I woke up this morning and I felt strangely refreshed. It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. As you know, the family of Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos buried him yesterday morning in a discreet and intimate burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB). For the past 30 or so years after his death, Marcos had been kept in a refrigerated casket for all the world to see, his corpse was gawked at or venerated and defiled. His mortal remains were used as a symbol by loyalists and pro-Aquino alike, sowing division. It is because of this that President Duterte once and for all decided to put the issue and his mortal remains to rest. Make no mistake about it, this was a political decision calculated to end division between the loyalists and the pro-Aquino—this does not change the past, but sets a course for our future unburdened by Boogeymen and infighting.
I am glad he is buried now and out of sight. Like Mark Anthony speaking at Caesar’s funeral in Shakespeare’s play, I would simply like to say that “I have come to bury Marcos, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones…” And so it is with Marcos. I hope you do not think that simply because he has been buried, his sins are buried with him.
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones”
Now that he has been buried, I believe that this country can now really and truly move forward. While his corpse was above ground, he was the Boogeyman—a legendary monster, a story to spook children from misbehaving. During the second Aquino administration, it seemed like a running joke to talk about the ills of Martial Law all the while abuses and mismanagement continued. Our history should never be used to cover up or justify present abuse. Neither does it justify partisanship when all camps are guilty of mismanagement and abuse. I sincerely hope that supporters of both sides open their eyes and see things who what it is, both the loyalist camp and the pro-Aquino camp used your hatreds for political ends and took you all for a ride.
For the victims, nothing can replace what you have lost and what you have endured. The government has recognized this as a turbulent time in our history. Evil heathen forces carrying Mao Zedong’s ideas and Lenin’s hammer and sickle banner were at our gates. Marcos chose to fight fire with fire. The jury is still out on this. History far removed from partisanship will judge him, as God surely has already. Today Marcos is buried and worms tear at his flesh, yet the very architects of the Martial Law regime, Juan Ponce Enrile and Former President Fidel Ramos live and enjoy a pride of place in our government. Victims, you will get more answers and closure from the living than with the dead.
Nor do I feel like we have “violated” our history in having him buried there. As I said, the jury is still out on this one. Some groups insist that we as a people are suffering collective amnesia for allowing this, but I say that we are suffering collective amnesia about those days when Martial Law was declared. Why was Martial Law declared? Was it the sensible thing to do at the time? Was it really the ultimate evil that some groups would have us believe? Did we benefit from Martial Law? The jury is still out on all of these questions. Hopefully, history will decide with impartiality.
Let us be clear here. This was not a “hero’s burial.” This was a plain and simple burial. Some groups insist that what was done was a hero’s burial. Well, if they insist. As earlier mentioned, when a man is buried, the evil he has done lives after him, and the good is often interred with his bones, but this is not strictly correct, Marcos’s legacy spans the full spectrum of very good to the very bad. We knew he was after the common good, and legislation in the 1970s-80s demonstrated very forward and enlightened thinking. Contemporary Congresses are hard pressed to match his legal corpus with laws on Muslim family relations, laws on child and youth welfare, laws on labor, laws on overseas workers, laws on land reform, laws on criminal law spanning crimes, penology and procedure, commercial laws on corporations, insurance, still in active use today! Government agencies and corporations were also created to match his vision for the country. His legacy is not only in the realm of ideas, but also infrastructure, especially in far flung areas, and the modern demography of Mindanao owes it to Marcos’ decision to promote Mindanao as an area for lowland Filipinos to settle in. Though, I have to admit, this has had grave consequences for the Muslims and indigenous peoples living there, leading to continuous war and strife in the region. He has made decisions good and bad, he has made contributions both good and bad—these are a given because of his office and title, as even the most enlightened of statesmen would be forced to make difficult decisions. Marcos was a President of this country, the hard decisions were his to make and only history can judge him now.
President, Pure Evil or “Boogeyman,” history removed from partisanship
will decide in its own good time
If there is anything I want justice for, it would be for the ill-gotten wealth. With this burial, I hope the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) will find renewed drive and vigor to recover the ill-gotten wealth. Please take heart, all is not lost, as Imee Marcos has admitted, the cases for this ill-gotten wealth remain pending with the courts, so please see these cases through.
In the meantime, the country must move on, and move on we will, less one Boogeyman and less one corpse defiled and used by supporters and detractors alike.
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