Why does Bongbong Marcos seem to be sprightly showy in launching his political ambition? What energizes him so promptly at this stage of his career? He seems brimming with confidence that the future holds in store for him glowing scenarios of triumph in his climb towards the helm of power.
And we wonder how it came to pass that the Marcoses are able to come back to government posts? Have we forgotten the crimes that their family head, the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos, committed against the people? Or could it be that his junior Bongbong is in possession of some kind of political talisman?
Perhaps the one factor that helps the incipient vigour in Bongbong’s choreography is the people’s proclivity to easily forget the past. It is a pernicious trait in our character as a people and as a nation. It is not in our nature to make critical surveys of what transpired in our past. We certainly lack the keenness of the proverbial injunction that says “Ang hindi lumilingon sa pinaggalingan ay di makararating sa paroroonan”. This is one major weakness that supplies hindrances to our progress. But why?
Verily, if you are not at all mindful in looking back to what you have gone through as you make your trek ahead, chances are you won’t be aware if you are still on the right path. Perhaps you have already crossed over to another pathway. You may not know that you are only turning around in circle (gi-mino)—because you fail to examine the appearance and features of the paths you have passed—the mudholes, the thorns, the sharp stones, the boulders and other obstacles that may have caused your eternal delays. In short, you haven’t learned the lessons of the past. You lack the tact of historical review, of being analytical, in order to identify the mistakes which will surely keep on recurring and recurring to more serious and far-reaching dimensions.
On the other hand, and this has a bearing on what we have tackled above—the habit of being forgetful or heedless of the lessons of the past—could it be that the breeziness shown by the Marcoses is on account of the perceived weakness on the part of the incumbent administration of Noynoy Aquino? And thusly exploited by the Marcoses! Perhaps they have seen from where they are in their fall that nothing on the road they once trod is any different from the much vaunted “matuwid na daan” (straight road) of Noynoy Aquino. From such keen political intuition grows a feeling of exultation on the part of the Marcoses! No sooner have they seen this state of affairs than they promptly launched their animated choreography in the political arena!
And the people are entertained! They are delighted and clap in applause at the entry of the veteran political players! There’s a new drama –a new sarswela performed on the political stage! They are oblivious of the illusion of the new political game! Even in face of Noynoy’s exhortations, and those of his allies and trolls, the people don’t see any peril, they are bewitched, entranced. More so among the marginalized sectors who have not perceived a difference in their plight yesterday and today. They still feel the same misfortune as dregs of society.
Indeed, has the nation extricated itself from the quagmire of poverty and ushered to the dry land of progress? Has the people known real relief from hardships? And above all, have the despicable and brazen violations of the people’s human rights vanished? Lo and behold, what is the state of affairs in the countryside? The killings, the tortures, the forced disappearances, kidnappings, rapes and other egregious abuses by the government soldiers against the Lumads—have they stopped? Or much less abated?
Are these not the same atrocities committed by the soldiers of Marcos during those dark days of martial law? And now, they are being perpetrated by the soldiers of Noynoy Aquino! To re-echo the favorite expression of the grassroots masses—“Ah, the same parehas nga bananang saging!”
And so Bongong Marcos sprightly dances! He is an exemplar of “pakitang-gilas”! And he speaks as eloquently as his late dictator father ! His voice booms from the coffin yet uninterred. We seem to hear the drumming syllables from his lips, “By virtue of the power vested upon me by me – ay sorry! — the Constitution, I hereby declare martial law!”
The people, besides forgetting, have not discovered a difference between the government of Macoy and the government of Noynoy. Maybe they differ in their fascistic style. Because Macos exercised no pretensions and was open in his ferocity and tyrannical ways! But Noynoy is a hypocrite—sporting gentility which of course he inherited from his landlord gentry forebears. His words are double-bladed lies and deceptions!
The basic similarity in their two governments is that both have been consistent in being subservient to foreigners in the economic field! Foreign business is privileged over and above the Filipino people, especially in extracting the country’s mineral resources. Foreign mining corporations are feasting on the precious mineral wealth of the Philippine islands, while the majority of the native population are scandalously deprived. This was done by the government of the dictator Marcos, by the government of Cory Aquino, by the government of Ramos, Erap, Arroyo, and now by the government of Noynoy Aquino.
And who benefit? The giant businessmen! Henry Sy, Gokongwei, Razon, Lucio Tan, Ayala-Zobel, Villar and other millionaires and billionaires who continue to bloat in profits under the administration of Noynoy. And what about the masses , have they experienced any uplift from their miserable lot? Their plight has worsened with the statistics of increased GDP! Irony!
Now, the question: Does Bongbong Marcos in his manifest “pakitang-gilas” now in the Senate have any intention of altering the Status Quo? Ay naku, Never! Never in his most benign smile harbor any intention to change the present state of affairs! He is only grappling with the other big werewolves and vampires in our society in their mad scramble for power and wealth! Only their own class will prosper! Their mad pursuit for government posts is meant to entrench the interests of their respective families, friends, and classes. That is the very logic of their crazy grab for power!
