25th Anniversary of EDSA People Power

I have nothing against Sen. Bongbong Marcos honoring and paying homage to his old man and my fraternity brother, ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He is being a son more than being a sound and reasonable Filipino.

But he should not go to the extent of virtually rewriting Philippine history in doing so.

He is claiming that we could be like Singapore right now had the late strongman not been ousted. His father held on to power for 2 decades; the opportunity to be like the city state of Singapore was realistically there, until his regime got enamored with power and money.

I am one with him in rallying everyone not dwell on the past and instead start moving forward. But we can’t realistically learn from the sins of the past if we allow certain quarters to deny, justify and even paint a completely opposite picture of what really transpired.

Ferdinand Marcos’ administration was punctuated by cronyism, corruption, senseless use of foreign debt, and the disappearance and murder of those opposing it.

That was our reality. Let’s not allow people like Sen. Bongbong Marcos to blur that fact. Moving forward as a nation entails acknowledging responsibility and shouldering culpability (which they haven’t).

We ought to learn from history, not rewrite it accordingly.