A lot of flack has been going on in the Philippines over the sudden burial of the late president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. A lot of people argue that he should not have been buried there because he was a dictator, a thief, torturer, murderer and was corrupt. On the other hand, a lot of people also argue that he should because he did a lot of good for the country, paving the way for economic prosperity during his time, peace and recognition for the country.
Before we go to that argument, let’s quickly visit who the late president was to give people an open and unbiased mindset.
Ferdinand Marcos
Born on Sept 11, 1917 in Sarrat, Illocos Norte whose father Mariano Marcos was a lawyer and a politician from the same region. In 1938, Marcos and his brother Pio, his father, and brother-in-law Quirino Lizardo were accused for the murder of Julio Nalundasan, a political rival of Mariano Marcos. Nalundasan was killed by a sniper at his home in 1935, the day after defeating Mariano for the 2nd time in the elections for the office of representative for the 2nd district of Illocos Norte. Ferdinand and Quirino received the death penalty while Pio and Mariano were convicted for contempt of court. The decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court through the decision of Associate Justice and former president Jose P. Laurel.
Ferdinand proceeded to study law at the University of the Philippines. He excelled in both curricular and extra-curricular activities, becoming a valuable member of the university’s swimming, boxing, and wrestling teams. During the 1939 Bar Exam, Ferdinand received a near perfect score of 98.8%. Graduated cum laude despite being incarcerated while reviewing. The late president had a remarkable memory, testified by people around him including the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Military Service
Prior to WW2, Ferdinand was already a Reserve Officer’s training corp’s graduate. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese simultaneously bombed parts of the Philippines. During this time, Ferdinand was one of those called into action. The U.S. army has confirmed that the late president fought on the U.S. side after the Japanese invasion started. Ferdinand would later be one of the 78,000 Filipino and American soldiers to surrender at Bataan on April 1942.
However, disputes over his military service came up. Later research showed the wartime exploits of Ferdinand Marcos to be mostly propaganda. Research of historian Alfred McCoy in the U.S. Army records showed most of Ferdinand’s medals to be fraudulent. His father, Mariano Marcos was an alleged Japanese collaborator and was executed by Filipino guerrillas on April 1945. Ferdinand would later be accused as well due to his fraudulent and false claims as well as anti-guerrilla propaganda. This may also be the reason why the Japanese released Ferdinand after Bataan. Despite criticism over his service, in a 1992 presidential inaugural biography, former president Fidel Ramos who turned his back on Marcos during the People Power Revolution said that his father Narciso Ramos was a leader of the guerrilla group Maharlika founded by the late president Marcos.
Rise to power
After the war, Ferdinand would later be a 3 term congressman of Illocos Norte. Then onwards to the Senate where we was executive vice president of the Liberal Party and served as president of the party from 1961-1964. He attained the senate presidency from 1963-1965. In 1965, Ferdinand would be know as President Ferdinand Marcos. 1970 was a period of leftist unrest in the Philippines, composed of a series of heavy demonstrations, protests, and marches against the government during the first quarter of the 70s. It was one of the factors leading to the declaration of Martial Law in 1972. And the rest, as they say, is history.
What have we learned?
So let’s take into consideration what we’ve learned so far. The late president was accused of murder in the 30s along with members of his family, conspiracy with the Japanese and falsification in the 40s, and a bunch of other things during his dictatorship over the country. On the other hand, U.S. records and former president Fidel Ramos’s father testified Marcos’ military service regardless of his honors. A smart guy, testified by people surrounding him and his Bar Exam score. And eventually a dictator. Note that Ferdinand Marcos was not the country’s first dictator. The country’s first president Emilio Aguinaldo was the country’s first dictator. But his dictatorship was short lived due to the American occupation.
Based on historic data, we can’t really link the tortures, murders, and other horrible things that happened during the martial law era that he was accused of directly back to president Marcos. However, people can’t dispute the fact that because of his extension of power and dictatorship, people around him started taking advantage of things. As president of a country, whatever happens to the country is your responsibility, may it be good or bad the same way a captain takes responsibility for his ship.
Yes, for ordinary people, peace and discipline was in the land. But what about those in power? What did they see? Think about it, how come we have people still hunting down the Marcos ill gotten wealth? How come we have senior members and high ranking officials of society against the burial? Why did a senator like Ninoy Aquino aggressively pursue the president?
People would argue that the martial law era was the golden age of the country because of low cost, safety in the streets, and that the late president was able to build all these amazing facilities. We invite you to ponder again, now on these 3 things. Inflation, 21 year reign, and dictatorship. Inflation does not need a long explanation. Simply put, everything becomes more expensive down the road. The late president had everything in his means to do what he wanted without anyone telling him otherwise. He had 21 years to run the country. We believe that putting into argument the fact that he did a lot during his term is simply not right. He had 21 years compared to other presidents who only had 6 years. On top of that, no one would be able to tell him otherwise. Unlike today, we have congress and the senate to tell the president otherwise.
Which brings us to the question of the article. Should he have been buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani? We say, yes. As a president, he should take responsibility for the things that happened during his reign even in death. His reign opened the doors to corrupt, greedy, and power hungry individuals. However, the fact that he served in the military is enough to bury him in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Not everyone in LNMB are heroes. Some people buried there did some horrible things during their life time. The late president may have been accused of a lot of things. We also don’t believe he’s a hero, but we believe as a soldier, it is his right to be buried there. How he was buried is a different story.