In different methods, too, Mr. Duterte is liable for normalizing authoritarianism, which can be one more factor Mr. Marcos effortlessly inherits. One in all Mr. Duterte’s first actions as president in 2016 was to switch the elder Mr. Marcos’s preserved corpse from the household’s refrigerated mausoleum for burial in our nationwide cemetery of heroes. And Mr. Duterte’s daughter, Sara, is now campaigning with the youthful Mr. Marcos and is the main candidate for vp, who’s elected individually from the president.
Regardless of the incumbent’s obvious disdain for Mr. Marcos — Mr. Duterte has implied that he’s a weak chief and a drug consumer — their shared affinities are plain because the youthful pair guarantees to proceed Mr. Duterte’s grim legacy.
Their recognition signifies that our previous struggle for democratic freedom has been largely forgotten, with 56 p.c of the Filipino voting inhabitants now between ages 18 and 41. A 2017 ballot discovered that half of us Filipinos favor authoritarian governance, and an alarming variety of us even approve of army rule. But the identical ballot confirmed that 82 p.c of us say we imagine in consultant democracy. The contradiction appears to miss what our historical past teaches about our giving leaders unchecked energy.
No marvel we elected Mr. Duterte, who has bragged about being a killer. No marvel we’re poised to re-elect a household of thieves. And no marvel Mr. Marcos thrives as a mythmaker — varnishing himself and his household as innocent underdogs, victims of theft by an untouchable elite who stole his vice presidency, his mother and father’ tenure over our nation’s so-called golden age and his household’s proper to manage their very own narrative towards what he calls “propaganda” and “faux information.”
But at the same time as Mr. Marcos casts himself because the inheritor to his household’s dynasty, he refuses to acknowledge its many confirmed crimes, a lot much less be held complicit for his function in defending the dictatorship. He has additionally pledged to guard Mr. Duterte from the Worldwide Prison Courtroom and has fashioned a political cartel with the Dutertes and two previous presidents, who have been each jailed for corruption. Worst of all, he has relentlessly shrugged off the details of our nation’s historical past, telling everybody to “transfer on” from its lengthy battle towards the authoritarianism he and his household led.
However as the current hurtles ahead on Might 9, the truths of our previous matter greater than ever. From that historical past, a martyred author and our nationwide hero, José Rizal, reminds us: “There aren’t any tyrants the place there aren’t any slaves.” But so many people have been shackled earlier than by so lots of these we freely elected to entrust our future to — from Adolf Hitler to Vladimir Putin to a different brazen liar additionally named Ferdinand Marcos.
Miguel Syjuco, a former contributing Opinion author, is the creator, most not too long ago, of “I Was the President’s Mistress!!: A Novel.”
The Occasions is dedicated to publishing a range of letters to the editor. We’d like to listen to what you consider this or any of our articles. Listed here are some suggestions. And right here’s our e-mail: [email protected].
Observe The New York Occasions Opinion part on Fb, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
