A written response to a statement issued by Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to an ANC interview about the abuses and corruption committed by his father’s decades-long rule came out a day before the country marked the 43rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law.
The Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation issued a strongly worded open letter that was published in full by Rappler.com. They took Bongbong to task for the atrocities committed during his fathers ’regime.
The senator, a potential running mate of Vice President Jejomar Binay, asked “What is there for me to apologize for?”
He said he doesn’t need to apologize for all the developments brought by his father’s regime, developments that the senator said were being recalled by those who actually experienced martial law.
But that’s not how the foundation, whose mandate is to honor those who fought the Marcos martial law regime, saw it. Neither did Cebuanos who also took the fight to the regime, like lawyer Democrito Barcenas and former congressman Antonio Cuenco.
The litany of sins committed by the senator’s father as listed by the group include “wrecking Congress, the courts and the bureaucracy” and “prostituting the military”, building a white elephant project like the nuclear plant that didn’t become operational but is continually being paid by the country.
And there’s the thousands of activists who went missing, were killed or survived the brutal crackdown.
“You know what it is exactly that you and your family have to be sorry for. History will judge, you say? That is why you must now stop the lies—because precisely, history, and the people you have aggrieved, will judge,” they said.
In entertaining thoughts on seeking higher office, the senator is banking on the ignorance of those born after the Marcoses were booted out of office.
Or the amnesia of elders.
He may be hoping the Millennials believe the stories of aging Marcos loyalists about how martial law brought bridges, “agricultural self-sufficiency” and stable peace and order to the country.
But survivors like Barcenas, who spent jail time with activists who spoke out against the Marcos regime in Cebu, won’t forget. Barcenas’s wife, who was then pregnant, had to travel 40 kilometers every day from their home in Carcar City to Cebu City to where he was detained in a police camp.
“Her visits were limited to only five minutes. Every loaf of bread she gave me was carefully examined by the guard on duty. The guard would always listen to our conversation even about private matters,” he said in an Inquirer interview.
For everything that his father and his mother— former First Lady Imelda Marcos—did, an apology from the senator and his family isn’t enough apparently.
They should also be required to make restitution.