Fight or create history

In an interview of President Marcos Jr. during his recent trip to Switzerland, he divulged that he went into politics for the survival of his family and to defend the legacy of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

While the President may have been speaking in the early context of why he entered politics after his family was exiled as a result of the 1986 revolution, his answer provided a clear glimpse of the core impulse that remains embedded in his mind, even now that he occupies the pinnacle of power in our country. After all, from the point of view of any Marcos family member, the family is still on “survival” mode because the matriarch, Imelda Marcos, is still appealing multiple criminal convictions on corruption charges, and the family remains embroiled in ill-gotten wealth forfeiture cases. In addition, the survival of their version of the Marcos Sr. legacy needs constant defending.

But it is sad and tragic if the President remains consumed and enslaved by a sense of duty to defend his family and legacy, to the point that it predominates his vision and programs for his presidency. The President must realize that after he completes his term as the nation’s Chief Executive, his legacy will inevitably be viewed in comparison to the legacies of two former presidents.

First, his legacy will unavoidably be compared to that of Marcos Sr., because he is his father’s son after all. Add to that the fact that Mr. Marcos has proudly marketed himself as being cut from the same cloth as his father.

Second, Mr. Marcos’ legacy will also be inescapably compared to that of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, because they both share the fate of having assumed the presidency subsequent to their parent’s reigns, and they’re both their generation’s competing torchbearers of the most storied political rivalry in this country.

If the President focuses his term in office chiefly on refurbishing the family legacy, he will consign his place in history to being an adjunct and appendage of his father, with no defining legacy of his own. He will have missed his date with history, his once-in-a-lifetime chance to chart his own defining course as his country’s leader. Worst, he will be cast in the annals of our leaders as the apologist son of his elder. If he chooses to remain in his father’s shadow, he will forever be judged as an inadequate copycat of his old man.

The way to really refurbish the family name with long-lasting impact is to invalidate the multiple stigma associated with the Marcos name. These include dictatorship, human rights violations, corruption, and poverty. No amount of sweeping under the rug or narrative-rephrasing will permanently erase the smudges on the Marcos name. They will resurface again and again because they are recorded in court decisions here and abroad, documented in books, incorporated in songs and artworks, memorialized in monuments and museums, and even recognized in our laws.

Mr. Marcos will accomplish more in rehabilitating the family name by instituting programs that will really stand out in their impact in strengthening democracy, bolstering freedom of expression, protecting human rights, banishing corruption, and genuinely uplifting the lot of the poor. If Mr. Marcos pursues such programs, he will do a better job in revamping the Marcos name while, at the same time, securing his own place in history.

The Marcos Jr. administration is approaching the one-year mark of its term. While it has ushered in a better atmosphere for free speech compared to its predecessor, it has been responsible for heavily polluting the atmosphere with fake news. It needs to summon public institutions to exert much better efforts in protecting human rights. It must crack the whip to stop mounting corruption, as hushed on the ground. It must move heaven and earth to stop the spiraling deterioration in the lives of the poor.

The way forward for Mr. Marcos is not to fight history, but to create history. It will exalt his personal legacy, it will mitigate the blemish on the Marcos name, and most important of all, it will benefit the country and its people.

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