Marcos as the best president of the Philippines?

One time I wonder why I saw a Facebook post saying that the best president of the Philippines is Ferdinand Marcos. Really? Talaga lang ha?

For the record, I was not yet born during his lifetime. He died in Hawaii, right? If my sense of history is correct, when Marcos died, it was the year when they tore down the Berlin wall; we just had our new constitution implemented for two years; it was a time of rebuilding the nation from his ugly dictatorship.

Yes, I get irritated that I want to hit the unlike button (which is non-existent in FB) and even unfriend the person. Why do they think like that? Erase. Wrong question. Try again. Another one: How are they able to acquire these kind of erroneous mentality? I got a feeling that someone is responsible in spreading this misinformed history about Marcos. Somebody might be rewriting the past with some propaganda. Is it the Marcos loyalists or the Marcoses themselves? Am I just paranoid or what?

(As I am writing here, I saw a post against a local musician who is an anti-Marcos. There must be really a cunning propaganda lurking behind the shadows, huh? Or… just a bunch of people who idolizes the Marcoses)

Dear friends, I really love our country no matter how flawed she is. I can’t accept this trickery. Let us remember what our heroes fought for in exchange for freedom and democracy we are enjoying right now. Think about Ninoy Aquino or the many unnamed victims who are supposed to be living with us right now if not for Marcos and his Martial Law. There’s no need to mention them all; just read our recent Philippine history. Did they all suffer in vain?

I repeat: Remember.

An Open Letter to Nur Misuari

Dear Sir Nur Misuari,

I know you are a good leader with real concern for your fellow Moros and your potentially rich land. I know you started the rebel group because of a stupid leader we had in the past who started Martial Law. I believe that if not for him, you wouldn’t be doing this events now.

But with the siege in Zamboanga, I’m starting to think the other way around. For the past weeks, I cannot help but to think that there’s a megalomaniac leading a rebellion and wanted to separate from the country. That megalomaniac blew his chance to uplift his people when he lived lavishly as a governor, using 10M pesos in travel expenses alone. Isn’t that you? Can you see yourself in the mirror? You’re a good leader, right? Why are you doing this?

Recently, I learned that in the 1970s, Jolo had a great tragedy when 20,000 people died from fire. Up until now, we don’t know who’s responsible of that unfortunate event. According to the rebels, it’s the government who started it and the government says that it’s the rebels who did it. I think this blaming game is also happening right now. Regardless of who started this events, it’s the powerless people that suffers. Power, like fire, can be used for a man to cook or it can cook a man.

So now, what’s next? Are you going to keep on fighting when the innocent people are suffering as a consequence? I know you can do better than this.