the Catholic diocese) on GMA's watch. There are still scores of young girls prostituting themselves. And there is still violence in Mindinao and elsewhere stemming from New People's Army factions and Muslim extremists.
What's really changed?
"Here is a land in which few are spectacularly rich, while the masses remain abjectly poor..." It's 2009! [The quote is from Ninoy Aquino about the Philippines under Marcos.]
The cockfighting is still the same. There are still "villages" with high walls and razor wire. But now there are SuperMalls settled in next to tin-and-cardboard squats and internet cafes littering even the most destitute parts of town, with some barrios even siphoning power from the local mainlines.
From my perspective (and my father's) Filipinos are very much about symbolism, less about concreteness. There's this idea, as you mention in your Cory Aquino article, that while a regime change in 1986 may have been a monumental symbol for the country, it has still struggled to make concrete, fundamental cultural changes for the overwhelming better ever since. As you mention, it might be a nationalized codependency issue. My father thinks it's actually a mix of that cultural "neutering" and an overdependence on the Catholic faith to carry people through. The churches are standing-room only, yet there is still a sense of self-protection and insularity that seems to dam the notion of brotherly love and supporting one another, at least in my observation. People will still cheat the meter, officials still take bribes and see prostitutes, and people feel like that's just the way it's done. My dad thinks he even got scammed at the cockpits yesterday.
However, the pomp and circumstance of this weekend's coverage has been inspiring to me, personally. I'd like to see how it might affect my outlook or my art. I do admire Ninoy and Corazon Aquino for their integrity and heroics to promote what was right about democracy. I'd like to see how their legacy of determined nationalism affects the Filipino people from here on out. Or is this just another symbol to savor, but then move on with life?
As I write this, thousands of people are gathered on Ayala Ave. now, the sky filled with a blizzard of yellow confetti as Tita Cory's body arrives in Makati. "They say that People Power is dead," said a correspondent. "But haven't seen anything like this since 1986."
More »
• Frankie Jose / "Damaged Culture" link update
In an item yesterday about the distinguished Filipino novelist F. Sionil "Frankie" Jose, I mentioned that I'd taken a road trip with him to the northern reaches of Luzon and written about it in the Atlantic in 1991. Thanks to our web team, especially Cotton Codinha, that article is now online, here.
I hadn't looked at the article in a very long time and was disconcerted to find that the comparison I used yesterday to describe Jose's gusto was the very same one that came to mind 18 years ago. I hope that this unintended self-plagiarism says as much about the rightness of the comparison as it does about the limits of my imagination. It comes at the end of this part of the original article:
José is a short, plump, nearly bald man of sixty-six, who would not look out of place wearing the baggy shorts and basketball-style undershirt of the typical Chinese shopkeeper in Southeast Asia. When I see him, I am reminded of a little boy--in the way he carries his body, in his quick and unconcealed switches from desolation to glee. On our five-day trip last summer, when he was driving me and a young Soviet academic to see the sights of his youth, we passed a railroad siding where the teenage José had been held by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War. "I was so scared," he said, his face clouding like a ten-year-old's. "I was so little and skinny then--ho ho ho!" he roared, slapping his round belly. We stopped every few miles so that José could see whether the cane-sugar sweets, or the little roasted birds, or the other regional delicacies were as tasty as he recalled. When he was not planning the next meal, he sat watching women with a blissful look. "Ah, I tell you, Jim, the eye never dulls!" he said in a restaurant after four stunning young women walked by our table "Only the flesh becomes weak--ho ho ho!"
Eventually I asked him how his wife, Tessie, whom he married forty-two years ago, after both had been students at the University of Santo Tomas, in Manila, feels about the adoring descriptions of young women that fill his work. "She knows I am devoted to her," he said, serious for a moment. "And she forgives me my pecadeeeeyos!" A rich roar of laughter. This, I thought, is what it must have been like to be on the road with Rabelais.
Because Frankie Jose has been so centrally involved in debates about the effects of Philippine culture on the country's political and economic destiny, for the record I include a link to my 1987 article "A Damaged Culture," which also cites Jose's works. This article generated a lot of heat, and some support, in the Philippines. From what I can tell similar debates still rage.
Where the Wild Things Go
Adults Need Playtime Too
When was the last time you played your favorite childhood game?
Is Wine Healthy?
The World's Largest Balloon Festival
From This Author
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Sunday, January 16, 2011
Kim Komenich should know the Truth about Philippines post-Edsa Revolution
American photojournalist Kim Komenich is out looking for the subjects of the iconic photographs he took of the Edsa People Power "Revolution" of 1986. He even won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for his trouble. Poor guy, though. He has no idea what a big joke Filipino-style street "revolutions" had since become -- a testament to Da Pinoy's renowned talent for perverting otherwise noble endeavors.
For the documentary film "Revolution Revisited" that Komenich is reportedly producing, this much about it reports:
"The goal is to not only look for people, but also to ask the question, what happened after 25 years to this particular person? In this whole series there's a range of stories, from the powerful to the poor," says Rick Rocamora, a U.S.-based Filipino documentary photographer and close friend of Komenich who has been helping contact some of the subjects for "Revolution Revisited."
Since no one else will do the job of breaking the bad news to him, I will.
Mr Komenich, spare yourself the trouble of "researching" this "revisit". The situation in the Philippines is quite simple, really:
Twenty five years after this "revolution", the same "powerful" folk are still powerful, and the same poor people are still poor.
Perhaps Mr Komenich should speak to Jim Paredes, a big-time Filipino celebrity who not only was there, but contributed mightily to turning the 1986 "revolution" into the towering Aquinoist brand that it is today. Yet in May of 2007, Jim published a blog that described this rather revealing epiphany of his:
Writers have described life in the Philippines as 'magic realism', the same way Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ sees life in Latin America. The child in us lives in a mythic, magical world where we expect a handsome prince to save us at the last minute, or that things will get better with the wave of a magic wand, without any need for us to change.
I have news for us: Things will not change, not until the party wears out and a more responsible archetype takes over who will want to clean up the mess we’ve made.
Jim Paredes famously tore up his United States Green Card in the midst of the euphoria following the "success" of the 1986 Edsa "Revolution". Yet today he finds himself taking up permanent residence in a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
Indeed, the fact that Noynoy Aquino himself is President today by itself exhibits how very little progress in the way Filipinos regard their role as Voters in this "democracy" that was supposedly "achieved" by this "revolution" has been made.
There is one thing right about what Mr Komenich observes so far after "interviewing around 11 subjects for the film", and that is the sense he gets of how much Filipinos continue to latch on to this relic of 1980's thinking...
Kim says he gets a sense that People Power is still very much a source of hope for Filipinos.
"The rollercoaster of the different governments that have come in, they were varying levels of the same old thing. And I think now, with President Aquino today, I think there is this kind of renewed sense of hope that a lot of the old ways might change."
