‘Reconciling’ the good and bad images of Marcos

This is to amplify our previous letter.

To those who got hurt by President Ferdinand Marcos, martial law was a dictatorship, and he was a heel. To those who knew his other side, he was a hero, and his governance was martial law in name but democracy in action.

In 1971, there were revolutionary strikes to stop oil price hikes allegedly ordered by Marcos. We waged a legal battle in the Supreme Court against the price increases. The Court rolled back the prices. The strikes stopped.

In 1978, there were revolutionary strikes to stop increases in the prices of edible oil, laundry soap and evaporated milk. We waged another legal battle in the Supreme Court against the price increase. Again, the Court rolled back the prices. The strikes stopped.

Marcos issued presidential decrees imposing travel tax and luxury car tax. We assailed the decrees. Marcos recalled them.

During martial law, the “tiger of the labor movement” lawyer Bonifacio Tupas, savagely attacked Marcos’ alleged bias against labor. He was arrested. We defended Tupas. Enlightened, Marcos released him from detention and directed his hospitalization at the V. Luna Hospital for diabetes and hypertension.
During the Edsa revolt, Gen. Josephus Ramas asked Marcos on the phone: “Sir, shall we allow the soldiers to bomb Edsa?” Marcos answered: “No. I will not annihilate the people for whom I risked my life in war and my honor in peace even if by doing so, I will stay in power.”

When Marcos was about to board the US helicopter, Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel V. Ramos saluted him and uttered: “Thank you sir for not pulverizing us.” President Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State George Schultz wrote Marcos: “You yielded for peace. That is an act of heroism.”

In 1987, I organized a rally for the return of the Marcos family from exile. Someone in a yellow T-shirt died in the rally. I was falsely arrested and prosecuted for murder. I was acquitted. I did not blame President Cory Aquino for human rights violation. I did not ask for a single penny. Fighting for a cause is not “cost-oriented.”

Hot-headed loyalists hurled invectives against Cory for the human rights violation. Marcos admonished them against calling her by any other name except President Corazon Aquino.

In 1989, Marcos sent a letter to “Her Excellency President Corazon Aquino” offering his resources to help in economic recovery. The letter was hand-carried by lawyer Elbert Ellingwood, president of the California Christian Lawyers Association.

Marcos had his own faults. “No man is infallible.” “Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone.”

Has the continuing hate campaign against Marcos and his family bettered the lives of our people? Why don’t we try giving way to national prosperity and peace by treading the path of principled national reconciliation that the Aquino administration has taken?

Who knows? This could lead to the implementation of the handwritten legacy of President Marcos to share his wealth for the benefit of the entire people (not the plundering few) by lifting the sequestration and forging a constitutional, legal and moral arrangement. To this end, we have sent a legal and just formula to the President.

—OLIVER O. LOZANO,
8 Everlasting St.,
Roxas District, Quezon City