Marcos son: We did not leave, we were taken away

MANILA, Philippines—While some were caught up in rites marking the anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled strongman Ferdinand Marcos, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Tuesday showed up for work by attending a hearing.

In his calendar, Feb. 22—the start of the four-day people’s revolt that ended the strongman’s 20-year-long reign and forced him into exile in Hawaii—is just a regular day in the Senate.

But that is not to say that the event holds no meaning for the younger Marcos.

Twenty-five years later, Senator Marcos acknowledged that it was an “important event” in history and that he played a role in “fulfilling the dreams and hopes” of Filipinos in 1986, but not without a tinge of bitterness.

“It was the day we were taken away from this country. We did not leave the country. We were taken away and not allowed to return,” he told reporters, turning a little teary-eyed.

He was emphatic about correcting the misimpression that the Marcos family “left” the country at the height of the revolt in 1986 to go on exile in Hawaii where the strongman died of a lingering illness years later.

Marcos, who became a senator at the same time that then Sen. Benigno Aquino III won the presidency in May 2010, recognized EDSA I “as certainly an important event in our nation’s history.”

Opportunity

Asked if there was anything good that came out of the revolt that catapulted to power then Marcos’ presidential rival, Corazon C. Aquino, the younger Marcos said: “It’s an opportunity for our people to express their hopes and dreams for our country.”

“And it’s up to us who are in government, who are working in government, to make as many of these hopes and dreams a reality as quickly as possible,” he said, after emerging from a Senate hearing that incidentally tackled proposed amendments to the martial law-inspired budget law.

In his view, the gains of EDSA I must be gauged by how far the Filipinos have achieved their aspirations in 1986.

“In my assessment we have a long way to go and we have much to do. And that is why I’m happy that I’m in the Senate. At least I can contribute to the efforts to the progress of our people,” he said.

In this context, the Marcos family would rather “look forward and see what else we can do to be of service to the people,” he added.

His mother, Imelda, is now a member of the House of Representatives representing Marcos’ home province Ilocos Norte, while sister Imee is governor of the province.

If it were to be marked, EDSA I should serve as a “touchstone” for all Filipinos on “how far we’ve come, and how little we’ve come along,” Marcos said.

“Perhaps the celebration of 1986 reminds us of how much needs to be done, how much we have to work to bring that progress that we all want for our country,” he said.

Two decades and a half hence, the country and its people have yet to achieve that threshold of economic prosperity where most Filipinos have a job and are earning enough to put food on the table and send their children to school, he said.

Not another Marcos

Had events in 1986 turned differently and had then President Marcos stayed put to implement his plans and programs, “we would be like Singapore today,” the senator said of the country’s prosperous city-state neighbor.

Would another Marcos sitting as president bring this country to that state?

“I haven’t talked about running in 2016. I don’t think about it,” he said, chuckling.

source: inquirer