That's spot on, and the easy part. The hard part comes when we come to regard this question which no one has as yet answered convincingly:
Hope in what exactly?
When someone who matters does step up to the challenge of coming up with an answer to that question, then perhaps we will truly have earned the right to be hopeful.
1. i think as a filipino, you should start thinking as an optimistic one. it doesn't mean that if we are like this 25 years after the edsa revolution, we will be like this forever. yes, 25 years is indeed long - but i think our generation will make a difference, far different from what the previous generation has done. we should start by thinking positive.
i admire mr. komenich for doing such a great job. it's a shame for us filipinos that citizens of other countries try their best to review our history that most of filipinos don't like to do.
2. I can say that nothing will change after one or two generations. The Philippine government and us citizens are too corrupt. We love shortcuts and lack love for our country. Change will happen if all political dynasties is removed from power, including the Aquino's and its relatives. Change will also happen Filipinos are "FORCED" to follow the law. I don't know how, but I think the word "force" is spot on.
Filipinos are not scared to break the Law because they know that punishments are not that severe compared to what they can get when braking it.
3. ......If they were caught, they will use what they got from braking the law and use it to get out of trouble. I think that's the right cycle for our justice system.
by the way, love the "Hope in what exactly?" got me thinking. And have no answer.
4. Indeed, there is a big difference between being a democratic people in form and being so in substance. Also, freedom by and in itself is meaningless without a commensurate understanding of the responsibilities it entails.
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Filipinos have started to take back the EDSA narrative from the Aquinos and Cojuangcos
This year, the traditional self-appointed “owners” of the 1986 EDSA “people power revolution” — often referred to as the Yellowtards — again stood aghast as yet another anniversary celebration fizzled. The really surprising thing about this is that these folk were surprised to begin with, because, in truth, this erstwhile commemorated event has been following a trajectory of decline for some years now.
Some thought leaders at least acknowledge that this “revolution” that some still insist was the seminal event in which Filipinos “won back” their democracy needs a new narrative. Indeed, for the longest time, the key outcome of the EDSA “revolution” has always been made out to be a rebirth of freedom in the Philippines. But, echoing a tweet issued by Get Real Post author Paul Farol, a really important question has now come to light…
Have Filipinos used the freedom supposedly won in 1986 wisely?
For that matter, did Filipinos come to understand what that freedom entailed? Take Apo Hiking Society singer Jim Paredes, for example. In a video that has since gone viral, Paredes is seen severely berating an activist expressing support for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. It seems Paredes regarded the hallowed grounds of the EDSA memorial as off-limits to anyone not associated with his Yellow Camp. The prevailing mindset surrounding EDSA after all has long been around the notion that husband-and-wife “national heroes” Ninoy and Cory Aquino are the sole central figures around which the current EDSA narrative spins.
The Aquinos and the Yellow Camp political clique that surrounds them have, since 1986, been regarded as the owners of this revolution and its artefacts. Suffice to say, for 30 years, the Aquino-Cojuangco clan did not shrink from what started out as an organic distinction bestowed on them by Filipinos in the early days. They nurtured the notion and proceeded to secure their lofty place in the EDSA narrative to the point where their family names became virtually synonymous with it. Rather than uphold the EDSA “revolution” as a Filipino revolution, the Yellow Camp marketed it as Ninoy’s and Cory’s Revolution for three decades. They achieved this by employing the vast resources and network of businesses at the disposal of the Aquino and Cojuangco clans to mount an awesome messaging campaign spanning those decades to create the deeply-rooted mythology and cast of political deities that now surrounds EDSA.
It seems the Philippines is now in the midst of a collective effort to dismantle this traditional mythology of yellow ribbons and “L” hand gestures and take back EDSA to its rightful owners — the Filipino people. Long overdue of course, but, as the cliché goes, better late than never.
17 Comments on “Filipinos have started to take back the EDSA narrative from the Aquinos and Cojuangcos”
1. EDSA was Fake news. It became a Fake History. The Heroes and Saints of EDSA were Ninoy Aquino, Cory Aquino, the Aquino Cojuangco political axis, etc…as marketed by their co-conspirator Media: ABS-CBN, Inquirer, etc…
The EDSA coup d’ etat was planned by U.S. / C.I.A. operatives in the Philippines; with the assistance of their paid hacks in the Philippines. The U.S. State Dept. under the direction of former Sec. of State, George Shultz, oversaw and directed the operation.
The gullible Filipinos swallowed the EDSA bait: hook, line and sinker. Until now, the YellowTards, the Aquino Cojuangco political axis, celebrate this event , yearly, as a “Holy Event”…they have even a Shrine for it…
We were never been a Democracy…we were, up to now a: Feudal Oligarchy. If not, a “Kelptocracy”…
So, it is ridiculous to celebrate such Fake historical event. The only ones profiting from it, are the: Aquino Cojuangco political axis; their KamagAnak Inc.; the Feudalist; the Oligarchy; the Kleptocrats; the Liberal Party; the Drug Dealers :like Leila de Lima, Mar Roxas, Aquino, Ronnie Dayan, Chinese Triad Mafia, etc… Kleptocrats and Hacienda Luisita Swines, like Porky Drilon ; Trillanes,; Pangilinan; etc…are also very happy to celebrate EDSA !
2. year after year, that edsa1 shrine will be forgotten with a narrative of, the victory of the aquinos against the farmers…which failed. let it stand there forever so the unborn will remember a memory how their ancestry was brainwashed with the help of cardinal Sin. 1957 where it all started the greed and betrayal of the aquinos to the pilipinos for hacienda luisita.
3. The question is NOT:
“Have Filipinos used the freedom supposedly won in 1986 wisely?”
The question is and should be:
Are all Filipinos free and do all Filipinos live in complete freedom?
Maybe we differ about the definition of both words (free & freedom) but there is only one answer. And the answer is no. And that makes Mr. Farol’s question obsolete/useless.
4. Bob.
You seemed to be lost in translation. The article is about the freedom that Filipinos supposedly achieved during the EDSA 1 revolution, whether that freedom was used wisely, as asked by Mr. Farol and further expounded on by benign0 . It isn’t about whether the Filipinos are free and live in complete freedom. Who among the people of the earth are free and living in complete freedom? Am I? Are you? The retaking of the EDSA narrative is one way to translate that freedom into something that all Filipinos can relate to instead of allowing the Aquinos and the LP taking credit for it. After all, without the participation of the people the EDSA 1 revolution would not have been successful.
1. Sky,
The word ‘supposedly’ implies that there is no freedom. So how can one use something (wisely) that is not there?
2. @Robert Haighton:
Don’t talk about “Freedom”, if you are talking to Filipinos. Freedom is alien to them like the Extra Terrestrials. Freedom to them is violating all the laws; enacted by the government. Look at the traffic situation in any Metropolitan City in the Philippines. Look at how they drive ! Look at how they discard their garbage !
