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Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Sins of the Father


SINS OF THE FATHER

“Why is not the son charged with the guilt of his father?”—Ezekiel 18:19

The son does not acknowledge but denies. He does not condemn but condones. He does not repudiate but exonerates.

“I can only apologize for myself,” he says. “I cannot apologize for anyone else.”

Do you think that I am like yourself? I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.—Psalm 50:21

70,000 imprisoned…34,000 tortured…3,240 killed…2,520 salvaged…737 desaparecidos…

Let us catalogue the methods of torture.

Electric shock was administered to the victim’s fingers and genitals, or in the case of females, nipples. Frequent shocks to the genitals would cause the victim to uncontrollably urinate, and through the buttocks to unintentionally defecate.

Beatings were common, using fists, kicks, and karate blows. Rifle butts, wooden clubs, glass soft drink bottles, and other weapons would be used. Victims might have their heads rammed repeatedly against the wall until they were knocked unconscious.

Everyday implements—ballpoint pens, thumb tacks, or pliers—would be used to assault victims.

Hands, wire, or steel bars would be used to strangulate the victims, which would damage the victims’ ability to breathe or speak, or kill them.

Dubbed San Juanico Bridge, victims would be forced to suspend themselves in the air, anchoring their head and feet on two separate beds set a body length apart. When the victims sagged, they were beaten.

Using the water cure, water, usually dirty, or abhorrent liquids like urine or sewage would be forced down the victims’ mouths and throats, causing gastric distention, and then it would be forced out by beatings, sometimes resulting in death.

Burns would be inflicted using cigarettes or flat irons, causing blistering, bleeding, scarring, or disfigurement, sometimes resulting in infection, or severing body parts.

According to Russian roulette, the gun cylinder loaded with a single bullet would be spun around and the gun barrel would be inserted into the victim’s mouth or aimed at the head, killing many in this way.

Sexual abuse was frequent, involving sodomy, rape, beatings, stripping, humiliation, mutilation, sometimes, death. A stick was inserted into the penis of at least one victim.

Pepper torture would be directed at the lips, genitals, and other sensitive areas. Talong smeared with pepper would be inserted in the victim’s vagina.

Victims who were blindfolded, manacled, or boxed into very small spaces would undergo animal treatment. They would be ordered to eat rotting food or disgusting items like worms or human feces, and then beaten and threatened until they did.

Injected with truth serum, victims would lapse into delirium.

“What I will never forget is the cruel extraction of my two molars at the Camp Panopio dental service,” says one victim. “When the military dentist found out I was a political detainee, he waived the use of anesthesia. I pleaded to him but he merely sneered and instructed my escorts to just hold my arms.”

The son remonstrates. “We have constantly said that if during the time of my father…there were those who…were victimized in some way or another,” he says, “these are instances that have fallen through the cracks.”

The father is not responsible for the abuses committed? He did not participate in crimes that took place under his command responsibility?

Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” He said, “I have found you.”—1 Kings 21:20

On February 23, 1994, a U.S. jury in a Honolulu court awarded $1.2 billion for exemplary damages against the Marcos estate, in a class action suit involving 9,541 claims of human rights victims under the Marcos regime from September 21, 1972 to February 25, 1986. On January 18, 1995, the court awarded $766.4 million for compensatory damages.

In 1997 the Swiss Federal Supreme Court promulgated a decision returning more than $680 million in Marcos Swiss deposits to the Philippine government pending its compliance with two conditions—the first, “a final and executory decision of a credible Philippine court declaring the said funds as ill-gotten,” and the second, that a “rightful share of the funds” should be given to the martial law victims who won the Hawaii class action suit against the Marcos estate.

In July 2003 the Philippine Supreme Court stated that the Marcos Swiss funds are ill-gotten, complying with the first condition.

On February 25, 2013, the Philippine government complied with the second condition when President Aquino signed the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, which awarded $246 million of some $683 million in Marcos Swiss deposits to 9,539 victims in the Hawaii class action suit. Beneficiaries are presumed victims of martial law abuses and do not have to prove their claims.

So far, 75,730 claims have been filed under this law as direct victims of martial law during the Marcos regime or as next of kin.

The Act also created the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission, tasked to work with the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education “to educate young people about the abuses committed by the Marcos regime and the heroism by those who opposed it.”

In 2011 payments were made to 7,526 victims in the 1995 and 1996 judgments from a $10 million settlement with a Marcos crony.

On October 24, 2012, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a 2011 contempt judgment against Imelda and Bongbong Marcos. Because the Marcoses refused to furnish the court with the information it had requested and continued to use frozen assets of the estate, they were fined $353.6 million payable to the victims in the 1994 and 1995 judgments.

In 2014, the Singapore Court of Appeal upheld its Supreme Court decision assigning over $23 million of Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth in Singapore to the Philippine National Bank.

75,730 claims9,541 claims…9,539 victims…7,526 victims…$1.2 billion$766.4 million…$683 million$680 million…$353.6 million$246 million…$23 million…$10 million…

Go over the overwhelming, damning evidence of the Marcos crimes, piles, literally mountains of it. Know the truth about Marcos-organized and executed murders, torture, human rights violations, and plunder, and act accordingly.

Mountains of corpses—tortured, mutilated, mangled, strangled, salvaged—Liliosa Hilao, Archimedes Trajano, Boyet Mijares, Dr. Remberto Dela Paz…

Mountains of personal testimonies—handwritten, audiotaped, transcribed, videotaped, recorded, printed, published, produced—Trinidad Herrera, Neri Colmenares, Hilda Narciso, Satur Ocampo…

Mountains of documentation and evidence in the offices of the Presidential Commission on Good Government—the father’s handwritten diary, presidential notepapers, minutes of company meetings, contracts, “side agreements,” bank accounts in the dozens, share certificates in the hundreds, reports of private investigators and court judgements in the tens of thousands of pages…

Mountains of world media coverage over the past three decades—print, TV, and online…Time, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, U.S. News & World Report, Reuters, AP, UPI, The Guardian…

Mountains of U.S. dollars in offshore accounts, including Swiss bank accounts of aliases William Saunders, John Lewis, Jane Ryan

Mountains of U.S. real estate—the Lindenmere estate in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue, the Herald Center on the Avenue of the Americas, one 71-story office building on 40 Wall Street, another on 200 Madison Avenue, Webster Hotel on West 45th Street, the13-acre residential estate at 3850 Princeton Pike, Princeton, two more at 4 Capshire Drive and 19 Pendleton Drive, Cherry Hill, New Jersey…

Mountains of Philippine timber, half the entire country’s forest cover, 39 million acres’ worth, depleted through rampant logging…

Piles of gold—13,915 pounds spirited away from the Central Bank of the Philippines…the legendary General Yamashita’s 2,000-lb 18-karat golden Buddha, also mysteriously disappeared…

Piles of jewelry—gold, platinum, Colombian emeralds, Burmese rubies, Indian and South African diamonds, a rare 25-carat pink diamond…rings, bracelets, necklaces, tiaras, earrings, pendants, cufflinks, watches…Patek Philippe, Rolex, Cartier, Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bucellatti…

Piles of European masterpieces—Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Veronese, El Greco, Zurbaran, Goya, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Picasso, Braque…

Marcos plundered $5 to $10 billion, estimates the World Bank-UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative, $11 to $22 billion equivalent today. What does $22 billion buy today?

