UP Cebu Vice Chairperson's striking message to Marcos loyalists

Dear Marcos fan,
by Ampoon Mary Rose

I don't know who you are, where you come from, what your history and personal story is.

Perhaps it was your parents, or grandparents, or your favorite teachers, or things you've read somewhere on the Internet or on Facebook that made you believe that life was so bright and beautiful during his era.

Photo by Philstar

Perhaps, it was your personal experience that serves as your evidence of his greatness.

That, I will never fully know.

But what I do know is that you think he is the best President of all time. That he was a great soldier. That he built 20 power plants. That he was responsible for the San Juanico Bridge and all the other bridges. That he built 108 state colleges. That he started the Green Revolution and Blue Revolution. That there were plenty of food during his time.

And what I also know is that you spend a lot of your energy calling anti-Marcos protests and posts as mechanisms by the Yellow Army. That we are all mindless, blind, dumb but well-paid soldiers for the Aquino family. And maybe sometimes you go a little over by calling us insulting names, and involving our genders, families, or by wishing us to get raped or even wishing us to die a slow death and something like that.

But what I don't know is with all the resources easily available with just a few clicks, is if you've taken the time to check if the enchanting stories coming from your closest relatives were indeed all true.

Or if you've ever wondered if what you personally experienced, if you lived at that moment, is what the rest of the country experienced too.

Because the reality of things is that Marcos is no hero.

While the entire Marcos Family stole a total of P170 billion

to buy Imelda Marcos her tens and thousands of expensive, authentic jewels, designer clothes and shoes,
to afford a daily Philippine Airlines trip to deliver Imee Marcos' breastfeed milk to her kid in the Philppines every day even if she was anywhere in the world,
to fund Bongbong Marcos' machinery for his Vice President candidacy,
to support Sandro Marcos' education in Oxford,
and to make the life of the entire family be as luxurious as possible in any country they wish to live in,

Here in the Philippines during the Martial Law
people the same age as you or your daughters or brothers were tortured using unspeakable means and brought in bags to wastelands never to be seen again,
and stinking bodies dumped alongside the streets became a normal view,
and names caught in curfews today belonged to dead people tomorrow,
and it was perfectly okay to be shot to death or captured when seen in groups-of-three discussions,
and opinions (like yours or mine) meant a grave danger to life or an end to life itself.

But perhaps, you already know this.

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And just because you do not know the pain of waiting for a father who never comes back, or seeing a sister in a body bag brutally killed for reasons you do not know, or hearing about a friend who is now unable to speak, walk and/or hear because he/ she got tortured, does not mean you have the right to dictate individuals in these situations to move on. Had your grandparents been the one walking that street looking suspicious according to the judgement of the military, your family would have been a victim too.
But let's talk about his achievements, right?

Do you really know that he is a great soldier? His achievements as a "soldier" are heavily contested with circumstantial evidence as propaganda to boost his image.

Did he really build those bridges and dams? The money from the taxpayers of this country did! And even then, the economy flunked so bad we were called the 'sick man of Asia' while the Marcos family got richer.

What about the Green Revolution and a lot of food? It was good at the beginning but later it was exposed that it was all about accumulating the profit to the notable (and rich) few while the farmers who supplied the food became hungry and penniless.

Did he do great things for the Education sector? Absolutely no. He passed on the Education Act of 1982 which stated that private schools can determine their own tuition fee rates as much as they feel like it. Before this, every school must coordinate with the government. After this, there was a 7000% increase in tuition rates.

The greatest legacy Marcos ever left us is the astounding amount of debt every Filipino, even those who are unborn, have to pay until 2025. We are all victims of the Martial Law because of the neoliberal policies that he implemented during his term.

As a Marcos fan, you have crossed the line when you chose to side with a dictator, murderer, plunderer over a fellow struggling Filipino that could have been you.

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