Freedom to any Filipino politician is stealing from the National Treasury and becoming a “New Rich”…
Freedom to the Aquinos is scamming the Philippine government , by illegitimately owning the Hacienda Luisita; and stealing the Gold Reserve of the Philippine government…
Freedom to Leila de Lima and her cahoots, is dealing in illegal drug Shabu, and becoming a multi billionaire. While using “Human Rights” issues, as a shield, if you are caught !
There is no Freedom without Responsibility !
1. Hyden,
my definition of freedom is as civilian/individual having a choice between at least 2 options in/by law and in culture.
I do know the traffic situation in both Manila and Cebu City and its terrible. You dont want to be found dead there (well at least not me).
Those in power are elected by the people. Maybe its about the Philippines change the system how to elect the – ‘supposedly’ – good people. But when someone with only just barely 39% of all the votes can become president then in my humble view, something is really wrong. You are talking about a landslide victory. Where, I am talking about the majority not voting for that president. But hey that is water under the bridge.
How come that Duterte didnt change any laws yet that will make the lives of the Filippinos much better? Instead he is killing thousands of drug users, pushers. Now that will bring me a real job, huh and some prosperity?
Yes freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility. But whose job is it to teach that? Correct, the parents. So who fails in this equation? And when one argues with parents, its regarded as ‘disrespectful’. So where does this go? Right, nowhere. And this is something a president cant solve.
So ultimately someone has to start to rebel. But who dares to do that? PH parents are seen and treated like the holy pope. So eventually nothing will change. Catch 22; Prisoner’s dilemma?
5. What EDSA Revolution? No such thing. What happened was an EDSA Restoration that was basically the return of the predominance of the pre-Martial Law oligarchic structure. ‘Revolution” has a more catchy tone to it than ‘Military Rebellion’ which was how EDSA 1986 actually started out.
1. @Robert Haighton:
I had already explained to you, that Pres. Duterte won the majority of votes.
In the Vice President, Leni Robredo won thru HOCUS PCOS and SMARTMAGIC. The Aquino Cojuangco political axis, made her to win the Vice Presidency , to cling to power. The Filipino people did not elect her. It was the HOCUS PCOS voting machine, that elected her.
It will take many years, to make the Filipino people , responsible people…where the leaders go…the people will follow. We never had a Democracy. We were ruled ever since, we became independent as a U.S. Colony by Feudal Oligarchs and “Kleptocrats”…
I am still wondering why we have not improved.
Indonesia was ruled by the Dutch…I don’t think, they are better than us !
Poor Philippines…so near to Uncle Sam…yet so far, from God !
1. Hyden,
“I am still wondering why we have not improved.”. That is really good question. And you must know the answer to that. Well, you should know the answer to your own question. For me its clear, but hey, who the fuck am I, right?
“where the leaders go…the people will follow.”
So if and when Duterte jumps off a cliff, you mean to say that 100 million Filipinos will blindly follow? Sounds like a cult to me.
I will watch you jump but I am not holding your hand when you go down.
Pls stream it live on Facebook !!!
6. I think it is unfair to judge the Filipinos. There was no alternative media at the time so it was easier for the Oligarchs to push their false narrative and brainwash the Filipino people. At worse the Filipinos are victims to the machinations of the elite.
1. To add, the elite had a couple of decades to indoctrinate the Filipino people so I can’t blame them if it is hard to shake off. It is only these past few years people have been waking up. In the terms of the Matrix, more and more people are taking the red pill.
2. @Robert Haighton:
If you jump to the Cliff first…I will follow…it seems , you are leading me…
It is a deal !
No way, I will follow any President of the Philippines…I have a mind of my own and have grown up !
1. Hyden,
“… I will follow any president of the Philippines … I have a mind of my own and have grown up!”
I think (but pls correct me when I am wrong) that Duterte said that civilains are also allowed to kill drug users and pushers. You yourself just stated that you follow any president. So you picked up a gun and killled a few?
Based on your statement, you will also follow Robredo if/when she becomes president??!!
Okay forget about what I wrote above. I dont get it in what way, I should/must follow my own prime-minister. He doesnt do much. Bills are written and some are passed as law(s). But that doesnt mean I have to change my behavior as being a mediocre citizen. No law tells me how I must behave (yeah yeah except for being a law abiding citizen) but I can still behave and think in dysfunctional manners.
My point is that a president/prime minster has little to no power over my mindset and behavior. And when I say ‘my mindset’ I mean all people’s mindset. Change has to come from within an individual. There are no laws that punish dysfunctional people. Being stupid is not a crime. Not even in the Philippines.
But what I do believe will work, is when Duterte (or any president of the Philippines) will hold a speech on live TV saying that the Philippine people should stop procreating – especially the poor ones – to improve their own lives. Or when he says that Filipinos should use any form of contraception more and more. That less (kids) is more (financial space to live). And that he must repeat that in every interview and speech.
Oh, one other thing: when I am about to jump off a cliff, I will wear/use a chute.
7. My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
1. @Robert Haighton:
I had written : “No way, I will follow any President…” You remove words in my blog, to make me look bad in what I had written…
Is that what the Dutch do to their opponents ? That is a very bad “Dutch Treat” …!
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It is all the same whether the Philippines is ruled by a Marcos or an Aquino Filipinos reportedly say
In a feature article on the 24th November 2012 edition of Good Weekend, the weekend magazine of major Australian broadsheet The Sydney Morning Herald, Aussie journalist Jackie Dent writes about her experience speaking to the surviving family members of the late former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The article delves into the rise and fall of the Marcos regime and insights provided by family members, notably wife Imelda and children Maria Imelda (Imee) and Ferdinand Jr (Bongbong), of their experience living through all that.
A notable excerpt from the article offers us Marcos’s eldest daughter and current Ilocos Norte Governor Imee’s remarkably candid take on the banal reality of dynastic politics in the Philippines…
Imee — whacky, wise-cracking and a crush for some male journalists in Manila, the capital — admits she struggles with the governor’s job she has “avoided for years”; she’d rather be in Manila, making films, cartoons and games with Cream, her production company. Her film career has had some success, too; her part-animation hip-hop fairy tale, Pintakasi, won a number of awards at the recent Metro Manila Film Festival. But she was forced to take on the job when her cousin, Michael Marcos Keon, who became governor of Ilocos Norte in 2007, declined to run again in 2010. No one else in the family was available or interested.
Why does a Marcos have to run all the time? “It’s the whole Filipino system — they really count on you, they have all these expectations,” she tells me. “Your family is taking care of their family, which is taking care of your family and it just goes on and on and on. It’s pretty feudal in the Philippines still, even though we like to fool ourselves.”
