Why Bongbong Marcos?

When Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ rating rose in last month’s SWS survey, the anti-Marcos coalition immediately gathered its force to arrest the surge. This is coupled with frantic efforts by all his opponents to dismantle his reputation by pushing the Martial Law human rights violations argument. Loud as they are, playing the ‘all versus one’ card, the campaign doesn’t seem to work, at least, not yet. The latest Pulse Asia survey had just confirmed that indeed Marcos has now successfully caught up with the survey leader Sen. Chiz Escudero.

Meanwhile, the Marcos campaign remains steady. His seemingly rock star appeal to the masses in his provincial and city visits makes any opponent to want to use every weapon they have in their campaign arsenal. Despite the many criticisms and allegations, Bongbong has become the force to reckon with. In this article, I attempt to explicate the factors behind the rise in the popularity of the VP contender and comment on some issues pointed at him.

There are two faces to his popularity – one is the much older Marcos loyalist who have lived long enough to see another Marcos rise to the political arena while remaining nostalgic of the old Marcos regime’s successes. The other face – the subject of my maiden article, is that of the young and technologically-adept millennial who, according to many, is lucky he/she did not live to see the atrocities that happened during the Martial Law years. The former is dubbed as too old to remember the Martial Law crimes and the latter is too young and insensitive. One is saying the old times are better than today and the other believes so. Or so we think. But is this all?

Bongbong Marcos and the youth
(Courtesy of bongbongmarcos.com)

Is it desperation?

If not for the failures of the present, no one would fantasize the past – especially the so-called ‘dark times’ in Philippine history. Have the people become that desperate? Is true leadership so scarce in this part of the world that the Marcos brand have become palatable?  As part of the younger generation myself who have seen Presidents being impeached or arrested for plunder or simply loathed for being cold and heartless to the needs of the people, my desperation too runs deep. But that is not the whole story. It is likewise too simplistic to say that people do like him, or if you’re on the other side of the fence dislike him, because of what his father did. I say, the people have taken a much closer look at the young Marcos.

When the SAF 44 got butchered in the Mamasapano clash that involved the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in early 2015, a window of opportunity opens. This particular incident paved the way for a more thorough discussion of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) wherein people got to see more of Sen. Bongbong Marcos, being the head of the Senate Committee on Local Government, and the way he handled the BBL discussions. It was an exposure no one has planned. And so many, especially those who haven’t yet, realized that he is one brilliant, articulate politician. Such exposure have led people to dig deeper into his political career, his achievements, and his ideologies. And many have lauded it, as they cannot deny he’s one good leader that has the potential for a higher office.

Inherited charisma?

He has become his own man. Though remaining a self-confessed fan of his father, Bongbong confesses he does not aim to emulate his father because to do that he has to outdo what the old Marcos has done which he says is difficult, if not impossible. Undeniably, like his father, he has the charisma. How would you explain the warm reception that he gets whenever he goes to the provinces and municipalities? And this is an oversimplification – in reality, people react as if he’s a matinee idol, or a rock star, as I put it earlier. I have never seen people react in such manner in front of a politician in my entire adult life – older people in tears, a pool of youngsters taking endless selfies with him, a 90-year old man who can barely walk went out to see him in his rally.

Bongbong Marcos visits Cainta, Rizal
(Photo by politics.com.ph)

His message of unity?

His message of unity sells pretty well too. In these times where divisiveness rules the political and social arena, where those at the helm conduct selective justice, where you see a President’s advocacy is to punish not everyone who commits corruption but rather those who do not favour his agenda, Bongbong’s platform of unity is not bad at all. In fact, it is what we badly needed in a country so lacking of social cohesion that we fail to see past the affairs of our own families. Our morale as one people has suffered a lot because no one has ever attempted to unite us, not in a way that seeks to tear down political fences as Bongbong Marcos is proposing. Scholars and observers have long been arguing that it is social cohesion this fragmented country needs and it is what we must pursue.

Not apologetic

The litany of criticisms about the Martial Law crimes that he must apologize for is already, I believe, a passé. Those who refuse to move on and insist that he acknowledges them should have done their campaign long time ago if that is what’s really necessary for the nation to heal. What they’re doing now is tainted with politics as many people can see. That is why Bongbong is firm on his stance that the closure for the Martial Law crimes is beyond him. And why should he apologize? He did not have any executive powers relating to the Martial Law in those times. It is not up to him to apologize since those who had a direct hand on it, people who made decisions, people who acted as implementers of the detentions and tortures, people who had brainwashed the minds of young activists to join the rebels, people who took part in the rebellion that have pushed the Marcos administration to desperate measures, are still very much alive today, though they remain, well, unrepentant. Why then should he be the one to take all the blame, just because his name is Marcos?

And many people say ‘enough already.’ You have been blaming the 20-year Marcos rule for the past 30 years. As if the Marcos regime is all there is in this country. As if we didn’t have many other problems  back then. As if our hands are too tied with the problems brought by the Martial Law years, come on, 30 years? I'd rather be fixated with the good and how we were able to do it rather than the bad and how we've never come to get past it. The Filipinos are no idiots. Thank God we’re now in the knowledge age, the technology we now have allows more and more people to access information that the mainstream media and propagandists have denied us in the past.


People gather to welcome BBM
(Photo courtesy of newsunited.com)

No distortion, only the truth

When Bongbong said ‘let historians, not politicians judge Marcos rule,’ he said so because he himself does not want to be the one telling history for he is man enough to acknowledge that his version would be biased, and so he said let the historians do it.  I do not believe that this statement is an attempt to distort history as some academics have claimed. Using the word ‘distort’ is malicious and is used only by those who are not open to the reality that the history we know today may be incomplete, if not distorted in the first place. If you speak of the atrocities during the Marcos regime because of the Martial Law, is that distortion? Definitely not, for you’re telling some episodes of the truth. And when you are accounting good things that had happened, is that distortion? I say, it’s not as long as it done in an objective manner. But if there were important things and events and actions that were not included in the accounting, either intentionally or not, do we just leave them behind or we bring them out? If there were loopholes in the way history was written or events that are untold to this day, why shouldn’t we allow historians to make amends, augmentations or corrections if in their writing all salient aspects and perspectives come out? When older people like our parents and grandparents say that they were not treated badly and that life was better back then - that is their truth, no one here is distorting history, no one is distorting the truth. We do not need distortions. History, in its complete form, must be told. The people want to have an unbiased account of events and players before, during, and after the Martial Law so that we have a better understanding of our past. Seeking for the complete truth is not distorting history. You do not need to be an expert or an academic to understand that.