Letters | Marcos revival: electing the son may well be forgiving the father

Readers discuss the Marcos dynasty’s return to power, the effect of war and inflation on Biden’s presidency, whom to ‘thank’ as the Ukraine war drags on, and the promise of carbon dividends

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Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr, the namesake son of the dictator, visits the tomb of his father at the National Heroes Cemetery in Metro Manila, Philippines, on May 10, as partial results show he is on course for victory in the presidential election. Photo: Office of Ferdinand Marcos Jnr via AP

Published: 2:30pm, 13 May 2022

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With Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr claiming victory in the Philippine presidential election, it seems the details of the late Marcos Snr’s ruthless dictatorship have faded into distant memory, despite documentation of the abuses during his regime. A 1975 Amnesty International report on political prisoners in the Philippines reveals that 70 per cent of those interviewed by Amnesty had been tortured while detained under martial law. An article in the journal Pacific Affairs chronicles the civil liberties that were cut during that time.

As a first-time voter, I ached to add my voice to the masses’. I watched as young people I had gone to primary school with posted images of rallies and roadside murals. Yet I also watched as these people became disenfranchised. They had risen up, but in doing so would be pushed down.

On election day, accounts emerged on social media of voting machines that were mysteriously broken. The following day, protests ignited outside the Commission on Elections; opposition groups have refused to accept a modern Marcos presidency. Many have noted the sudden spike in votes for Marcos: from around 14.2 million votes in the 2016 vice-presidential race to more than 31 million in the presidential race, according to partial unofficial numbers.

Lauren Greenfield’s documentary The Kingmaker juxtaposes the painful accounts of those persecuted under the Marcos regime with the plethora of lies his popularity was built on. As Marcos’ wife, former first lady Imelda Marcos, says in the documentary, “Perception is real, the truth is not.” If these voting figures are accurate, it will be a testament to how the Marcoses have rewritten their own history. The power of Marcos Jnr lies in perception; he has managed a dominating win despite very limited participation in public debates or interviews.

After all of this, I ask myself: what will it take for history to remain a lasting lesson, rather than become a malleable construction Marcos cronies can reshape over and over again? Electing the son is not electing the father, but it may well be forgiving him. Even were the younger Marcos to repent his father’s actions, no repentance would ever remedy how this dynasty has stripped billions from our coffers. More importantly, it would never remedy the stripped dignities of our countrymen.

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Letters | Marcos revival: electing the son may well be forgiving the father