Dent jumps off this to continue her own observation…
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It is normal in the former US and Spanish colony for families to control provinces for generations — the Laurel clan run Batangas, the Osmeñas control Cebu, the Lopez family manages Iloilo. The Aquinos — arch foes of the Marcoses — have run Tarlac for five generations and are currently the most powerful clan, with Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III now president, a job held by his mother Corazon (or “Cory”), who succeeded Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. The animosity between the two families is akin to that of the Montagues and Capulets. Like a grand sporting game, Filipinos root either for a Marcos or an Aquino. Or hate them both.
Coming from an Aussie journalist, this is a spot-on summarisation of the Third World “democratic” politics of the Philippines — a country ruled by an elite clique of politically- and financially-savvy oligarchs by virtue of the popular vote that seals their mandate to govern. Dent also quotes veteran journalist Carmen Pedrosa who offers what most Filipinos already know — that it is really all just the same whoever sits in Malacañang and it is likely that history will simply repeat itself…
Pedrosa says dissatisfaction with the current Aquino regime has led people to ask whether the Marcoses were so bad. “They contrast the two families and say things like: ‘At least during Marcos’s time we saw things being built and now there is nothing, just incompetence,’” she says. “There is also disappointment that we had a revolution but it did nothing to change lives. People think: ‘What does it matter? It is just the same whether we have Marcos or Aquino.’”
Indeed, who sits in Malacañang ultimately does not matter as the Filipino vote is in reality a random and arbitrary force that surfs the tide of whatever the national mood might be following the most recent episode of the most popular TV telenovela that may happen to have been aired the previous night. It is a simple political equation in a country where personality trumps ideas when it comes to evaluating options.
97 Replies to “It is all the same whether the Philippines is ruled by a Marcos or an Aquino Filipinos reportedly say”
1. And with the dinosaurs in UNA – binay, enrile, estrada (and their work shy offspring) as the ‘supposed opposition/alternative’, then the only certainty is that nothing will change in the next two generations as the corrupt dynasties play ‘show me the money’ , and spend their time on ther scas or mistresses or in their favourite place – the USA.
What a sick society.
and p-noy through his stupidity, incompetence, and hypocricy will prove to be the worst of them all.
the rest of the world see it so clearly, but the masses fall everytime for any lie/scam.
Aquinomics at work!
Kudos to the entire
PNoy economic team
and to the Filipino
Our president may not be perfect but he has the political will and the personal intentions to bring back the glory stolen by past presidents, specifically,
Marcos and GMA. We were hopeless during the dark ages of GMA’s regime. Now, the light is slowly emerging at the end of the tunnel.
Remember, in order to
eradicate poverty in the
PHL, we need 20 years
of sustainable growth.
2. @swagger: That news can be a farce. Aquinomics, in fact, can led to disaster since Noynoy is slamming more doors for foreign investors in favor of local cronies.
Bababa rin iya. 😛 Not being pessismist but I’m a realist.
1. @swagger: Nope. It is YOU that’s because you’re just only one-liners and added nothing to the discussion.
Trolling much?
2. Are you stupid to the max vincensus ignoramus? You are already being dominated here that you’re being very desperate by bitching with epic fail one-liners. Teka lang kunin ko sinturon ko para paluin kita sa pwet mo. Napakagulo mong bata e.
3. When we catch this troll,I’ll be sure to introduce him to the business end of my spiked metal bat, FACE FIRST
1. @swagfag
Care to cite sources that are not known to be asslickers of the aquinos? No? then what you claim is only your imagination.
2. benign0,
The article reinforced the idea I have about our people. Filipinos have a distorted notion of the world. We look at our society and recognize that there is a disparity between the rich and poor, the haves and the have-nots, the ruling class and the ruled. People hold the belief that the rich and those in power are stealing from the rest of the public, keeping the rest of us from realizing our aspirations. To be fair, that is often true. Our leaders — their henchmen, their relatives — have been proven to enrich themselves by taking advantage of the people who entrusted them with authority. The response to that discovery is the thinking that in order to become prosperous all we have to do is stop those who are stealing or replace them. Or pass laws that re-allocate the wealth. The only thing this has done is to perpetuate our endless election cycles.
It never seemed to occur to Filipinos that the failure of our society isn’t just because a select few are depriving the majority of their share but because we failed to build a society based on proper education, the rule of law, and the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship. Had we done so we would be closer to Japan or Korea in terms of development. With responsible leaders and competent bureaucrats to boot.
1. “It never seemed to occur to Filipinos that the failure of our society isn’t just because a select few are depriving the majority of their share but because we failed to build a society based on proper education, the rule of law, and the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship. Had we done so we would be closer to Japan or Korea in terms of development. With responsible leaders and competent bureaucrats to boot.”
2. Indeed, missing in Filipinos’ development equation is personal accountability. We are all ultimately responsible for our own individual fortunes as the Filipino Chinese have proven in building their fortunes under the same dysfunctional government that native Pinoys keep griping about.
What did the Chinoys have that native Pinoys didn’t? Simple. They possessed the right cultural DNA to prosper under ANY circumstances – even the sort of circumstances provided by their basketcase host societies that are used as tiresome excuses by native Pinoys.
1. Exactly.
The basic problem remains is that Filipino culture is shit. It’s as simple as that.
It’s a weak culture that demands nothing but a good time. It’s a childish culture that separates actions from consequences. It’s a beggar culture that sees no shame in living with its hand out constantly. It’s a culture of crookedness – other societies have been able to build with straight lines for thousands of years but that’s still impossible in the Philippines in the 21st Century.
It’s a culture that grovels before thieves and criminals and continues to elect them to political positions.
In summary, it’s your fault. Stop voting for these criminals and stop letting them get away with their crimes!
1. The thing is, this will keep on going because the criminals running for positions have perpetuated the voter’s need for election campaigns stopping by their local barangays… For food baskets and karaoke on stage. These crooks needed voters so they made some. Could you imagine if these politicians actually did their jobs? There wouldn’t be any poor left to vote for them the next run wouldn’t they. This is THEIR cycle. They’re deaf to words coming from the likes of us. You don’t have food baskets do ‘ya? Or maybe some media ‘talent’ to endorse you?
Some good people wanted this to change so they put up solutions like voter education and what not. I think the solutions these well meaning people put up are also part of the problem. Think about it. What good would voter education do when you can’t get rid of vote buying, fly voting, and bullying at the polls? Even if your voter is now wiser, he would still chose to vote for the crook if that crook pointed a gun to his side.
What the solution should be is for the good lot to step it up a couple of notches. Instead of trying to look like they’re doing something, ACTUALLY do something that’ll make a difference.
Another problem would be this: I know a lot of good families whose votes could make a difference, even in influencing the community around them. Too bad that although they’re one of the well meaning and thinking Filipino families, they’re easily swayed by the heavily biased media. I hope UP puts that in their election research. AND i hope the research actually translates in to action in the future, otherwise it’ll all be just another ‘for show’…part of the longest running election drama series this century.
