by Gemino H. Abad
University Professor emeritus
Department of English & Comparative Literature, UP Diliman
A people is only as strong as their memory. A country without memory has no history.
We are a peace-loving, forgiving, “maawain†people. Ferdinand E. Marcos is forgiven, although as far as we shall ever know, he died mute and unrepentant. But his legacy is not forgotten – the hypocrisy and violence of his “New Society,†the rapine by his cronies and sycophants, his hidden loot, his deception with his fake medals and phony guerrilla unit; the repression, corruption, and injustice; the ruin of our country’s economy; the military abuse, torture and “salvagingâ€; all these throughout his Martial Law dictatorship. To the very present, we suffer from that bitter legacy.
I say this without sarcasm or irony: “Bury Marcos in Batac where he is truly loved.â€
As for the Congress of 2011 and those 262 so-called people’s representatives, let them look to a time ago when a crowd screamed at Pilate for him to release Barabbas to them, and Pilate acquiesced, had a Man crucified, and then washed his hands.
My earnest prayer for those 262 amnesiac Congress(woe)men: May they not follow after Anatole France’s “Procurator of Judaea†who lost his memory of ever having met the Man he had crucified because, listening to a vociferous mob of fanatics, opportunists, and bootlickers, he was afraid of losing his power and influence with the Roman emperor.
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