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The Unfortunate Ranhilio Aquino,
Marcos Apologist

John Nery
Philippine Daily Inquirer
September 15, 2020

On Sept. 11, the 103rd birth anniversary of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the priest and legal scholar Ranhilio Aquino marked the milestone by tying a millstone around his neck. The millstone came in the form of an intemperate tweet: “The present generation that is loud in its condemnation of Marcos never experienced Marcos. So that rant is directed at their construct of Marcos. Shouldn’t they be studying Derrida and Lyotard more?”

It is clear, from Aquino’s diction and logic and tone, that the tweet wasn’t a compliment. In fact, in its own erudite way, it was as loud in its condemnation of the “present generation” as that generation was of Marcos.

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He spent the following day, a Saturday, defending his position — by attacking, derogating, his many critics. At 7:34 a.m., for instance, he tweeted: “It is obvious from the dismal comments I get by propagandists that ‘constructs’ and ‘deconstruction’ are not understood.” But in fact this was not true. (It was also ungrammatical: He meant “from,” not “by.”) By no means were all the comments from “propagandists.” By no means were the comments all uncomprehending of the obtuse language of deconstruction.

I still have to read all the comments, but I think it is fair to say that much of the criticism Aquino received was driven by shock and disgust: Here was a priest, who had lived through the Marcos years, denying the tragic reality of the dictatorship.

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For a scholar who is invested in the power of narratives (or, in Derridean terms, meta-narratives), Aquino does not seem that much interested in language per se. Or in truly understanding the criticism directed at him. Imagine a convert’s earnest, anxious question about the nature of the New Testament: “Aren’t the testimonies of those who lived at the time of Jesus enough?” Now imagine a priest answering in this way: “I never said anything about that. I am campaigning for deconstructive readings.”

The real question is a variation on a theme already struck by Pontius Pilate. “What is (the) truth?” What, really, is the truth about Marcos? Aquino, a priest of long standing, cannot offer a direct reply. Instead, he wrote this long thread on Twitter: “But the point, however, is that when you deal with constructs, there are rival constructs, rival interpretations, rival selections of data considered significant. But some constructs prevail and are favored. These become the dominant constructs. These are the grand narratives.”

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But the truth is, the Marcos tragedy is not a petit narrative; it is, still, part of the dominant one. As long as the Marcos family retains its political and economic power, the country remains locked in a life-or-death struggle between the powers of corruption and despotism and the forces (however imperfect) of freedom and reform.

All that Aquino’s erudite temporizing in the face of truth does is put the faithful at risk; if meta-narratives trump truth, the ground on which religion rests collapses. What was the warning in Matthew? “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

On Twitter: @jnery_newsstand, email: [email protected]
https://opinion.inquirer.net/

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