3. Personally, I would prefer Marcos, Erap, GMA. Even though they all stole from the nation, they actually showed that they were also doing something for it and with it. Graft, corruption, and all that jazz should be removed from the system, but if I really had a choice, I’d chose people, presidents, leaders, that really have done something of substance, irregardless of what wrongs they have committed against the nation as a whole.
Marcos, I believe, was the last of the Gentlemen, the last of the serious politicians.
I say Gentlemen, because I think of Marcos and his kind, his generation as being the last of a breed that is nearly lost during this time. Its like with the entertainment industry, there is swag, and there is class. Marcos had class, his successors, and the successors of his vice president, senators, and the like, they’re all mostly just swag, and some don’t even have that at all.
Ok, I lost my train of thought. So signing off for now.
1. HA HA HA,that is a good one.Marcos “the last of the gentleman”.Wow,sounds like you knew him personally.Marcos was a shill,he was a good boy for his master/daddy and he used the assurances his master/daddy gave him to plunder the entire countries wealth,all of it.He was planted in his position(when he instituted M.L.) by the people who really run the USA.Martial law was implemented at the time when the Vietnam war was going to have to come to an end. The people who were running that war could not have the wrong government in power here.After all it was/is so close to where their efforts were not going to be able to continue,it is that simple.
I feel bad for you that you equate/confuse the exterior(WOW,he did have a smart haircut didn’t he?OMG!) of a complete thieving, conniving, SCAMMING, murdering total POS with the qualities of a Gentleman. WHEW!!!!!
1. But the fact is, Marcos isn’t alive today, is he? There is also no martial law and it is unlikely that martial law will be implemented again in the Philippines in the near future. So what’s your point then?
4. Some people may not like Imee Marcos for who she is. But if you ask me, she made a lot of sense in what she said. Basically, she says that the same feudal lords are still ruling over the country because the people want it.
Isn’t that obvious?
It may not be all the people, but a significant number are hung up on an old order, on old ways of doing things. They aren’t leveling up anymore. They are instead staying trapped in time. That’s the way they did it before, and evil if it kills them, that’s the way they’ll do it again. Perhaps they’re too lazy to think of other ways.
1. Note Imee even pointed out that her cousin who was governor before her declined to run and that no one else among her relatives was interested in running for the post.
It seems that Noynoy’s family is no different. Noynoy too seemed to have been arm-twisted into running for President more because of a clan agenda (securing Peping’s family jewels?) than for any of the supposedly ‘noble’ pursuits that he used as fodder for his campaign.
And Pinoys being Pinoys lapped it all up. 😀
1. Sometimes it’s not even members of the family who want to run. The ones who want them to are friends, associates, business partners, etc., who benefit from having a candidate they know. In other words, everyone has a KKK. And making up those KKKs aren’t even the traditional politicos, but ordinary people similar to us! In other words, even ordinary Filipinos display traits of corruption. Some ordinary Filipinos may decry corruption, but deep down inside, they want a bigger piece of the pie.
5. stahlnacht is right to prefer Marcos, Erap and GMA. Who in his right senses would not? They have their own faults but much of these were bloated by the media, while their achievements in uplifting the country were set aside and forgotten. Try and list down the benefits that the country has gained from these achievers. In another paper list down those for the present. Oh… never mind.
1. If GMA was bad, Erap was worse, & Marcos’ plunder was worst. And Imee once again giving us BSh!t. I don’t buy a crook’s descendant’s justification.
No need for the media to brainwash the public, just query your folks – if they’re rationally educated.
BenignO is right. The ‘leaders’ are only half of the problem; the other half is the non-thinking mass/voters.
6. Nothing will change; even if the Marcoses will be in power again. We, ourselves must change. These people take care of themselves; not us. They have followers, who are waiting for opportunities to enrich themselves. Some change sides, like a reversible jacket; whoever is in power. The Aquinos have their Hacienda Luisita. And they feature themselves as Saints and Holy. The Marcoses have the looting of the National Treasury. So, same Dogs, only different collars.
7. Let’s not forget the belief that supporting a politician (crooked or otherwise) means getting special treatment in return or at least bragging rights. “I know So-and-so he/she is my friend, I supported him/her in the last election”. It doesn’t matter if that support is harmful to everyone else.
8. The title of the article is accurate.Politicians just take the peoples tax money and well…steal it.It does not matter who is actually the ‘President’ of any country,HA.Happens in every country in the world,it is just done with a little more audacity in the Philippines and other banana republics around the globe.The new buzz-word is impunity,and the shoe fits.
It is entertaining at least to see the media portraying the sleazy-ass syphillitic street walker politicians as some sort of respectable elite type personage.Since the time of the Caesars it is a well know fact that the leaders of any country are the worst type of sleaziness the particular country has to offer.Pygmies of the lowest order,while the true giants of this world are the ones that no one ever hears the Grandmother who becomes a mother again at age 58 because her daughter dies in a car accident and the child is still cared for by the Grandmother as her own child.That is an example of a real giant,not these sleazoids running around running for office so they can steal everything that is not nailed down.They really are truly despicable no matter what country they are in,and they are in every country…not just the Philippines.
1. Right Jeremy. I see the same happening in the US. Politicians everywhere are the bottom feeders of the world. Just as a parting thought: I was here during Marcos time and it was a better country then. Cleaner, more orderly, and much more progressive. One of our founding fathers said “Sometimes it is better to live under a benevolent Dictator than a corrupt Democracy”. I think it was Ben Franklin, but I can’t swear to that.
1. U kno Bill,I bet it was a better place to live w/Marcos,but if what is being reported was/is accurate he was one of the BIGGEST thieves in the history of Mankind.The POS is up there with Caligula,if what is being reported is true.From Westinghouse Corporation alone,for the Nuclear facility that was never put on-line,he pocketed almost a billion dollars and that is 1980’s Dollars.It is funny how sometimes I see people on this site, and others, proclaiming (almost as if it is something to be proud of) that the USA is imitating the Philippines when it comes to corruption at all levels of Gov’t.,but it is actually the other way around,no doubt.
2. Bill,
It may certainly have seemed more progressive in the Philippines under Marcos. I’m sure it was, especially for expats and multinational companies. The other side of the coin — the local Filipino workers, the entrepreneurs — would beg to differ.
Marcos secured his second term through an election riddled with fraud and violence. In doing so he exhausted the country’s coffers. Without reserves, the Philippine government was overwhelmed with a massive trade deficit and mounting external debt.
With no choices left, Marcos turned to the United States government, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to maintain his hold on power in the face of his government’s bankruptcy. As ardent recipients of US largesse, Marcos was forced to submit to an onerous financial plan. The Philippine Peso was devalued (by 60 percent!), and a plan for development was engineered to build an export-oriented economy and increase foreign exchange earnings from sales of cheap(er) Philippine products.
