Prof. Ed Garcia goes to the stage at the end of the mammoth rally of Tropang Angat on May 7, 2022 and presents the bestselling book, “Servant Leader: Leni Robredo”, which he authored, to VP Leni Gerona Robredo. FACEBOOK
NEW YORK—“HOW are they electing a Marcos, Luis? HOW?”
My friend’s email put it succinctly. He isn’t Filipino but knew enough of the Marcoses and their systematic plunder and authoritarian rule for two decades, as well as the brutal war on drugs carried out by Rodrigo Duterte (a professed admirer of the late dictator), to be baffled by the namesake son’s triumph at the polls, with a landslide win.
How, indeed.
That bafflement was echoed by Filipino friends, but coupled with anger, shock, and fear for the ever-fragile state of our democracy. “Stupefied,” “Nightmarish,” “Terrified,” “Shameful” were among the more common and printable reactions.
While the elections were marred by faulty voting machines, credible accounts of voter fraud and intimidation, nevertheless, were all of these to be rectified and votes properly counted, these would not be sufficient to overcome the huge margin.
I am tempted to say that idiocy is on the rise, except that, while partly true, that would be simplistic and avoid a conversation about the burdens of a highly unequal society perpetrated by the elites of varying ideological persuasions, the rise in dominance of social media where the dissemination of misinformation and fake news—with only a token nod towards regulation—effectively created a counternarrative where modern Philippine history’s villains became shining knights in armor, and a public educational system that barely examines the evils of the Marcos regime.
Harnessed by the Marcos-Duterte campaign, with loads of cash, Facebook and TikTok proved to be the poisoned arrows that essentially killed any reasoned debates about policy and scrutiny of their public-service record. With no agreed-upon facts, narratives then became subservient to narrow, self-serving agendas. With the pending appointment of Vice-President elect Sara Duterte to head the Department of Education despite lacking the requisite qualifications, the rewriting and revision of history sure to follow will result in so many inconvenient truths being disappeared—a nation thus condemned to repeat history.
Additionally, BongBong Marcos (BBM) and Sara Duterte refused to participate in any debate, and would not answer most reporters’ questions. BBM did misrepresent the martial-law regime of his father as a “golden age,” with the implicit promise of following in his father’s (and his mother’s, the indefatigable, unrepentant Imelda’s) footsteps.
The tandem held out the vague promise of unity. Skeptics point out that the only unity achieved was that between two political, feudalistic dynasties—one based in the north and the other based in the south.
In my view, the most forceful response to the Marcos-Duterte electoral victory came from Ed Garcia, ex-Jesuit, professor-activist, and one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution. I quote here from his statement:
“A FRAUD AS PRESIDENT”
“Not even thirty-one million people can convince me that a lie is the truth. Numbers do not convert a wrong into something that is right. I cannot live in a moral universe where you determine truth or judge what is morally right by the raising of hands. In a deviously prepared campaign of disinformation, deception and the dumbing down of politics funded by ill-gotten wealth stashed in secret accounts, we have witnessed how our own history has been revised. Facts have been replaced by perception (emphasis added).”
Walden Bello, who lost in his bid for the vice-presidency, issued a statement the day after the elections, a statement by the way headlined “F*** You, Marcos, the Battle Has Just Begun.” Bello says that “while we did not win … we succeeded beyond our early expectations in attracting thousands to our socialist agenda.” Part of the socialist agenda: a 750 peso minimum wage, a wealth tax on the wealthiest Filipinos, guaranteed income for all Filipinos, and the legalization of divorce and marriage equality.
Bello predicts that the victorious alliance being one of convenience—as most alliances have always been in Philippine politics—“the Marcos-Duterte dynastic duo will be lucky to survive one year before it is undone by the inevitable infighting over the spoils of office.” The result? “An electoral base built on the illusion of Marcos delivering on his promising everything under the sun will soon generate disappointment and, after that, rage.”
Bello promises to ally himself, and presumably his fellow Democratic Socialists, with the opposition to the incoming regime. He adds, “But more important I will work with others to lay a really wide and deep mass base for democratic socialism.”
(To Be Continued) – Copyright L.H. Francia 2022
