With all the arrogance, callousness, and flippancy she could summon without outwardly appearing to be so, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos called on Filipinos to “move on” from the crimes and trauma of her father’s martial law period, the crimes and trauma that cut millions of Filipinos to the quick for much of the Marcos dictatorship.
Imee’s feckless brother Bongbong added to what amounted to her implicit affront towards victims of martial law by half-wittedly saying “You know, I understand my sister because you know, what was discussed is something that happened 32 years ago. 1986 was decided. The government fell. They filed cases against us. There was a decision against us already. It’s done. What else do you want to do?”
Those guilty of wrongdoing almost never fail to entreat their detractors to, in the words of Imee Marcos, “move on.” Forgiving and forgetting are for transgressors of all shapes and sizes, their comfort zone, their sanctuary from guilt and comeuppance. Ever since their downfall from power in 1986, the Marcoses have been trying to do exactly that: getting Filipinos to forgive and forget their corruption and bloody rule.
And why not? The Marcoses know better than anyone else that Filipinos are prone to forgiving and forgetting those leaders who have done nothing but act as political snake oil salesmen in order to loot the national treasury. Indeed, many Filipinos have refused to believe that their specific charismatic and celeb leaders---leaders who weave scattered streams of populist messages that are pleasant-sounding to the commonfolk---are capable of such malfeasance.
There seems to be a national inability to fully grapple with the all-around skullduggery that has thrown the legitimacy and integrity of many Filipino politicians into question. Is this the hallmark of a people that are perhaps either too merciful or too compliant---or both---for their own good? One would think that the harsh, earthly realism of pervasive political corruption in the Philippines was sure to offend and anger enough Filipinos to start making a difference towards ending it.
Instead, there’s a lot of talk about appealing to the dignity of a moral and ethical society free of corruption. But there is still insufficient action actually being taken towards realizing that lofty goal. Filipinos of every decade since the Spanish colonial era have wanted to end the long trail of graft and corruption that has beset their politics.
That’s why the importance of remembering even the worst of the past helps us to think critically about the present and the future. Erasing the past from our minds allows larcenous characters like the Marcoses to escape their deserved fate. Forgetting the past moreover, enables the Marcoses and their ilk to rise again from the politically dead and be given a second chance at conniving and pilfering from the Filipino people.
Forgiving and forgetting just doesn't work. Haven't Filipinos had enough of treating the past as if it no longer had any relevance to the present state of their lives?
ALLEN GABORRO
Comments
Post a Comment