$22 billion is one-and-a-half times the Gross Domestic Product of Iceland in 2015…it buys one 30-km Singapore Thomson MRT Line…5 One World Trade Centers…8 Hubble Space Telescopes…14 Golden Gate Bridges…21 top-division European football clubs…67 Boeing 777’s…it feeds 872,324 families of four in the U.S. for one year…

“We practically own everything in the Philippines,” says Imelda, “from electricity, telecommunications, airlines, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate and insurance.”

Can’t the son show at least the smallest remorse for the father’s sins?

“I cannot deny what my father did,” says Martin Bormann Jr., showing deep pain. “I cannot.” Was the death sentence at Nuremberg correctly meted out upon his father? “Yes,” he answers, slowly, firmly.

If the sins of the father are not the sins of the son, then shouldn’t the son restitute the plunder of the father?

Kapag hindi minana ng anak ang mga kasalanan ng ama, bakit niya minana ang ninakaw?

If the son did not inherit the sins of the father, then why does he inherit the plunder?

In 2012 the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that about $40 million in the account of Arelma S.A., a Panamanian-registered corporation created by Marcos on September 21, 1972, the day he declared martial law, is ill-gotten wealth. By supporting over 20 years’ litigation, still ongoing, the son has been blocking the release of the funds.

How much again? $40 million…

Marcos, the father, destroyed Philippine democratic institutions and wrecked the Philippine economy. That is why he is a traitor to our country. He shed blood to stay in power. Blood drenches his hands. He looted the country and impoverished the nation. His plunder is stained with blood. He is worse than Judas Iscariot, a traitor, a murderer, and a thief, because the spoils of the father amount to a very great deal more than thirty pieces of silver and he did not, unlike the Iscariot, return the money.

“That upper spirit, who has the worst punishment,” so spoke my guide, “is Judas, he that has his head within and plies his feet without.”—Inferno, Canto XXXIV, 56-59

Murder, torture, human rights abuses, plunder—you cannot acknowledge this or at least feel the slightest speck of shame?

Apologize for the sins of the father. Return the blood money. It is worth a lot more than thirty pieces of silver.

Originally published in The Galway Review (July 3, 2016)



Bongbong Marcos versus Leni Robredo, Philippine Vice-Presidential Debate, April 10, 2016

31 comments:

  1. Translator’s Note:

    Kapag hindi minana ng anak ang mga kasalanan ng ama, bakit niya minana ang ninakaw?

    If the son did not inherit the sins of the father, then why does he inherit the plunder?

    Contributor’s Note:

    This work, a hybrid form, is written as a reverie. Not entirely prose or poetry, it is closest to a prose poem. One indication of its hybrid character is that the factual claims in the work are supported by references (attached). Although the references do not have to be published with the work, they are necessary to vouch for its integrity.

    REFERENCES

    Adel, Rosette. (April 16, 2016). Bongbong Won’t Apologize for Rights Abuses under Martial Law. The Philippine Star. Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/04/10/1571491/bongbong-wont-apologize-rights-abuses-under-martial-law

    Associated Press. (December 30, 1986). Manila Sues for Title to Marcos’ N.Y. Properties. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-30/news/mn-1341_1_marcos-wealth

    Ausick, Paul. (March 30, 2014). Why a Boeing 777 Costs $320 Million. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/30/why-a-boeing-777-costs-320-million-dollars/7063805/

    Avila, Charlie. (October 25, 2015). Asian Journal: Chronology of the Marcos Plunder. Bantayog ng mga Bayani. Retrieved from http://www.bantayog.org/?p=1200

    Brown, Eliot. (January 30, 2012). Tower Rises, and So Does Its Price Tag. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203920204577191371172049652

    Cabreza, Vincent. (September 8, 2015). ‘Yamashita Treasure’ 70 years After. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/720070/yamashita-treasure-70-years-after

    Cayabyab, Marc Jayson & JDS. (January 3, 2014). Singapore Court Awards $23M in Marcos Money to PNB. GMA News Online. Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/342344/money/singapore-court-awards-23m-in-marcos-money-to-pnb#sthash.9GmGayRO.dpuf

    Chua, Michael Charleston “Xiao” Briones. (June 11, 2012). TORTYUR: Human Rights Violations During the Marcos Regime. Academia. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/7968581/TORTYUR_Human_Rights_Violations_During_The_Marcos_Regime

    CIA World Factbook. (1993–2015). List of Countries by GDP (PPP). Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)

    Comparative Subway Construction Costs, Revised. (June 3, 2013). In Pedestrian Observations. Retrieved from https://pedestrianobservations.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/comparative-subway-construction-costs-revised/

    To be continued

    ReplyDelete
  2. REFERENCES (continued page 2)

    Davies, Nick. (May 7, 2016). The $10bn Question: What Happened to the Marcos Millions? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies

    DiVirgilio, Andrea. (November 12, 2013). 10 Things You Can Buy If You Had a Billion Dollars. The Richest. Retrieved from http://www.therichest.com/expensive-lifestyle/the-top-10-things-you-can-buy-if-you-had-a-billion-dollars-2/

    Doyo, Ma. Ceres P. (September 29, 2015). 75,730 Claims of Rights Violations under Marcos Are Being Processed. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/726107/75730-claims-of-rights-violations-under-marcos-are-being-processed

    Ferdinand Marcos’ Gold Buddha. (2016). In Unsolved More Mysteries. Retrieved from http://unsolved.com/archives/ferdinand-marcos%E2%80%99-gold-buddha

    Fineman, Mark. (March 16, 1986). Marcos-Era Gold Reported Missing: Philippines Tracing Flow of Millions in Bullion, Cash and Illegal Profits. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-16/news/mn-26520_1_gold-bullion/2

    Government Set to Recognize Victims of Marcos Rule. (January 29, 2013). In Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/348489/compensation-bill-for-martial-law-victims-up-for-ratification

    Hapal, Don Kevin. (February 23, 2016). Worse than Death: Torture Methods during Martial Law. Rappler. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/nation/121365-torture-martial-law-marcos-regime

    Hays, Jeffrey. (2013). Marcos’s Plunder and Wealth. Facts and Details. Retrieved from http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6b/entry-3845.html

    Heilprin, John. (April 13, 2015). Political Will Guides Marcos Case in Philippines. SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved from http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/hidden-bank-deposits_political-will-guides-marcos-case-in-philippines/41367100#

    Hellmich, Nanci. (May 1, 2013). Cost of Feeding a Family of Four: $146 to $289 a Week. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/01/grocery-costs-for-family/2104165/

    Highway and Transportation District. (2006-2015). Frequently Asked Questions about the Golden Gate Bridge. Golden Gate Bridge. Retrieved from http://goldengatebridge.org/research/facts.php#Cost

    Hilao v. Estate of Marcos. (June 18-December 17, 1996). In University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Retrieved from https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/Philippines/Hilao%20v%20Marcos,%20%2095-15779.pdf

    Horton, Murray. (April-May-June 1999). Imelda Admits to Huge Marcos Fortune. Kasama, 13(2). Retrieved from http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/1999/V13n2/Imelda1.htm