All of this looked good for everyone concerned…in theory. The actual consequences, however, destroyed local businesses and ravaged the workforce. Due to the more expensive imported components for their products, many Filipino entrepreneurs were forced into bankruptcy. Unemployment skyrocketed and wages were cut by as much as half. So while our neighbors were experiencing hand-over-fist growth rates, the Philippines sunk into steady decline.
The Marcos government spent billions of World Bank money on energy and power generation projects, transportation and communications infrastructure, water and other utilities to attract foreign corporations like Texas Instruments, Motorola and Intel. And while the Philippines took care of their interests, these multinationals did not exactly reciprocate in terms of looking after the needs of their Filipino workers. The multinationals would simply pick up and leave when complaints were raised such as the demand for a more realistic wage.
Meanwhile, the Marcoses and their cronies pocketed bribes and kickbacks from these same corporations. Westinghouse’s overpriced nuclear plant is the poster child for this sad state of affairs. American policy makers condoned it and, working through the World Bank, even supported it out of fear that a Communist takeover of Southeast Asia was looming.
By the end of the Marcos dictatorship, the total cost of this policy was horrendous. There was NO domestic component to development as this was bypassed in favor of (meager) exports. Local raw materials had been exhausted. The country suffered a “brain drain” as the skilled labor of the middle class sought employment outside the Philippines, becoming the first in a growing wave of overseas workers and migrants. Those left behind were malnourished, ill-educated, an altogether wretched site. And the US multinationals? Well they kept their profits, made off the backs of workers receiving lower-than-minimum-wage compensation, extensive tax breaks and a standing agreement with the Marcos regime for the Philippine government to finance and underwrite the infrastructure and facilities the companies used.
1. So what makes Marcos different than any other Politician? Look what you have now. Aquino. The Grandfather was a Japanese collaborator, the Father a Communist, the Mother, who knows? My point is this, how much better off are Filipinos today than they were then? Not much, if at all. I agree that the PH was raped by Multinational Companies, but how has that changed? It has not. I don’t agree with any of it, but it is the way of the world and it is going to get worse, not better. If you think any Politician has the best interest of the “people” in mind you are delusional. What is the solution to all this? I have no clue. Fuedalism is on it’s way back in a big way. That’s my story and I’m stickin to it. When I was here in the late 70s and early 80s I was not here on Vacation. I was in the US Army and most of my time was spent wayyyyyy down south. For what? For the same reason I did 2 tours in Viet Nam. For nothing other than to make a Politician and a CEO richer than they already were. Everything changes yet everything stays the same. No offense intended.
2. None taken Bill.
Let me just start off by saying THANK YOU, BILL! We appreciate what you did for the Philippines.
Just want to be clear. I’m not against America or Americans. I admire what your country stands for. I don’t hold a grudge for what the US/World Bank economic plan caused in the Philippines. I understand that in the scheme of things the US should put the interests of the US first. Not the other way around.
I do have an issue with Filipino leaders who cannot think long term and put the nation’s welfare ahead of their personal interests. That goes for Marcos, Cory Aquino, BS Aquino and everyone in between. For all their supposed intellect, none of them have come up with a development plan that wasn’t primarily smoke and mirrors. The Aquino family in particular has practiced a long-standing policy of hate and revenge politics, first against the Marcoses and now against the Arroyos (ironically with the Marcoses as allies).
And I have a problem with US policy and US policy makers. 25 years of supporting the same dictator when the end result was obvious within the early years of Martial Law? Come on! The support of dictators like Marcos, Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega ultimately deprives the US of the moral authority to claim that their interests lie in promoting democracy. And when Bill Clinton criticizes the Philippines of being unreliable partners because of the use of “enhanced interrogation” but has no qualms in accepting money from Nigerian warlords and Saudi princes, it makes me want to throw up.
All the while nothing gets done. Cory Aquino ground the nation to a standstill with day-long power outages. Conditions in the Philippines under her son are so miserable that the main ambition of anyone with the opportunity is to flee the country for employment abroad. And Obama still hasn’t passed a budget. He still persists on antagonizing anybody who has the audacity to try to be independent and build his own business.
Its us working stiffs got screwed by the gang of cheats, crooks and cronies, Bill.
Anyway — THANKS AGAIN for your service.
9. Marcos focused more on the development of the Philippines as a nation. In elementary school, Marcos time, pupils were instilled with values which were crucial to the typical Filipino mindset, such as self-reliance and patriotism. They were not fed with trash from TV. In contrast with the present where the term freedom is skewed to mean free for all. An idiot in Malacanang just there to get revenge and take care of his own clan’s interests. He can’t even represent our country without making a fool of himself.
1. joeld,
The belief that Marcos’ intention was primarily to serve the Philippines is ludicrous. The techniques he practiced were more akin to indoctrination, similar to North Korean and Chinese models. The idea was to inculcate in the people subservience to his New Society Movement (KBL) and an acceptance of every dictate of the regime.
1. Lies. Marcos didn’t support communism; he opposed it. Now I wonder why Cory had freed Joma Sison and other members of the CPP?
Ang BOBO mo. 🙂
2. Hey Fishball, you might want to pick up a History book and read it. All I see coming from your mouth is the Communist Manifesto. Bwahahahahahaha
3. wasnt it ninoy aquino who supported communism? i even asked some who were alive during that marcos regime and they were very objective as in saying that ninoy aquino was pro communism..and regarding the the linked article that you posted. an increase in GDP does not equate to a better life for filipinos… you have to remember where the money goes to … this increase goes to the wealthy not to the workers, it doesnt even equate to increased employment. if you want to talk about economics then its best to learn economics but not just the basics that they teach in undergrad schools
1. @johnny saint,
“The belief that Marcos’ intention was primarily to serve the Philippines is ludicrous.”
I know. My point is, maybe it is better for Filipinos to be handled that way. Not like now that a lot of Filipinos or just acting as mere lemmings of the yellow king. Look around, self-discipline is virtually non-existent. What Filipinos need is someone who can lead them to the right path (not the daang matuwid, mind you).
1. I understand that out of frustration, you might want to explicitly impose values and morals that SEEM to have worked for countries like Singapore and South Korea. Admittedly, there are very good reasons for fostering social cohesion and “rooted-ness” to your country of birth. Not the least of which are building national unity, economic success and impressing ideas such as morality, truth, justice and mercy on the youth.
However this “values education” approach is based on certain untenable notions. From a practical perspective, the results are not quantifiable. Because values education is highly subjective, there can be no universal benchmark for success or failure, unlike in academics which have standards that can be measured objectively.
It comes down to the classroom interaction between teacher and student. It should be noted that in Singapore the focus remains on academics and school rankings, not civics or morals education. We face a similar situation in the Philippines where the values education is largely “lip service” rather than a serious subject. This begs the question — if the teachers/role models do not take the lessons seriously, how can we expect students to follow?
