Hindsight is 100% correct they say. Thirty-six years after their ignominious departure from Malacanan, the Marcos’ are going to back to the palace on June 30.
Up to now, the opposition still cannot accept that they lost. Bongbong Marcoos’ win set several electoral records. The highest number of registered voters. The highest turnout. The widest winning margin. The record number of votes garnered.
As soon as it was called, the opposition was still in disbelief about their loss. They made several claims of electoral fraud but could not present any conclusive proof. Leni Robredo and her running mate, Kiko Pangilian, still have not conceded. Their supporters claim the battle will go on. A petition was filed at the Supreme Court for the cancellation of Marcos’ Certificate of Candidacy. In an unprecedented move, the high court ordered the respondents to submit their comments on the petition within fifteen (15) days.
What happened?
The truth is the majority of Filipinos did not agree with the ouster of Marcos in 1986. The events leading to the coup attempt by Enrile et al were staged, including the dramatic walkout of the canvassers at the PICC on account of electoral fraud.
The media then did not write about the origins of NAMFREL, which was headed by Joe Concepcion. As it turns out, it made its appearance in the mid-50s when Ramon Magsaysay was the chosen President of the Americans. The election watchdog was organized by Edward Lansdale, CIA station chief in Manila and Magsaysay’s de facto campaign manager.
In the 1992 election, the pro-Marcos opposition against Cory would have won if Imelda did not run for President. But Imelda and Danding were feuding and Fidel Ramos exploited the opportunity by having Roquito Ablan convince Imeldific to run in order to split the Marcos loyalist vote. The result was Ramos, the anointed candidate of Cory and the Americans won with only 23% of the vote.
The Ramos administration was just as scandal-ridden as the Cory administration but being the party in power, they controlled the midterm election of 1995. Erap was able to carry the majority of his Senatorial slate on his way to victory as President. His Presidency was short-lived as he was ousted in a civil-military coup disguised as People Power in 2001 after the House prosecutors in his impeachment trial at the Senate walked out on account of an adverse vote on the motion to open an envelope with allegedly damning evidence against Erap.
Erap had the Senate majority and was confident of his acquittal. It was for this reason that the then opposition resorted to extra-legal means to depose him. This paved the way for the ascension of GMA to the Presidency. The justification was she won just as many votes as Erap but the point was she ran for Vice-President but not as President. But to the Yellowidiots, anything that serves their purpose was justified and so constructive resignation went into the statute books concocted by no less than the Chief Justice himself, the highest magistrate of the land.
The opposition speaks of the Marcos’ historical revisionism. How? Post-EDSA, Bongbong Marcos lost in his Senate bid in 1995. Imee Marcos did not run for public office until 1998. It was not until 2010 that BBM made it to the Senate, ironically under an Aquino Presidency. About the only time Marcos was able to shine was during the Corona impeachment trial when he, along with Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor Santiago, were the only three Senators who voted to acquit the Chief Justice of the charges against him.
Are the sins of the opposition less or greater than the sins of the Marcos’?
This is the operative question. “Investigative journalists” have never bothered with a comparison between the level of corruption during the twenty years of Ferdinand Marcos in power vis-a-vis the thirty years of the Yellowidiots, who made the vow of enacting reforms in government.
Yet from 1986-2016, Filipinos were basically flying monkeys to the narcissism of the Yellowiditos who created the alternative reality parallel universe that the country and its citzens were doing good. Never mind that during the same period, the country was wracked by coup attempts and an actual civil-military coup against a duly-elected President, Joseph Estrada, and an economy with no direction until Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power.
Ironically, the death knell of the Yellowidiots would begin with the election of the only son of “democracy icons” Ninoy and Cory, to the Presidency in 2010. Noynoy Aquino proved to be a worst clone of his mother who left government in the hands of his trusted lieutenants to run. “Daang matuwid” and “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” never went beyond the slogan stage. It was all a sham.
The same goes with the PCGG which never investigated any other public official or politician than the Marcos family and their cronies. It has never been able to build strong criminal cases against the Marcos’ because the corporate structure of the holding companies were very complicated. Edgardo Angara, Franklin Drilon and Raul Roco, were principal partners of ACCRA Law who could have shed light on these but ironically, they were never called to do so. Jovito Salonga left the PCGG after a year to run for Senator. This is why the PCGG has more civil cases filed against the Marcos’ for asset recoveries based on affidavits and testimonies from the crony’s as part of the compromise agreements they signed with the PCGG. A criminal case requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt which would be impossible under the circumstances.
The only advantage is political. The opposition can keep on bringing up these cases against the Marcos’ each and every time they run for office. But again, this strategy has outlived its usefulness as proven in the last election. Marcos won by a landslide giving him an overwhelming majority and mandate.
Ferdinand Marcos Sr. had intellect, ambition and vision. He understood that he had his work cut out for him if he was to become the leader of the Filipino people. He understood how the system worked and instead of working for the system, he made it work for himself.
His path to the Presidency was not easy because he did not have the provenance of being the progeny of the elite families. He knew he needed to win their confidence to become their proxy and he could only do that by acquiring power because he was not born into it. Just when he thought he had achieved his goal by becoming President, a serious challenged was posed by Benigno Aquino Jr., a competitor who had the provenance but not the intellect.
In many respects, Marcos and Aquino were cut from the same cloth as both had to suffer the reputation of their respective father’s. Marcos had the intellectual advantage but Aquino was more cunning because he would stop at nothing to achieve his ambition even if it meant selling his country and countrymen out in the pursuit of his ambition.
Marcos could have stayed in power in 1986 if only he had it in him to spill the blood of Filipinos at EDSA. EDSA was Marcos’ Tiananmen. But he did not have it in him to order the military forces loyal to him to disperse the crowd by training their firepower at them.
Contrast this with Cory who released all “political prisoners” even if most of these detainees were high-ranking leaders of the CPP-NPA-NDF. The blood-letting continues to this day while Jose Maria Sison and Luis Jalandoni are comfortably ensconced in the safety of the Netherlands.
Filipinos have grown tired of the divisiveness and disunity that the Yellowidiots have caused on the country and its people. They cast their lot with Duterte in 2016 and he has delivered on his basic promises with his ten-point socio-economic agenda which had the singular goal of a more comfortable life for all. His high approval and trust ratings prove that the Filipinos are satisified with what he has done which is why they voted for continuity which is what is expected under a Marcos-Duterte administration.
They were only able to delay the inevitable in 1992, when Imelda and Danding both ran, in 1998 when Erap won but was ousted in 2001 and in 2010, when Cory’s death triggered a bout with nostalgia with Cory’s death, which had Noynoy being chosen over Mar Roxas because of the latter’s low polling numbers.
The Presidency they say, is destiny. It can also be said that fate intervened what with the poor performance of Noynoy as President paving the way for Duterte in 2016. Robredo’s “win” over Marcos in 2016 was fate and destiny combined. Filipinos know who they voted for Vice-President and would not accept Robredo as the duly-elected Vice-President as proven by her low approval and trust ratings throughout her tenure.
The burden on Marcos’ shoulders is doubly-heavy because there is the weight of the country’s problems caused by the pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, largely caused by American hegemony in Europe. Marcos also has to contend with his unstated mission of redemption and vindication for his father’s and what will be the legacy of his Presidency to the Filipino people.
Duterte is a tough act to follow because he steps down with the profound admiration and respect of the Filipino people despite what the opposition says about his Presidency. He not only continues to be popular but well-loved. Marcos must draw the most from his abilities and from the members of his administration to do their best to equal, if not exceed what Duterte has accomplished.
The Filipino people expect no less from him.
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