    Imelda Marcos’ $21 Million Collection of Watches and Jewelry to Be Auctioned. (March 2, 2016). In Stephen Silver. Retrieved from http://shsilver.com/watch-blog/2016/3/2/imelda-marcos-21-million-collection-of-watches-and-jewelry-to-be-auctioned

    Inflation Calculator. (2015). In US Inflation Calculator. Retrieved from http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

    KBK. (November 5, 2012). PNoy Vows to Clear Hurdles for Release of Marcos ‘Ill-Gotten Wealth.’ GMA News Online. Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/281025/news/nation/pnoy-vows-to-clear-hurdles-for-release-of-marcos-ill-gotten-wealth#sthash.9RJJrxQB.dpuf

    KG. (February 25, 2013). PNoy Signs Martial Law Compensation Bill into Law. GMA News Online. Retrieved from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/296511/news/nation/pnoy-signs-martial-law-compensation-bill-into-law#sthash.MEe6WDKI.dpuf

    Macaraig, Ayee. (February 25, 2016). Marcos on Dad’s Regime: What Am I to Apologize for? Rappler. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/nation/103772-bongbong-marcos-regime-no-apologies

    Marcos Jr Barred Return of Stolen P1.9 Billion – PCGG. (April 14, 2016). In Rappler. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/129456-bongbong-marcos-ill-gotten-wealth-pcgg

    To be continued

    ReplyDelete
  3. REFERENCES (continued page 3)

    Marcoses Lose US Appeal. (October 29, 2012). In Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://globalnation.inquirer.net/54454/marcoses-lose-us-appeal

    Martial Law Victims: Tortured in 1974 and 1994: ‘The Military Hasn’t Changed Its Style.’ (September 18, 2012). In InterAksyon.com. Retrieved from http://interaksyon.com/article/43411/martial-law-victims--tortured-in-1974-and-1994-the-military-hasnt-changed-its-style

    Martial Law Victims: When the Camp Dentist Learned I was a Detainee, He Wouldn't Use Anesthesia. (September 16, 2012). In InterAksyon.com. Retrieved from http://interaksyon.com/article/43210/martial-law-victims--when-the-camp-dentist-learned-i-was-a-detainee-he-wouldnt-use-anesthesia

    McCoy, Alfred. (September 20, 1999). Dark Legacy: Human Rights under the Marcos Regime. World History Archives. Retrieved from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54a/062.html

    Mettraux, Guenael. (2016). The Doctrine of Superior/Command Responsibility. The Peace and Justice Initiative: Toward Universal Implementation of the ICC Statute. Retrieved from http://www.peaceandjusticeinitiative.org/implementation-resources/command-responsibility

    Mullen, Don. (January 12, 1991). Marcos’ Old Masters Bring $15 Million. UPI. Retrieved from http://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/01/12/Marcos-Old-Masters-bring-15-million/1781663656400/

    Mydans, Seth. (March 1, 2011). First Payments Are Made to Victims of Marcos Rule. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/world/asia/02philippines.html

    Olson, Elizabeth. (October 23, 1998). Ferdinand Marcos’s Swiss Bank Legacy: Tighter Rules for Despots and Criminals. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/23/world/ferdinand-marcos-s-swiss-bank-legacy-tighter-rules-for-despots-and-criminals.html

    Other List of Torture Methods in Martial Law Era. (February 24, 2016). In The Martial Law Chronicles Project: A Campaign against Historical Revisionism. Retrieved from http://www.mlchronicles.com/stories/other-list-of-torture-methods-in-martial-law-era

    PCGG Welcomes Singapore Court Decision on Marcos’ Swiss Funds. (January 4, 2014). In Rappler. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/nation/47220-pcgg-welcomes-singapore-court-decision-marcos-swiss-funds

    Perry, Juliet. (February 16, 2016). Philippines to Sell Imelda Marcos’s ‘Ill-Gotten’ Jewels, Worth Millions. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/16/luxury/imelda-marcos-jewelery-auction/

    Redd, Nola Taylor. (April 24, 2013). Hubble Space Telescope: Pictures, Facts & History. Space.com. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/15892-hubble-space-telescope.html

    Remollino, Alexander Martin. (September 14-20, 2003). Torture Methods and Torturers of Martial Law. Bulatlat.com, 3(32). Retrieved from http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-32/3-32-torturers.html

    Sanai, Darius. (February 1, 1999). The Sins of My Father. Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-sins-of-my-father-1068013.html

    Santos, Elmor P. (January 21, 2016). Timeline: Jewels, Properties, and Billions of Marcos Ill-Gotten Wealth. CNN Philippines. Retrieved from http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2015/11/25/timeline-marcos-ill-gotten-wealth-jewels-properties-paintings.html

    Sison, Shakira. (September 23, 2015). #NeverAgain: Martial Law Stories Young People Need to Hear. Rappler. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/views/imho/106827-martial-law-stories-hear

    To be continued

    ReplyDelete
  4. REFERENCES (continued page 4)

    The World Bank-UNODC. (2016). Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos / Vilma Bautista New York Art Case / Human Rights Victims' Settlement. StAR: Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative. Retrieved from http://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/node/20308

    The World Bank-UNODC. (2016). Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos (Switzerland). StAR: Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative. Retrieved from http://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/node/18497

    Times Wire Services. (April 17, 1990). Marcoses Used ‘Jane and John’ Pseudonyms, Witness Testifies. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1990-04-17/news/mn-1439_1_witness-testifies

    Torres-Tupas, Tetch. (April 1, 2014). SC Affirms Forfeiture of Marcos’ $40-M Arelma Assets. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/590898/sc-affirms-forfeiture-of-marcos-40-m-arelma-assets

    Umil, Anne Marxze D. (April 27, 2012). 30 Years After Their Deaths, Colleagues Still Mourn Doctors of the People Bobby Dela Paz and Johnny Escandor. Bulatlat.com. Retrieved from http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/04/27/30-years-after-their-deaths-colleagues-still-mourn-doctors-of-the-people-bobby-dela-paz-and-johnny-escandor/

    V, Marcus. (April 15, 2016). PCGG: Bongbong, Not the Government, Blocking Awards for Martial Law Victims. Kicker Daily News. Retrieved from http://kickerdaily.com/posts/2016/04/pcgg-bongbong-not-the-govt-blocking-awards-martial-law-victims/

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  5. Image courtesy of Millitary Documentary Channel

    Image link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlwE5vFiPWU

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I rearranged and reposted my comments below to improve their coherence and facilitate their perusal.

      Gonzalinho

      Delete
  6. I wanted to write a poem, not an exposition about the subject, because there are already enough expositions about it.

