Revisionism and the True Marcos brand

"Historical revisionism," that's how President Aquino and his yellowtards (as described by my good friend Leslie Bocobo) describe what Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr is currently doing. Anti-Marcos groups accuse the Bongbong camp of presenting an alternate reality (that's what revisionism is) about martial law.

Actually, Bongbong does not have to do anything to steal the thunder so to speak from the post-Marcos elite leaders, no. The fact is--these post-Marcos oligarchs and their political associates were the ones to be blamed for the Marcos comeback.

You don't need an expert to tell you that there is a breakdown not just in law and order, but in public services. Just go visit LTO and other government agencies and you"ll feel how incompetent and ill-prepared these agencies are in dispensing public services.

Every single day, Filipinos, especially young people, go thru the rigorous motions of lining up in LRT and MRT lines only to find themselves riding a defective coach. Just see how these coaches move like turtles every single day.

And if you're a motorist, ignore that humonguous traffic--that is entirely normal given the fantastic economic condition we are in. Just note how sub-standard our roads are. Who in his right mind would not go ballistic every single time one remembers the hefty fees one pays to the government as road tax and all you get are roads that crack in a split second.

Set a day and go around Manila and just look at the pitiful state of Luneta. One example--we have a public space museum in Luneta that has more closures in a year than openings.

These are just some of the things which when people see, they are reminded of that time when streets were swept clean every single day and when parks shine with blossoms.

Never mind if many communities suffer from water shortages or utter lack of electricity during the martial law years. Never mind if communications are not as pervasive as before, and never mind that only one or two newspapers were seen in the streets or radio stations blast only positive news--in the minds of the people, the past is still better than the present, and that is just a reflection of a normal public reaction to what is happening all around them.

By thinking that martial law spurred us to discipline make us think that it was better than what we have today. Did it occur in our brittle minds that we don't need martial law just to discipline the rascals among us?

The fact is---we are more disciplined today than decades ago during martial law. Just look at Filipinos lining every single time there is a need to do so. This is already a normal occurrence when before we line up because we are afraid of being dragged into one corner and slapped or mauled by a cop. If we think that we need discipline, we actually don't need it anymore because most of us are now following the laws of this country though we are not under strong man rule.

It used to be that the people themselves were the problem. Now, the people are strictly following the laws and only those who think we are beneath them that don't.

And those who do think that way, they are the ones who always blame the people and the ones who want an alternate system such as a Marcosian administration, to once more dominate our lives.

What these anti-Marcos groups do not realize or probably do but they are wont to admit it---Marcos symbolized the extreme form of elitism, the elitism that promotes a backward, feudalist concept of governance.

What anti-Marcos groups fear is not about the comeback of the family---it is the restoration of a system where you need to kowtow to a singular power block just to ensure your survival. The Marcoses symbolize that extremism. That the Marcos brand is entirely anti-democratic has not been properly established simply because the alternate or counterforce is likewise, a promoter of backward elitism, feudalist and moribund. I don't agree that the entire 30 years was not a tug of war between the yellows versus the reds, the yellows versus the oranges, or the Aquinos versus the Marcoses. The fact is--these 30 years were punctuated largely by power struggles between supporters of liberal democracy and those who yearned for those years when they were able to absolutely do everything they want due to their proximity to the power center.

Marcos tries to tell us that he is more effective as a manager of our affairs, when, the historical reality was that, he was not. By the very fact that this state remains weak, actually proves the ineffectuality of the Marcos brand as a political power.