Is Marcos really dead? Where’s the death certificate?
By Benjamin Pimentel
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: April 29, 2011
In his mind, he was the dashing guerrilla leader, the fearless soldier who engaged the Japanese in fierce encounters during World War 2.
Ferdinand Marcos certainly had a wild imagination. Which actually makes me think: If he had the gall to fake his heroism, could he have also faked (cue ominous music) his own death?
Think about it: Is Marcos really dead? Where’s the proof? Sure, they have him on display in a freezer up north—but is that really him? Has anyone seen the death certificate? The real one?
Remember, the dictator died in (cue ominous music again) Hawaii.
Yep, that Hawaii. The Hawaii of American conspiracy theorists who this week succeeded in making the president of the United States release the original version of his birth certificate to prove he was born there and therefore legally qualified to be the chief.
Shouldn’t a despised ex-Philippine president also be compelled to show proof of his own death in that same conspiracy-theory-challenged state? If America can have a Birthers movement, heck, Pinoys should launch a Deathers Crusade.
After all, what can be scarier than a dead dictator who turned out to be still alive! And this one has unrepentant allies pushing to have him be given a hero’s funeral.
In fact, that’s an important point: Amid all this talk of burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, shouldn’t we, first of all, verify that he is dead?
Well, all right, I’m kidding.
But this business of honoring the late dictator as a hero has turned into such an ugly joke, why not have some fun with it.
Maybe P-Noy and Binay would see the silliness of the proposal and realize it is they who will be remembered as political jokes if they let the Marcoses pull yet another cruel trick on the Filipino nation.
Are they really serious about making a decision based on text messages from the public? What is this, American Idol?
Well, if that's the case, at least, let the late tyrant perform first before the vote. American Idol is paying tribute to Carole King this week, so why not have the dictator appear on stage with Imelda, and have her sing “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman†while retouching Ferdie’s makeup?
That would even underscore one of Marcos’s biggest contributions to the country: He made us laugh.
Admit it, Marcos and Imelda made us laugh. If it weren’t for all the people who died and suffered during the regime, we actually could look back at that time as funny years.
Who would deny that the Dovie Beams affair was one of the most jaw-dropping and hilarious political sex scandals in world history?
How can you top Imelda and her theory of a hole in the sky above the Philippines through which cosmic rays pass to protect the country from disaster?
Marcos and Imelda jokes kept us entertained even as we endured tyranny. And we didn’t even have cell phones back then for speedy mass distribution.
I remember one during one of the rallies after Ninoy’s assassination when Marcos’s face often looked swollen. The protest poster read: “Mamaga sana ang mukha ng nagpapatay kay Ninoy. (I hope whoever had Ninoy killed gets a swollen face).†Well, it’s funnier in Tagalog.
And we should thank Marcos for helping jumpstart the career of undoubtedly one of the nation’s greatest comic talents—and the king of Marcos impersonators—Willie Nepomuceno.
He was so good as the Fake Marcos that during the critical hours of the 1986 People Power Revolt, when the dictator appeared on TV to prove he was still in charge, there were those who believed it was a ploy—that it was Willie Nepomuceno who was trying to rally people to the Marcos camp.
Of course, Nepomuceno the Fake Marcos faced a crisis when the Real Marcos—or should that be the Real Fake Hero Marcos?—was kicked out of the country, and later died.
But Nepomuceno bounced back. His career did not die with the dictator. He star shined even brighter as he impersonated other politicos, including former Presidents Fidel Ramos (complete with fake ears) and Joseph Estrada (with the fake sideburns).
Willie Nepomuceno lived on, fulfilling the vow of the dictator who inspired his career, and who also proved to have a quirky sense of humor by once famously declaring: “I do not intend to die.â€
Copyright 2011 by Benjamin Pimentel. On Twitter @KuwentoPimentel. Linkback:
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