Marcos revisionism – (Part I) Time to sound the alarm
Marcos Sr. [Photo credit: Time, Inc]
By Chempo
Herminio Disini was a Marcos crony and golfing pal back in the 1970’s. He was the guy Westinghouse used to whisper some magic words into Marcos’ ears to snatch the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant deal out from under the nose of General Electric. From two GE power plants worth US$650mm, the Philippines ended up with a single Westinghouse plant worth US$2.2 billion. Disini sure was a great negotiator. On top of that, he formed a company that got the deal from Westinghouse to construct the plant. A greenhorn contractor building a nuclear plant – Marcos sure had great faith. From BNPP dirtied money and other largesse from Marcos, Disini fled to Austria where he ended up owning a castle, a title of baron, and citizenship. Envision him sitting on a Queen Antoinette chair, legs raised resting on a Napoleon III table, holding in his hand a crystal glass of Chateau Margaux 2009 as he gazed through the stained glass castle window defined by gold-gilded frames, and dream of his beloved Philippines . . .
Marcos, Jr. [Photo credit: filipinostarnews]
In Greek “historia”, it means “knowledge acquired by investigation”. History relates to past events, not necessarily culled solely from facts but from interpretation by historians. It is a profession that makes judgement of evidence before them. Therein is the frailty of history. Firstly, the evidence itself. Over-time, evidence may be re-examined in a new light, new evidence may surface, or new technology may provide new insights. Secondly, human fallibility. Historians write under a prevailing political and social climate, tainted by personal opinions, biases and cultural influences. Objectivity with regards to evidence selection and methodology dictate the historians’ interpretation of events past.
There are those who say history is written by the victors. We are in the age of information, and truth has a way of finding the light eventually, much easier now than hundreds of years ago. The Bush administration’s fabrication that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction is now a known fact. History is fluid and, from time to time, revisions are made. Lest we deride history and cast it down to the level of legends, grand-mothers’ tales, folklore, or mythology, let’s accord it the respectability it deserves because much of written history is based on undeniable facts. The holocaust did take place, Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Comfort women did exist in Japanese camps in WW2, Mr Shinzo Abe. Marcos did loot the Philippines and martial law did do irreparable damage to the country, my dear Filipinos.
Attempts to re-write history have been continual affairs . . . for whatever personal, institutional, governmental, religious, political, benign or evil agendas. An innocuous book here, a seminar there, web-sites, a few YouTube postings, fund some organizations, one or two infomercials, etc. The con is all out there if you pause to read in between the lines and pay a bit more attention.
The con of men knows no bounds . . .
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln wrote the best seller documentary Holy Blood Holly Grail, a book that covered hundreds of years of medieval history and at its core, the theory that Christ had a bloodline which exists to this day. In their investigative writing they pursued many clues to questions they raised. It led them finally to the ‘Dossiers Secrets’ at the Bibliotheque Nationale de Francais. What they didn’t realize was that Pierre Plantard, a draughtsman, was deliberately planting fictitious documents. This is the length that people go to re-write history.
Baron Disini commissioned New York-based author Judy Corcoran to pen his autogiography, promising to tell all, meaning his version, meaning there were no crooks in the Philippines at all. Disini passed away in 2014. I don’t know if his book was ever published.
There are many who try to re-paint Hitler in a different light, his evil deeds down-played or defrayed over various fancy un-supported explanations, and his achievements over-hyped and misplaced. Nazi groups are coming into existence in many countries – Germany, USA and some Latin American countries.
911 is touted as a great American conspiracy. If you believe them, it’s the CIA who planned the attack.
The Church is under attack from every conceivable angle.
Marcos’ family, loyalists, and beneficiaries are challenging irrefutable facts and expounding half-truths and outright lies. What’s worse, lots of uninformed Filipinos cut and paste these lies to their Facebook or blog to perpetuate a train of lies.
The (international) Church of Satan, San Francisco, California, estb 1966 . . .
We are astounded, befuddled, yeah angry, at why ordinary Filipinos refuse to look at the piles of evidence against the misdeeds of Marcos. We are rendered impotent when more Filipinos say forget the past, in so suggesting the crimes are condoned – meaning, the misdeeds are accepted. We are driven out of our senses when a preeminent judicial personality sings the same tune as long as it can help her win the 2016 Presidency. We go crazy when we hear many who say of Bongbong that the crimes of the father should not be his burden without addressing the issue of billions of stolen dollars they refuse to return to the people.
When mortal logic provides no solace, sanity can only be retained by consigning the rationale for this strange behavior to the Great Deceiver.
For the believers of the good Book, there is one explanation for all this. The fallen one is here. God has warned that Satan lies concealed, and he deceives easily as he is a master at his craft. He manipulates those who plant the lies, he makes the path easy for those doing his work.
“I am the luckiest person that I know and being a Marcos is part of that and I am very happy that I was born into the Marcos family,” said Bongbong Marcos (Illusory mode).
In God we trust, and in the CBCP we hope they help to open the eyes of the laity to the great deception that has gained more traction in the last few years. The Marcoses may go to church, but for their words and deeds, it is so difficult to see the God in their hearts.
Is there really anything to apologize for . . .
The Japanese have to this day never formally apologized for their atrocities during WW2. Japanese kids grew up generally unaware of what their previous generation did. In schools they were taught watered-down accounts of Japan’s role in WW2. Many Japanese tourists were shocked by the reality they discovered as they traveled outside their country. There is no closure for Japan and the many countries that suffered under them.
After WW2, the Germans reflected and searched their souls. There was remorse, regrets, apologies and acceptance. There was closure for them and for the world. New generations of Germans grew up well aware of their dreadful past. Almost all Germans today have nothing to do with what happened in WW2, yet they feel apologetic.
“Our family have nothing to apologize for . . . ” Bongbong Marcos. (Classic denial mode).
“I don’t think that on a family basis, the Marcoses as a family owe us an apology. In the first place, it was not the case that President Marcos the father pooled all the Marcoses in one table and they all decided jointly to do certain activities,” Miriam Santiago. (Classic insanity mode).
Both Bongbong and Santiago, and all those who share the duo’s sentiments, miss the point. They are absolutely right in a court of law. But where is the moral responsibility to own up and return the loot? If our child steals something from a kid next door, don’t we apologize and get our child to return the stolen goods? The “no apologies necessary” logic shows that critical humanity traits are missing. Where is the sense of shame? Shame is something that separates humans from animals . . . well actually dogs do feel shame too. Notice how dogs lower their heads and droop their tails when chided for doing something bad? An apology signifies acceptance, the real apologists feel shame and remorse, the sincere apologists make restitution. Acceptance, remorse, and restitution are the basis for forgiveness and moving on. We should forgive, but never forget the lessons learned.
Note:
a. The Criminal Code of the Philippines is silent on the culpability of those in possession of stolen goods when they are privy to that knowledge. In most other jurisdictions, this is a criminal act.
b. I learned from Raissa Robles’s blog that there is a Presidential Decree No. 1612 or the “Anti-Fencing Law of 1979” signed by Marcos himself. He shot himself in the foot that time. Santiago conveniently forgot about this decree.
Does history matter? The past is past, let’s move on . . .
However good, however bad, we must never turn our back on history. It teaches us the wherewither we came from and how and wherewither we want to move to. The lessons of history ground us to what we are.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. . . George Santayana
WW2 was a continuation of WW1. Basically the same set of players, in different roles – Hitler, de Gaulle, Churchill, Patton and many others. Hitler had a minor role as a corporal in WW1. He experienced the shame of a defeated Germany and yearned for a return of a mighty motherland. Critical lessons of WW1 were not learned and issues were left unsettled. Empires rise and empires fall all over the world in human history. In China, there was one dynasty after another for thousands of years. Each succeeding humanity never learned from their previous fall.
That is why the recent decision by Japan to scrap their pacifist policy and allow overseas military deployment is a dangerous development. Because lessons of WW2 have not been learned in Japan.
To water down the history of the Marcos’ martial law years and whitewash the plunder, human rights abuses and total mismanagement of the country, is not just horrendously distasteful, but utterly dangerous.
Sir Winston Churchill said in the House of Commons :
“When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong–these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.”
……………………………………………………………………………………..……………………
(In Part II we’ll look into specific areas of half-truths and fallacies of Marcos)
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[…] my previous article Part 1 of Marcos Revisionism, I alluded to the Dark One behind all insidious work going on all around us in conditioning minds […]
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
If I’m not mistaken I think his first name is “Herminio”
You are absolutely right. Typo error with all respects to the departed. Thanks Jun.
I’ll correct that.
*******
Also “Holly” should be “Holy”.
*****
Daang, Edgar, give me a section and paragraph next time. These words do the old disappearing act in my regressive tri-focals.
*******
1. Press Alt+F to open search window at top right corner.
2. Enter text to find.
3. Computer will find first occurrence of text and highlight it in orange. It will also highlight all subsequent occurrences in yellow.
4. Bob’s our uncle.
*****
Oh thks Edgar, learn something new every day
That Bob, what a guy. (Thanks)
Ctrl+F
*******
Thanks, Dick.
*****
That’s what happens when we are too poor to engage a proof-reader and too old school to employ some geeky app to word check.
WP has word check, but holly is a legitimate word and a gentle reminder that Christmas is right around the corner. And you are right, the income stream does not have room for a proof reader. I need to monetize the blog. I see that the Candy Crush developer got $6 billion for his company . . .
I can volunteer some proofreading time, Joe. I am not a professional proofreader so if the Society will cut me a slack for missing some mechanics and typos every now and then, I will gladly take on the task. Most of the contributors here do not really make a lot mistakes so it should be an easy job.
*make a lot of mistakes
Hahaha! There goes the proofreading job!
Hahahahaha! Now that is funny. So I have to leave it in . . .
I think the trouble would not be worth the effort, Juana, although I appreciate the offer. Winging it with an occasional error makes it a down home blog, like a letter to Mom . . . 🙂
Juana,
I happen to have at least a few more moments before my wife drags me to Costco.
The first mistake (or so I think) that I noticed was in the very first sentence of the article, “1970’s” – which I believe should be “1970s.”
But I could be wrong; I, too, make misteaks.
Perhaps this is worth mentioning:
Here is the very first verse of the bible (the King James),
Genesis 1:1:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
A BIG majority of translators subtly imply (can one be subtler than that?) that “heaven” should be “heavens” – thus, the King James Bible was wrong or should not be relied upon.
Let me close (for the day?) with this:
Can one find anything useful here?:
http://j.mp/rp-english
Salamat.
Mary will proof read for each wrong spelling that would be one aargh.
17sharp can also do it with his sharp tongue,i mean eyes.one mistake has an equavalent link to his yahoo group.
🙂
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan
here is a link of Japan’s statements
Nephew, are you sure you don’t own a think tank? If you do, I’m proud of you.
show me where to find a tank that thinks or a think that tanks…..Thanks unc!
huwag lang septic tank mabaho iyon.
a tank that stinks or a stink tank
full of powetry
hahahaha, too bad Bert missed that one . . .
Hay naku, lagot! Nagsilabas ang mga alliteratisms … ha ha! 🙂 feter fifer ficked a fiece of fafer … carry on, men.
Wen Manong, we are trying to make powetry here, kaya lang puro pautot ang lumalabas. We are not yet a real think tank, Karl has revealed the dirty kitchen in our clean minds.
🙂
Manong, what is your opinion about the Solid North? Imee confidently stated in an interview that the Solid North will give Bongbong the votes needed to win as VP.
JP, the Solid North just means, as far as I can gather, the solid Ilocos Norte only. I get the impression that the Marcoses are in maintenance medication mode towards Ilocos Norte and the rest of the Ilocos is pretty much local politics . The Ilocos solidity is nowhere near that when FM Sr was around. NB: This is pure speculation on my part, JP. Andrew, I suspect has a better take on this. I will revisit this with you. Soon, I hope.
Thank you, Manong. I think you are right. During the last Presidential election in 2010, the Marcoses backed Villar and he won only in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. Estrada and Aquino actually won in a lot more northern provinces than Villar that time.
JP, because I’m more familiar with the language & region of the Ilocos I keep a rose-colored lens for things Ilocano. I tend to romanticize Ilocos stereotypes: ubiquity, industry, thrift, love of knowledge. I also tend to overlook the negative one: vendetta, It seems we have a little bit more than others. I wish Filipino sociologists would study these regional traits for Filipinos to know themselves more.
On today’s politics, I think the Ortegas of La Union and Singsons of Ilocos Sur are waiting to be courted by the pretenders to national offices, the Marcoses included.
“the negative one: vendetta, It seems we have a little bit more than others.”
Floro Crisologo comes to mind, but also Enrile. Marcos and Nalundasan. Some say Ilocos before had similarities to Ampatuan country – until Marcos became the supreme warlord.
“I wish Filipino sociologists would study these regional traits”
Bikolanos: independent-minded, the nicest among all Filipinos but hard to fight said the Spaniards back then. Not thrifty, but resourceful in difficult situations – volcano country.
Tagalogs: proud as roosters. Vendetta is usually associated with Cavite. Strong sense of hierarchy, even in pre-Hispanic times ranks abounded. Commander of Tondo, King etc.
@ all
Just received notice that Sen Bam has volunteered to run Leni Robredo’s campaign for VP
May that little gem of united good will and good works prosper and become the way of the Philippines from now to eternity.
@ all
off topic: HENERAL LUNA, the movie now available stateside:
http://henerallunathemovie.com/heneral-luna-us-theaters-and-showtimes-nov-6/
Looks like Sen Bam’s dad will also have a hand in strategizing the campaign.
I think chempo’s main point is that the Japanese schools and government are not doing a good job of teaching post-WWII generations about the atrocities.
I would be skeptical about his pronouncement too if I did not personally experience some of the younger generation’s view of WWII.
My family was visiting the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii and I overheard a group of young Japanese tourists joking about dropping a bomb at the present site to get even for Nagasaki. More rude and irreverent jokes followed so hubby and I told them that we can understand their jokes but they need to stop or leave the memorial to people who know what it symbolizes.
I knew Marines and sailors (stationed in Japan) who used to where t-shirts that read: Made in the USA, Tested in Japan (with a nuclear cloud in the center). These guys were in Japan in the 80s- 90s.
The funny thing is, just the other day, in the mall, in some small specialty items store, I saw that same t-shirt– everything old is new again.
You should’ve done this, Juana:
Does your rebuttal means, “We do it, too?.” If they are wearing those shirts at Nagasaki ground zero, they should have been confronted or court martialed for conduct unbecoming of an officer or a gentleman (or any of the punitive articles pertaining to said action in the USMJ).
Everyone does it is my point, a joke is a joke. Venue tends to add weight– but this is all manufactured. A couple of paces away from the Vietnam wall in DC is not more sacred, or less. I know you’re not one of those “Don’t Tread on Me” flag waving types, but I’ve witnessed overzealous patriot Tea Baggers yell at tourists near the wall for something similar, laughing or being too loud.
At the end of the day, it’s a public place. Everyones free to say their piece– both those Japanese and you (and your husband). Just like there’s no UCMJ that can stifle that t-shirt off-base– not Nagasaka, but in Okinawa, who don’t really see themselves as Japanese. Though small unit leadership, shit rolls down hill, eventually addressed the issue– but lack of taste is no crime.
Here’s a good blog about this phenomenon:
http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com/2015/10/its-wrong-to-judge.html
According to your past pronouncements, we are of the same political color.
The comment said, “we can understand their jokes” meaning we understood where they are coming from but the memorial is not the place to make those jokes.
Is that judgmental , LCpl?
I respect people’s right but when they disrespect others to exercise theirs, that calls for an intervention, IMHO.
Interventions are fine. Personally, if it’s not my job to intervene (I’m not getting paid for it), I’ll not go out of my way to be offended, hence feel the need to “do something about it”. That’s how disagreements start.
No I did not say we were of the same political color. Far from it. But that link I posted is emblematic of America today, where both liberals (you at Pearl Harbor) and conservatives (Tea baggers at the Vietnam memorial) are just looking to “be offended”.
That ‘s all fine and dandy, when the person you’re shooo’ing or wagging your finger towards, bows down and says sorry, but one day, you’ll have an equally self-righteous person, or just a crazy criminal, who’ll take you up on your offer– hence the danger of this habit.
Read the link I posted. It’s wise.
Different folks, different strokes, LCpl.
Obviously, I did not explain myself very well in my first sentence reading from your reply.
“Looking to be offended” is a very big word in terms of judgment. So when my points are found to be similar to feminists and religious zealots.
I read the article. I suggest that you re-read it in a couple of decades.
Oooppps… I posted the wrong link (wrong article), sorry copy/pasted the first for an email, I guess this link didn’t catch, here: http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com/2015/09/why-should-i-leave-what-about-my-rights.html
Lance and Juana
haha u both have your points and both are right. It’s a question of how you choose to live your life.
I have those types of encounters before, more than I wished for. One thing I have learnt, as an older an wiser man now is, if you call out someone and made the challenge, u have to be prepared to stand your grounds in the first place. If it’s a guy twice my size, hell no man, I want to live to fight another day. But on principle and moral grounds, I’ll try to stand up for the smaller weaker guys, for the dead who can’t fight back, for issues that I think worth standing up for. It’s got me into trouble before, but today, I’m at peace with myself for doing what I did.
chempo,
Yeah, I totally understand where you and Juana are coming from and it’s commendable behaviour, no doubt.
But I’ve seen way too many well meaning, good people get bloodied in the nose (or worst), for acting on their sense of morality, principle or “right”. That’s the spirit of my comment here.
The flipside are Tea baggers/liberals looking to get offended. Sometimes the it’s my “right” folks and the “I’m offended” folks are one and the same. So that ahole Vietnam vet yelling at some laughing tourists (who were on the grassy part, not by the wall memorial) was acting a fool– when his “right” and his “offense” converged.
But my bigger point is that these are manufactured places, we don’t inject meaning, it’s injected for us, it’s institutional grieving — very 1984 like. You want to grieve or remember, there’s better ways to express this, visit your local VA for instance and ask how you can help.
Personalize this, don’t act high and mighty in a public memorial, it’s an empty gesture. But going back to good people, well meaning act of correcting another person(s). Park rangers (or security, or cops, etc.) get paid good money to enforce whatever behaviour these public spaces want to elicit.
In public transportation, where I see more bloodied nose stemming from good people correcting others, take note of the problem and take up with authorities– don’t place yourself in a position where you’ll have to play chicken or one-upship.
Do something that will not lead to a bloodied nose (the attempted Charles Bronson route), use the system in place to address the issue– you’ll have more long lasting solutions that way, than telling off a bunch of black kids, who’ll take out their own feeling of “rights”/”offense” on you, but in a less polite manner.
Personify this reverence and don’t be Charles Bronson, is all I’m saying here. Real and quiet places trump these institutional memorials any day,
ps. I know women get away with telling people off, or sharing their opinions, in public, but lately I’ve seen more women-on-women fights– they’re saying it’s because of Crossfit, and MMA, w/ more women with testosterone in their system or just more mentally ill, or both. Who knows, but it pays to bite your tongue and look for bigger solutions.
Thanks for the good advice. I’m more mellowed now, so the ears more receptive.
Juana it’s the same of US kids who visit the Nagasaki ground zero and view all those photos in the memorial. They were totally unaware of the horrors. They read about the A-bomb, but nothing prepared them for the actual horrors they saw in the pictures.
If I am there and they are rude and irreverent, I would tell them to respect the memorial too. Right is right: geography, race, and other factors not withstanding.
I visited the Vietnam War memorial a few weeks after its unveiling. I felt the grief as I walked along the names so clearly chiseled in the black granite. It was like they were there as I scanned the names. Memorials like these do speak for the lives snuffed.
Yes, it is a wall of vast grief. The Korean War memorial also shook me up, all the statues saying in no uncertain terms, these were real people, doing this deadly work so the rest of us could be free and prosper.
chempo,
Do jap tourists still cry out of guilt when they visit your museums in singapore? back in the 90s I saw Japs crying maybe the tour guide gave them the guilt trip.
I have no personal knowledge about this.
after Israel blamed Palestine for the holocaust,here is what Germany has to say
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34599706
Germany tells Netanyahu: We are responsible for the Holocaust
Millions of people perished and they bitch about the words “Owabi” and “Shazai”. It’s the same way Bongbong “apologises” for the martiall law victims — see my Part 2.
I think Marcos Sr. DNA (good & bad) is skipping a generation. For now Imelda rules the goods.
communism is being blamed for martial law. now that peace talks with the commies went pffft,that is another weapon to use.Maybe after this airport bullet issue simmers down.
maybe Baron Disini’s book will be published, but what will be the new stuff that we do not already know will come out?
Your guess is as good as mine. Have you ever read of an autobiography where one enumerates their mis-deeds?
nope
That reminds me of Enrile’s autobiography, another attempt of blatant revisionism.
At the time he feared for his life during the early part of the EDSA 1 People Power, he confessed that the attempt in his life (that was one of the reasons martial law was declared) wan truly a hoax.
He recanted when he wrote his autobiography.
He has a colorful life which he can paint in various shades of black.
Why does Enrile not die?
Because Satan is afraid a power grab.
Will the world be in more shit trouble if the baton is passed?
Enrile would bribe St. Peter to get him out of hell, and he would walk on earth as Satan II.
Yes, to Chempo & PiE.
” various shades of black …” neat jab, chempo!
Like what Henry Ford said about the model T : It can be any color as long as it is black.
Disini’s baron title reminds me of the Marcos preoccupation with royalness. and the RP as FM’s one big fiefdom.
I don’t have the details but you will remember surely that in his later years when he was ill, Marcos appointed Imelda to a supreme executive position in Malacanang. I don’t think it was called Plunder Dept, can’t recall the appointment title.
I do recall of what you refer, chempo.
Note to Marcos loyalists that would post comments:
1. Pls cite your sources – news agencies, writers, academics, professors, historians, educational institutions, papers, books, newspaper clippings, etc. Make sure they are respectable, please. Not cut and paste arguments from Facebook or Youtube, please.
2. Pls do not be afraid to carry conversations. All of you before who posted here were hit and run commenters. Can you defend your arguments?
