Ever since the 2022 Philippine Elections last month, and even before that, a question occasionally appears in mind: do Marcos loyalists — all 31 million of them — know something that we don't know?
The answer is no. The Marcoses and their supporters have nothing to offer. There is no grand conspiracy. No information debunked. No further explanation provided.
The Opposition did not lie. No People Power photographs were doctored. All of it is real. The First Quarter Storm happened. People were tortured. Critics were imprisoned. There was a media blackout. Books about the dictatorship were factual and not just Liberal machinations to brainwash anyone.
Mapua student Archimedes Trajano was tortured by military officials after questioning Imee Marcos’ appointment as chairperson of the national youth council, which was created to counter youth activist groups. Many student activists were killed. Loretta Rosales, former Commissioner on Human Rights chairperson and history professor, survived after she was tortured and sexually assaulted by Marcos troops. Many women were raped by uniformed personnel.
Massacres did happen, like the Jabidah massacre, the Malisbong massacre, the Tung Umapuy massacre, the Manili massacre, the Pata Island massacre, and the Bingcul massacre.
Chief Marcos propagandist Primitivo Mijares testified before a United States congressional inquiry and in his book “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos” about the violence and corruption of the Marcos administration. He disappeared months after publication of the book, never to be seen again. His son was also tortured and found dead the same year. What happened to both father and son was subject to urban legend, but the Marcos corruption will always remain true.
All we have are the Marcoses and their alternate reality full of denials. In the words of aging klepto Imelda Marcos, "perception is real, truth is not."
Imee Marcos, a pompous klepto, is a projection of this alternate reality: that the election is their comeback story, and now they celebrate and gloat over their return to power. In a recently posted video directed by pedophile Darryl Yap, Imee said "Let me educate you about the Top 5 countries where you can migrate."
Bongbong Marcos, the unapologetic klepto scion, had promised everyone this alternate reality: an empty can like his election campaign, with no platform or substance, hanging on to the word of a man in denial. He promises that everyone is lying and they are telling the truth.
Sandro Marcos, the third-gen of this cult of persistent kleptos, encapsulates the attitude of the young loyalists: rely on the words of their relatives without much prodding, and carry over the myth of the Golden Age for posterity. He has had time to be educated outside the country and away from his family, yet learned nothing about the atrocities they committed, showing that regardless of wealth the propensity to lie and the choice to be ignorant is all-encompassing.
Their lies can now be further legitimised as the United States and other world leaders congratulated the Marcos scion on his landslide victory; a win largely seen as historical as majority of Filipinos, 31 million of them, voted to bring the family back into Malacañang. It was almost as if yesterday when footage showed Filipinos storming Malacanang and witnessing the exorbitant lifestyle of the Marcoses.
But it was a forecast revival — everyone knew it can happen, and expectation led to disappointment — as conservative Liberals failed the people over and over and Marcos cronies still held power in the government, poisoned the textbooks, and let the lies trickle down until it is time for the Marcoses’ return.
Now, we will have a generation of kids, a huge wave of them, believing in the Marcos reality and anything contrary are non-truths. Pro-Marcos teachers and lawmakers are empowered to present the narrative of the Marcos Golden Age; the infrastructure, promises of P20-30 per kilo of rice, and reviving the corruption-laden Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.
Unfortunately for Imee Marcos, Filipinos are here to stay because this country is not hers nor theirs to take. Imee can present herself as makamasa (for the masses) and pretend to speak for the marginalised that once shunned her family and is the source of their ill-gotten wealth, for the sake of the narrative. They can bask in the acknowledgement of the US who had aided them as they were exiled and other world leaders and diplomats who only reminded them to respect human rights and democratic values and strengthen friendships.
This may be their comeback story, but nothing lasts forever.
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