SEPTEMBER 21 AS A NATIONAL DAY OF REPENTANCE (Part 2)
By Maria Lourdes Sereno
September 22, 2021
The most lasting impact of Ferdinand Marcos’ presidency on public governance was the destruction of the independence and professionalism of institutions meant to guard the people against the abuse of official power, and the stunting of the professional growth of line agencies aimed at promoting Philippine prosperity.
The Marcos brand of governance personalized all issues and engineered a full-time propaganda machine. It was all about Marcos as Malakas and Imelda as Maganda, the Filipino primordial parents who would, with his political will and her sense of aesthetics, create a New Society. But it was all just that–personalistic propaganda. It was not about principles and programs, nor about empowering the ordinary Filipino, but only a sustained narrative that fostered a mindset of complete dependency on the supposed strength and beneficence of the Marcos couple. Politicians after Marcos used his playbook at the national and local levels. Projects were never attributed to taxpayers’ money, but to the politicians’ “hard work.” Assistance was never due to a rational program of uplifting the poor, it was all about the personal “malasakit” or “kalinga” of the incumbent.
Support for the Marcoses took on the character of a hard-line defense of everything Marcos. Because of this, the Marcos machine has: (1) denied the existence of local and foreign decisions adjudging Marcos assets as illegally-acquired; (2) blocked every move to recover those assets; (3) perpetuated the hurt and injustice suffered by the tens of thousands of martial law victims and their families by denying culpability; (4) invented or exaggerated the infrastructure gains of the Marcoses; and (5) issued fake news about their critics. In fact, the Marcos family’s continuing campaign to cover up the truth, and the replication by today’s politicians of the Marcos propaganda strategy, have given rise to the country’s massive disinformation industry.
Why should young Filipinos, especially Christian believers, care about the continued existence of a Marcos propaganda machinery and its copycats, or the Marcos effect on public governance? Because, governance by propaganda coupled with a weak and unprofessional government bureaucracy can only mean increasingly greater evil. More coverups, more atrocious lying, stealing and oppression of the people, will be the result.
The Christian always believes that upholding the innate worth of man is more important than the pursuit of wealth, and that God who owns the whole earth will provide all the material needs of those who will seek His kingdom first and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). On the other hand, Marcos always implied that we had to choose economic prosperity through authoritarianism over freedom, that to lift the Filipinos’ standard of living, some of us had to suffer and/or die – the activists, the non-combatant communists, the opposition, the lumads, farmers and Muslims who were resisting their forcible ejectment from their lands.
During Martial Law, there was no counterforce to this ungodly ideology–that humans are expendable–because the checking function of the judiciary, the other justice sector actors and the COA was compromised. The line agencies that were supposed to deliver services and help create wealth for the people were at the mercy of politicians and their commercial allies. Abuse of power, injustice, corruption, and the killings could not be stopped. In the end, after 21 years of Marcos’ presidency, the Philippines plummeted from being one of Asia’s most progressive countries to its basket case.
What if, instead of yielding to expediency, those who considered themselves Christians among the Philippine judiciary, military officials, and government bureaucrats, refused to turn against their fellowmen and upheld their oaths to defend and be on the side of the people?
The military could have told Mr. Marcos: “Sir, we refuse to abduct and torture young Filipinos simply because they have penned withering criticisms against you. We refuse to court-martial Ninoy Aquino because he is a civilian, not one of our ranks. We refuse to decimate communities because they are not combatants but are only defending what they believe is theirs. We cannot treat Filipinos as our enemy. We shall not violate our Code.”
The Philippine judiciary and other justice sector actors likewise could have refused to be pawns of President Marcos. Thus, when he directed the Tanodbayan and the Sandiganbayan to conduct the Rolito Galman trial so as to impress upon the public that Galman, and not the government, was responsible for assassinating Ninoy Aquino, they should have upheld their independence. The Supreme Court majority justices could have refused to create legal monstrosities, but they did not, and instead recognized the effectivity of the 1973 Constitution despite its non-ratification in the infamous Javellana decision.
September 21 should remind us every year, that many of those who claimed they believe in God and those who took an oath to serve our country with fealty and honor, could have prevented so much evil from happening for 14 long years, but they did not. Had they done so, our youth would not be burdened today to correct the mistakes of the past–by never settling again for compromised governance but demanding genuine and competent public service, and by never again swallowing the ungodly line that to progress, the public must be willing to accept injustice and oppression. Those of my generation must decide that with whatever strength and time we have left, our lot is with the youth who are fighting for a just and humane society. September 21 should be a memorial day for all of us who are alive today, especially the youth, that never again shall we fail our God and our country.
Endnotes
See slides 40 and 41, ”The Perils of Perception” at https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/perils-perception-2017?search=where%20Filipinos%20ranked%20the%203rd%20highest%20people%20in%20the%20world%20in%20terms%20of%20ignorance%20about%20certain%20truths%20in%20their%20own%20country%2C%20and%20 where Filipinos ranked the 3rd highest people in the world in terms of ignorance about certain truths in their own country, and were the 3rd most confident in holding on to their wrong views. Opinions on such findings can be found at https://www.manilatimes.net/…/confidently-ignorant/379315/ and https://news.abs-cbn.com/…/opinion-most-ignorant-plus…, earning for us the unhappy title of “most confidently ignorant” for some columnists, partially explaining the success of fake news https://l.facebook.com/l.php…
Part of the facts on Marcos’ order to conduct sham proceedings as found by the Supreme Court in Republic v. Galman https://l.facebook.com/l.php… follows:
“Deputy Tanodbayan Manuel Herrera … revealed that the Sandiganbayan Justices and Tanodbayan prosecutors were ordered by Marcos to whitewash the Aquino-Galman murder case. He amplified his revelations, as follows:
1. AB INITIO, A. VERDICT OF ACQUITTAL!
Incidents during the preliminary investigation showed ominous signs that the fate of the criminal case on the death of Ex-Senator Benigno Aquino and Rolando Galman on August 21, 1983 was doomed to an ignominious end. Malacaňang wanted dismissal – to the extent that a prepared resolution was sent to the Investigating Panel (composed of the undersigned, Fiscals Ernesto Bernabe and Leonardo Tamayo) for signature. This, of course, was resisted by the panel, and a resolution charging all the respondents as principals was forwarded to the Tanodbayan on January 10, 1985.
2. MALACAÑANG CONFERENCE PLANNED SCENARIO OF TRIAL
At 6:00 p.m. of said date (January 10) Mr. Ferdinand E. Marcos (the former President) summoned to Malacañang Justice Bernardo Fernandez (the Tanodbayan), Sandiganbayan Justice Manuel Pamaran (the Presiding Justice) and the members of the Panel.
Also present at the meeting were Justice Manuel Lazaro (the Coordinator) and Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos, who left earlier, came back and left again. The former President had a copy of the panel’s signed resolution (charging all accused as principals), evidently furnished him in advance, and with prepared notes on the contents thereof.
The former President started by vehemently maintaining that Galman shot Aquino at the tarmac. Albeit initially the undersigned argued against the theory, to remain silent was the more discreet posture when the former President became emotional (he was quite sick then).
During a good part of the conference, the former President talked about Aquino and the communists, lambasting the Agrava Board, specially the Legal Panel. Shifting to the military he rumbled on such statements as: “It will be bloody . . . Gen. Ramos, though close to me, is getting ambitious and poor Johnny does not know what to do”. . . ‘our understanding with Gen. Ramos is that his stint is only temporary, but he is becoming ambitious “the boys were frantic when they heard that they will be charged in court, and wig be detained at city jail.”
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You may also read the full statement here:
