Chipping away at the 'Golden Era' narrative in Marcos’ Ilocandia
Part 1 of a 2-part feature on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution on Feb. 25, 2022.
ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines — Millennials Cathy*, Andrew*, Michael* and Salve* grew up hearing good things about the ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whom local myths have made to be a "god-like figure": How he became a lawyer and defended himself in trial; how he did great things as a president; how Ilocos Norte was great at the time of Martial Law.
Cathy, a thirty-something marketer, tells Philstar.com partly in Filipino: "The elders around me, that’s what they say. They tell us Martial Law was the golden era, it was good during that time. People were disciplined. For the most part, that's the impression I got from everyone."
Andrew, a digital professional, says he had a similar childhood to Cathy. "It’s something deferential. Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Almost a deity, a god-like figure here in Ilocos."
In Araling Panlipunan subjects in elementary school, they were taught only that Martial Law happened. "Because I was young, it did not mean anything to me. What does Martial Law mean (anyway)?" Cathy says.
Andrew says he remembers that tone of how Martial Law was taught: "It was justified because of the [New People’s Army]. [People were] disciplined."
Raisa Salvador, whose father was a political prisoner during Martial Law, had it worse: Reporting on past Philippine presidents in fourth grade, she was stopped from talking about Martial Law and its abuses, she said in a blog. Her reporting was cut short by her teacher who grabbed her by the arm.
Salvador was proud of her father, "whose body was marked by history", but in the Marcoses' Ilocos, she was faced with "mockery" and her classmates called her father a criminal.
Former Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., son and namesake of the late dictator, would rather question sources of international watchdog Amnesty International on their data on Martial Law abuses rather than acknowledge them.
In an interview, TV personality Boy Abunda cited figures of 70,000 imprisoned, 34,000 tortured and 3,240 killed during the dictatorship of the elder Marcos.
The younger Marcos said in response:
"Let us ask Amnesty International to share that information that they have and maybe it will help us make sure that the system works and what alleged abuses occurred should not occur again. I think that’s the only way that we can remedy that situation."
RELATED: Marcos hopes to win critics, Martial Law survivors over with 'sincerity, best plans'
Weaving it together
For Cathy and Andrew, it was not until college that they learned how their experience is different from peers from other parts of the country. For Cathy, it was a research paper on clan matriarch Imelda Marcos; for Andrew, it was talking with his dorm mates from other provinces.
Andrew shares that during their talks, he was asked — as an Ilocano — about their province and about the Marcoses. He remembers telling them that the family has done a lot for the province, where many roads are paved.
"I remember, (they had like) question mark. Why is it like that? I wasn’t really aware. I knew Martial Law happened, but in terms of atrocities, the extent of what happened, I had zero knowledge about it," he adds.
When Cathy participated in a History class research paper on Imelda Marcos, she found herself facing facts that contradicted what she was told growing up. But there was no denial, she says.
"Aside from reliable sources, I connected it with what my father told me. That’s when I started to be aware of what happened [during] Martial Law," she says.
Cathy says she has vivid memories in elementary school of waiting for her father to fetch her. He would be late because he had to wait for Bongbong, who was then governor. "That’s when he told me that [Marcos] was never there at the Capitol," she says.
As a high school student, she visited the famous Bangui Wind Farm that was then under construction. She says she was in awe, it was impressive. She asked her father if Bongbong Marcos, whose billboard appeared there, was in charge of the project
Her father told her it was a project of a private organization. According to the World Bank, the Northwind Power Development Corp. operates the wind farm—and Marcos himself said in a 2010 interview, as noted by this News5 fact check, that it was "private commercial enterprise"
Michael, who is an engineer, says he saw failures ("mga kapalpakan") of the Marcoses in his province. "Fake news gets spread like that power rates here are low," he says.
Since he’s an engineer, he says he was able to explain to his uncles and his friends that this is not true. "They believed me because that’s my job," he says.
Moving on?
Unlike the three who grew up with only good stories about the Marcoses, Salve, a pediatrician, knows she was lucky that her family "would let [her] see" history.
Her grandfather, like other elders in Ilocano families, also talked about the elder Marcos' intelligence but did not talk about Martial Law. Salve, however, was allowed to read newspapers and books about it.
Is there fear when one doesn't subscribe to the Marcos narrative? The doctor already weathered bullying in 2016 when Marcos and now Leni Robredo faced each other in the vice-presidential race, but she says the mood going into the May elections feels different, especially on social networking platforms such as YouTube and Tiktok.
"The tension is different, because the effect of what they watch," she says. "Even if you give them facts, there’s no use."
University of the Philippines associate professor Yvonne Chua, among the members of fact-checking coalition Tsek.ph, said earlier in February that their election fact checks showed Marcos Jr. has been the subject of misleading claims that are "largely positive, [and] in his favor."
But Marcos has repeatedly rejected allegations of having a "troll farm" and challenged accusers to show him where these are. He has hammered on his unity campaign — seen to be a call to move on from the past, including Martial Law abuses — and says he does not engage in fighting with fellow aspirants.
Addressing thousands in his proclamation rally on February 8, Marcos said in Filipino: "Being good to others is in the heart and nature of Filipinos. We do not like picking fights, we are not looking for a ruckus. We only seek a decent life for ourselves, for our family, for our country."
Marcos however continues to refuse to apologize for the abuses — despite being recognized by a government reparations board — that happened during his father’s regime. In an interview with CNN Philippines in October 2021, he said he can only apologize for what he did.
"If you can show me that I hurt somebody else, I will go to them and make an apology. Let’s talk about specifics. I don’t know how that apology is supposed to work… An apology will be meaningless anyway," he added.
For Salve, there will be no moving on. “’Never again and never forget’ is not [something that we say] for us, it’s for the victims of Martial Law, for families who lost their loved ones, for those who were lost and could not come back."
WATCH: As 'Bagong Lipunan' song revived, De Guzman-Bello counter with 'Internasyunal'
*Sources requested that pseudonyms be used for fear of retaliation.
- Latest
- Trending
