Tales from the crypt

If that isn't politics at its worst, I don't know what is. Embattled President Arroyo has just offered the olive branch to the Marcos family, and now the 'grieving' heirs of the deposed dictator can have what they've been keening and wailing about for the past 15 plus years - to have ex-president Marcos buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes Cemetery).

Despite the many bitter words that have passed between the two political dynasties, it seems as if Gloria is indeed that desperate - now she's seeking to buy the support of the Marcos faction - which, despite the history books, is still politically considerable in certain areas.

And as for the Marcos family, this is what they've been twiddling their thumbs (in the case of Imelda, manicuring her nails) all along for - a chance to tamper with history. So, no matter that thousands died under martial law or because of political prosecution, and no matter if he's acknowledged to be one of the most corrupt leaders of all time, if daddy gets buried where all the other heroes are, then there you go - he's a fantabulous national hero! Let's all worship him!

(Plus, of course, there's the fact that after the burial, they can now stop spending the millions in refrigeration costs that they're currently paying just to let his frozen body lie in that creepy mausoleum. Not that I've ever been there, I just think it's real creepy to have an almost two-decades old body lying there, where Imelda can sing to him pop tunes of the 50's whenever she feels like entertaining.)

(And these enormous costs, for me, are another proof that the Marcos heirs have countless stolen wealth - and this is why I still maintain the view that while his heirs still hang on to all that wealth and while they still haven't voluntarily surrendered all that gold, the sins of the father should indeed be blamed on the children. And most specially, the Imelda.)

But really now, if I were the Marcoses, I'd stop trying to have him buried - I hear daddy is such an attraction, he's boosted tourism arrivals in that dead spot (so to speak) of a province where they're still lording it over. I'd hazard a guess that the numbers might even be considerably more than the figures for tourism arrivals that Marcos was manufacturing when he was still alive, and trying to prove that the Philippines, despite the international press on the tortures and the salvaging, was a viable destination.

Such a sad day for Gloria. To think she'd sink to this. She smelled so good when she was a senator, and even when she ran for vice-president. But now that there're the tapes linking her to cheating when she ran in the elections, we end up seeing her making concessions to every political straw possible. This positively stinks, and she'll need much more than a flagon of Joy to make her smell better.

Imagine, after three successive Presidents have nixed the Marcoses entreaties and supplications, here she now comes 'in the spirit of harmony and national reconciliation' and gives the thumbs up! Those thumbs should be freaking broken!

Many people predict she's not going to last her entire term, and if she keeps making these false moves and antagonizing her support base (which used to be me, too) that prediction is going to become cold hard reality. Then, even her unholy alliance with Imelda is not going to save her from losing her throne at Malacañang Palace. (She might end up with a real close girlfriend with whom she can trade make-up tips, fashion disaster stories, and tales of life at the Palace though.)