    However, I also wanted to maintain the persuasive force of an expository argument. As a result the work is supported by documentation and it shows some of the logical structure of expository prose. However, it is not purely exposition. It's a hybrid form, closer I think to poetry than prose. It's a reverie. “I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24)

    “Good” poems are difficult to write and often don't come out finished in one go. Most published poems I write over a period of at least several months, sometimes several years. Unfortunately, this approach cannot be used for political poetry that seeks to speak to current events. In political poetry I believe that sometimes there is a trade-off between poetic quality and currency. No doubt writing poetry part-time on the odd weekend works against currency.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bongbong Marcos, son of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, lost the 2016 vice-presidential election in the Philippines by 0.5% of the popular vote or officially 263,473 votes. He filed an election protest on June 29, 2016.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bongbong Marcos should apologize to the Philippine people because he maintains a tight grip on the father's blood money and thereby participates in the sins of the father. The sins of the father are the sins of the son.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  9. LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

    Plunder raps filed April 2016 against Bongbong:

    http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/04/07/1570328/p205-m-plunder-case-filed-vs-bongbong

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  10. THE NEVERENDING STORY

    Imee hidden wealth:

    https://www.icij.org/offshore/ferdinand-marcos-daughter-tied-offshore-trust-caribbean

    https://www.facebook.com/206869209470230/videos/667415076748972/

    Imee Marcos’ children are beneficiaries of secret British Virgin Islands offshore trust:

    https://www.facebook.com/samasakm/videos/vb.1165506066816235/1225019040864937/?type=2&theater

    Bongbong blocking release of Arelma funds to the Filipino people:

    http://kickerdaily.com/posts/2016/04/pcgg-bongbong-not-the-govt-blocking-awards-martial-law-victims/

    Imelda, Imee, and Bongbong are scofflaws:

    https://www.facebook.com/206869209470230/photos/a.206942782796206.1073741828.206869209470230/663968043760342/?type=3

    Philippine government wins ill-gotten wealth case against Marcoses, Alfonso Lim family:

    http://www.rappler.com/nation/117880-pcgg-wins-case-marcos-alfonso-lim-taggat-industries

    Philippine government asks Sandiganbayan to forfeit Imelda’s 3 artwork collections:

    http://www.rappler.com/nation/138485-osg-imelda-marcos-art-collection-sandiganbayan

    The Marcos family continues to hide, use, and enjoy the father's plunder.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  11. SOME SUMMARY SOURCES ON MARCOS PLUNDER

    Bantayog ng mga Bayani - Highlights of a life of plunder:

    http://www.bantayog.org/?p=1200

    Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) - How to plunder a nation without really trying--check out the Fast Facts post on the PCGG Facebook page:

    https://www.facebook.com/PCGGofficial/posts/1094872073918218

    The Guardian - Update on the progress of our recovery of the plunder:

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  12. Summary account of Marcos plunder by Ang Lagalag:

    Kung pinamanahan man si Bongbong Marcos ng ninakaw ng kanyang ama, ang sambayanang Pilipino naman ang patuloy na pumapasan ng Bilyong utang na iniwan ng pamilya niya.

    Umabot sa halos $28 Billion ang iniwang utang ng diktador na si Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos matapos siyang patalsikin noong 1986. Lumubo ang utang ng bansa sa kanyang panunungkulan dahil sa kabi-kabilang pagpasok sa mga loan agreements ng gobyerno sa international banks (WB/IMF) at foreign governments.

    Ang mga ibinabanderang nagawa ni Marcos katulad ng Lung Center, Heart Center, Light Rail systems, flyovers, at iba pa ay pinondohan sa pamamagitan ng pangungutang. Ang malala nito, sa utang na nga lang nanggaling ang mga pondo, pinaghati-hatian pa ito ng ilang matataas na opisyal. Katulad na lamang sa LRT project kung saan nakatanggap ng kickback ang dating First Lady Imelda Marcos. Tila nagmumula sa mga inutang na pera ang national budget, bagkus dahil na rin walang kongresong magpapasa ng taunang pondo ng bansa at nakamkam ni Marcos ang legislative powers, ibig sabihin--ang buong pondo ng gobyerno, kontrolado ni Makoy.

    Kung ie-evaluate ang utang ni Marcos sa kasalukuyang exchange rate, aabot sa lampas isang trilyong piso ang accumulated external debt ng kanyang diktadurya.

    Ang bilyun-bilyong dolyar na utang ni Marcos ay naging malaking hamon para sa administrasyon ni President Corazon Aquino. Ngunit sa panunungkulan ni Cory, nasolusyunan ang paraan ng pagbabayad nito. Samantala, umabot lamang sa $227 Million ang external debt ng bansa sa panahon ni Cory.

    Pumangalawa sa Marcos administration si President Fidel Ramos kung saan umabot sa $16 Billion ang inutang ng bansa sa panunungkulan niya.

    Link: https://www.facebook.com/Ang-Lagalag-206869209470230/

    Above claims are well supported by reputable sources.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  13. THE SMOKING GUN

    Marcos “household effects” upon landing in Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, February 26, 1986:

    http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/556744/news/specialreports/what-marcoses-brought-to-hawaii-after-fleeing-phl-in-86-717-m-in-cash-124-m-in-deposit-slips

    A small mountain of U.S. dollars, gold, precious stones, jewelry, secret offshore bank accounts...

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  14. MARCOS’ COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY

    “Command or superior responsibility”...is a form of responsibility for omission to act: a superior may be held criminally responsible under that doctrine where, despite his awareness of the crimes of subordinates, he culpably fails to fulfill his duties to prevent and punish these crimes.

    The commission of one or more crimes attributable to a subordinate is a pre-requisite for the application of that doctrine. In addition, the following requirements have been identified as forming part of the doctrine of superior responsibility under customary international law:

    (i) A relationship of superior-subordinate linking the accused and those who committed the underlying offences at the time of the commission of the crime;

    (ii) The knowledge on the part of the superior that his subordinates have committed or taken a culpable part in the commission of a crime or are about to do so; and

    (iii) A failure on the part of the superior to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or to punish those crimes.

    Link: http://www.peaceandjusticeinitiative.org/implementation-resources/command-responsibility

    Bosworth was the American Ambassador to Manila from 1984 to 1987.

    ...Bosworth’s testimony shredded Marcos’ defense. The former US Ambassador to the Philippines revealed to the court that in one of the many phone conversations he had had with Marcos, the dictator told him, “I’m aware that there is torture and everything happens but this is part of the interrogation process and these people are Communists.”

    ...Judge Manuel Real himself appeared impressed by the testimony. In the opinion he rendered on the amount of compensation that each torture victim should get, Real noted—by way of historical background—that Marcos had wielded absolute power during Martial Law. “An example of Marcos’ absolute power,” Judge Real wrote, “was the testimony of Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, who pleaded with him (Marcos) to stop the human rights violations and to get rid of General Fabian Ver, a Marcos relative, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces.”

    According to Judge Real, “Marcos’ reply was telling to the jury. He (Marcos) is quoted as saying (to Bosworth), ‘Why are you so concerned about General Ver. (sic) I am in charge.’”

    Marcos was in charge. He had approved and sanctioned the torture. But this fact was masked during Martial Law by a façade of legality and confused hierarchy. All that gave Marcos plausible deniability.

    What Martial Law showed was the emergence in Philippine history, for the first time, of a national leader who ordered Filipino soldiers to systematically detain and torture fellow Filipinos by the thousands, using a legal infrastructure that he himself had created. In the past, such acts were perpetrated by colonial powers (Spain and the US) and an occupying power (Japan), aided by a number of Filipinos.

    ...Marcos and his torture machine did not spring from nowhere, they tapped into a deep vein of oppression and abuse going back centuries in Philippine history.

    In Raissa Robles, edited by Alan Robles, Marcos Martial Law: Never Again (2016), page 67.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  15. MARCOS IS A CRIMINAL

    Swiss Confederation Federal Office of Justice:

    The Marcos case began in 1986 when the Federal Council ordered bank accounts to be frozen. In 1990, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court approved the handover to the Phillippines of bank documents relating to the Marcos family, but ruled that the actual return of assets would be conditional upon a final and absolute judgment by a Phillippine court. In 1997, the Court established that the majority of the Marcos foundation assets were of CRIMINAL origin [capitals mine] and permitted their transfer to a escrow account in Manila, even though no Phillippine court ruling had yet been issued.

    Link: https://www.bj.admin.ch/bj/en/home/aktuell/news/2003/2003-08-05.html

    The World Bank Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative:

    In 1997, the Court established that the majority of the Marcos foundation assets were of CRIMINAL origin [capitals mine] and permitted their transfer to a escrow account in Manila, even though no Phillippine court ruling had yet been issued.

    ...Following the confiscation ruling of the Phillippine Supreme Court on 15 July 2003, which confirmed the view of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court with regard to the CRIMINAL origin [capitals mine] of the monies seized, the Philippine government may now dispose of the assets, worth some USD 683 million. No further decisions are due on the part of the Swiss authorities.

    Link: http://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/node/18497

    Senator Alan Peter Cayetano:

    https://www.facebook.com/rapplerdotcom/videos/vb.310621318958658/1192706180750163/?type=2&theater

    Raissa Robles, journalist:

    https://www.facebook.com/samasakm/videos/vb.1165506066816235/1218726288160879/?type=2&theater

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  16. “GOLDEN AGE”: THE BIG FAT LIE

    Thirty years after the first EDSA Revolution, many myths about the Marcos era are being deliberately floated around especially among today’s youth.

    Particularly alarming is the mistaken notion that the Marcos era ushered in the “golden age” for Philippine society, including the economy.

    We thought we might contribute to the ongoing discussion by looking at the data and allowing them to speak for themselves.

    Indeed, for the newer generations with virtually no means of recalling the brutal martial law era and the economic hardships that it brought, perhaps one of the best ways of reliving the Marcos economy is by revisiting the data and opening yourselves to the story these data show.

    To do so, we picked the top 5 graphs which, to our mind, best illustrate the ill outcomes of the Marcos era on the economy.

    See:

    http://www.rappler.com/views/imho/124682-marcos-economy-golden-age-philippines

    It would be a mistake, in my opinion, to limit the victims of martial law to persons who were killed, tortured, or suffered human rights violations. Consider that Marcos destroyed our democratic institutions and after the Aquino assassination sent the economy into a tailspin so that we recovered the equivalent income levels of the early eighties only recently. We lost several generations of progress and economic development because of Marcos. There are many victims of this economic debacle. Years ago, the late Francisco Arcellana, National Artist, remarked to me, “I hate Marcos because he broke up families,” meaning, members of his family had to work abroad because of the economic devastation wrought by the Marcos regime. Significantly, Marcos instituted a culture of corruption that extended beyond the government into all areas of Philippine society. He wrought damage that was not only political and economic but social and cultural as well. After Marcos we struggled hard to rebuild our democratic institutions and our economy and even our culture. It has taken practically one lifetime, and we have a great deal more to do. In an important, meaningful sense, Marcos' victims encompassed the entire nation. Marcos’ martial law regime was a facade erected by gargantuan debt, overspending, corruption, waste, and cronyism that racked up huge debts requiring almost one lifetime for an entire nation to pay. Martial law, all things considered, was not a “golden age.” Those who forget history are condemned to repeat history's costly mistakes.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  17. FAÇADE ECONOMY: PINAUTANG NI MARCOS ANG PILIPINAS AT HANGGANG NGAYON BINABAYARAN NATIN NG LUHA AT DUGO

    Put succinctly, some of the country’s top economists have characterized the Marcos years as being fueled by “debt-driven growth.”

    Debt is not necessarily detrimental to a country’s economic growth and development, when managed well and invested judiciously – notably in areas that allow the country to grow faster and include more of its citizens as beneficiaries and drivers of that inclusive growth.

    ...If there was so much money flowing into the country, then why did poverty continue to increase?

    An influential think piece written in 1984 by Noel De Dios, Vic Paqueo, Solita Monsod and other top economic minds of the country then, outlined the many failures of economic management during the Marcos years.

    State-run monopolies, mismanaged exchange rates, imprudent monetary policy and debt management, all underpinned by rampant corruption and cronyism, were among the key factors that plunged the Philippine economy into the worst economic contraction that it has experienced in its entire history.

    Link: http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/123773-marcos-economic-disaster

    DAVAO CITY—Of all the myths that had been built around martial law, it is that which claims that one-man rule brought about the country’s golden economic age which is the biggest insult to Filipinos, according to a militant lawmaker.

    Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, of the party-list group Bayan Muna, said claims of economic prosperity during the reign of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos were a “manufactured myth.”

    “Under the Marcos regime, the country’s foreign debt skyrocketed from $599 million in 1966 to $26.7 billion in 1986,” said Zarate in a statement.

    “We are so deep in debt that we have been paying the Marcos debt for the past 30 years since the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship,” he said.

    “We will be paying the Marcos debt, which mostly went to their own pockets, until 2025, or almost 40 years after Edsa,” he said.

    Link: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/774774/well-pay-marcos-debt-until-2025#ixzz4FBxJJLxo

    To be continued

    ReplyDelete
  18. FAÇADE ECONOMY: PINAUTANG NI MARCOS ANG PILIPINAS AT HANGGANG NGAYON BINABAYARAN NATIN NG LUHA AT DUGO (continued page 2)

    Take gross domestic product (GDP) for instance: the average GDP growth rate from 1972 to 1985 (Marcos’s last full year) was all of 3.4% per annum. Per-capita GDP grew annually at less than 1% average over the period -- more precisely 0.82%. Hardly a roaring-tiger performance. At that rate it would have taken 85 years for per capita income just to double.

    …The reason for the dismal performance under martial law is well understood. The economy suffered its worst post-war recession under the Marcos regime because of the huge debt hole it had dug, from which it could not get out. In fact, all of the “good times” the admirers of the regime fondly remember were built on a flimsy sand-mountain of debt that began to erode from around 1982, collapsing completely in 1984-1985 when the country could no longer pay its obligations, precipitating a debt crisis, loss of livelihood, extreme poverty, and ushering in two lost decades of development.

    The economy’s record under Marcos is identical to that of a person who lives it up on credit briefly, becomes bankrupt, and then descends into extreme hardship indefinitely. It would then be foolish to say that person managed his affairs marvelously, citing as evidence the opulent lifestyle he enjoyed before the bankruptcy. But that is exactly what admirers of the Marcos regime are wont to do.

    It is instructive that neither Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, nor any major Asian country catastrophically experienced negative growth in the early 1980s. The Philippines was the exception, following instead the example of protectionist and over-borrowed Latin American countries. This suggests that there was nothing unavoidable about the crisis the Philippines suffered, and that it was the result instead of failed policies. In 1977 the Philippines’ total debt was all of $8.2 billion. Only five years later, in 1982, this had risen to $24.4 billion.

    …By the early 1980s, the pattern would be set where foreign direct investments in neighboring countries regularly outstripped those in the Philippines. (The intermittent coups d’etat post-Marcos did us no favors either.)

