After Edsa, we are the ‘new’ Marcoses

What was so “nutritious” about the martial law era that we “eat” it every day and defend its “palatability”?

Enough of historical revisionism. Do not change history!

It is so alarming that many millennials are now learning their history through shared Facebook posts on Ferdinand Marcos’ “greatness,” on why he was the “greatest of all,” on how “better” the Philippines was during his rule.

Let us not act as if Marcos did nothing bad. He did! A lot! It’s so ironic that people yet unborn in that era are the staunchest  defenders of Marcos, while those who suffered during his regime are unheard of or labeled as “overacting.”

Marcos was intelligent. He was visionary. He loved the Philippines, for sure. However, let us not forget what his administration did to many Filipinos. The stories that martial law victims tell are not imagined. They did suffer. They were tortured. They were disappeared. They were “caged.” They were “unwinged.” They were killed. Because they fought for freedom!

The greatness of a leader is not measured by the number of buildings he built. Enough of propaganda!

I am not saying that President Aquino is better than Marcos. What I’m saying here is that Marcos was bad at some point of his rule. Enough of black and white.

Unless we accept this fact, Edsa I will remain just a date, and never a part of history!

Are we in a better state after 30 years? I believe so, albeit not in the way we imagined back then. Edsa is still a failure and continues to be so because we allow it. It is failing not because we have produced worse leaders but because we have a collective memory gotten “worse.” Forgetfulness kills the spirit.

We are partly to blame for this failure. For as long as politicians continue to be corrupt; law enforcers continue to break laws; teachers continue to corrupt the minds of the students; school administrators continue to deprive their faculty of academic freedom; universities continue to produce half-baked graduates; lawyers continue to lie; doctors continue to discriminate between rich patients and the poor ones; engineers continue to build substandard roads and bridges; government employees continue to deliver poor services to the people; businessmen continue to render CSR (corporate social responsibility) assistance just for the sake of documentation; religious leaders continue to be immoral; students continue to be mediocre; nongovernmental organizations continue to operate just to get donations, funding assistance and grants; and citizens continue to demand much from the government but do not do their duties and obligations, this nation will remain as it is—a failure!

We don’t learn the lessons of Edsa, we become the “Marcos-monster” we abhorred.

—FARELL MURALLON RELACION, Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental