Moving on

Maria Imelda Josefa Marcos, also known as Imee, governor of Ilocos Norte and eldest child of the late unlamented dictator Ferdinand Marcos, has a strange notion of remembrance, the nature of time and justice.

At a press conference in Cebu City on Tuesday, Imee suggested that Filipinos “move on” from that dark chapter of our history known as the Marcos dictatorship, a rule so violent and rapacious we still reel from its effects more than three decades after the people rose up to oust the tyrant.

It wouldn’t be the first time Imee and other members of her family have tried to play the “move on” card to dodge the issue of their involvement in the dictatorship.

I vividly remember interviewing her mother Imelda once and asking her where she thought she would go when she died. Without batting an eyelash, Madame looked me in the eye and replied: “Why, Heaven of course, where I will be with my dear Ferdinand.” All the while her right hand was fidgeting with her left, on a finger of which was a ring with a HUUUUUGE diamond, which at one point slipped and turned palm up to reveal an EVEN LARGER diamond on the other side.

But what rankles with her latest attempt to brush off the past is that Tuesday happened to be August 21, the same day in 1983 that Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was assassinated on his return from exile, his death adding fuel to the already growing protest movement that would boot Marcos from power less than three years later.

“The millennials have moved on, and I think people at my age should also move on as well,” said Imee, now 62 and, aptly enough, a possible senatorial candidate of this administration, led by a homicidal madman who aspires to and is likely to — if he hasn’t done so yet — outdo his idol Marcos in brutality and, although the jury’s still out, in corruption as well.

But how can someone who did not experience strongman rule “move on” from it? Isn’t this why there is a perception that young people seem to buy the canard of Marcos’ being the “greatest” president, because they never saw for themselves how the truth was actually the exact opposite of this?

Then again, even Imee’s claim about millennials moving on doesn’t ring true at all if we simply look at how so many of our youth turned out to protest her father’s furtive burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, courtesy of Rodrigo Duterte and what would eventually unmask itself as a coopted Supreme Court.

Oh, and in another sweet irony, millennials who may not have known what it was under Imee’s Dad are getting a quick education on populist strongman rule, no thanks to the current Palace occupant. So, no, Imee, we seriously doubt these millennials will agree with “moving on” without accountability from this nightmare.

As for people her age, aside from the sincerely true believers (yes, there are those, including relatives who I dearly love and respect), she must be talking of those coming down with early dementia or, well, let’s face it, the world will never be at risk of a shortage of lapdogs and mercenaries.

The truth is, “move on,” a phrase originally associated with failed relationships, has become a favorite catch phrase of the corrupt and the criminal. So when politicians say we need to “move on,” what they are really asking us to do is overlook their thieving, lying, murdering ways. In short, they want us to lie back and enjoy the rape.

Much has been said about the failed promises of EDSA 1. Sadly much of it, particularly how the restored elite hijacked democracy for themselves, helped along , of course, by a spoiled military that wouldn’t return to barracks, is true.

But I maintain that EDSA 1 died even before that, when the Marcoses were allowed to escape the people’s justice.

However, I also have faith in our people and I do not doubt that this time around, getting away with murder won’t be so easy.

Just one man’s opinion? I doubt it.

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