3. Instead of generalizations, give specifics, and those that you experienced directly. That would give more credence to your assertions.
http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p1694 – most of the stuff being posted by Marcos loyalists would be punishable by Sections 185-200 of the German Criminal Code. Germany is a defensive democracy since after World War 2:
Section 185
Insult
An insult shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine and, if the insult is committed by means of an assault, with imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine.
Section 186
Defamation
Whosoever asserts or disseminates a fact related to another person which may defame him or negatively affect public opinion about him, shall, unless this fact can be proven to be true, be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine and, if the offence was committed publicly or through the dissemination of written materials (section 11(3)), to imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine.
Section 187
Intentional defamation
Whosoever intentionally and knowingly asserts or disseminates an untrue fact related to another person, which may defame him or negatively affect public opinion about him or endanger his creditworthiness shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine, and, if the act was committed publicly, in a meeting or through dissemination of written materials (section 11(3)) to imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
Section 188
Defamation of persons in the political arena
(1) If an offence of defamation (section 186) is committed publicly, in a meeting or through dissemination of written materials (section 11(3)) against a person involved in the popular political life based on the position of that person in public life, and if the offence may make his public activities substantially more difficult the penalty shall be imprisonment from three months to five years.
(2) An intentional defamation (section 187) under the same conditions shall entail imprisonment from six months to five years.
and the courts here are fast… someone who posted hate memes against refugees in FB (punishable by another part of the Criminal Code against hate speech) was sentenced to two years imprisonment – refugees only started coming this summer. Quick and effective.
If I say that “from all available evidence, VP Binay is a crook”, does that affect his creditworthiness, I wonder. If we followed the German ideal, we’d have to start building even more jails. If I say Senator Marcos is likely to be an autocratic leader, like his father”, am I in trouble? I think Inquirer headline writers would be writing from jail.
Your statement Joe is not a statement of fact since you write “from all available evidence”, and if you write VP Binay SEEMS to be a crook you are totally safe by those laws…
“likely” also keeps you out of jail, since you are stating a likelihood not a fact. Germany had its experiences with tabloids that brought Hitler into power, financed by oligarchs like the infamous Hugenberg. The laws are calibrated to allow free speech but punish lies.
And I thought Singapore is hell of strict haha.
We have more cigarette butts on the ground over here… especially around Munich train station.. where I once spat on the ground and a security lady told me do you do that at home? This disorderly foreigner… realized that a public place is like home for them.
You clearly did not know my (German) parents. I had to goose step when mowing the lawn and was not allowed to wear tight jeans or put my collar up like James Dean.
The last German soldiers to goose step were East German parade troopers. The last of them marched in East Berlin on October 2, 1990. Everything here is now a calm and steady walk if civilian, march if military, still disciplined but with a lot of room for freedom.
The Russians and Chinese still goose-step. Russians imitated the Prussian marching style, the Chinese imitated the Russians – and are goose-stepping over islands now.
Cubans also do, but I prefer them when they dance and sing…
Who thought the North Koreans? The goose-steps I mean. The crying with love at their leader – that one is their original.
All the Communist regimes do that, based on the Russian model which was copied from the original Prussian (Northeast German) model…
I don’t know if the Vietnamese still goose-step nowadays…
Joe, be thankful you were not brought up Amish, they have an even older German mindset from the time they came to America…
Germany now looks more like this, the national football team is multicolored and fun but still very disciplined…
“… put my collar up like James Dean” hey, I thought you were younger, Joe or maybe one precocious pre-teener.
Different parts of my body are a different age, I think. The knees are damn old. The brain, it’s younger. It was actually Elvis that we emulated with our collar up, and he got it from James Dean probably. I don’t really remember James Dean, really, just his photos.
James Dean’s upturned collar appeared prominently in REBEL WITHOUT CAUSE, 1955. Because you used it, I feel younger, Joe. 🙂
🙂
Good advice. Nothing personal….just getting to the truth of things.
In Germany, people are presently laughing their heads off about “Er ist Wieder Da” – He’s Back.
It is a comedy about Hitler awakening after 70 years, being taken for a comedian and having his own comedy show on TV, and using the Internet. Here democracy has stable roots so it IS funny.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Agency_for_Civic_Education – this agency was responsible for a lot of democratization in Germany:
The Federal Agency for Civic Education, FACE (German: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, bpb) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior…
Its task is now to promote understanding of political issues, strengthen awareness for democracy and willingness to participate in political processes amongst the citizen.[1] Furthermore a committee of 22 members of the Bundestag is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness and political neutrality of the bpb.
Pamphlets that explain democratic institutions with graphics, pamphlets about the Constitution explaining its goals and everything etc. are available for free at these offices.
It even runs a website where voters are asked what programs they prefer by areas of concern – and gives out to how much percent one matches the program of which party. Often that website has surprised me, because I did not expect the results I got…
It’s easy to see why Germany is so well organised. Growing up, there were a few countries I looked up to. Germany and Japan for the discipline, dedication and their organised ways, USA for their creativity and leadership in various fields, UK and Scandanivian countries for their compassion.
I also like Switzerland and Holland. Switzerland for their order and democratic tradition. Holland also for their old democratic tradition and their openness to the world.
Congrats, chempo for another article worth reading and re reading. Looking forward to Part II. I posted tidbits in my my FB wall (with complete attribution, of course)…the youth of today (which forms most of my target audience) has a short attention span so I try to do the posting in little exciting bit by bit.
Gian, there are lots of meme materials here. Show us how to do meme so we can help, it’s so unfair that you alone are doing the meme production.
Thanks Mary. I think Part 2 is a good referral base for one to cut and paste relevant rebuttals. That was actually one of my objectives.
http://m.memegenerator.net/#
mary, i could not paste the marcos meme i found in that site
@ Karl & Mary Grace
I still don’t get what is a meme. I think it means the process of something becoming eponymous. My son says, no. help, anybody?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme – A meme (/ˈmiːm/ meem)[1] is “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”.[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[3]
The word meme is a shortening (modeled on gene) of mimeme (from Ancient Greek μίμημα pronounced [míːmɛːma] mīmēma, “imitated thing”, from μιμεῖσθαι mimeisthai, “to imitate”, from μῖμος mimos, “mime”)[4] coined by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976)[1][5] as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catchphrases, fashion, and the technology of building arches.[6]
So a meme is a gene within cultural DNA, and a meme in the sense of social media is a catchy combination of picture and writing to communicate that meme in a quick way. Example of a possible meme: Santiago and Marcos looking particularly crazy and stupid respectively, with the text on top: “Brenda at Bobo”, and the text below: “Kilusang Gagong Lipunan”. A meme shared in Facebook or elsewhere conveys a concept with vigor.
Thanks for the assist, PiE. Hopefully it will catch. Dunno when. the terms gene, DNA are not mapping to the examples.
True… because social media memes are just plain concepts… like radio jingles..
Real memes are ideas like democracy, rule of law, Confucianism and more.
Is this a meme?
“An elegant solution for keeping track of reality.”
that is what language is in general, I would say…
memes are notions of how things could or should be, maybe? And social media memes are simply statements, opinions summarized by pictures and words in conjunction.
How about this meme:
JoeAm.Com– “A Piece of Pie”, 54.6% Piece!!!
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xal1/v/t1.0-9/12193458_723725227760659_6218061852480200088_n.png?oh=87faa5967970b20dca4510a9498a76cd&oe=56C459E6
Sorry, that’s from here: https://www.facebook.com/philippinebloggingawards/photos/a.718675911598924.1073741827.708088949324287/723725227760659/?type=3&theater
getting better, PiE. What’s the shelf-life of an idea, i.e. to be called a meme?
I think what is significant is that it passes within a community and influences behavior…
How would German laws treat that “Brenda at Bobo” photo???
Memes are dirty tricks which, if your side uses them, are funny, and if the other side uses them, are really really obnoxious.
True… under German law it could qualify as an insult… usually first sentence under two years is commuted or just fined. But most such cases are dismissed, being too trivial… sometimes one gets away, depending on lawyer and court, with satirical license.
Usually satire against public figures still passes, but there was a German comedian who picked on a private person, and then made sexual innuendos – both aggravating circumstances and he had to pay damages. But a poster like the one I mentioned is definitely below the belt already, and on the borderline to getting sued for an insult. Well in this case I might even enjoy them suing me, but the poster was only an example hehe… 🙂
http://m.memegenerator.net/Scumbag-Marcos#
http://m.memegenerator.net/instance/52842147
Thanks, karl…will practice as soon as I can…
practice with bbm too
http://m.memegenerator.net/Bong-Bong-Marcos
This will be the national song if BBM ever becomes President… and the neo-Marcos have kids:
May gagong silang,
may gago na buhay,
gagong bansa,
gagong galaw,
sa gagong lipunan,
ginagago ang lahat
para maging tanga
at ating itanghal,
gagong lipunan
with “apologies” to the Bagong Lipunan song I heard so often in my youth.
ever since Andrew Lim’s Bongbong article, that damn Bagong Lipunan March has been ringing in the back of my mind every hour or so…
Knowing the reality of that period makes a return of the Marcoses a really bad dream.
Ahh, that ear-splitting martial law propaganda song. Here’ another one:
Wastong pagkain ang kailangan
Nang bumuti ang ating katawan
Ang lakas ng bansa nakasalalay
Sa kalusugan ng mamamayan.
Bawas butil ng bigas na mailigpit
Ligaya rin sa buhay kapag nagigipt
Kumain ng wasto at magtipid…
(Drums rolling in the background….)
The Madame’s green revolution song. We were required to sing at least one propaganda song before starting a class in my elementary years. Teachers more often than not would ask me to lead/conduct the class singing, and me more often than not end up singing solo. My classmates were either too sleepy or disinterested to sing these songs for the nnnnnth time.
This was in Batac, Ilocos Norte in on September 12, 2012:
I mean on September 11… how could I forget Der Führer’s birthday… born 1917.
Ah, September 11. That’s easy to remember. That’s also the day when ANOTHER disaster occurred in New York City.
the spirit of this song is nearly the same… banned until now in Germany, very rightly:
except for purposes of teaching… so I don’t have to worry about Polizei at my doorstep… the Landeskriminalamt allegedly has 400 people in its cyberoffice which I have heard is at Munich’s Nymphenburger Straße, my police precinct is 10 minutes away… usually good.
*******
1. Marcos has been weighed from several perspectives. The weights on the good scale include infrastructure, reduced criminality, clean streets and, arguably, the export of Filipino labor; the bad weights include economic mismanagement, human right abuses, and colossal thievery.
2. The human right abuses alone that culminated in the assassination of Ninoy should disabuse everyone of the notion that Marcos was a good President, much less a benevolent dictator.
3. One bad weight that has not been highlighted and discussed is the damage to our political concepts and institutions.
3.1. The first casualty, of course, was democracy, the very basis of our political life. In declaring martial law, Marcos destroyed the notion that democracy was the bedrock upon which the body politic could build a better society… after centuries of government misrule.
3.2. The second casualty were collectively the three branches of government that constitute the republican form of democracy. Marcos abolished Congress. While the Judiciary remained, judges were treated as casuals, their tenure depending on the pleasure of the dictator. Contrary to the idea of equal branches and In disrespect of constitutional checks and balances, the Executive amassed a disproportionate balance of power that successive presidents have flaunted – in particular, GMA — and continue to exercise to this day.
