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BY SONIA D. DAQUILA
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Heroes and villains
DO YOU know that Jose Rizal was buried without a coffin?
Do you also know that his family prepared a hearse for him, but was refused by the Spanish authorities?
After his execution, Rizal’s remains were thrown into an unmarked grave at Paco cemetery.
Andres Bonifacio, likewise, was executed by fellow Filipinos at Mt. Tala and his remains were thrown into a shallow grave dug by four soldiers, using their bayonets. Some twigs marked his grave.
Inversely, the Marcos family used money (stolen from the Filipinos) and their influence to have the dictator’s remains refrigerated, buried and honored surreptitiously, that even in his grave his famous brand of being the “biggest thief of the land” proved the family’s propensity for fraud.
The executors of Rizal and Bonifacio found them “traitors” but history judged them. Now, they are the icons of freedom-fighters in their respective ways. Dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was not a hero. He was a villain, ruthless and cunning. No amount of religious blessings, no amount of fake honors as fake as his medals and as distorted as his biography can cover up the despicable deeds he committed to honor himself and to secure the future of his ambitious wife and children. All of them went to bury and honor the dictator, laughing all the way to the Libingan ng mga Bayani (at Isang Malaking Magnanakaw today). The will of their father, Marcos, cannot override the will of the Filipino people. As the people reposed their trust and confidence to public officials, they too, can take back such honors, prestige, authority, and power.
Obviously, from the father flows to the children the penchant for distorting the truth and the desire to be lording over the people. Now the circulation of talks to recount votes to unseat Vice President Leni Robredo. So, who will be our vice president if Leni Robredo is found “having cheated” in the previous election?
What if the incumbent president resigns, is assassinated, becomes sick or is impeached? What if Miriam Santiago and Bongbong Marcos had won as president and vice president respectively? Obviously, another Ferdinand Marcos. Never again!
The blame should not be on the Aquinos (they had sacrificed and given so much), neither the educational institutions nor the church that make a lot of noise now. It is everybody’s obligation, much more, of those who are seekers of TRUTH: the church people, the teachers, the lawyers, the civil societies, the women, and everyone who loves this country.
The highest power belongs to the people. It is not the sole authority given to the president, neither in the law-making body of the land that transformed the “august body” into a group, as if talking about X-rated film, putting the Philippines in bad light before the whole world nor the Supreme Court of the Philippines “the vanguard of justice and truth” that gave the final verdict to uphold the whims and caprices of the Marcoses. All of them are mere creatures of law.
When the government becomes unjust and arbitrary, the people have the right to take back the trust and confidence reposed in them. As Jean Jacques Rousseau said, it is the right of the people to stage a revolution. Then, there shall be martial law due to lawlessness, insurrection, rebellion and imminent danger. We are witnessing again the parliament of the streets.
Indeed, it is more fun in the Philippines. Ang saya-saya!
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Erratum: For my article last Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016. The total number of the Philippine islands and islets is 7,100 during high tide and 7,107 during low tide, not 7,107,000. (delsocorrodaquila@gmail.com/PN)
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