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When a leader betrays his people

By: Rex D. Lores
@inquirerdotnet
August 22nd, 2016

WITH THE controversial decision to bury the remains of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, the truth is again under siege.

The sentiment behind the move, allegedly to allow the nation to move on, is both misguided and dangerous. By interring the dictator’s remains in the national cemetery for heroes, the first casualty will be the truth, or, more precisely, the historical truth: Marcos betrayed our people on a grand scale, and in the most cynical ways possible.

Truth in a democracy is sacred; it is the basic operating principle of our system of government. This is why truth is a core value at home and in school, church, and workplace. This is why it is a convention in our political and judicial proceedings to “tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” We live and die by the truth.

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Truth as a social value flourishes among a people with a strong sense of morality. But morality is not innate; it is learned. A people cannot build the habits, civility and discipline without the skills of moral reasoning. And we cannot create a more civil national culture by belittling or avoiding what is morally required of us.

The power conveyed by the Marcoses’ infamous, unearned wealth enables them to adjust to political tides and currents. They will never account for that wealth which will provide them continuing access and influence in future governments. And so we still hear the refrain of “Marcos pa rin” (Marcos still) echoing faintly, the way fanatical Peronistas, ignoring the excesses of Argentina’s criminal in chief, chanted “Mujeriego y ladron, pero queremos a Peron!” (Philanderer and thief, we still want Peron!).

Burying Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is the first step in his family members’ plot to perpetuate their outrageous claims. Once this step is accomplished, they can leisurely proceed to their endgame: to bury Imelda, when her time comes, beside her husband, reminiscent of Jacqueline Kennedy beside JFK at Arlington in the glow of an eternal flame.

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What is deeply disturbing about President Duterte’s decision is the clear disconnect between his rhetoric and reality. On one hand, he is pursuing a devastating campaign against criminality and corruption; on the other, he is coddling the memory of a tyrant whose crimes and corruption stagger our imagination.

On one hand, he is attacking oligarchs who accumulated wealth over decades; on the other, he is praising a discredited leader who became the country’s greatest oligarch overnight by illegally seizing the assets of the elite.

Marcos’ rise to power started with a lie, and he prevailed for so long through the legislative and executive branches of government largely on his capacity to manipulate or conceal the truth. It started with his claims of heroic exploits as a soldier in World War II, claims found fraudulent and without a scintilla of evidence in US Army archives.

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Death cannot be a cleansing sacrament to alter Marcos’ sordid and bloody legacy. The impunity of Marcos’ long despotic rule will burden our sense of national dignity for generations to come. And how we reckon with this design to rehabilitate Marcos as a national hero has enormous implications on our values as a people, on the nature of our future, and on the efficacy of our political culture.

To bury Marcos in the heroes’ cemetery mocks the valor, dignity, and sacrifice of martyred Filipinos. But even more, it mocks our national esteem and our shared civic values as a democratic society.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/

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