Marcos Highway is one of the longest roads in Metro Manila. It straddles Quezon City, Marikina City, Pasig City, Cainta and Antipolo City. It is named after a person, Ferdinand Marcos, who was once the president of our country. His greatest crime was to rule as a dictator, casting aside the Constitution and instituting martial law. His tenure was one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Philippines. The Filipino ceased to be a free man in his own country. One man, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., his most vocal critic, was assassinated upon his return to the Philippines from the United States.
Despite all the crimes Ferdinand Marcos committed, a very important highway is still named after him. Why? Are we masochists who derive pleasure from humiliation and abuse? Our heroes and forefathers must be turning in their graves because of our nonchalance.
Is Congress reluctant to make the first move to erase the name Marcos from this important highway because the widow, Imelda Marcos, is a member of the House of Representatives, and the son, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., sits in the Senate? Is the President of the Philippines, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, the son of Ninoy, powerless and incapable of acting on this matter?
The country can impeach and remove a chief justice, yet it is powerless to change the name of a highway: This is not funny; this is absurd!
—LEONCIO DE MESA,
University of the Philippines,
Diliman, Quezon City