3.3. The third casualty was political parties which were suspended at the beginning of martial law. At a stroke, the historic Liberal and Nacionalista parties were dissolved. New political parties – notably Marcos’ Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) and Ninoy’s Lakas ng Bayan (LAKAS) – arose in the local official elections of 1980. Since then a plethora of political parties have surfaced at each election, parties constituted of expediency and personalities, and bereft of any well-thought out programs of government.
3.4. Not a casualty but an imposition is the resurrected barangay system. Many see this system as good for the country. I happen to disagree. There are too many layers of officialdom micro-managing our lives.
3.5. I am sure there are other casualties and impositions that have torn — and haphazardly patched — the national fabric as a result of the Marcos dictatorship. There is the continuing economic power of the cronies, and the continuing political agitation caused by Marcos henchmen.
4. We have not yet recovered from the Marcos dictatorship. And here, just one generation later, we have the Marcos son brazenly inching his way back to the palace.
Marcos redux is a return to hell that should not be permitted. #NeverAgain.
*****
3.1. The first casualty, of course, was democracy, the very basis of our political life. – I grew up without any notion of democracy, Edgar… if I had not learned democracy in Germany – of all places some would say, but Germans are annoyingly perfect students and perfect teachers so they took what Uncle Sam taught them and made it even better IMHO – I would not have any idea in me of how a proper democracy should run.
3.3. The third casualty was political parties which were suspended at the beginning of martial law. At a stroke, the historic Liberal and Nacionalista parties were dissolved. New political parties – notably Marcos’ Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) and Ninoy’s Lakas ng Bayan (LAKAS) – LABAN was the correct name of Ninoy’s party. PDP-LABAN – Duterte’s party, and LAKAS-NUCD – Ramos’ former party – its bastard kids.
Marcos redux is a return to hell that should not be permitted. #NeverAgain. Brenda at Bobo – Kilusang Gagong Lipunan.
The distortion, the mutation of the Filipino psyche or “DNA” on the concept of Democracy and its principal institutions (Item 3) is the greatest casualty. If only we have to pay the debt on some 5 Bataan Nuclear Power Plant as the only damage, then the burden would have been, to my mind, relatively light. (Japan after Nagasaki and Hiroshima — of course with great help from the US — recovered because its basic cultural DNA has not been damaged.)
But now we have the prospect of further negative mutation of our institutions — during this fast-paced global period we are in confronted with big ticket items such as Climate Change, etc. NO. Not a Marcos II scenario, please. For that matter, a no, too, for a Binay I prospect, please.
All post-Communist countries had problems similar to the Philippines after 1990…
people used to dictatorship run wild when they are set free, it happened there.
Romania and Bulgaria still have not fully recovered, inspite of EU help/funds.
1. Marcos has been weighed from several perspectives. The weights on the good scale include infrastructure, reduced criminality, clean streets and, arguably, the export of Filipino labor;
Infrastructure to some extent, but he profited from it. Many prestige projects, and many things that were started for propaganda and then left to rot. The Manila Film Center with workers that got cement poured on them because of rush was a terrifying example of both.
Reduced criminality was only partly true. Yes, the streets were cleared of people because of curfew. But burgeoning slums – because of the civil war in the countryside that made people flee to the cities – made thievery rampant. I lived in those days, know it firsthand.
Filipino labor was a) taxed by embassies and b) was forced to remit money at the fixed exchange rate set by the government. Black market rate was more favorable to the $. Also a proof that Marcos failed to truly industrialize the country, except for some showy stuff.
3.4. Not a casualty but an imposition is the resurrected barangay system. Many see this system as good for the country. I happen to disagree. There are too many layers of officialdom micro-managing our lives. the old barrio system from American times – the democratized version of the barangay system from Spanish times – was named barangay and turned into an instrument of authoritarian control that persists to this day.
3.5. I am sure there are other casualties and impositions that have torn — and haphazardly patched — the national fabric as a result of the Marcos dictatorship. There is the continuing economic power of the cronies, and the continuing political agitation caused by Marcos henchmen. Who was there at the airport after Mamasapano? Ramos, Imelda and Bongbong among others. It became a right-wing get-together, unfortunately.
4. We have not yet recovered from the Marcos dictatorship. The Nuremberg trials executed or jailed the top leader of Nazism who were still alive. De-Nazification forced the little Hitlers to toe the line. Democratic re-education and a sophisticated legal framework secured democracy by both motivation and punishment. Germanic thoroughness that made Auschwitz possible also made democracy stable. Filipino inconsistency and sloppiness made post-Marcos democracy very unstable.
Edgar, Nherrera and your comments here are some of the lessons from Marcos history. Estrada obviously never learn that. A vote for Bongbong, Santiago or Binay shows Filipinos never learn from history. We can only hope Filipinos are better this time round.
http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/philippine-history-part-iii-nation-section-2-marcos-period/ – this is my blog article on the Marcos period.
http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/philippine-history-part-iii-nation-section-3-post-marcos-period/ – the next article on the post-Marcos period (Cory and Ramos) proves that the Cory did more than she was given credit for, while Ramos caused some problems. The article on the “Daang Baluktot” period of Erap and Arroyo is not yet ready. The Daang Matuwid article is still being researched to give a balanced view of the last five years.
(1) I covered in Part 2.
(3) Very good points. I did’nt cover the political aspects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_language#On_multilingualism
“3.5. I am sure there are other casualties and impositions that have torn — and haphazardly patched — the national fabric as a result of the Marcos dictatorship”
https://joeam.com/2015/11/01/takuza-tagay-at-kung-bakit-may-tulog-si-mar-roxas/#comment-144717
Ireneo and I were discussing the “Mother Tongue” approach used by the new K-12 model. It looks good– and the fact that one can have multiple L1s (First Language, Mother Tongue) looks promising.
edgar, et al. (—- others here from pre-Marcos era),
Would it be fair to say that another important casualty under Marcos’ reign is English? Was he not the one who Filipinized education over there?
the “Mother Tongue” approach has the potential to change language learning, communication, and politics over there—-
Simply by claiming one’s L1 as English and other non-Tagalog Filipino languages, L2 (currently defined as “the” national language, Tagalog) L2 can be 3 or 4 national languages– which for many there will include L1.
L3 (defined as global language, is English) can then be Spanish (to posture towards Mexico, Central & South America) and Indonesian (their Bahasa is closure to what Filipino was supposed to be, but never became), or even Chinese — once English is promoted to L1 and L2.
The prospects look good, the only thing left to discuss (in preparation for Ireneo‘s K-12 articles) is how English was taught pre-Marcos.
Was this Filipinization process all Marcos’ idea, or were forces already conspiring to rid English way before Marcos held office?
Who were the engineers of this Filipinization movement?
What was their reasoning, aside from nationalism?
Will the same forces block any attempts to merge L1 and L3 as it now stands on the Dept of Education description?
How were you guys taught English before Marcos?
How can the next generation be taught English– not for BPO or OFW, purposes of exploitation, but for bigger reasons that will propel the country forward.
Marcos was only partial Filipinization, as an Ilokano he actually preferred English and used Tagalog only in a ceremonial way… but his and Imelda’s Orwellian use of English made it so unpopular… Truth, Beauty, Love, Peace, Order all were totally corrupted.
Cory was the one to order Filipinization. The first Department to implement it was Defense… but they had already gone into regular use of Filipino as language of command because they swelled their ranks enormously with a lot of common people during Marcos.
Marcos abolished Spanish as an official language and as a mandatory university course, and he forced Chinese schools to teach in English and teach Filipino as a course as well.
The Marcos murder case in the 1930s shows how much Spanish was still used then…
and it was an official language of the 1935 Constitution, replaced by the 1973 Constitution.
http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1940/oct1940/gr_l-47388_1940.html
So the quality of English just slumped downwards during Marcos, but Cory Aquino was actually the one to promote (officially) Filipino/Tagalog? If it started in the AFP during Cory Aquino’s office, were universities still using English? I thought the whole decline of English happened in the 70s. I’m interested more on the process of how this all happened to safeguard English from being marginalized again over there– that’s just bad policy all together.
The first President to regularly use Filipino in his speeches was Erap. 1998 was the Centennial of the Philippine Revolution with nationalistic fervor. Erap was also the one to change the blue of the Filipino flag from the Navy Blue during American times to a color between Navy Blue and the original Cuban Blue of the 1898 Flag – the latter having been the color of the blue in the flag from 1985-1986 and therefore discredited completely.
The universities started using more Tagalog starting with Cory, because one group that used Tagalog a lot were the leftists who were against Marcos. There is a typical leftist brand of Tagalog and a military-style Tagalog, they are different. Erap was also one of the “Magnificent 12” Senators who voted to throw out US bases in the early 90s… so it was a process driven by nationalistic fervor – and by resentment against the USA for being so protective of Marcos nearly until the end and even then. Ceaucescu and Elena also were on a balcony in 1989, but got shot because the Russians did not give them copter lift… 🙂
“The universities started using more Tagalog starting with Cory, because one group that used Tagalog a lot were the leftists who were against Marcos.”
So , Marcos had nothing to do with the decline of English– this was more the consequence of Americans leaving post-WWII? I’m assuming then English had yet to penetrate the population hence the ease of the backslide?
OK, so this Aquino Filipinization was driven mostly by Leftists, who were I assume driven out of the country or up the mountains by Marcos, but returned after Marcos left.
So this Filipinization process was a direct anti-American expression? I think I’m catching the irony now, since these Left leaning academics were no doubt educated in the US (I doubt they went to China or the USSR or to Cuba).
Very interesting.
Are those Leftists still in the schools over there? Can they still stand oppose to English resurgence in education? Thanks, man.
Actually there was a historical debate in 1998 about the original Philippine blue… and historians concluded that Cuban blue was incorrect, azul oscuro correct – the present blue of the flag since 1998. OK the sun had a face in 1898, like in a Latin American flag. The revolutionary flag was banned during American times, when it was allowed again, allegedly the Americans only had navy blue cloth, but that could be an urban legend… gotta check…
So , Marcos had nothing to do with the decline of English– this was more the consequence of Americans leaving post-WWII? I’m assuming then English had yet to penetrate the population hence the ease of the backslide?
That is one reason. A lot of people from the lower middle class – the same clientele that Hitler had BTW – moved up during the Marcos period. Their English was lousy.
The hundreds of thousands of new AFP recruits during Marcos time were mainly peasants who hardly spoke any English, and they were commanded in Tagalog from the start.
OK, so this Aquino Filipinization was driven mostly by Leftists, who were I assume driven out of the country or up the mountains by Marcos, but returned after Marcos left.
Many were in the country but very careful… some were in the mountains… some came back… and they became resurgent during Cory’s time…
So this Filipinization process was a direct anti-American expression? I think I’m catching the irony now, since these Left leaning academics were no doubt educated in the US (I doubt they went to China or the USSR or to Cuba).
