Bongbong Marcos Jr: When History is not relevant to the present

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr who is running for the vice presidency shrugs off questions about the dark days of martial rule. He says he is more concerned about the "now"--what people are thinking and what people want. He is ready to answer questions about the administration of his father but is more than willing to solicit answers on present problems instead of answering those dug up from the past.

I disagree. The nation has not finally healed from the wounds created by the dictatorship. Before this nation finally moves in the direction Bongbong wants, he needs to lay bare and atone for the sins his family, especially his father's who was once president and thus,  created these ills in the first place.

Bongbong will not agree with me when I say that these problems we are encountering now are all consequences or effects of the misrule that attended this country for fourteen long years under the management of his late father.

For example--Mindanao. Prior to the Marcos years, the Mindanaoans were in peace with the rest of the Nation. That one faux pas in the island of Corregidor led to the awakening of a sleeping giant. When Marcos gave the lucrative trade in the South to his political allies in Zamboanga and deprived those in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan with what they have been getting their monies from for centuries, what happened next? Young Tausugs and other Muslims went into banditry and crime, the only things they know are effective means of getting sure money.

The lessons we learned from the Marcos dictatorship is that it is definitely hurtful to this Nation if power is concentrated or consolidated in the hands of one or a few families. Marcos used martial rule to effectively create his very own sultanic oligarchy.

Note the names included in this year's Top Forbes Rich families---most of these names benefitted from the dictatorship. Prior to 1972, these names were unknown. Now, they somewhat manage the large assets of this country now yet ask them where they got their first break? You guessed right--it was during the time of Marcos.

These same 50 families continue to oppress us with their monopolist ways. Ask why our electricity rates are the highest in the world, or why our phone signal kept flickering and dying out every single time?

How about those tortured and killed? How about those harmed and survived?

I remember replying to my friend, Noemi Dado, of telling her that the "sins of the father should not be borne by the son" in one of the comments against Bongbong.

I am modifying my answer now--the son should not borne the sins of the father only if the son recognizes and apologizes to the Nation whom his father had harmed.

It is then that the healing will begin.