From the start, values/morals education with the goal of national cohesion and economic success assumes that Filipinos have an accepted universal code of values and ethics to impart in the first place. I submit that we have yet to properly define the national identity of the Filipino. Not as Tagalog or Ilocano or Visayan or any of a host of races native to the archipelago but as Filipinos.
What is necessary is to depoliticize education, moral or otherwise. Education should not be about imposing a particular point of view or code of behavior. Rather a holistic approach should be adopted including, but not limited to, moral reasoning and the responsibilities of citizenship. The focus should be on the students and giving them the tools for critical thinking to make the decision on their own that “belief” in the Philippines is of value in itself.
2. NonExtremist,
The “people” you asked must not know what was going on at the time. The (communist) insurgency was a looming presence in Tarlac in the 1960s. Being the calculating, opportunistic political humbug that he was, Ninoy Aquino was not above using the insurgents (even allying) himself with them to foment a civil war against the Marcos regime. This does not constitute a belief in, much less promotion of, the communist ideology. The most that can be said is that Ninoy’s dealings with the communists served only as a stepping stone to install him as president.
10. Hi,
I was reading a book about East Asia’s history and economic development. The Book focused on the Leaders of Singapore, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and how they put up policies for economic development. The pattern I’ve noticed is that all of those leaders and Industrialists featured in the book employed some form of dictatorship, authoritarianism and control in the name of economic development. Some of these leaders no doubt were alive during Marcos’ time. I can’t help but think Marcos was trying to do the same thing as these other east Asian leaders back then, But along the got convoluted.
1. Well it would be really nice if it could be credited to the brains of the powerful elite rulers in South East Asia that gave rise to the so called Aisan Tigers that are around for about 60 years now.BUT BUT BUT The ENTIRE truth of the matter is the WEST has orchestrated or flat out done all of it and todays’ Chinese empire exists only because the West’s Corporations have given all of the manufacturing jobs to people who enslave workers that will work for a fraction of what a USA or European worker would and should be making in the West.It is fuckin sickening for me to see this in my life-time.The Chinese(and all the rest of them) praising themselves for having a GDP that has gone up 600% during the last ten years and it is all at the expense of the citizens of the West who have been fucked out loud by Corporations and Governments that have sold them into poverty by passing free trade agreements that allow Western Corporations to move manufacturing overseas,pay slave wages to ignorant idiots who will work for nothing and then allow the same Western Corporations to bring the products back with no-tariff on the product what-so-ever.AND ,as if that is not bad enough……then they cook the books and screw the semi-wealthy stock holders.AND all the time the S.E. Asian and Northern Asian nations delude themselves into thinking how great they are when all they did was what the fuck they were told to do by the Western Corporations and Governments in the first place(The U.S.A. and the U.K. mostly and Germany too).Nice one.Marcos did what he was told to do as well,no matter what book says what-ever it is it says HE did.
2. Eddy,
No doubt economic policy under the Marcos regime attempted to follow the trend in the 1980’s and was influenced by it. The exceptionally high growth rates and rapid industrialization of the Asian Tiger/Dragon economies — Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore — are compelling arguments for the type of policies they implemented. And who wouldn’t want to emulate that kind of success in a market economy?
Make no mistake. Marcos’ intention was to subjugate the Philippines and transfer control of the major industries to himself (acting through intermediaries) friends and relatives. Basically — they treated the country like a prize they could carve up as spoils of war; he did not start out as a “benevolent dictator” who lost his focus or “got convoluted” along the way. This had been documented as early as the mid 1980’s.
Look up Eduardo Cojuangco (BS Aquino’s uncle), Herminio Disini (responsible for the Bataan nuclear power plant fiasco), Juan Ponce Enrile and the Romualdez family for a glimpse into the workings of the Marcos inner circle and how they bled the Philippines dry.
All this was accomplished with the approval of the US government and the World Bank. America’s interests lay primarily on whether a country was pro-US or pro-Soviet, not what was happening inside. Nixon and Kissinger’s first priority was the US bases. Next — preferential treatment for US companies. In effect, successive US administrations told Marcos “We don’t care what you do in your own backyard — deprive your people of civil rights, murder your political opponents — just let us keep our bases, keep buying our stuff and let us keep the money we make off your people.” For 25 years that was exactly what happened. With the World Bank knowing full well that the money they were lending out for countrywide development was finding its way to Switzerland into numbered accounts belonging to the Marcoses and their cronies.
1. Aquino to the millions of suffering filipinos on high taxes,high electricity bills and high everything else:
WHAT ME WORRY?
1. You seem to have it correctly.Nixon and Kissinger did not give a shit about anyone in the USA or The Philippines.Just keep the Philippines under control and they told Marcos to do it at any cost.AND boy did he.The guy commenting Marcos was a gentleman? I almost feel sorry for him,but can not as to equate a mass-murdering POS thief to a gentleman is just in-excusable ignorance.The people here will get no change until they take it upon themselves as Marcos did,at any cost.Until then the vote will continue to be rigged if the wrong person appears to be winning,the tax-payers will get robbed and on and on and on…..
1. @swagfag
“What do you expect from a Tribune writeup?”
The TRUTH
What do I expect from a malacanang troll like you?
2. Fishball , last I looked Tribune and Standard are legitimate papers and not tabloids. I have written in the past how come they get stories about your beloved idol that others do not. If not true why aren’t any of Noynoy legal lapdogs going after them for libel / lying? Troll harder. Give my love to the Minister of Truth. Hope you are enjoying your new smart phone. Pa share.
11. Attention Benigno and all the guys and girls…
An excerpt from the Philippine Star(November 29, 2012):
“Economy soars 7.1% in Q3 by Ted Torres and Delon Porcalla”
“The Philippine economy moved the fastest in South-east Asia in the third quarter at 7.1 percent from a year earlier, coming just a little behind China’s growth and surpassing projections.
“This was possible due to sustained confidence in the leadership of President Aquino and his administration, which has consistently equated good governance with good economics,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said yesterday, referring to the record growth…
Is this a hint of black propaganda from the palace? Is BS Aquino a genuine genius and the savior of the Philippine people? Is this the real truth or bullshit?
1. It is JEALOUSY that is making you see that its black propaganda. Just accept the fact that the student is better than his teacher.
1. No answer from “swagger”. Guess that means that he has nothing to show after all. All bark but no bite. Talks the talk but can’t walk the walk. That’s the malacanang comms group in a nutshell.
2. Call it Press Release Economics….and he didn’t learn that in school.
NCSB has not published 2011 and 2012 GDP Account details (the previous years’ data are all there however), yet they are able to release such pronouncements to the press.
12. A friend posted this. And this is for Fishball-esque trolls and a$$lickers like swagger a.k.a. Squatter Swagger:
“Good news for the oligarchs. The economy of the Philippines expanded 7.1 percent. Can’t wait to see the 2013 update ng mga net worth ng mga Sy,Tan, Cojuancos, Aquinos, Lopezes, Gozons etc. Ilang billions dollars kaya ang nadagdag sa net worth nila? Abangan!!!!!!