Well, one of the strongest proponents of Filipinization was educated in Paris – my father. Used to be quite left-leaning, well he did study there during the student revolts and might even have met Vietnamese and Cambodian nationalists, and Jean-Paul Sartre…
But his Filipinization drive in teaching history was more influenced by French thinking – not Anti-American, pro-Filipino he always said. He is a Facebook friend of Joe America now…
I would say my father’s mindset is more that of the Hispanized Filipino conservative nationalists – a bit anti-Gringo but like I already said he has mellowed even if his movement still uses a special brand of intellectual Tagalog more existentialist in mold, his younger students Street Tagalog… And he is happy when the USA is there to help against China, told me 20 years ago that he prefers the USA as a partner to the Chinese, but doesn’t want the country to be a virtual colony of the USA like it was under Marcos, America’s ex-SOB for quite a while… so you had different forces pushing against English…
The Filipinization in the Universities started at UP of course, ironically an American-founded University, 1908. Lots of young professors who took over in the 1970s resented the intellectual influence of American deans who had been there until up to the 1960s…
In the 1970s Virgilio Enriquez started Sikololohiyang Pilipino – Philippine Psychology. Professors like my father debunked some historical myths like the land bridge theory of Otley Beyer who was a big fish in the small intellectual pond of the Philippines before.
So it was a pride sort of thing as well. John Nance – who I think was fooled by Manda Elizalde – participated in the Tasaday scam, the alleged stone age tribe in Mindanao. My father was one of those who uncovered it – and pretty much intimidated Nance once… 🙂
When I posted here for the first time, I told my father I am not sure if Joe is a bullshit artist like John Nance, or a modern-day Blumentritt – I will test him, give him a chance first…
My father’s Pantayong Pananaw (our view of things) intellectual movement was 1990s onward. Ateneo picked up with its own, more open version of linguistic nationalism soon. Since Aquino is Ateneo and LP is very much Ateneo-shaped, the present K-12 plans bear the stamp of the more pragmatic Ateneo school. Thus Filipino is used for Social Science subjects and the like, while hard sciences are in English. A good balance I would think. Michael Chua who is my father’s ex-student writes in Tagalog and English – times change. Before that would have been a reason for something like excommunication in these circles.
@ Irineo
“… But his Filipinization drive in teaching history was more influenced by French thinking – not Anti-American, pro-Filipino he always said. He is a Facebook friend of Joe America now…
I would say my father’s mindset is more that of the Hispanized Filipino conservative nationalists – a bit anti-Gringo …”
This is interesting, PiE. Your dad and mine grew up in colonial times. The most influential person, to my mind, UP included in colonial education was David P. Barrow. He envisioned the French “liberte, egalite, fraternite” for Philippine education. hmmm …
3.4
edgar, probably not the barangay but the municipality cum collar towns should be the unit-context for administering/learning civics for Filipinos at current demographics. Then solidarity-subsidiarity-human dignity triad can be meaningful.
******
Agree. I look back to the idyllic town of my childhood and it was small enough to know most of the people in the immediate puroks and big enough to roam with an expansive feeling of freedom. The three schools I attended — primary, elementary (where civics was taught) and high school — were some kilometers apart but all within walking distance. There were three churches as well — Catholic, Aglipayan and Methodist (which we attended). Then there was the sea, a stone’s throw away from the house. I fell asleep and woke to the rhythmic lapping of waves on the shore.
The world, the globe, has grown smaller. With transportation, distances have grown shorter. And, I suppose, the computer and mobile phone have made everyone within instantaneous reach of eye and ear. (I do not know the current level of technology in small coastal towns in the Ilocos. I do not know if kids still play by wheeling and pushing large iron rings before them or if they are steeped in video games and game consoles.) And yet, instead of expanding our horizons to encompass the whole town, we have physically compressed our lives into cultural gulags.
*****
This is a recent-vintage reflection. I feel it is the time. Expanding the physical civic horizon for the youth must be expanded to match the “software” that they are reading about and presumably dreaming about and hopefully, do progress about. The initiatives at the provincial level will have new economic magnets and social breathing room that I feel will be healthy for the growing population.
As you surmise, town life is “physically compressed … into cultural gulags.” (your usual accuracy). Especially true of the Ilocos region. The germs for change are there. The educational centers are now congested. Baguio, Laoag, Vigan, Tuguegarao are begging for relief and challenge. The world labor markets will return Filipino expatriates. This reconfiguration might be suitable for the country’s good. The population, as always, must work with what nature dispenses.
PS. I owned possibly the first pair of roller skates seen in our town plaza auditorium. Maybe.
@edgar lores, may I add under #3 above: The stifling during martial law of a generation of brave, honest and patriotic young college students “who should have been serving the in the Philippine Senate today” (I think it was ex-Sen. Rene Saguisag who said this in the forum Martial Law Myths Busted) instead of its present members. Many of these students who refused to bow to the dictatorship were either killed or have joined the communist movement (NPA).
It was even mentioned in the same forum that dictator Marcos was the number one recruiter of members of the communist party with membership ballooning to as high as 20,000 after Martial Law.
*******
fed-up,
Ah, of course, not the institutions themselves but the bright generation who would have peopled the institutions. It’s strange that the phantom of communism that Marcos used to justify martial law became the ghost that walked the land. That walks the land to this day. The bogeyman became ever more so real.
*****
I will not wonder anymore if Bongbong Marcos, should he become president, will honor Herminio Disini for his role in building the BNPP as it happened to Fabian Ver who was given full military honors during the term of Joseph Estrada.
He was one of the minor players (plunderers) who used the military to look for a lost shipment of foreign currencies because the loot was his…which I will write after the second installment of Chempo’s blog.
I’m not too sure I understand your para 1.
Para 2 – good if u can contribute and help reveal hidden truths. Not sure if u mean Disini or Ver though.
Chempo,
Favian Ver was accorded full military honors during Estrada’s term because, well, thieves do just that to members of their class…and he must do that in exchange for the votes that he garnered there with the help of the Marcoses and of course, the Vers.
BBM will surely repeat the same to honor Disini as it became customary for these shameless people to honor those who helped prop up the dictatorship and rob the country dry.
From far away overseas I observed VP Estrada doing a great job improving the country’s security problems. As a President, what a terrible let down. I often wonder why leftist never desecrate Ver’s grave.
You can be assured BBM’s first order of the day as Pres, or even as VP, will be the matter of honouring his father with the burial at the hero’s cemetery..
Am I reading this bullet hysteria correctly, that Binay, Duterte and Poe have demanded that Airport Security people be fired . . . without even knowing the facts? THAT is their operating method when in power? Knee jerk? Am I reading this right?
People with families? Innocents? Fire them? To make a point? An authoritarian point?
The perceived inaction of the government is making it easy for them. What I would recommend:
1) send all on paid leave, let them stay at home.
2) get paid people from abroad – Israeli mercenaries, Singaporeans whatever, to run things.
3) rephase people in selectively under supervision of 2) while upgrading CCTVs and other stuff.
Duterte’s idea of getting the army in is also wrong, because these are still FILIPINOS, sorry.
Marcos dictatorship proved on thing: give Filipinos with weapons too much power => very bad.
These are knee jerk bravado speeches play to the gallery. Sure the buck stops somewhere. Remove the leadership if it’s doctrinal or procedural errors, and I’ll second their removal if they don’t initiate moves to stop this scurge.
For me I would put undercover agents to work there. Since it is a gang job, it should be relative to get to the culprits. If is a sole pepertrator then it’s gonna be much more difficult.
Or send undercover migrants or OFWs as passengers, with other undercover guys to watch the surroundings. Get badges out at the right moment when bullets are found.
When it comes to the relatively light-weight Officers and Staff of the Office of Transport Security, a lack of, if not shortness of due process. But when it comes to the High Officials of the vote-rich INC, an abundance of, if not excessive due process was asked. Binay, Poe — kindly explain to this dense mind.
Since we are a visual people, let’s go to town with the proclamation pic of Bongbong with the wet underarm, title it Baskil. Millennials will love it. It means Basa ang Kilikili. You can revise history all you want, reclaim the Philippines all you want, but no laminating deodorant has been invented yet to stem the tide of perspiration. Who says the Philippines has no justice system? Heat and humidity will do what the people cannot do in unison. No more Marcos weather. No more cool.
aha, you’re the emo man with out-of-the-box idea. Any which way you can bro….Nike says it best – just do it.
sino iyang Bongbong na iyan? Ako lang ang may karapatang magdikta rito!
anong tawag mo sa akin, sira-ulo? Narinig ko yata iyan ha!
huwag kang mag-aalala Brenda, ganitong kalaki bayag ko…
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR: Am I reading this bullet hysteria correctly, that Binay, Duterte and Poe have demanded that Airport Security people be fired . . . without even knowing the facts? THAT is their operating method when in power? Knee jerk? Am I reading this right?
Binay – lamented he is picked on without facts and evidences
Poe – complained she is witchedhunt on her residency without facts and evidences
Duterte – he runs kangaroo court in Davao City
Just imagine if they ran the country. At least Benigno is more suave in his hustisya baluktot. It has that auroa of hustisya matuwid.
Is there really justice in the Philippines? Or just a mirage?
Why is Benigno blamed for tanim-bala lag-lag bala? The news does not tell everything. Bala-importing tourists bring only one bala? That is REDICULOUS!!! It does not even fall in my “smuggle” “terrorist” dictionary. What has Benigno got to do with it?
This lag-lag bala phenomenon is absolutely entertaining. If AVSECOm are planting Bala …. If Filipinos are bringing Bala … and not knowing the consequences … IT GOES TO SHOW THE IMPUNITY OF CORRUPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES HAS SEEPED TO EVERY SOCIAL STRATA IN THE PHILIPPINES !!!!
“WHAT GOOT IS A GOOT PRESIDENT IF 99.998% OF FILIPINOS ARE NOT GOOT!”
Your most sober comment to date haha.
Aha! Ha! Ha! Because I am SOBER ! 🙂
BONGBONG MARCOS? Can’t Filipinos remember history?` Why would they want to repeat history? Must have failed history.
Those who vote for Bongbong are born after EDSA Fake Revolution. They are now at voting age. They comprises 35% of the population, that is, 35,000,000 bobotantes.
Imelda is laughing so does Imee wagging their fingers : “I TOLD YOU SO! FILIPINOS LOVE US!” Actually those Filipinos massing at EDSA in ’86 were there to support the Marcoses. They love the Marcoses.
Because the Marcoses makes them poor and it is easier for poor filipinos to pass thru the eye of the needle. Maybe Filipinos are masochist. Or they are just irresponsible citizens.
If we can help ignite the craniums and enable critical thinking for even 10% of them, it could be a vote-changing 3,500,000. Instead of dwelling on the dooms, let’s believe in the possibilities.
“Mariano Renato Pacifico says:
October 23, 2015 at 3:10 am
You know what, Wil, I might do that. I was planning to. I need to go on sabbatical. Like what Mary Grace posted below, I might come back after May 9, 2016 with my little pinky wagging “I TOLD YOU SO”.”
Is there a genetic predisposition to finger wagging?
*******
Only if it is coupled with tongue wagging.
*****
Words that make me go, “Hmmm….” Scientific links for validation?
*******
No links, but a living proof — the one who wags his pinky wags his tongue.
