Should Anti-Marcos People Still Be Afraid?

What has revived anti-Marcos sentiments? I can think of two:

First is Bongbong Marcos’ very strong finish at the last vice presidential race. To exaggerate things a bit, he almost won it. Second is the pronouncement made by PRRD no less that he is allowing the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. After such pronouncement, the rest is history as they say, with the highest court of the land allowing the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the LNMB.

Perhaps, the ant-Marcos people are afraid that like the wheel of fortune, those at the top might hit the bottom and those at the bottom will eventually rise to the top and replace those initially occupying it.

But there really is no reason for them to be afraid.

First, the authoritarian rule of Marcos will go down in history as unprecedented, and something that will forever be etched in Philippine history, and embedded in every mind of Martial Law victims and their families. In other words, as long as our islands and the rest of the world are in existence, the declaration Martial Law in 1972 and how the country suffered from it will not be forgotten.

Thus, the ant-Marcos people should not be afraid that painful memories brought about by Martial Law will go to the archives of the Filipino consciousness.

As a Filipino, we will always remember Martial Law as it figures prominently in our history. Sadly though, we cannot expect the younger generations of Filipinos, and the future ones to come to empathize with the Anti-Marcos individuals since the former were not yet born during that grim period in our history, and can only grasp all things related to Martial Law through books and narratives. To put it plainly, we cannot force the young ones to take the bitter pill of the past.

They can be taught all the facts about Martial Law, but they cannot be taught how to feel about. It is up to them whether or not they will hate Marcos.

Second, the name “Marcos” is already and will forever be synonymous to Martial Law, and so the anti-Marcos people need not go into paranoia frenzy that after they are gone Filipinos will forget about Martial Law and what they are fighting for.

The Marcos name has now become a curse, being carried by Ferdinand and Imelda’s children, and to be carried by their grandchildren and so on. It is a curse because they will have to bear the harassment and ridicule of people, the anti-Marcos ones most especially. Though they do not have anything to do with Martial Law, their name will always be associated with it for the simple reason that they are descendants of the dictator.

Is this “eternal damnation” of every Marcos not enough for the anti-Marcos people?

To conclude, history is history and cannot be rewritten anymore. Not even the recent burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the LNMB will change anything about it. So there really is no reason for the ant-Marcos individuals to be afraid.

However, the so called wheel of fortune cannot be stopped from turning. There is no guarantee that we will always be on top, neither there is a guarantee that those at the bottom will linger there.

Everybody deserves a second chance, regardless of political color.