‘Holiday for Marcos Sr.’s birthday sets bad example’
MANILA, Philippines — "Parang tayong mga engot (It's like we're fools)."
This was how director Joel Lamangan described the declaration of a holiday in Ilocos Norte to mark the birth anniversary of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. as he argued that the late dictator is not one to emulate.
The Palace, through Proclamation No. 53, declared September 12 a special non-working holiday in the province to mark the elder Marcos' birthday on the 11th, a Sunday.
“Paano mong gagawing holiday ang kapanganakan ng isang mamamatay tao? Parang sinampal mo ang mga namatay. Parang sinampal mo ang mga pinahirapan. Parang sinampal mo ang mga nawalan,” said Lamangan, who was detained and tortured during martial law.
(Why would you make the birth of a killer a holiday? It’s like you slapped the faces of those who died. It’s like you slapped the faces of those who were tortured. It’s like you slapped the faces of those who lost loved ones.)
Ilocos Norte is the bailiwick of the Marcos clan and many there look on the elder Marcos and the Martial Law years with fondness and nostalgia.
READ: Chipping away at the 'Golden Era' narrative in Marcos’ Ilocandia | UniTeam Ilocos caravan stirs up memories of Martial Law: Trauma for some, nostalgia for others
Edith Burgos, mother of disappeared activist Jonas Burgos, questioned why someone “who has committed crimes against the country” is being honored through a holiday declaration.
“What kind of model are we putting before our children and the next generation if this is declared as a special holiday for Marcos? Only those who can be models for our future generation should be given this honor,” Burgos said partly in Filipino.
For historian Francis Gealogo, the Philippines puts itself in a unique spot as it created a holiday to honor a dictator instead of remembering his regime’s atrocities.
“Kung ang ibang bayan ay nagsasabing huwag tularan, bakit naman dito, kinakailangan pagdiriwang, paggunita at selebrasyon ang gagawin? Napaka-strange naman ito sa ating kasaysayan,” Gealogo said.
(If other nations say not to emulate, why are we celebrating and commemorating here? This is very strange in our history.)
Marcos Sr. was born in Sarrat town on Sept. 11, 1917. His birth anniversary falls on a Sunday this year, which prompted the Ilocos Norte provincial board to request that Malacañang move the holiday to Monday “to enable residents … to celebrate the occasion.”
“It is but fitting and proper that the people of the province of Ilocos Norte be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies, subject to the full public health measures of the national government,” the proclamation read.
But Burgos and Lamangan expressed worry that the commemoration of Marcos Sr.’s birth anniversary may soon go beyond his family’s bailiwick — moves which they said are part of the Marcoses’ continuous ploy to revise history.
“Magiging holiday yan ng buong bayan sa susunod bilang bahagi ng pagtatangkang linisin ang kanilang kasalanan,” Lamangan said. “Dapat iyan ay tutulan nating lahat.”
(That will soon be a holiday in the entire country as part of their attempts to sanitize their sins … We should all oppose this.)
Their fears may not be far-fetched considering that in the House of Representatives, bills have been filed to rename a state university in Ilocos Norte and the country’s main international airport after Marcos Sr.
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