*****
🙂
Bongbong Marcos has released his own comics book “Little Bongbong”about his escapades when he was little and “innocent” but failed to mention his extravagant life during Martial Law. Alarming indeed, because this is not focused on the youth ages 18-35 years, but has more appeal on the minds of ages 5-10 years. Ready for 2022 Election and beyond?
http://politics.com.ph/marvel-or-dc-bongbong-releases-own-comic-series/
This is really easy to counter, just have other comic series to parody, but with him in a top hat, sleeping in class at Oxford, hanging out with beautiful girls (but paid), driving sports cars, kicking servants in the ass, and getting verbally abused by his Dad– the sky’s the limit.
Any artists here?
@ Thea — there you go. May seem a little innocent comic strip, but the slimy Michaevellian act here plainly demonstrates the idea in this blog.
I know Filipinos are very creative in this area. Just waiting for the lots of jokes at the expense of this comic book to come out.
Thanks, chempo, this is the first I’ve heard of this Disini character– does he have sons or daughters in office?
I hope people will take heed.
I think there is a big story behind his flight to Austria. Philippines is a treasure trove for investigative journalists. On Disini alone you can probably write a book.
Paging Alan Robles, the better half of Raissa?
Chempo, this is the first movement. Can hardly wait for the second. I predict the third will be a cascade (I’m betting, like Iguazu).
As what the good folks say in the news channels….keep it here.
Thank you for the article, chempo.
You concluded it (Part 1) with what I believe is worth repeating.
x-
Sir Winston Churchill said in the House of Commons :
“When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong–these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.”
-x
You mentioned, too, of the “good book.”
Churchill seems to know the good book well.
And another guy in the picture does, too, it seems.
You can find here more information related to the picture:
https://richardlangworth.com/bible-2
x–
… he invoked it to President Roosevelt in 1943, quoting only the chapter and verse—since he knew FDR kept a Bible handy. The President had cabled that Cairo, their proposed meeting place before the Teheran Conference with Stalin, was vulnerable to German air attack, and had wondered if they should choose another rendezvous. Churchill replied in nine words: “See St. John, chapter 14, verses 1 to 4.”[
–x
Salamat.
oh, btw, I will take the opportunity to ask Irineo to please address my question to him regarding his comment (in another thread) that I quote the bible by rote. “By rote.”
Is that the King James Version?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Bible_Society The 3rd guy in that picture would’ve been weaned off of from a Bible cobbled together by this other Society– I’m assuming the original source would then be Greek, but which Greek texts? Hmmmmmmmmm….
The connection to Marcos is this, Iglesia Filipina Independiente, which is based on this, Chalcedonian Christianity. See the connection to Greece?
Marcos used to be an Aglipayan and converted to Catholicism for political purposes.
His relationship with the Catholic Church was complicated, to use modern FB terms.
Birth control programs – albeit unsuccessful – and no religion in state schools/universities.
I remember a slum man smiling on TV, saying he had a vasectomy after so many kids.
How the constabulary man standing beside him smiled told us it might have been forced..
“Marcos used to be an Aglipayan and converted to Catholicism for political purposes.”
More like “for amorous purposes,” Irineo. Imelda refused to marry him if he did not convert to Catholicism.
yes, you’re right… although the marriage is said to have been political in intention… Ilocos plus Leyte, and saving Imelda, who allegedly was already pregnant with Imee from Lacson.
Well, you do quote it as if it were the truth, I remember your argument with LCPL_X.
It is the truth you choose to believe. But now you doubt David and Goliath, strange.
Here’s a better interpretation of Churchill’s “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” https://goo.gl/uiUWE6
The special relationship between the USA and the UK… yes… the point many Filipino linguistic nationalists have is that the Philippines will NEVER be a true Anglo nation, so even the more open ones are for at least having Filipino in parallel to English.
Five Eyes are US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Ireland is not part of it, nor is India even if these are English-speaking nations. So the idea of a true Filipino mindset defined indigenously using one’s own language, not defined by external concepts – and English as a tool for external relationships – is behind all Filipinization movements. Finally the relationship with the USA will be better in the future I think, and English will not backslide again… diversified relationships like Germany, Japan, Vietnam will grow as well.
English in the Philippines shouldn’t be for the purpose of joining the Five Eyes, that’s a closed off club. Inter-operability should be enough… “English as a tool for external relationships” and beating English speakers at their own game are good motivations.
https://joeam.com/2015/10/31/the-chinese-challenge/#comment-144935 – yep… for about a 100 years the English-centered world of now shall (hopefully) remain… anything else would be similar to the Fall of the Roman Empire as a worst-case scenario. Who wants a crazy world with Jihadists, Chinese nationalists, Russian nationalists, Indian nationalists and more running all over the place while a weakened USA goes back into isolationism?
Spanish and Arabic should be cultivated too internationally, Indonesian regionally. By the time the world has more or less reached (hopefully) the same level of democracy (with different variants of course) sustainability might finally realize the Age of Relationships.
They were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjaminites, Saul’s kinsmen. (1 Chronicles 12:2)
Slingers were special ops, man.
Lapu-Lapu is said to have used archers to weaken Magellan and his troops who were wading into the shallow waters of Mactan.. he had them shoot at their legs…
The swordsmen led by Lapu-Lapu took care of the rest. Fortunately for Lapu-Lapu the waters were so shallow that Spanish ships could not sail close enough to use cannons… this is at least the version of the story that I know.
Irineo,
I am glad that at least you are [finally] replying to me regarding your “by rote” comment:
http://j.mp/ja-rote
But I must say you puzzle me by the “strange” conclusions you come to:
“But now you doubt David and Goliath, strange.”
To think that you had just said I “quote it [the bible] as if it were the truth.”
How about joining continuing this discussion (on Goliath) in the thread where MRP talked of “Golyat” (which I know, btw, as the Tagalog for Goliath):
Please go to
http://j.mp/ja-golyat
Regarding my argument with LCpx_L, those who are interest can link to that thread
by replacing “rote” or “golyat” with “myriad” (as in “myriad difficulties”).
Salamat.
“those who are interest can link to that thread”:
@i7sharp
Glad u liked the read.
That famous photo — I see only 2 great men
@chempo
“That famous photo — I see only 2 great men.”
——–
Me, too. I see only two. 🙂
I don’t know much about Stalin but I hear he was a bad man.
Am thankful, though, of this information:
x-
The conversion of Svetlana Stalin, only daughter
of the greatest mass-murderer of Christians, a soul
brought up in the strictest Communist discipline,
proves that there is a better weapon against
Communism than the nuclear bomb: it is the love of
Christ.
-x
Source:
“In God’s Underground”
by Richard Wurmbrand
(c)1988
Perhaps the saddest thing about Marcos loyalists is that even if you show them the facts they just dismiss them as propaganda. They claim that the atrocities are fake/justified, or that the economy was better then (despite all the evidence to the contrary).
MKL, I call this the “were you there?” nature of witness & certification. Sadly it’s true of loyalists and non-loyalist. There are many default challenges to truth even before the judgment reaches you for approval or non-approval.
Ironically, a significant number of today’s loyalists are people who weren’t even alive during Martial Law; in fact, not a few of these young loyalists are proud of the fact that they are loyalists despite not being alive in 1986 (I wasn’t alive back then, but my parents were and they joined EDSA and don’t regret it).
I salute the bravery of your parents and others who were at EDSA under such risks to their lives. The poison released during those years should be exposed. It is sad that many are still in denial. We should forgive but never forget.
Mami u meant u were not born yet hehe. U certainly were’nt dead, touch wood. With keyboard responses, sometimes words come out in funny un-intended ways.
Chempo’s Part II will be a useful reference link, as he provides a brief history on each common Marcos argument, and demolishes them. It will be a useful article to bookmark and drop off to loyalists.
That is the problem.
That’s why in Part2 i try to write in logical way so hopefully some might see a light in there.
Off-topic to this, but I’ve had some interesting experiences recently. I’ve been talking to some leftists lately regarding their Stop Lumad Killings campaign, and to cut a long story short, it seems their campaign is one-sided. The killing of the lumad mayor by the NPA? They condone it. Killings of lumads by the NPA? They condone those too. Basically, when it comes to the lumad killings, they have pretty bad double standards, which frankly is sickening. I’d rather be the kind of person who is against any and all forms of violence by/against lumads, no matter which side they are (whether they are NPA sympathizers or allied with the military) rather than only defending one side (i.e condemning killings of pro-NPA lumads but not anti-NPA lumads, and vice versa).
I don’t exactly know where to start in trying to understand and respond with regard to the main point of the article. While I agree with the premises culled from history about abuses and atrocities committed by governments and leaders and the lessons we derived from it, I see some disconnect on certain details in relating it to the Marcoses, specifically with Bongbong.
I’m one with the majority that Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies did the country an awful wrong. I wish all those court cases (corruption and human rights violation, etc.) filed against them would prosper and the Filipino people vindicated and compensated. I don’t know if we’re done with them in terms of filing more cases and settling old issues. All I know is the Marcoses (Imelda, Imee and Bongbong) are back in politics. They’re back in our lives.
Question, is that good or bad? Naturally, for the loyalists it’s good, for the rest it’s bad. But that’s the general impression which in some ways is not really a surprise because that is the geographical and spiritual make up of the country. The sons and daughters of a region/place will always be forgiven no matter what. That’s the eleventh commandment.
Given that reality, for me, to ask for an apology from the Marcoses now appears to have reach the level of irrelevancy than the question as to whether or not we have forgiven them already. Obviously, the people of Ilocos Norte need not be ask that question. The same with the people of Tacloban. But how about the entire country? Well, there’s proof that forgiveness have been had when Bongbong was elected as a senator.
If an election in a national position cannot be considered an act of forgiveness by implication I don’t know what is. Also, I have a problem with the idea that an apology is necessary for any possibility of forgiveness or reconciliation. There is a view that an apology signifies acceptance of guilt hence the sense of shame is upheld and the parties move on from there. But the problem on such view is that the principal character, Ferdinand, is no longer around to offer an apology which is very doubtful in the first place since he never even insinuated its possibility of happening in the last years of his life. Even if Imelda apologizes now I don’t think it will be the same. I don’t think it will absolve the whole family. I don’t think it make sense. I even think the apology issue has lost its meaning after the death of Macoy. If Imelda cannot do it I don’t think Bongbong can.
So what to do now?
Forget the apology for it has already been granted by implication of election. However, the Marcoses can always be reminded that the nation has and will never forget the excesses and abuses perpetrated by Macoy by denying them the Office they aspire for to get back the glory days they’ve lost. Such objective can actually start by denying Bongbong the office that is one breath away from the presidency.
As the song goes, it’s now or never. 👲
To forgive is to know first. I can have a good time with my neighbor until I learn about the darks sides of his father’s past. Why didn’t he tell me? Why was he lying? Not nice. But if later I find out that my neighbor is living a good live on stolen money from his father’s horrendous crimes, if I would be confronted with the sufferings of all those robbed, sufferings he could alleviate by returning the stolen money, then that would changes the picture completely.
You might vote for someone not knowing or not willing to accept all the relevant truth about the candidate. It tell more about your knowledge then about the candidate’s true character.
It is our task to make as many voters knowledgeable, make them understand what really happened, what the real consequences of Marcos actions are.
To forgive is to know first. I can have a good time with my neighbor until I learn about the darks sides of his father’s past. Why didn’t he tell me? Why was he lying? Not nice. But if later I find out that my neighbor is living a good live on stolen money from his father’s horrendous crimes, if I would be confronted with the sufferings of all those robbed, sufferings he could alleviate by returning the stolen money, then that would changes the picture completely.
