Aquino denies dictator Marcos state burial

President Benigno Aquino

Not only has President Benigno Aquino acted presidential in denying former president- turned dictator Ferdinand Marcos state and military honors for his burial, but it is announcing to all and sundry, and especially the youth of today, that it is one thing leading and honestly serving the people as president of the country, and it is another when the same man leads the country to damnation, leaving the citizens bereft of their dignity.

This is a clear repudiation to the recommendation made by Vice President Jejomar Binay that Marcos be given military honors in lieu of a Libingan ng mga Bayani burial for Marcos.

“It would be really, I think, the height of injustice to render any honors to the person who was the direct mastermind of all their suffering,” Aquino said before foreign correspondents, referring to the dark days of the martial law.

President Aquino added, saying, that, “ if Marcos would be accorded honors for slain military officer, it serves as a wrong message—demeans the honors given to others of a similar nature—to render the same to a person that has inflicted such suffering on our people after having promised to serve them.”

The president knows whereof he speaks, his family having been victims of the despot’s viciousness. The martyrdom of his father and namesake, fondly called “Ninoy” and the anxious, grieving days of his beloved mother, Cory, and her family, during the trying years of the martial law and until her husband’s death speaks volume of the dictator’s reign.

The heirs of dictator Marcos in politics

Understandably, the Marcoses, through the son, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has expressed their displeasure over President Aquino’s decision.

“Nagtataka ako bakit pa tayo pinag-aksaya ng panahon kung hindi naman talaga susundan yung mga rekomendasyon, pagaaral at resolusyon. Lahat naman iyon ay mukhang walang kabuluhan sa kaniyang pananaw at binasura lamang niya (I’m just surprised why so much time was wasted when, in the end, all the recommendations would be disregarded anyway. All the discussions have been rendered meaningless and he just trashed everything),” Marcos said.

I wrote once saying, how I wish Filipinos have the memory of an elephant. The old saying ‘an elephant never forgets’ is scientific fact. Matriarchs in particular have a social memory whereby they are able to remember old faces. This skill can be vital to the survival of the herd; when the female elephants encounter other individuals they do not recognize, family members bunch together defensively to protect their young.

This is what the Filipino people should be doing – protecting ourselves and our territory and teaching the young generation to remember the faces of the Marcoses, starting from their matriarch, Imelda, she of the famed extravagance and collector of 3000 pair of shoes, to her daughters Imee and Irene, and her son Bongbong – so they may not be in the position to harm and impoverished the nation again.

Alas, the reverse, the unexpected, the imponderable, has happened. Except for one, Irene, the three others are in politics, back in power, continuing to be in self-denial that the Marcos family has ever done wrong to the country and people.

They are back in the limelight addressing people with impunity – making dark, white, making lies, truth – all over again.

I am still glad I have a human brain that is able to communicate to my children what it was like to live under the Marcos regime and for them to, intelligently, pick it up from there – unlike the elephants that live by instincts.

Noynoy has the political will

As Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III gets sworn in on Wednesday, June 30, 2010, as the 15^th president of the Republic of the Philippines, the nation would like to believe that here, at last, is the man who would emancipate the poor masses from the bondage of hunger, poverty and disease, liberate the people from the throes of greed and corruption perpetrated by those voted into public office and turn around this country toward peace, stability and prosperity.

Noynoy’s overwhelming win in the elections is the result of the distressing cry by many Filipinos that change has to happen in the character of our leaders and public officials and in their governance if this country has to move forward.

If, indeed, he is the son of his illustrious and martyred father, Ninoy, and venerable and pious mother, Cory, both heroes in their own time and in the eyes of many, then Nonoy understands what is gravely wrong with this country and what it takes to make it right.

It is often said that a six-year term presidency is too long for a bad leader and too short for a good one.

With the enormous problems being inherited by the incoming administration, which to name a few are the widespread corruption, the budget deficit by the trillions of pesos, massive unemployment, poverty, peace and order, especially in Mindanao, and population explosion, surely Noynoy will have his hands full.

Six years may not be enough to resolve these problems, all of which seem to be endemic in our presidential system of government, but having been part of history and having an honorable legacy to uphold, it could be possible, if not plausible, for change to happen.

Noynoy admitted that he could not do it alone. This we appreciate.

But, it would be more appreciated if the people, most especially those in the opposition, could grant him the liberty to choose and decide whomsoever he wants to be members of his cabinet and other important positions in government.

Let us avoid targeting down immediately at something that he is creating around him to effect the changes he wants done just because it runs counter to ones ideas.

This is his time. It could be ours, too, to benefit, if everybody gives him the chance.

One thing going for Noynoy is that he has his siblings, who certainly will not be interfering in the affairs of the nation, but who undeniably and definitely will ensure that Noynoy will serve the Filipino people with all his might and with all his strength, as his late father counseled him to do.

For this alone we should all be hopeful that even if the nation’s problems will not be resolved completely during Noynoy’s term of office, at least we shall have seen that the changes have been started towards the right direction and that it could be done if the political will to do it is there.

It is believed that Noynoy has this political will. Sustaining this political will shall see us through.

Wishing we, Filipinos, have elephant memory

We, Filipinos, are noted for our resiliency in times of crisis.

We are noted for smiling even in the hardest of circumstances.

We are noted for our hospitality and being good-natured.

We are known for our intrepid domestic helpers scattered all over the world.

We are known for our benevolent heart in caring for the elderly and the sick abroad.

We are known for having a Ninoy, a Cory, a Pacquiao, and a Peñaflorida – heroes all.

Yet, what really is insulting to us, Filipinos, is when people from other nations notices, remembers and chides us as having a very short memory.

But can we blame them?

Look where ex-president Joseph “Erap” Estrada is now?

After he was acrimoniously booted out from the presidency by people power and suffered the ignominy of being convicted and labeled as criminal for the crime of plunder, Erap is back in the limelight of the political arena, having the people that wanted him nailed supporting his candidacy for president – yet again.

How about the incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?

We were thinking that with the “Hello Garci” tapes, the ZTE-NBN scandal and all the other infamous scams that have highlighted her administration, that all these negative reviews that have impacted on the Filipinos will see her writing the end of her political career.

Only recently President Arroyo declared her candidacy for congresswoman representing Pampanga and not even her alleged coddling of the Maguindanao massacre suspects has moved her to bid farewell to politics.

Yet her adulators and parasites in congress that are beholden to her are starting to welcome her back.

The last, but surely not the least, is the stunning political comeback of former first lady Imelda Marcos.

Nobody seems to be questioning now the malevolent excesses that she and her husband, the despot, have done to this country and its people.

This notorious woman, famous for her extravagance and wee-hour-in-the morning dances with George Hamilton, as well as being the owner of over 3000 pairs of shoes, will sit in the halls of power again?

Are we losing our minds to ‘recycle’ those that have caused us pain, left us in poverty, and utterly shamed us?

This is why am wishing we, Filipinos, have elephant memory, for these animals are said to live to an age of up to 70 or 80 years and they continue to have a good memory. They remember the site of the drought years ago and won’t go there anymore. They remember the people who has been good to them as well as those who mistreated them. They remember the negative memories and makes sure it won’t be repeated.

How very much unlike us!

We, Filipinos, have to have that kind of memory so we will be reminded not only of our costly mistakes but also of our own stupidity.