A new chapter

If its walls could speak, one wonders what it would say.

Would it scream or whisper, or let out heavy boisterous laughs?

Would it shed tears of joy or simply smile in admiration?

The National Museum, site of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ‘s inauguration, for sure, is rich in history and tells of our country’s storied and many times painful past.

Yesterday, it witnessed yet another chapter in our continuing story, as President Marcos took his oath in the historic building as the country’s 17th president.

Spoliarium

The National Museum houses Juan Luna’s famed Spoliarium, his masterpiece with – as Leon Guerrero described–”its bloody carcasses of slave gladiators being dragged away from the arena where they had entertained their Roman oppressors with their lives...stripped to satisfy the lewd contempt of their Roman persecutors with their honor...”

Jose Rizal described the Spoliarium as one that “embodied the essence of our social, moral, and political life: humanity in severe ordeal, humanity unredeemed, reason and idealism in open struggle with prejudice, fanaticism, and injustice.”

Old legislative building

In the building’s corridors, too, walked patriots, servant leaders, statesmen, our lawmakers of decades past – Vicente Sotto, Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Pepe Diokno, Emmanuel Pelaez, Jovito Salonga and Eva Estrada Kalaw, Gerardo Roxas, Maria Kalaw-Katigbak, among others.

The old guards of Philippine society surely know what we’re missing now, just by looking at the names of today’s senators and congressmen. Where are the servant leaders, the statesmen, and the patriots, one might ask? Instead, we have convicts and alleged plunderers now in office. Remember those tagged in the P10 billion pork barrel scam? They’re called many names – from Nardong Kupit to Pogi to Sexy.

And while we’re revisiting our history, let’s also not forget that the National Museum, formerly the old legislative building, served as the home of the Congress of the Philippines until 1972 with the declaration of Martial Law.

Congress was effectively dissolved and the building was padlocked.

In 1987, after democracy was restored, the Congress of the Philippines was reestablished with the ratification of the 1987 Constitution.

The House of Representatives moved to the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City and the Senate eventually moved to its building now in Pasay.

Now, here we are on the 50th anniversary of Martial Law, with Marcos as our 17th president.

One wonders, indeed, what the National Museum’s walls would say.

Will the spirits of the great men and women of Philippine legislature, including anti-Marcos Sr. lawmakers who once walked the building’s halls, whisper a history lesson or two?

Will the fallen gladiators in Juan Luna’s Spoliarium make their presence felt to remind us of the social and moral fight against injustice; of our reasons and aspirations as a people?

Could the life-sized tableau with blood-soaked fighters awaken Filipinos – once again – from ignorance, mental darkness, and oppression?

The Spoliarium, of course, was a product of its time and those who lived through that epoch know that it was the story of our colonization by Spain and our long, painful and bloody struggle for independence.

In many ways, its message still resonates today as this nation of 110 million marks yet another chapter in its history.

Victory

But for the victors, the elections of 2022 perhaps still cast a somnambulant spell – hat surreal and bizarre feeling that this is just a dream.

Victory is, indeed, sweeter for it took decades to achieve. The thundering applause, the congratulations, the 21-gun salute hit
the senses stronger than ever, at least for the victors who have long planned this comeback.

It is, however, a nightmare for some, and many are still stricken by election grief.

But I fervently hope that it is exactly this burden that will convince our new leaders to really steer our country forward, to prove the critics wrong, and to heal a deeply-divided nation.

Marcos assumes office amid a difficult economic tide. There’s red-hot inflation, skyrocketing oil prices, a declining peso, a pile of debt, and millions of Filipinos desperate for relief.

There’s a lot of expectations, but at the same time one doesn’t really know what to expect from him. For that, it will be difficult to be disappointed or contended. We’ll just have to wait and see.

For now, the way for him is still up because he is not so entangled yet in his own doing. But he carries, of course, the heavy burden of the Marcos name.

And yet he won with 31 million votes, a victory many thought was impossible.

But he isn’t the president of only 31 million people, he is the president of each and everyone in this nation of 110 million.

Thus, while his victory was easy, the job ahead is difficult, perhaps a hundred times more difficult and it is in a building that has stood witness to the country’s past where his story begins.

I imagine the grieving motherland in Juan Luna’s Spoliarium and our dead patriots closely watching how the narrative will unfold.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected].

Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com