EDITORIAL - Sad it had to be Bongbong to make the point

Perhaps stung by references to the darkest chapters of his past as the nation observed last week the 26th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolt, Senator Bongbong Marcos pleaded with the public to stop blaming his father for the continuing woes of the nation.

His father and namesake is, of course, the late Ferdinand Marcos, under whose dictatorial rule the nation suffered for two decades until ousted by a popular revolt in 1986. The ouster led to the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.

This is not an attempt to rewrite history nor meant to dishonor the sacrifices of those who went through the difficult times of dictatorship. But Bongbong has a point and we would be hopelessly prejudiced and naive to ignore it.

As this year’s Edsa anniversary clearly underscores for everyone to take note, it has been 26 long years since Marcos was deposed. In other words, it has been more than a quarter of a century since we were freed to do as we please. 

And that is too long a time to stay nailed down to a singular cause for our woes. If we failed to move on, if we remain stunted as a nation, anybody with an open mind would find it rather unfair to lay the blame only on Marcos.

How can we honestly extol the virtues of freedom year after year for 26 long years, only to keep on sour-graping about Marcos as the reason why we failed to progress? What are we trying to say? Are we truly free or not? 

If we keep this up, if we keep on blaming Marcos for our failures 26 years after we stripped him of all power to rule our lives, then let us admit we have never been truly free all this time and that all those happy anniversaries were a sham.

Again, history has already assigned Marcos his rightful place. What we have become since then is our responsibility alone. Freedom at Edsa 1986 gave back to the Filipino people all their powers of self-determination. If we remain clueless until now, it is nobody’s fault but ours.

A little word of caution, though, to Bongbong. While he may have made a valid point, it would have been better and more appropriate if somebody else made it. If he values the prospect of real redemption, he should make himself as less conspicuous as possible.