    All this should correct the common misconception that the country’s troubles stemmed entirely from conjunctural “political factors,” notably that it was caused by ex-Senator Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino, Jr.’s assassination. One might not even entirely blame the mere fact of authoritarianism itself -- after all Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia at the time were also ruled by despots of some sort or other, yet suffered no crisis. Rather the Philippine debacle was linked to the misguided policies that were structurally linked and specific to Marcos-style authoritarianism. For all its technocratic rhetoric and rationale, the Marcos regime never took economic reform, liberalization, and export-oriented industrialization seriously; it remained a heavily protectionist and preferential regime (think the cronies and the failed major industrial projects). The availability of easy loans was well suited to the priorities of a regime that thought it could stoke growth without deep reform and slake the greed of Marcos and his cronies at the same time. In the end a corrupt regime fell victim to its own hubris.

    Link: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=the-truth-about-the-economy-under-the-marcos-regime&id=118661

    To be continued

    ReplyDelete
  19. FAÇADE ECONOMY: PINAUTANG NI MARCOS ANG PILIPINAS AT HANGGANG NGAYON BINABAYARAN NATIN NG LUHA AT DUGO (continued page 3)

    Cultural Center of the Philippines, Folk Arts Theater, PICC, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center, National Kidney Foundation, San Juanico Bridge—the Marcos playbook was with his right hand to build “impact projects” to impress the oblivious populace, creating and maintaining a grand façade of prosperity and economic development, while with his left hand looting the nation of billions of dollars in dollar-denominated debt that it would be the obligation of the country to pay for several generations afterwards. It is this huge dollar-denominated debt wastefully spent, badly invested, and surreptitiously plundered that is the real story—the weak, crumbling structure beneath Marcos’ mendacious façade.

    If you were to compose a Balance Sheet about the Marcos regime, the verdict is unequivocally a very substantial loss of value. If you were to compute return on investment, the return is negative. So, of course, Marcos did some good things—that is, he spent the country's wealth to glorify himself, to maintain appearances so that he could stay in power—but on balance, he looted the country's wealth. He invested very poorly and incurred enormous debt. So the balance is negative by a very substantial amount.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  20. “HE DESTROYED THE SPIRIT OF THE FILIPINO ENTREPRENEUR”

    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vaDGdsruU

    Genuine entrepreneurs--value-adding innovators--contribute to the economy by creating wealth, employing workers, and increasing incomes. They have the opposite effect of crony capitalists, who inhibit competitiveness, aggravate inefficiencies, and raid earnings.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  21. FILIPINOS FORGET

    [Original excerpt edited]

    Forget martial law and let’s move on, Joseph Estrada whimpered. Protests erupted when he agreed to bury the dictator’s mummy in Libingan ng mga Bayani [Cemetery of Heroes].

    “We have very little collective memory of past,” Ateneo University president (Fr) Bienvenido Nebres (SJ) told the Legacies of the Marcos Dictatorship conference. “We tend to live in a perpetual present. Thus, we cannot see well into the future.”

    ...Textbooks in public schools scrub the national memory blank.

    Read by over 8 million students, these books paper over the militarization of society, denigrate dissidents, ignore human rights abuses and massive kleptocracy, Joel Sarmenta and Melvin Yabot of the University of Asia and the Pacific note. “They recycle the claim that jack-booted rule was the only way to save democracy.”

    “It should not surprise us the young people today are apathetic about the struggle for democracy,” historian Ambeth Ocampo noted. “Martial law textbooks continue to miseducate.”

    ...In his novel “1984,” George Orwell depicted a country where truth, freedom, and justice were shoved down a “memory hole.” Amnesia institutionalizes injustice. History‘s falsification invites repeated abuse - and prevents healing. “Why should I apologize for godly acts?” a puzzled Imelda asks.

    How we remember [acts] as a shared past. “All of us...must open our hearts to human memory,” Nobel Laureate Elie Weisel insisted at Auschwitz memorial rites. “I do not want my past to become the future of our children.”

    Link: http://bangortobobbio.blogspot.com/2010/09/amnesia-anyone-former-detainee-reflects.html

    There is no collective understanding of what transpired during the Marcos regime. It did not seem that we needed one. The euphoria was so high after the EDSA Revolution that it appeared that everyone knew what happened and how it happened. We agreed on the generalities (that Marcos plundered the government coffers, had his political enemies arrested or killed, and stifled democratic rights), but naturally differed in our recollections of the specifics. As the euphoria faded and a new generation was born, the collective understanding became subjective. We assumed that the younger generation would understand it in the same way that we did, simply by telling them about the generalities and our anecdotal specifics. But as you can see in your Facebook feed, anecdotes can easily be countered by anecdotes. The stories of 1965 to 1986 must not be apocrypha.

    The role of the PCGG should be to provide the specifics on the stolen wealth, to present the undisputable truth that survives the scrutiny of the judicial process, and to present a version of history beyond anecdotes.

    ...There should be no confusion about our history or else we will always repeat it. The longer time passes, the more divergent our understanding of history will be.

    ...A great future is earned. The past is a burden that a nation must come to terms with in order to become stronger. By making sure that all assets stolen from the Filipino people are accounted for, by making sure that all responsible for the plunder of our nation are brought to justice, we earn our right to that future.

    http://www.pampubliko.com/opinion-articles/view/opinion-recovering-from-plunder-why-the-pcgg-is-still-relevant-today

    You cannot build a nation on the propaganda of a whitewashed, deceitful past. Expedite and conclude justly all the criminal and civil cases against the Marcos family. Enforce all judicial rulings and legislative and executive acts against the Marcos family. Restitute the plunder.

    Do not bury the criminal Marcos in the Cemetery of Heroes.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  22. MEMORY IS IDENTITY

    You would have no identity if you forgot the past. You would have no identity if you forgot who your grandparents were, for example. Memory is identity. Identity, our understanding of who we are, is also morality, the basis for ethical action, individually and collectively, and the foundation for building the future.

    Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.--Tagalog Proverb

    (Popular attribution to Jose Rizal cannot be confirmed.)

    Burying Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani [Cemetery of Heroes] will also “whitewash all crimes he committed against the people and will send the wrong message to the world that in the Philippines, crime pays,” said Ilagan, a torture victim during Martial Law.

    See: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/567448/news/nation/phony-hero-marcos-doesn-t-deserve-libingan-ng-mga-bayani-burial#sthash.Pk546U0n.dpuf

    It’s a key lesson to all grafters: Steal small, you end up in jail. You’ve got to steal big like the Marcoses.

    See: https://raissarobles.com/2014/02/09/stopping-the-marcoses-from-erasing-their-crimes-from-history/

    Burying Marcos--directly responsible for murders, torture, human rights violations and abuses, and plunder, the worst in the history of the Philippines, one of the greatest thieves in world history--at Libingan ng mga Bayani, sends the wrong message to the children, youth, and people of this land: Crime pays. When you get into a position of power, steal big so that you can buy your way out.

    Never forget. Never again.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  23. NATIONAL EDUCATION MANDATE SIGNED INTO LAW

    The Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 mandates the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to properly educate the youth about Marcos’ martial law regime:

    President Benigno Aquino III commemorated the 27th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution by hailing the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, a law he signed on Monday, February 25.

    ...The law also creates the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission.

