Tomorrow marks the 39th anniversary of the “assassination” of Ninoy Aquino at the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport. This single “momentuous” event catalyzed Filipinos into protesting against the “Marcos Dictatorship.” Three year, later, Marcos was deposed in a civil-military coup, under the guise of a “revolution,” begun by Juan Ponce Enrile with his faction in the AFP, aided and abetted by the United States.
Thirty-six years after the “EDSA Revolution,” a Marcos is again President. No less than the namesake of the ousted elder Marcos again leads the country. This begs the question, how should the history of the past thirty-six years be written, given that Marcos Jr., ascended to the top post of the land in a record vote. Does Marcos’ election, repudiate the history of the Aquino assassination and the subequent ouster of the Marcos’?
The opposition credits Marcos’ victory to technological innovation. Social media platforms are now the media of choice of the people. TikTok, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have influenced public opinion about issues that concern the public, primarily politics. Information is easily accessible on the internet and the opposition has also put an emphasis on the morality of the Marcos restoration, as they assume that they represent the good in everything while the Marcos’ represent all that is evil.
Historical revisionism and networked disinformation are the opposition’s buzz phrase for yet another electoral loss in the May election, capping a record of three consecutive defeats which began in 2016 with the win of Duterte over Mar Roxas.
The Aquino family, as the icons of freedom and democracy, can be considered literally dead and buried, with Noynoy joining his parents at the Manila Memorial Park. There is no one left to continue their fight, so to speak.
They did try to mold Leni Robredo in Cory’s image and likeness but despite her “upset” win over Marcos Jr. in 2016, she suffered a humiliating loss in the second round of her head-to-head battle in the 2022 election. It can be said that Marcos buried her alive but given that there is no one else in the opposition ranks who can be a better symbol, they are still stuck with Robredo, who now struggles to remain relevant.
This chapter in our history began in 1965 when Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was elected President. It’s as old as I am. I was born in 1966, in San Miguel, Manila, in the same district where Malacanan Palace is. I have lived through the events which have taken place since then, up to June 30, 2022 when I witnessed the inauguaral of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the 17th President of the Republic.
How does this chapter end? Our history since the start of the revolution in 1896, has been replete with betrayal. Our “leaders” have constantly sold us out to foreigners and this continues to the present time, in one way or another.
After gaining independence from the Americans, our elite, composed of the oligarchs, became our colonizers. The fight between Aquino and Marcos, is not a fight of the Filipino, but of the elite. The Filipino gets to be the judge during an election, but there have been instances when the sovereign will has been subjugated and disregarded.
Marcos’ Bagong Lipunan did away with the old society and created new oligarchs. The difference was each one was in-charge of one industry. This was a page off Park Chung Hee’s development model for South Korea with the chaebols.
PASAR and PhilPhos were built next to each other in Leyte. The former was for the production of value-added mining products. The cheap waste products of the smelting plant were to be used to produce fertilizer for agriculture. The Yellowidiots never focused on agriculture after they took power. Both were privatized and damaged when Yolanda struck Leyte.
The petrochemical complex was never completed. Plastic raw material is derived from oil in the downstream process which produces a number of useful products such as plastics, sythetic rubber, synthetic fiber and fertilizer. It’s only recently that the first petrochemical plant was finally completed by JG Summit. This is another reason why our export manufacturing is not competitive. Our packaging cost is expensive since we rely on imported plastic raw material.
The Yellowidiots like to blame everything on Marcos but never acknowledge how these projects were needed for the Philippines to become competitive and expand its export manufacturing base.
In contrast, Ninoy’s legacy was the insurgency and the Muslim separatist movement. While Ninoy was a great salesman because he was erudite, he had no singular achievement from the time he won a Senate seat in 1967. His focus was becoming President, to which Marcos was the major stumbling block.
Both Marcos and Aquino were flawed men. The latter was more flawed because he didn’t have a vision for the country. His was empty rhetoric at best. His coattails were just another way for those riding on his back to become powerful as their proxy. This was Ninoy’s political value.
August 21, 1983 was nothing more than an assassinate-me plot to oust Marcos. Fate intertwined the destinie of Ninoy and Marcos. Ninoy inherited heart disease from his forebears while Marcos was struck down by lupus.
Convince a disillusioned relative who headed one branch of the military to join in on the plot and voila, Marcos is gone. That was a miscalculation because Marcos’ second kidney transplant was successful.
After three years of protests, Marcos was still in power. His single biggest mistake was calling for a snap election. His second biggest mistake was not designating a sucessor, though it was also moot even if he did, given that Juan Ponce Enrile and Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., would probably not have respected his decision to anoint Imelda to succeed him.
The question is, what have our leaders learned from history? Oligarchs still rule the country. While some antiquated laws have been amended to draw foreign investors in, they’re still wary because of the bureaucratic red tape and corruption. There is also high power and labor costs which makes the Philippines uncompetitive compared to Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The Filipino people are sick and tired of the disunity fomented by the Yellowidiots which is why Marcos won as President. But this early, Marcos is already exhibiting signs of weakness. This is the weakness that Duterte was referring to.
The President of the Philippines can’t run the goverment like a corporation because the officials only respond to the force of authority. If he’s not careful, Marcos could just end up like PNoy.
As the Filipino people are the utlimate judge, it’s time to stop the nonsense of fawning over political personalities and it’s time to hold them accountable as elected public servants.
Ninoy is not a hero. So is Marcos. We have never venerated our true heroes such as Bonifacio, Antonio Luna, Paco Roman, Macario Sakay; the true heroes who fought for the country and made the ultimate sacrifice because they chose death over compromising their principles in exchange for power and money.
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