Personal bias is a dangerous thing, especially when choosing political leaders. Oftentimes, we voluntarily believe the lies peddled by candidates even if reason, logic and evidence tell us not to. We ignore the red flags for various reasons. For some, it is because their political interest hinges on a particular candidate. For others, it may be because of regional loyalty – or perhaps due to sheer animosity against the opposing candidate. Regardless of what our reasons are, we must discipline ourselves to rise above our biases and make intelligent choices. What is at stake, after all, is the future of our children.
I was trained as an economist. Like all other social sciences, we study the past to foretell the future. We analyze history, trends and patterns since human behavior and events are often cyclical, given similar circumstances. This is why large corporations spend billions in research and trend analysis.
History has shown us that despot Ferdinand Marcos traded on lies. He lied about being a war hero. He lied about his motivations for proclaiming martial law. He lied about not pillaging public funds. And lied about the state of his health all the way up to his death. His biggest lie, however, was claiming that the country was prosperous under his leadership.
As I explained at length in this corner last month, Marcos peddled the narrative that the economy was in the pink of health between1965 to 1983, and that this was the country’s “golden age.” It was a lie and statistics prove it to be so.
In truth, Marcos induced economic growth not by increased productivity but through foreign loans. From a national debt of only $600 million in 1965, Marcos increased our debt burden by 43 times to $26 billion by 1986. Prestige projects were numerous to give the impression of progress but failed to contribute to job generation and productivity. Beneath the illusion of affluence was an economy rapidly losing competitiveness and slowly drowning in debt.
It took us 30 years to repay Marcos’ debts. This saddled the country’s development and is the reason why we are a lower middle-income society today. While the per capita incomes of Thailand and Malaysia increased ten-fold from 1965 to 1990, that of the Philippines increased by only three-fold. The spending power of the average salaried Filipino plummeted by 66 percent from the time Marcos took power to the time he was ousted.
Marcos allowed his cronies to take over the country’s key industries, all of whom ran them to the ground. When the dust settled, jobs were so scarce that a whole generation of Filipinos had to seek jobs abroad as domestic helpers and manual laborers. Our hardships and misery find its roots in Marcos’ reign of corrupt mismanagement.
In the mid-eighties, 44 percent of the population existed below the poverty line while the Marcoses squandered on properties, jewelry and parties. Outside lip service, the family showed no sympathy for their starving countrymen as they continued living in party-mode.
Many of us may have forgotten the oppression our parents had to undergo under Marcos’ iron cane. They were deprived of the freedoms of speech, assembly and movement. Unwarranted arrests, torture and salvaging were an everyday occurrence.
Whether we admit it or not, this is history according to those who lived through it and according to respected historians such as UP Economics Professor Emmanuel de Dios, Primitivo Mijares, Raissa Robles, Ceres Doyo and others. History, according to YouTube, is a lie.
A wise woman who was a victim of abuse said: “When a person shows you their real character, believe them or suffer the consequences.”
When a spouse habitually abuses their partner, they will likely abuse the children too. When an employee engages in petty theft as a clerk, they will likely engage in grand theft as an executive. When a mayor murders his constituents to instill discipline, he will do the same as president. This is human nature and the law of patterns.
Now, what do trends and patterns say about Bongbong Marcos?
This is what we know so far: Bongbong lied about his academic credentials and was caught red-handed doing so. Even despite a mountain of evidence on the origins of the Marcos wealth (including legal rulings), he continues to perpetuate the lie that his family never stole a centavo. He lies about the human rights abuses of his father and remains unapologetic to the victims. He lies about being an achiever when in fact was a failure at Oxford and was unable to author any meaningful law while sitting as senator for six years.
Recently, he lied under oath when he attested on his Certificate of Candidacy that he had never been convicted of a crime that carries an accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification to hold public office. Marcos was in fact convicted with finality for four counts for his failure to file his ITR from 1982 to 1985.
Bongbong is a habitual liar. Lies are a common denominator between the father, the son, the mother and sister. It is the family’s political playbook. That said, are we to believe that Bongbong will be a good president? Patterns of behavior and the law of probability tell us that his will be a presidency built on falsehoods, misinformation and deceit. His will be an underachieving presidency whose principal intention is not to solve the country’s problems but to vindicate the father, regain power and control, legitimize the family’s crimes against the Filipino people and perpetuate the Marcos brand for future generations.
Think about it – even at this stage of the campaign, Bongbong has not articulated his vision for the country nor his reform agenda. Instead, he promises to bring back the supposed golden years of the Philippines under his father’s baton. As we have already established, these “golden years” are an illusion. Bongbong is selling us an oasis that does not exist.
Our people are weary of the status quo since their lives have not improved in 50 years. Bongbong Marcos is attractive to many since he represents radical change. But beware. The radical change we get may not be what we hoped for. Instead, we may end up with a weaker economy, a poorer population and a more oppressed citizenry. Red flags are blaring. Let us rise above personal bias and choose our presidential candidate intelligently.
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Email: andrew_rs6@yahoo.com. Follow him on Facebook @Andrew J. Masigan and Twitter @aj_masigan