Historical sense and the Marcoses

Norman Sison

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'For a nation forged by a revolution against colonial rule and a war of independence against another colonial power, Filipinos’ general lack of interest in history is ironic'

It’s been said that only in the Philippines can politicians commit crimes and make a return to politics without getting lynched.

This may be a joke, but it’s also the truth.

Filipinos who opposed the Marcos dictatorship have been wary about a Marcos returning to power ever since President Corazon Aquino allowed former first lady Imelda Marcos to return from exile in 1991.

Clearly, the Marcoses weren’t history.

Filipinos largely tolerated Marcos when she made an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1992, won a House seat in 1995, eyed another presidential race but withdrew in 1998, and won another House term in 2010.

But it took one photo of 4 Ateneo de Manila University students gamely posing with the so-called “Iron Butterfly” that got Filipinos to do some serious soul-searching, wondering if the nation’s schools were even teaching the future generation about the Marcos dictatorship.

It didn’t take long for memes to start appearing on the Internet. One, made by journalist Alan Robles on his website Hot Manila, had the 4 students posing with Adolf Hitler.

The caption said it all: “Ateneo students show their profound grasp of history.” (READ: Ateneo ‘sorry’ over Imelda’s visit)

Over half of the Philippines’ population was born after the 1986 People Power Revolution, leaving them with no memory of the Marcos dictatorship.

Anti-Marcos Filipinos surmise that a general lack of historical sense, coupled with an all-too-forgiving attitude, helped make a Marcos comeback possible.

History buffs

For a nation forged by a revolution against colonial rule and a war of independence against another colonial power, Filipinos’ general lack of interest in their country’s history is – to put it mildly – ironic. (TIMELINE: Efforts to make PH a US state)

It is an attitude that one history buff with a crusading spirit has been trying to change.

In 2005, engineer Pedro Javier started researching and reproducing replica army uniforms worn by Filipino nationalists during the Philippine Revolution (1896-1898) and the Philippine-American War (1899-1902).

HISTORY BUFF. History reenactor Pedro Javier at Rizal Park. Photo from Norman Sison

His wardrobe at home consists of 90 sets of military uniforms representing 118 years of Philippine history.

His history reenactment group, “Buhay na Kasaysayan” (Living History), are regularly invited to make appearances in historical commemorations and Philippine military anniversaries. They style themselves as “instruments of nationalism, patriotism and preservation of Filipino history and culture.”

Javier and his group celebrated last Independence Day at Rizal Park, posing for pictures with visitors who came for the annual parade.

“The Philippine military uniform is a symbol of our heroes’ heroism and struggle for peace and freedom to build our nation,” Javier said. “We need to help our people remember our heroes, to tell them that our country still needs heroes, and that all of us are being called to be heroes in our own way.”

HISTORY BUFF. David Banaghan in full Philippine revolutionary army regalia. Photo from Norman Sison

One of Javier’s fellow history buffs is David Banaghan, a 75-year-old former British Army soldier. Banaghan has been into history reenactments since the 1960s, playing an infantryman in the English Civil War and in the Napoleonic Wars.

He thought his reenactment days were over when he and his Filipina wife moved from London to his wife’s hometown in Porac, Pampanga in 1998. But Banaghan searched the Internet for local historical reenactment groups and found Javier.

He got hooked when he learned about a little-known Englishman who trained Filipino soldiers in marksmanship during the Philippine-American War. Captain Arthur Howard was captured and tried by the Americans for the death of US general Henry Lawton, who was killed by a Filipino sharpshooter in the 1899 Battle of San Mateo.

“I still can’t understand the lack of interest by Filipinos in their past,” Banaghan said, emphasizing that the Philippines has a pantheon of heroes.

“I am saddened that even our own nieces and nephews turn their backs on Filipino culture to embrace all things American, even down to bleaching their hair and applying skin whitening cream while, like Dracula’s children, they hug the shadows all day for fear of getting brown skin,” he added.

Studying the history of his wife’s country, helped him to fully understand how the Philippines arrived at the present point.

Not long ago

Perhaps what helped make the photo of university students posing with Imelda Marcos in such bad taste was that the Marcos dictatorship ended only a mere 28 years ago.

The veterans of the anti-Marcos street protests and the 1986 uprising – not to mention the thousands of survivors of human rights abuses during the martial law years – are very much around to tell their stories. (TIMELINE: First quarter storm)

Last year, the Akbayan party filed a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for a mandatory teaching about the Marcos dictatorship in all school levels to plug that gap in the teaching of Philippine history. (READ: Martial law victims: ‘Remember us’)

A few weeks ago, anti-Marcos veterans formed a Facebook group to counter a noticeable increase in online posts praising Ferdinand Marcos’s achievements.

They suspect this to be a secret advance public relations campaign to rewrite history and pave the way for Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the only son of the late dictator.

Anti-Marcos veterans fear that it may be a matter of time before Marcos Jr. makes an attempt to return to the Malacañan presidential palace, which the Marcoses fled to escape an advancing mob during the height of the 1986 revolt.

His date with history may come in the 2016 presidential elections. – Rappler.com

Norman Sison is a freelance journalist. He writes mostly about Filipiniana, as well as issues affecting the nation. A history buff, Sison is also into historical reenactments.

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