========
Your analogy is a but conflicted in the sense that it suggests lying on the part of your ‘friend’ regarding his father’s past. He was not nice because didn’t tell you he’s living a good life through the corruption of his father.
In the case of Bongbong, there was no room to lie. Everybody knows what his father had done. Everyone in your neighborhood knew what was going on, what had happened. So why the need to tell you? And how come he lied when he didn’t even bother to tell you anything?
Your friend (BB) is actually denying allegations against him and his family. He is ducking the call for him to apologize for what his father had done. For a number of people, there is no need ‘to know first in order to forgive’. They have forgiven the Marcoses by electing Bongbong as a senator of the Republic.
Sad but true. 😯
In part 2 I touched on this issue of apology. There is no right or wrong – your view or my view. Just a matter of opinions. I think yours is of a rational mind, but you forget most have emotions. Go ask those who have been aggrieved.
I have nothing against Bongbong other than the refusal to return stolen money. Suppose there is no issue of stolen wealth and he does not apologise, then I’ll simply have nothing to do with him. But if he apologises, then I’ll hold him up at a higher moral level, and will even consider his candidacy based on his own merits.
But that’s just me. That’s my standard.
The kids singing the Bagong Lipunan song – THE song of the dictatorship – at Marcos’ 95th birthday on September 11, 2012 in his hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte, probably sponsored by the Marcoses who rule over there, are a sign of not having learned a thing.
In fact they are glorifying the dictatorship of old. The estethics of the ceremony are a modernized version of the old dictatorship. So it is very likely they will want to bring something like it back to the Philippines. Looks like a long-term agenda. Let us be careful.
Reminds me of one of those “big production numbers” to our “Dear Leader” in North Korea.
and THIS could be the future that they are going to have… a sci-fi Pinas story I wrote:
It’s the birthday of your son who did a lot of bad things. No one will take it against you if you celebrate it. 😎
On the matter of apology, there is a right or wrong view about it. The only question is the timing. What Pres. Marcos did was wrong and he should, could have apologize for it as a matter of contrition but he did not. No one in the family did. Macoy died unapologetic. The family has taken the same stand and probably gained more confidence when the son was elected to a national office.
Contrary to what you said, people should not give weight to emotions because they already have the facts. No need for me to ask them about emotions. Those aggrieved and victimized by the Marcos regime were not acting because they were affected emotionally. Their pain and suffering are real because they’ve undergone it, subjected to it.
Saying you have nothing against Bongbong other than refusal to return stolen money is actually playing with the emotions of those who were aggrieved. For them, stolen wealth or not, apology or not, nothing can be returned, nothing can be repaired. They were damaged for life.
Pardon me for going the opposite, if ever Bongbong apologizes, I’ll accept it but “holding him up at a higher moral level” will never enter my mind. An apology was never meant to erase past mistakes and trespasses nor numb our senses to forgive and forget. It was meant to show our acknowledgment that the one apologizing is doing so out of remorse and deep shame for what he/they have done. 👳
Asking for forgiveness is a one-way thing. It has nothing to do with what other people think, say or interpret about you. It’s not about your courage or humility or weakness. It’s about acknowledging the wrong you have done and the shame you felt about it. It’s about what you think, say and interpret about yourself.
If the Marcoses want to ask for forgiveness (the timing of which, I think, has passed) it’s all up to them. To pressure, cajoled or influence them to ask for it would be an exercise in futility.
It takes a lot of courage and humility to ask for forgiveness.
To seek forgiveness is a sign of a person’s courage rather than weakness.
Humility reflects a person’s inner character and strength and not as a sign of meekness.
Asa pa tayo na may kaunti man lang humility sa dna ng mga marcoses.
Absolutely agree.
This documentary “Batas Militar” was produced in 1997 by a foundation headed by Eugenia Apostol, the founding publisher of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It’s a good accompaniment to Chempo’s essay, and a good starting point for discussion/teaching about martial law in the Philippines and its creator.
(Apologies to Chempo, Joeam, etc. as there are no english subtitles.)
Thanks for sharing Cha. Internet is great is’nt it, little gems like this can be digged up from somewhere.
Aand this, unfortunately shows where we re at. Produced by Interaksyon TV 5.
Today’s youth sharing their thoughts (or lack of it) on martial law.
Thanks for these videos, I only saw the opening of the documentary, but got the gist of its martial law portrayal. This video of the students reminded me of my travels thru out the Middle East pre-Arab Spring. In the Arab police states, people tend to just live within rules governing them– those that went against the grain, had a tougher time.
Aside from the pro-Marcos and pro-Imelda regions in the Philippines, who received added benefits for their support, how was Martial Law for other parts of the Philippines? What was the day to day like? Maybe the parents of those students didn’t feel the need to warn them against the Marcoses, because they were not really affected by the Martial Law, no?
I’m thinking same with pre-Arab Spring ME, the Martial Law wasn’t really a defining factor for most Filipinos, who just went with the grain. Am I right?
You’re right.
If you had a pretty decent job, went to a school away from the seat of protests and discontent (mainly Metro Manila) or anywhere far away from those being dispossessed (mostly the indigenous tribes) and oppressed by the military (mostly in the countryside, for suspicion of being communist/ NPA supporters) you are wont to believe that martial law was a time of peace and plenty. I suspect this is the case with the parents and teachers of this young Filipinos who would have been responsible for passing on all this incorrect impressions on the young.
Those in previous as well as this present government have their share of the blame too, for failing to take the lead in ensuring that the lessons of history are taught and taught well to the generation that followed them.
So the question niw is, where do we go from here? The Department of Education does not look to be helping at all as the incumbent Secretary believes that the teaching of martial law should be judgment free, i.e. the student will be left to decide for himself if martial lawhas been good or bad for the country.
There are groups, NGOs , private individuals, even certain sectors of mass media, who are taking the matter into their hands by talking, making noise, educating where and whenever they can but until the government takes a decisive action in terms of making this a part of how we educate the young, we will just forever be in this sort of a panic mode trying to catch up with all those who need to be brought back to the fold, so to speak.
That’s what I figured, cha.
Before we get to the failure of the Dept. of Education, and what other groups, NGOs, private individuals, sectors of mass media, taking matters into their own hands, “making noise”.
I think the first order of business is to pin down what actually happened,
1. Human rights abuses. How many people were actually affected by this? Who on this blog? I know Ireneo mentioned his Dad going to jail, anyone else? Those who were in prison, were they tortured, were their loved ones harmed, were they killed or raped?
If you talk to Armenians, they remember because they can’t forget. Every single Armenian you come across will know a grandparent, grand uncle/aunt, etc. who died when the Turks kicked them out into the Syrian desert (and also killed by authorities or mobs).
Every other guy in Iraq can claim direct knowledge of family and friends murdered or abused under Saddam. In Syria, it was every third person. In Egypt, it was every fifth guy. In Libya, it was every sixth guy (every fourth/third guy if from east Libya). This is not exact science, but you get the point.
Real people were affected.
I don’t get that same sense under Marcos. Either he is seen as the best thing since slice bread, or blah. Even the Muslims in the south, equate Marcos years to the barring of goods from Malaysia– the conquest from Manila is viewed generally, not really Marcos-specific.
2. Democracy, three branches of gov’t, Political parties, and the barangay system. From an academic argument, that’s fine. But similar to number 1., how did all this affect the day to day life of the average Filipino.
IMHO, if you want people to remember all the bad that Marcos did, it has to be real bad stuff worth remembering. I don’t know if this Bong-Bong Marcos will end up VP or President soon, maybe he doesn’t have the charisma. But if you guys really want to guarantee that people remember how bad Marcos was,
the majority of the people will have to offer direct evidence of these crimes, against persons, properties, actual tangible stuff– show that real people were affected.
Number 2 is tougher to prosecute, you’ll not convince people with this, it’s too abstract a notion, too academic. You guys have to make Marcos into https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot The only problem is he’s not.
I learned later about teachers/acquaintances from UP who were assaulted/ raped/tortured during martial law during research and not through them telling me. It seems the closer you are to the torture the more you do not want to relive those days.
That’s what I’m talking about, gian. Those stories have to surface.
The stories have surfaced, but I think people’s minds dull up, close down, and they don’t want to face it. They’d rather this just go away. See the this article for cases (the column labeled “victims”). http://www.interaksyon.com/article/43411/martial-law-victims–tortured-in-1974-and-1994-the-military-hasnt-changed-its-style
Joe,
I don’t mean so much in the media, but in people telling other people what happened. Like gian’s example. Then maybe from there those students in cha’s video, spread it thru social media.
There is a lot being spread, but the Marcos loyalists are immune to such information. Plus, Marcos and Romualdez families remain within the circle of impunity, and if you want your life to be miserable, raise a complaint about an old injury. Heroes here are dead, not living.
I noticed those victims were communist-types. When I was there, bus bombings were usually attributed to communists turned bandits or shaking down bus companies for “tax”, so they bomb one or two to send a message, killing civilians in the process.
If Marcos wasn’t well liked, the communists in the Visayas and Mindanao were seen as worst, at least with the folks I got to talk to.
Like in the Armenian massacre, victims of Arab despots, the victims that must surface have to be as democratic– from all walks of life, like Pol Pot. If I read NPA or communists being tortured (yeah, that’s bad) but wasn’t that the point of the Martial Law?
So it lessens the impact, IMHO.
Most of those directly affected by the dictatorship were either:
1) Intellectuals, mostly U.P. people. My personal take on the dumbing down of the Philippines was that it started there. It was safer, you were less suspect if you either:
1a) worked for the regime, which is what my father did after, I think, Marcos made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, he had a vulnerable point, his wife and children. The mock deportation of his best friend’s American ex Peace Corps wife (from Michigan were most US do-gooders seem to come from) may have been a motivation. The first two books Marcos’s Tadhana, History of the Filipino people were mainly written by my father, the third book only in part by him, then Marcos abandoned the project like so many others. But we did live well during that time, extra salary on top of UP salary without having to teach much. But my parents laid the groundwork of our leaving the country during that time…
1b) went for consumerism and hedonism. First mall was built in Cubao then, Ali Mall. This was the strategy of many young people. Being too smart and analytical or showing it was dangerous, could get you into the dragnet. My father’s hardbound “Analects of Confucius” were confiscated as “Maoist literature” by the Constabulary when they arrested him, just to give an example of the stupidity. Well can’t blame them, these were simple folks who were recruited and made to believe certain things, similar to the farm boys that the Burmese dictatorship of the past recruited. Got to know some of those folks in Germany.
1c) left. Many left for the USA, we had the German option. Few came back, built up their lives abroad. Veronica Pedrosa who worked for al Jazeera and CNN among others is the daughter of reporter Carmen Navarro-Pedrosa who left for UK during those days.
———————————————————————————————————
2) Countryside people in affected areas. You could easily be suspected of being a Communist if you were politically active. Stuff like what Leni Robredo is doing now was suspected as Communism, so political participation was not good. You either:
2a) shut up and tried to live your life.
2b) went to Manila if the civil war was too bad in your area. Slums grew massively.
2c) went abroad and joined the the ranks of the first OFWs.
