An insult to patriotic Filipinos from Ninoy’s son
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:58:00 08/27/2008
We Honored Ninoy Aquino on his 25th death anniversary by remembering his legacy as well as the many Filipinos who, inspired by his life and death, worked hard and selflessly, to build and defend our democratic institutions and empowered many Filipinos economically, politically and culturally.
Many of us feel so sad and outraged by the myopic claims that nothing has changed or that things are worse today than before Ninoy’s death. It is terrible for Ninoy’s only son, Sen. Noynoy Aquino, to say that the beloved country of his father has retrogressed since his father’s assassination. This is not true. Our dead heroes would turn in their sacred graves if they had died in vain.
During martial law, President Ferdinand Marcos controlled the entire government machinery. Civil liberties and the mass media were repressed and suppressed. The courts, including the Supreme Court, were not independent. There were no writ of habeas corpus and no Senate and the ranks of the rebels swelled. Even priests and seminarians joined the New People’s Army. In the economy, crony capitalism, capital flight and dollar-salting were commonplace, but there was comprehensive land reform. On several occasions, there were bank runs, panic-buying, and there was even a food crisis. Corruption was unchecked and so centralized that Marcos was able to pile up millions of dollars in secret bank accounts, thus earning an infamous title that earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest thief in the world.
Today, all these are over and many Filipinos have forgotten these nightmares. Our courts, under an activist Supreme Court, are independent and have rendered many verdicts against the government. We have an independent Senate who can investigate and expose anomalous government deals. And we have a very strong political opposition that has beaten and will surely beat the official candidates of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration in elections. We have an independent mass media, the freest press in Asia. It is no longer a crime to criticize the government. Our economy, though battered by many problems, has grown tremendously that most Filipinos are no longer poor and have become middle class and urban residents.
For me, Arroyo is definitely a lesser “evil” than Marcos. During martial law, there was a rule of man, now we have the rule of law.
Our democracy is not perfect. Our achievements as a people are not perfect. But to say that the sacrifices of Ninoy have been made in vain and nothing good and great has happened to our country since the martyrdom of Ninoy is very far from the truth.
Senator Noynoy should not insult the patriotic Filipinos who, inspired and empowered by the heroism of his father, have been working hard to realize more and more Ninoy’s dreams. Truly, Filipinos—except the stealing, lying and cheating few among them—are still worth dying for.
RAUL F. ALEJANDRINO, Philosophy Department, Miriam College
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