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Stoking historical amnesia
PRESIDENT Duterte’s claim that the Marcos dictatorship’s abuses have yet to be proven makes us wonder if our septuagenarian commander-in-chief is feigning Alzheimer’s disease. The truth is that his statement is only an excuse to further justify having the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
We condemn in the strongest terms the whitewashing of the historical crimes of the Marcos dictatorship and the brazen trampling on the call for justice of all the victims of the martial law regime. This rewriting of history is a grave injustice against the Filipino people.
While the President’s enlightened policies like pushing for an independent foreign policy and the peace talks with the communists are laudable, his choosing to prioritize repaying political debts with the Marcoses at the expense of historical truth and justice will only invite scorn against his government. It’s obvious the President has chosen to close his eyes on the plunder of the economy and the millions of victims of abuses during martial law, including the at least 70,000 illegally arrested and detained, 35,000 tortured, and over 3,000 salvaged. By insisting on giving a corrupt dictator and human rights violator a hero’s burial, he is aggressively stoking historical amnesia. Is this the change he promised to the voters?
Instead of pandering to the President’s political indebtedness to the Marcoses, the Supreme Court should have stood up for the Filipino people’s historical verdict against the Marcos dictatorship. There can be no genuine national reconciliation and unity if truth and justice are trampled upon.
The Marcos legacy of fascist repression and corruption may have been forgotten by many among the youth because of the failure of post-Marcos government to decisively punish the Marcoses, but the rest of the nation must not let the Duterte administration pass on this issue.
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