This is an answer to the article ‘Never Again’ is not just about Marcos from inquirer.net. (Go to this link for the full text of the article: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/130228/never-again-is-not-just-about-marcos). I do not claim any expertise, but I want to respond as a free individual living in a free country and looking for the truth on any given issue. The following are suggestive rebuttals on some parts of the arguments of the writing on the issue:
Inquirer.net: Bongbong Marcos wants Filipinos to forget.
In fact, he wants to go beyond forgetting: Marcos Jr. denies that the reign of terror ever happened.
Which is why his candidacy is both a threat and an opportunity.
Response: The writer has not shown any evidence of this saying. I have not read or heard yet that Bongbong Marcos wants the Filipinos to forget or denies the terror that happens during Martial Law. What Bongbong says in an interview in Bandila is to move on and not choose dictatorship. He does not even deny that there are bad effects of Martial Law. (Watch the full interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPjbfR1YRKM).
It is possible that history can be forgotten by some people. Why? Because some do not read history at all. And of course, you cannot forget anything from history if you have not known anything from history. What can you forget if you have nothing to remember in the first place? There are many books, read them.
It is important that we could not forget the past but it is most important to move on and not live on the past especially if you have overwhelming counterarguments against any lies about the past.
Inquirer.net: But as I said, Bongbong’s “my-father’s-murderous-reign-didn’t-really- happen” campaign is also an opportunity.
The phrase “Martial Law” trended on Twitter the week he announced his candidacy. Membership in the Never Again site on Facebook has risen sharply,
In social media and beyond, Marcos Jr.’s bid for power has turned the spotlight on the way Marcos Sr. abused his power.
Response: I saw these statements as more an emotional envy than a factual argument. Turning the spotlight to Marcos Jr.’s candidacy is not similar to abuse of power. All of us know that our new generation of youths has grown up in a modern digital era wherein a book of history can easily bore them, let alone reading a piece of an article like this. So, it is really practical to develop another way of informing the youths in a place where you can mostly find them: Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. That is what they want, then give them what they want. You are even campaigning against Sen. Bongbong Marcos through social media because you know that you can influence the netizens, so you will contradict yourself if you will stop those who are campaigning for the senator using the same tool.
Inquirer.net: I fully endorse the view that we should not blame children for their parent’s crimes. Bongbong has the right to say, “I’m not my father.”
But he’s gone beyond that many times. He has painted the Marcos years as a time of peace, prosperity and happiness, smugly rejects allegations of torture and plunder during the 21 years when his father was in power.
Bongbong Marcos is waging a campaign based on distortions and denial of a dark chapter when one ruler enjoyed absolute power.
If we forget that, it could happen again.
And I’m not talking about the return to power of anyone named Marcos. “Never Again” is not just about Marcos. It’s not just about one family.
It’s about keeping alive the most important lesson of the Marcos regime: That we should not readily believe individuals or political forces seeking absolute power, arguing that only they have the answers to the country’s problems.
Response: The writer is evidently contradicting himself. To say that you are not talking about the return to power of anyone named Marcos and yet you will say “That we should not readily believe individuals or political forces seeking absolute power, arguing that only they have the answers to the country’s problems” (which is clearly pertaining to Marcos) is a self-contradiction. You cannot fool a critical reader and thinker.
It is erroneous to think that because you believe in something then you want also others should believe the same. That is what dictatorship really means – dictating to someone what you want them to believe instead of allowing them to discover it on their own. Do not also assume that you are the only one who knows history. I have just finished my 9 units in history, 9 units in philosophy, 18 units in sociology, anthropology, and culture-related courses, 3 units each in political science and economics, and more than four years of studying theology. Those are not enough and never will be enough. Those are not bragging and never will I brag about them. Those can be considered as junks by others who have Masters and Doctors next to their names though they are also contradicting each other. What I am saying is that we who believe the Marcoses are not ignorant of the Philippine culture and history. You should not assume that we cannot distinguish the difference between facts and fiction in our history. Accept the fact that we have no similar way of thinking and seeing things let alone defining what historical truth is.
I am happy though that the writer is endorsing that we should not blame children for their parent’s crimes through seeming contradictions that are evident throughout the whole article. It is really erroneous and deceptive to think that because Sen. Marcos is the son of the dictator Pres. Marcos, then they are already the same and should be both convicted. It is impoverished to think about that. Sen. Marcos is an economist while the late Pres. Marcos is a lawyer. Sen. Marcos is an innovator while the late Pres. Marcos is a public speaker. People have elected Noynoy Aquino to the presidency but now they are saying that his tuwid na daan is really a tuwad na daan. Can we also say that the People Power of Cory Aquino is also a tuwad na daan because she is the mother of Noynoy? If you will laugh at that idea, I will also do the same if you think that Sen. Marcos is also a dictator like his father. Sen. Marcos has already asserted that he is running only to continue his service from the Province of Ilocos to the Senate and if he wins, to Vice Presidency not for the sake of grabbing absolute power.
It is already a part of Filipino culture to see the bad part of a regime instead of looking at the good side of it. It is similar in looking to the big and pointed thorns of a rose than on the beautiful flower itself. We have already practiced looking at the negative side of the story than the positive one. Why I have known that? Of course, similar to you, I am also a born and grown-up Filipino with the strong mixed blood of the Ilocanos and Cebuanos. Can we not also see the positive side? Are we depriving a Filipino citizen of his potential ability to help our country progress because of our own fear and prejudice? We have been under the colonial power of the Spaniards, Japanese, and Americans, but why are we not deporting their sons and daughters who are now enjoying our country? Does that mean that we have also forgotten the history of our nation? No. That means we want to leave the past and move on. But how in this world we cannot let Marcos rise again and prove their capabilities to help our nation? We become afraid of the Marcoses. We become marcophobes (I just play words, you cannot find that in the dictionary).
Everyone can really be shocked, emotional, angered, and afraid of seeing numerous deaths, destruction, disembodiment, and disorders as a result of dark Martial Law. Those are of course the negative side of it and an effect of a cause and anyone can really cry “Never Again.” Even Pres. Marcos does not have the intention to have an effect like that. Martial Law is a decision not only by the president but also by the legislators, judges, and the people themselves because of the terror of communism caused by someone who is an archenemy of the president. You see, it has already been implanted in our culture to ask something from the government but when outrageous evil results from it, we always blamed the president without looking at ourselves. A historical malady, isn't it? Declaring Martial Law is justifiable depending on how strong the reasons are. Do you think the president, together with the decision body, is stupid enough to see that? No one could really even think of the evil after the declaration because why proclaim something if you already know the effect of it? Why People Power did not happen immediately after the declaration if people did not really like it?
Never Again is indeed undeniably a shout against the dictatorship which Sen. Marcos was also against for. We should not compare two different personalities living in two different generations. The late Sen. Ninoy Aquino has been charged with treason and on March 4, 2015 Pres. Noynoy Aquino has also been charged again with treason, why we are not also campaigning against them? The late Pres. Roxas is also charged with treason, is it also possible that a descendant with the same family name could do the same? Seems that treason is not a big deal for the Filipinos. I will make a simple prediction if the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) pushed by the Aquino administration will be passed which is also the cause of treason charged similar to the treason filed against his father, the Philippines will be in chaos and far more destructive than the Martial Law of Marcos. Let us see what will be the future of the divided Philippines. Senator Bongbong Marcos is one of those who are against the passing of BBL. If he will win, the phrase “Never Again” can still be true because the Philippines will "Never Again" be like the past administrations, especially the one that has changed the Constitution in favor of the other country, but will continue to rise from its fall.