    “The commission is mandated to work with the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to educate young people about the abuses committed by the Marcos regime and the heroism by those who opposed it,” the Palace said in a statement over the weekend.

    Link: http://www.rappler.com/nation/22536-aquino-we-recognize-martial-law-victims

    More than 1,400 Catholic schools across the country have joined the call against the alleged attempt of vice presidential aspirant Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to revise history and “canonize” the regime of his late father.

    The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), in a statement Tuesday, expressed its solidarity with faculty members of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) who criticized the younger Marcos for his refusal to apologize for the human rights violations and other atrocities committed under his father's administration.

    “We refuse to forget the atrocities committed by the Marcos regime, and we renew our demand that the perpetrators of these crimes be brought to justice,” the CEAP statement said. “With the same fervor, we cry our hearts’ out, ‘never again!’”

    CEAP is an umbrella organization of 1,425 Catholic schools, colleges, and universities nationwide.

    The group also admitted that learning institutions seem to have been remiss in teaching about the Marcos regime's “brutal savagery.”

    “Instead, they have been drowned by the Marcosian snares and the Imeldific lies,” the statement added.

    With this, CEAP vowed to “teach the truth” while encouraging other institutions to do the same.

    After more than 400 faculty members of ADMU went out in public to denounce “historical revisionism” regarding the Marcos regime, presidents of five Ateneo campuses from all over the country also issued statements with the same sentiment.

    Link: http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/03/08/16/1400-catholic-schools-slam-marcos-snares-imeldific-lies

    It's about time to implement in our national education system a more accurate, truthful, data-based, and empirical account of the martial law regime, plainly drawing out manifest implications for the future of the Philippine nation. You cannot build a nation on lies and forgetfulness.

    It's the law! Let's get to it!

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  24. ATENEO DE MANILA COMMUNITY STANDS UP AGAINST HISTORICAL REVISIONISM OF MARTIAL LAW (UPDATED):

    http://www.admu.edu.ph/news/ateneo-de-manila-community-stands-against-historical-revisionism-martial-law-updated

    Historical analytical account by Professor Benjamin T. Tolosa is substantially accurate, well-supported, persuasive, and credible.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  25. OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF MLCP [MARTIAL LAW CHRONICLES PROJECT] ON THE RECENT ‪#‎BAWATBATO‬ EVENT

    Last Sunday, some 100 people from all walks of life came to a public cemetery to honor martyrs and heroes.

    They wrote down the names of the dead on flat stones. With reverence, and in solemnity, they laid the stones in an empty grave site.

    They did not need permission to visit the cemetery as it was a public space.

    They came without streamers, placards, or bullhorns.

    They did not destroy public property; they cleaned up after themselves, they did not desecrate hallowed ground.

    They came to remember the dead who were killed because they fought for justice, freedom, and democracy.

    If the Armed Forces of the Philippines maintains that the Libingan Mg Mga Bayani is indeed hallowed ground, then they should best review their own guidelines that determine who should be buried there.

    A soldier is not automatically a hero.

    A soldier is not a hero if he chooses to lie about receiving military honors, if he steals from the country's coffers, if as Commander-in-Chief, he uses state power to commit atrocities and suppress human rights, and if his actions are so dishonorable that he is deposed by his own countrymen.

    The people who came to lay stones did not do so out of disrespect. On the contrary, they did this to protect the sanctity of hallowed ground.

    The people who gathered at the Libingan ng mga Bayani last Sunday rightfully defined and honored true heroes -- they who have yet to be given a better place in our nation's history.

    Link: https://www.facebook.com/MartialLawChronicles/posts/1133402210060428

    “A soldier is not automatically a hero.

    “A soldier is not a hero if he chooses to lie about receiving military honors, if he steals from the country's coffers, if as Commander-in-Chief, he uses state power to commit atrocities and suppress human rights, and if his actions are so dishonorable that he is deposed by his own countrymen.”

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  26. BURYING OUR UGLY PAST INVITES FUTURE ABUSE

    Yesterday was the 96th birthday of the late Jovito R. Salonga, founder, chair and then chair emeritus of Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Inc. and former Senate President of our country. We take this occasion to remember his contributions to our country and honor his beloved memory by reasserting once again our foundation’s basic stand on what it takes to be a hero in our country, and how we can move towards justice and reconciliation for the sake of national unity.

    Senator Salonga’s guidance serves us well on those points. In a speech he made in 1998 during the annual honoring of heroes and martyrs at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani grounds, he said:

    “As long as we continue to remember the martyrdom and the heroism of those who in the darkest period of our nation’s history since 1946 gave their lives that we might become free, and as long as we resolve never again to allow the forces of darkness to prevail, this annual celebration will be truly a day of meaningful tribute to the men and women whom we honor here...

    “Sunod-sunod ang mga pangyayari sa ating bansa na dapat ikabahala ng mga nagmamahal sa kalayaan at katotohanan. You will recall there was a move to honor the man who imposed martial law and dictatorial rule by burying him in the Libingan ng mga Bayani and thus making it appear that he too should be acclaimed as a hero. The excuse was a masterpiece of deception, namely that by burying Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, we not only honor him, we can also bury the past. Fortunately, it was the collective resistance of an outraged people which defeated that move...

    “What they really want is for us to forget the ugly past instead of facing it and doing something about it—they want us to forget the torture, the salvaging, the disappearances, the extrajudicial executions and assassinations, on top of the plunder of the nation’s wealth, the extortions, the larcenies and the acts of graft and corruption.

    “Ngunit hindi tayo maaring makalimot...

    “The question may be asked, are we not willing to forgive and reconcile with those who caused us so much grief and misery? Yes, we are prepared to forgive and reconcile—but only after truth is recognized and justice is served. Truth and justice first, then forgiveness and reconciliation later for the sake of national unity. For forgiveness without truth is an empty ritual and reconciliation without justice is meaningless, and worse, an invitation to more abuses in the future.”

    We repeat this timely warning: Forgiveness without truth is an invitation to more abuse. With these statements in mind, we now address the incoming Duterte administration: Heed our heroes. Don’t do it.

    [original signed]
    MA. CRISTINA V. RODRIGUEZ, Executive Director, June 23, 2016
    Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Quezon City

    Link: https://www.facebook.com/adora.navarro/posts/10153511160241205

    “The question may be asked, are we not willing to forgive and reconcile with those who caused us so much grief and misery? Yes, we are prepared to forgive and reconcile—but only after truth is recognized and justice is served. Truth and justice first, then forgiveness and reconciliation later for the sake of national unity. For forgiveness without truth is an empty ritual and reconciliation without justice is meaningless, and worse, an invitation to more abuses in the future.”

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  27. MARCOS BURIAL AT LIBINGAN: CRIME PAYS

    AI, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, has worked in the Philippines since the imposition of martial law in 1972. It has produced reports indicting the Marcos regime for its appalling human rights record.

    Its researchers have compiled case studies of people who were tortured, “salvaged,” or made to disappear during the Marcos years, including the brutal torture of Marsman Alvarez, the painful agony suffered by the teenaged son of Primitivo Mijares (author of the book “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos”), and the ordeal suffered by the Quimpo family, to name a few.