———————————————————————————————————
The Philippines today is a product of five trends I see that started then:
A) Dumbing down, don’t look to smart, don’t think too much. It was dangerous.
B) Mindless consumerism, shut up and pay.
C) Growth of slums and the attendant breakdown of traditional values.
D) Lack of political participation and involvement.
E) Mass migration of both workers and intellectuals, family and social cohesion suffered.
The Republic after Marcos did not manage to make sausage into pig again, how?
AND many intellectuals, especially U.P., have not forgotten the US role in propping up Marcos. The more radical see the US as intentionally making the Philippines into a country of consumerist, dumbed-down slaves. Mar Roxas is perceived as an American lapdog.
The more strategic ones see that the present U.S. is not anymore the USA of Reagan hobnobbing with Imelda, and that China is the real threat now. And that China would even more want a nation of dumbed-down, consumerist slaves – like they have at home already.
The US fear of communism then was much like the Iraq hunt for WMD, a McCarthy-style frenzy that led to very unprincipled deeds. Still, fear is fear, and communism was the enemy, and terrorism is today. The world would be easier if the autocrats would lay down their weapons in favor of compassion and respect for others.
Hey even I used to see the possibility of Joe being the future J.R. Ewing of Liguasan marshes, but I did give him the benefit of the doubt. And I have not regretted that… 🙂
There is actually a memorial center in Quezon City called “Bantayog ng mga Bayani” that is dedicated to the martyrs and heroes of the martial law regime. There is a monument and a Wall of Remembrance wherein are inscribed the names of those being honored and remembered. the center also houses a museum and library. The latter would have books written by and about many of those who were lost to or became victims of torture and other atrocities perpetrated by the regime and about the other abuses committed by the dictatorship.
The foundation that runs the center also has a website that makes available online sources for those interested in learning about the lives of Marcos’ victims. Here’s a link :
http://www.bantayog.org/?page_id=19
Cha, I found this FWIW for the topic:
“As of July 31, 2014, the Commission has already remitted the amount of P167.636 Billion to the National Treasury,” PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista said.
The amount, however, was just a small chunk of the gargantuan assets that Marcos and his cronies allegedly stole from the Filipino people during two decades of Marcos’ reign until they were dethroned by the EDSA People’s Revolt in 1986.
sonny,
I think that and the nuclear power plant are solid issues, but whether it’s 9 or 12 zeros at the end (representing the amount stolen) by Marcos. Since all politicians steal over there, the gargantuan amount people won’t really conceptualize.
It’s like this, http://www.usdebtclock.org/ , I’ve seen billboards of these ticking, but I can’t conceptualize the number and it doesn’t really affect me personally so I tend not to care– I know I should, but that’s reality.
That’s why it has to be examples like the ones presented by gian. That’s how people remember.
I agree, LC. Martial law took away people we knew who were at their prime. Yet there were also classmates and friends who opted to keep the engines of education and commerce and governance going for the sake of sanity & order.
I did work for a major trust bank with 1.3 trillion dollar portfolio. Working in IT, the huge figure was parsed very clearly in the financial reports the computers spat out daily and the checks disbursed out to trust beneficiaries and their psychiatrists. Mind boggling to say the least.
Yes, thanks Sonny. It’s just mind boggling isn’t it , the insatiable greed of the man (and his wife and the rest of their thieving family and friends). And yet some or many of our own are so willing to forgive and forget just like that. Sigh.
I often wonder why monks and religious take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The Scriptural reference is simple: poverty vs riches, chastity vs the flesh, obedience vs power. These are the chains that bind people so they are not free to lead that perfect life of righteousness worthy of God. He only asks that we sincerely try and He will do the rest. I felt sad that Marcos was given so much opportunity to make a difference for many of his countrymen. He failed miserably and now his progeny are going down the same path and taking many with them.
Sonny, I feel like chiming in here, fwiw, but may I ask you to please see
http://j.mp/ja-do
and respond to it?
I hope you are well and your day is going just fine.
Salamat
Doing an “i7” for me means being cryptic, difficult to follow. I have been called cryptic a few times because I couldn’t make my point. In your case, I hesitate to engage you for fear I will lose track of you. Honest. I know you mean well and you have a point. The problem could also be me.
i7, whatever the case, I apologize for using your tag in this manner. I didn’t mean bad.
No problemo, Sonny.
No problemo at all.
I believe you are a nice (even very nice) person.
In any case, I will welcome any criticism you may have of me in the future.
(Even attacks are welcome. To me, they are opportunities to make things clearer.)
For me, praises, if and when they come, are harder to handle. 🙂
@i7sharp
Took a look at the one you asked me to look at, about language. I love the article about words often mispronounced.
There’s a plan by the admin to build a musuem dedicated to the martial law years. I think Congress is thumping this down — something about diverted funds???
The new Chairman of the Commission On Human Rights spoke about plans for a Martial Law Museum I think in September as the nation was marking the anniversary of Martial Law. The objector is Marcos loyalist lawyer Oluver Lizano, who filed a complaint claiming such action is tantamount to technical malversation. Go figure.
That’s Oliver Lozano, sorry. I just abhor that guy so much I can’t even see clearly just typing his name.
We need an official Rogues Gallery. His name can be up there near the top.
And the other Gary (Olivar) , your friend. 🙂
Yes, for sure, and I’d also nominate Atty Harry Roque. And a senator or four.
🙂
Martial law was the darkest period in the country’s history because the supposed problems it meant to address and resolve grew multiple fold in degree and worsen the situation instead. The corruption and abuses in civilian life extended to the military. It divided the country not into half but between the privileged few and the many underprivileged. A new class of untouchables were created: The Marcos cronies. The political make-up was completely rearranged with Marcos political machine, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), lording it over the political pygmies or whatever parties that was allowed to remain at the time. Dumbing down may not have been invented by Marcos but he was able to prove that it’s an effective and deadly scheme to control people and force them into submission. He did not only do it through military force. He also utilized the intellectuals, the professionals, the media and others to win the psychological and economic war just to make the dictatorship palatable if not completely acceptable.
To be fair, the first two years of military rule has put the best foot (or boots) forward of the dictatorship. After that, it’s like marrying somebody you hardly knew that has mental illness that runs in the family. It was hell.
No question, everybody knows that things were bad and getting worse by the day. Even if you are not directly affected, whatever that means, it’s not good and you know it will never be good with one man (and his wife) controlling and directing the country’s delicate course towards the future. How can one claim serenity and assurance that it is a time of peace and plenty when deep inside you know the country is being dragged into the abyss? As was mentioned in Part 2 of this series, the abuses and excesses has made the country the sick man of Asia.
Marcos has been tagged as the best recruiter of communists in the country. The Alex Buncayao Brigade (ABB), the Sparrow Unit and other armed wing of the Communist Party of the Phil. (CPP) were very active and having their way against the police and military. The Moro secessionist problem continues to pester the country with the military heavily taking the blows massacre after massacre; ambush after ambush. We may not be losing the battle but we definitely lost a lot of soldiers in Mindanao. It was during those days that Filipinos got to familiarize themselves with the term “body bags”.
No one was looking at the future at the time and say it was rosy, nice and plenty. It was not a fun time for the the country. How can you when you know the future was so bleak? How can you when you know that your children or your would be children are already indebted even before they were born?
Again, the martial law period was the worst time in our country’s history. Anyone who still doubt it needs to reexamine the history behind it. 👮
That is exactly what brought us here, the assumption that all of us who lived through that time experienced and understood the situation exactly the same way we did.
A lighthearted take on Martial Law written with millennials in mind:
http://x.rappler.com/x/mikealcazaren/1445793885345-The-Millennials-Guide-to-Martial-Law
Here is a Filipino millennial’s justification of why he is voting for Bongbong:
http://x.rappler.com/x/JohAnneViduya/1446577595608-A-True-Hero-Ferdinand-E-Marcos-Sr
The loyalists claim that we were a military power during the 70s and the 80s with matching pictures of the fire power and equipment. With the claim that cory has been brainwashing us …. salamabit wadapak ,paying for 30 years for the bnpp is just a footnote to them they even call it an exception.
true,there were oligarchs and kamag anak incorporated, that does not take away the atrocitiies of marcos.I wonder where Gian gets the energy dealing with them loyalists in social media.
Anybody notice that the Marcos loyalists have stayed away as I write this? Also on Raissa’s blog. Methinks they really act on a go-signal from an organizer, which is really consistent with our finding that they are very young, and cannot write/think properly with autonomy.
Mercenaries.
Or kids like those happily singing away on Marcos’ 95th birthday, from the Youtube video I showed above. The real mercenaries IMHO are the Marcoses, who might place their bets on China this time. Mariano Marcos sucked up to the Japanese. Ferdinand to the USA at that time which might even have been a bit naive in propping him up. So Bongbong and China working together is not so far-fetched IMHO. Many Filipinos go for convenience…
why is it that the CBCP is quiet about this bongbong marcos recent statements “past is padt.lets move on….”
Tell me first what you think. There are replies to that, all official statements from the CBCP.
andrew seems to know something I don’t.
Anyway, I think the CBCP should not approach it politically. meaning no names mentioned. It should only be viewed as a moral issue and discuss in that perspective.
he he I am two steps ahead of him. I was anticipating his line of thinking, that non-commenting means assenting.
In any case, it was based on a faulty premise: that non-commenting means approval. Does the CBCP have any statement on laglag bala or the issue to reduce income taxes? None. Does it mean it is for or against any position on these issues? Of course not.
Lastly, CBCP head Villegas came out with a statement shortly after my blog came out that the corrupt cannot be forgiven, if they do not ask for it.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/729879/top-prelate-to-voters-pray-dont-elect-corrupt-bets
That covers all the bases.
Thks for the reminder. Yes I saw that when it came out.
I was about to suggest a museum to be built / organized to REMIND these generations past and future what really happened from his regime up to the people power event.
Photos, newspaper clippings, bank/public documents on historically defining events (in chronological order) that led to his ouster should be put on display. It can be visited by students or made part of history classes in many curriculum. Maybe the National Museum should have a section dedicated to this.
And if our government can’t build/organize one, maybe a website COMPILING these and the wealth of references here will be a better, relevant alternative. People everywhere can contribute materials online.
Though my family and I were not directly involved in any form of harassment in those days, my father reminding us to watch what we say or write regarding government was sinister enough while in our teen years. Reading through the papers and watching the news showed how this regime (this couple) insidiously BANKRUPTED our economy and CORRUPTED EVERY INSTITUTION including elections with their cabal and power.
It was this OPPRESSIVE impression that NOTHING GETS DONE without Marcos’ (or his wife’s) approval. EVERYTHING was in their control, and that government will NOT MOVE at all if they or their minions were not involved. Any form of opposition was THREATENED if not outright LIQUIDATED in this regime. This was the gall of their bottom line. Their last years after Ninoy’s assassination became almost unbearable.
It came to a point that participation in EDSA, (even if it was to save the necks of his defense minister and his ilk of a rat pack), become a moral imperative for every Filipino to gain back his dignity and the institutions that were bastardized by this greedy, conniving couple (and family).
A museum and a website…to REMIND everyone. These kids better watch what they wish for…
Chempo’s essay has been posted by bantayog.org in their website :
http://www.bantayog.org/?p=1261
Thanks for the info. Power to the Society.