Juan De La Cruz????????????????? Pweeeeeh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hindi ka kasama! Magtanim ka nalang ng kamote sa kabilugan ng buwan!”
13. At least in the US there are people willing to stick up for their rights. Here, the vast majority accepts what they are told without question (mostly because they don’t want to think about it) then bends over and takes it.
14. It is just sad and true.The more things change the more they stay the same.The Fils got screwed by their own leaders.Just like the people of the USA have been screwed into poverty by the bail-out of the banks(whose private debts are not and should not be considered PUBLIC debts…and the people should not get stuck with the bill!) and the cost of the War that is not even a War.Face it folks if you ain’t a 1%-er,seek shelter.
15. Ang huwad na tuwad na nakikita na ay wag na nyo bigyan ng iba pa na pagkilala… lahat ng mapagkunwari ay nakikita na at nararamdaman ng higit na nakararami. alam na natin lahat kung anu ang blue red and white, nakita na rin natin kung anu ang ibig sabihin ng maka-pula, mas lalo pa kung saan at anu ang ginagawa ng maka dilaw…. ang punot dulo ng kahirapan sa pinas ay tayo rin na mga pinoy ang may sala.. kong may magagawa ka gawin mo nalang sa responsable mo na pag boto at paglagak ng tiwala mo sa nararapat na mamumuno,,,,,,ikaw na rin ang magtanong sa sarili mo kong bakit nandyan ang mga ogag na yan sa gobyerno…. ibinoto mo eh….
16. To those who blog and chastise the present administration of P-Noy are usally the ones who tasted the honey during the Marcos and or Arroyo years and have become addicted to ellicit wealth, plundered loot. They refuse to recognize tnhat P-Noy is curbing if not reducing corruption that all his predecessors failed to do. Or some eve ndid not touch it at all. Arroyo plundered more than all her predecessors. More than Marcos took with him to Hawaii. Okay, tackling corruption is like eradicating rats. Impossible but at least clean up and sweep around to stop the same lynches from sucking more blood from the poor.
1. Lies. Corruption is rampant in the government because the government was treated like a spectator sport, putting people like rampant corruption is because of how the people VIEW the government as a spectator sport, put people like Pnoy, other affluent familial last names and former showbiz people to politics, then when s&&& breaks out, they react as if they weren’t aware of the repercussions.
If you are insistent on corruption and not on Marcos or Arroyo, then get everybody. Why is PNoy and his family getting away with incident of Hacienda Luisita? How about the other politicians? Barrangay governments on a local level?
Oh, I bet you didn’t know. May gatas ka pa sa labi, iha. Tama na ang kabobohan mo. 😛
I call my bullshit card on that one. Yet another stupid accusation by a wannabe troll.
Oh really? Then tell us why aquino is not putting his corrupt KKK in jail then?
Really now? Is that all you can say? Pinning the blame yet again on Arroyo?
17. Stop Debating, just do your part and help in your own capacity and in your own ideals, we are part of the problem because we just talk about it and not do anything, grrrrr!!!
18. I don’t think Marcos was a bad president, he instilled values that are required today that were effective in the community, the economy, and also the gaining of respect from other countries like Russia, China, and most countries that hate the Philippines now. The Filipinos should really be taught some discipline and respect. If you remember that one Filipino guy who asked that irrelevant question to that Singaporean guy,you would know that that was quite the invasion to privacy. I’d rather have our country be ruled by an iron hand rather than a yellow ribbon.
1. Marcos institutionalized corruption and cronyism as well as the sytematic plundering of the govt coffers, in addition to that the systematic killings and disapperances of thousand of critics and student activist happpened during his time
19. Given the state of lawlessness in the country; I can understand this nostalgia for a dictatorial father figure who will set things right with his steely resolve. However, you are naive if you think there is a political solution to a cultural problem. Adolf Hitler made the trains run on time; but he did so by killing 10 million people in concentration camps. The US spent 3 trillion dollars to depose Sadam Hussein. What good did it do? Filipinos should be taught discipline and respect; but that’s got to be a grassroots effort, not top down.
20. Leaders really make difference, but —
“No matter how strong and dedicated a leader may be, he must find root and strength amongst the people. He alone cannot save a nation. He may guide, he may set the tone, he may dedicate himself and risk his life, but only the people may save themselves.”
the whole Filipino Culture, and System must change,then all things will follow.
21. I don’t lnow why the Aquinos and Marcoses are in top of the minds of critics and analysts on Philippine politics, as if Ramos and Macapagal-Arroyo never became presidents. After Cory Aquino had the challenge of rebuilding the socio-economic scenario of the Philippines. He opened the energy generating industry, telecommunication, banking to more competitive level and allowed foreign firms to invest in the country. He sold fort bonifacio and developed it in the alternative financial and commercial district of the Philippines, and initiated the modernization of mass transportation (MRT, C-5), started to unify the nation and included the indigenous Filipinos in socio-cultural and economic development. Macapagal-Arroyo improved on this, and initiated the nautical highway with roros, attempted to improved further the telecommunication highway but someone threw a money wrench on it (rememer the ZTE Broadband project), strengthed the mocroeconomic policies and programs that shielded the country from US and Europe financial crises and scams. Who rules and govern from Malacanan matters. As a postcript, if you come to think of it, Ramos and Macapagal-Arroyo didn’t have political dysnasties. They were steeped in their vision for the country, and their technical, managerial and leadership skills put them through their terms.
22. I agree with all the above comments, except for two inaccuracies. First, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965); and second, her Presidency was a dismal failure.
Marcos was a good President until he became ill and lost touch with the real state of the country. He also stayed in power too long; he should called a general election when the Philippines was politically, economically, and socially stable (early 1980s). He may have been corrupt but his good deeds atoned for it; he gave a lot back to the people. Compare this to the Cojuangco -Aquinos, who took so much from the people without giving anything back for over a century.
Filipinos need to realise that the only way to solve the twin evils of corruption and poverty is to use their vote wisely. Selling one’s vote is corruption in itself. Voting for popular personalities (entertainers) instead of people with ability is equally irresponsible. Filipinos need to be more disciplined.
23. “It is all the same whether the Philippines is ruled by a Marcos or an Aquino Filipinos…”
And the Philippines ruled by GMA and her lapdog like Tiglaw any different and better? hehe
1. >pahiwatig na nagsimula ang problema kay Arroyo at maganda at perpekto ang pagkakaimplementa ng konstitusyon ng 1987 at kahit pa nung 1942
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https://www.getrealphilippines.com/2012/11/it-is-all-the-same-whether-the-philippines-is-ruled-by-a-marcos-or-an-aquino-filipinos-reportedly-say/
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