    AI has provided the most compelling argument why burying the corpse of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani defies logic and presents a veritable contradiction. How can one who ordered or allowed the killing of heroes be himself considered a hero and worthy of emulation? Is not the best way to deter crime to demonstrate that crime does not pay? Is it not more effective to show that the author of crimes can be convicted and made to pay for his deeds even beyond death—particularly if there is no remorse and acknowledgment of guilt? Or forgiveness sought or pardon given?

    What message will be conveyed to the public, and especially the youth, if a failed leader—one who was corrupt and stole billions from his own people and whose dictatorship jailed, tortured and murdered people because they were considered dissidents—will now be laid to rest alongside real heroes?

    ...How can one, even a president, demand that we move on for the sake of unity, without taking into account the essential preconditions of authentic reconciliation—the acknowledgment of atrocities that took place in the painful past, the pardon sought and forgiveness given, and the healing that may come from the restitution mandated by the courts and the compensation to victims and their families?

    People cry out for answers, and the heavens are besieged by prayers.

    Ed Garcia is a veteran of the First Quarter Storm, one of the founding members of the nonviolent movement Lakasdiwa, and a teacher by profession. He worked at Amnesty International’s London secretariat in the late 1970s. He is a principal author of the provision abolishing the death penalty in the 1987 Constitution and worked as peace envoy of International Alert.

    Link: http://opinion.inquirer.net/95202/shoot-journalists-dont#ixzz4E5Q8dJKt

    “How can one who ordered or allowed the killing of heroes be himself considered a hero and worthy of emulation? Is not the best way to deter crime to demonstrate that crime does not pay? Is it not more effective to show that the author of crimes can be convicted and made to pay for his deeds even beyond death—particularly if there is no remorse and acknowledgment of guilt? Or forgiveness sought or pardon given?

    “What message will be conveyed to the public, and especially the youth, if a failed leader—one who was corrupt and stole billions from his own people and whose dictatorship jailed, tortured and murdered people because they were considered dissidents—will now be laid to rest alongside real heroes?

    “...How can one, even a president, demand that we move on for the sake of unity, without taking into account the essential preconditions of authentic reconciliation—the acknowledgment of atrocities that took place in the painful past, the pardon sought and forgiveness given, and the healing that may come from the restitution mandated by the courts and the compensation to victims and their families?”

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  28. MARCOS BURIAL AT THE CEMETERY OF HEROES IS ILLEGAL

    Marcos: To Be or Not to Be @LNMB
    By Benjamin Maynigo

    Should Ferdinand Marcos be buried as a hero at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB)?

    Sometime after his election as President of the Philippines in 1998, Joseph “Erap” Estrada indicated his intention to approve the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He claimed that it was mandated by law. When many of the anti-Marcos groups which included the victims of human rights violations and their relatives expressed their vehement objection, Estrada responded with the following statement, “Show me a law that says Marcos may not be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.”

    ...my research and letter showed precisely the legal basis which may prohibit Marcos’ burial at the LNMB. I specifically mentioned Republic Act No. 289 and AFPR G 161 374. The former is the statute that provides for the creation of a national pantheon for Presidents of the Philippines, National Heroes and Patriots of the country while the latter is the last of a series of implementing rules relating to the construction, development, and maintenance of the pantheon.

    The main reason for the national pantheon’s being as provided in Section 1 of Republic Act No. 289 is “to perpetuate the memory of all the Presidents of the Philippines, national heroes and patriots for the inspiration and emulation of this generation and of generation still unborn.”

    In short, to be buried in the hallowed ground are the remains of Filipino heroes who would serve as “inspiration and emulation” of the generation when the law was enacted, today and most especially those of tomorrow who are yet to be born.

    By the very letter of the law alone, given what transpired during his dictatorial regime and the way he was eventually deposed, it would be very hard to justify making Marcos as somebody to emulate and as a model to inspire any generation.

    AFPR G 161 374 specifically provides who are qualified and who are disqualified to be interred in the national pantheon. It requires that they must have the qualifications and none of the disqualifications.

    Paragraph 2 of AFPR G 161 374, entitled, Allocation of Cemetery Plots at the Libingan ng mga Bayani enumerates who are qualified to be interred in the cemetery. It says, “The remains of the following deceased persons are qualified and therefore, authorized to be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani:

    Medal of valor awardees

    Presidents or commanders-in-chief AFP

    Secretaries of national defense

    Chiefs of staff, AFP

    Generals/flag officers of the AFP

    Active and retired military personnel of the AFP

    Veterans of Philippine Revolution 1896, WW1, WW2, and recognized guerillas

    Government dignitaries, statesmen, national artists, and other deceased persons whose interment or re-interment has been approved by the commander-in-chief, Congress, or the Secretary of National Defense

    Former presidents, secretaries of defense, CSAFP, generals/flag officers, dignitaries, statesmen, national artists, widows of former presidents, secretaries of national defense, and chiefs of staff are authorized to be interred at the LNMB.”

    Those who support Marcos’ burial at the pantheon could be relying on this provision because clearly and understandably Marcos would qualify as among those enumerated.

    To be continued

    ReplyDelete
  29. MARCOS BURIAL AT THE CEMETERY OF HEROES IS ILLEGAL (continued page 2)

    Unfortunately there is another paragraph in the said rules which also clearly states those who are not qualified to be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. It says, “The remains of the following shall not be interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani:

    Personnel who were dishonorably separated/reverted/discharged from the service.

    Authorized personnel who were convicted by final judgment of the offense involving moral turpitude.”

    Read with the statute that created LNMB, mere inclusion in the list is not sufficient. Anyone in the list must also serve as “inspiration and emulation” for the current and future generation. So they must not therefore bring dishonor in any shape or form. That is why the provision on disqualification was also added.

    Marcos cannot be disqualified on the basis of letter “b.” He was never convicted by final judgment of any offense involving moral turpitude. Although we can cite several offenses involving moral turpitude allegedly committed by him, he died before he could be charged, tried, and convicted. There are legal effects or consequences of death. In this material world, our finite courts cannot acquire criminal jurisdiction over the soul of the dead. It would be too late for any measure of personal and material reformation and/or retribution. The Divine courts take over for final judgment.

    Letter “a” is another matter. Marcos was President, Dictator, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He installed himself as such virtually for life. There is only one way for him to be dishonorably discharged, separated, or deposed – by revolution of the people who as the sovereign authority had temporarily vested its governmental powers to him. The EDSA or People Power Revolution of 1986 “dishonorably discharged” him not only for conduct unbecoming of an officer but most significantly for killing democracy, for violation of human rights, and a list of other reasons too long to enumerate in this article.

    ...I say it is not only legally unsound but politically and morally untenable as well. For the sake of his father and his own, the Senator should let his father rest in peace and let the positive memories dominate and for him to focus on redemption with good deeds.

    Link: http://asianjournalusa.com/marcos-to-be-or-not-to-be-lnmb-p10455-168.htm

    I suggest we bury Marcos instead @LNMB: Libingan ni Makoy sa Batac.

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete
  30. Marcos did not eradicate corruption, contrary to what Duterte implied. Marcos centralized it: he decided who can steal with impunity among his officials and cronies, but he made sure he got the lion’s share. He stole enough to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

    Luis V. Teodoro, @luisteodoro
    Philippine Daily Inquirer (June 19, 2019)

    Gonzalinho

    ReplyDelete