Moving on

This week the nation marks the 30th anniversary of the people power revolution with the only son and namesake of Ferdinand Marcos looking poised to win the vice presidential race.

The dictator’s widow Imelda, despite her age and health problems, looks headed for a third three-year term as a member of the House of Representatives. “Honorable” is appended to her title, and Filipinos are still paying for the upkeep of her office and the perks that she can dispense for patronage.

Last year at the reopening of the renovated museum and convent at the San Agustin church compound in Intramuros, I arrived as a large white van with “8” license plates pulled up in front of the entrance. Out jumped several women in white uniforms, followed by men in a back-up vehicle. A wheelchair was brought out and a woman with a familiar bouffant hairdo emerged from the van.

It was, of course, Imeldific, a special guest at the event together with her youngest daughter Irene and husband Greggy Araneta. The clan that owns the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City has another member married to a Marcos: Bongbong’s wife Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos, the “M” in the law firm of the moment, MOST, with the “O” referring to Ochoa – yes, that’s “Little President” Paquito Ochoa. Manuel Araneta Roxas II, currently the most prominent member of the clan, has mentioned his family ties with Bongbong Marcos. Former first gentleman Mike Arroyo is a distant relative.

Liza seems to have tamed Bongbong and brought out the best in him. In this rumor-mad town, their union has been untainted by scandal and their family ties seem solid. Liza has brains and poise – the makings of a good first lady – which can happen, of course, only if her husband becomes the second Ferdinand Marcos to occupy Malacañang.

The thought is giving human rights victims and freedom fighters during martial law nightmares.

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Three decades after their ignominious fall from power, the Marcoses are fully rehabilitated. They are unbeatable in their bailiwicks – the Romualdezes in Leyte where Imeldific also served previously as congresswoman, and the Marcos children in the Ilocos region.

If surveys are accurate, Northern Luzon is as solid as ever, propelling Bongbong Marcos to the No. 1 spot in a tie with his fellow senator, longtime frontrunner Chiz Escudero. Even in this tie, martial law victims see “Marcos pa rin.” Senator Chiz, as we all know, is the son of the late strongman’s affable agriculture minister, Salvador Escudero, who later became Sorsogon congressman. Sonny Escudero wept as Marcos was sworn in for the last time as president at Malacañang on Feb. 25, 1986, just hours before he and his family and top crony were flown to exile in Hawaii by the Americans.

Imeldific and the Araneta couple were special guests at the museum reopening because the clan is a major benefactor, donating to the collection numerous artworks by Philippine masters.

The hefty donation inevitably brought to mind the efforts of the government to recover from the Marcoses priceless paintings by world masters, several of which will soon be put on the auction block. The value of even one of the paintings is so stratospheric it boggles the mind how a Third World president could have afforded to collect a pile of them, aside from that trove of jewelry with grape-size precious gems.

The most unexplainable aspect of this unexplained wealth is that in 30 years, no one has been sent to prison for amassing it. There’s an egregious crime without a criminal.

Marcos supporters have said the sins of the father must not be visited on the son. Those who fought martial law, on the other hand, say Bongbong Marcos was a direct participant in his parents’ plunder and had sufficient adult discernment when the misdeeds were perpetrated.

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There have been undeniable gains in the past 30 years. Democracy, with all its imperfections, is here to stay. Perhaps young Filipinos will understand what curtailment of freedom means if their Internet access is censored or cut off, if the government is allowed to intercept their calls and text messages, if club hours are limited to midnight, or if the government bans p…p… shorts and purple hair in public places. Or if their classmates start disappearing, never to be seen again, after posting comments on social media criticizing the government.

Thirty years after EDSA, it’s still a free country, and we like it that way.

However, it’s also a dysfunctional country, and we’ve dropped from being Asia’s No. 2 economy to near bottom, with our saving grace mainly the 10 million Filipinos who have left the country for better opportunities overseas.

We’re the region’s homicide and kidnapping capital. Traffic is horrid, mass transportation is a disaster, telecommunications services are spotty. Red tape and corruption permeate every level of government, derailing public services except for members of the political class and their cronies. Our justice system is an injustice. Most of our people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, but a recent study declared that the sector has been neglected. Torture, summary executions and enforced disappearances continue, with hundreds of journalists and left-wing activists murdered since 1986.

Public disappointments have made the annual celebration of the 1986 revolt progressively muted. EDSA Dos in January 2001 (the anniversary was completely forgotten this year) added to the disillusion, with EDSA 3 turning people power into a farce.

This week daang sarado is being criticized for closing EDSA again for the 30th anniversary rites, in what is shaping up to be just another campaign rally for the Liberal Party. Radio reports say mayors have been ordered to bring supporters to the event, in the hakot tradition of the Marcos regime.

It hasn’t helped that not a single member of the Marcos clan has been punished for any of the sins imputed to them. This is the most glaring failure of the revolution. If you can’t punish, there are people who believe it’s time to just forgive and forget. Or, as Bongbong Marcos tells the nation, it’s time to move on.

If President Aquino wants to portray the May elections as a referendum on his touted straight path, a victory for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be the most resounding rejection of daang sarado.