First Ko Si Marcos
And he still is the major reason why I am more passionate than ever to participate in this coming election of our lives.
Malacañang Archives
By Iyana Mundo (Toronto, Canada)
February 24, 2022
FIRST KO SI MARCOS. Marcos Jr. to be exact. The very reason I wanted to be a voter was that I wanted to vote for him. He’s the reason that I queued up for three hours outside Tutuban Mall in 2015 to register as a first-time voter. It was 2016 when I first felt that I loved my country because I was able to elect someone whom I believed loved it as much as I do.
Today, he’s also the reason why I stood for hours in the Philippine Consulate of Toronto. And I’m sure that this May 2022, his name will also be the one that I will look for on my ballot.
Marcos Jr. is the son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos - “the greatest president we’ve ever had”. The guy who made the Philippines what it is today: a country grounded on its principles of “diligence” and “resiliency” - virtues that we either live by or simply have to possess to make ends meet. Anyway, Marcos Jr.’s father was the reason that I voted for him in the last vice presidential race.
“Mama, ‘di naman pala masama si Marcos,”
“Hindi nga. Tignan mo ang ganda-ganda dito sa Ilocos.”
I grew up having an Ilokana as a mom. When I think of happy childhood memories, my mind automatically takes me to Ilocos Norte, the place where my mom grew up - in a big house where the majority of your Tito and Tita are OFWs abroad, in a big neighbourhood where everyone knows each other. Where everybody knew who the Marcoses were.
When I think of an OFW, I immediately think that their families live a well-off life. A life filled with chocolates from abroad, a lot of Spam, and imported corned beef stacked up in the pantry. This was the life I knew because a lot of my relatives work overseas. What I didn’t realize then though was the real reason why they chose (or more of, were forced) to be OFWs.
“Yet, personally, in all the unfortunate things that can happen, the most frustrating one is finding the truth.”
Apart from the long-distance calls asking them to come home tomorrow and the constant ugly cries that usually end up to “Ma, kung mahal mo kami, bakit po wala ka dito?”, a life with OFW parents was pretty good. Having them far away made it possible for us to afford things that we wanted and needed.
The 1970s marked a year when a lot of Filipinos thought of working abroad. The 70s was a whirlwind decade for the Filipinos - an era where economic growth happened. During the first half of the decade, the country saw economic growth, driven by foreign debts that the government made. However, a lot of people still chose to go abroad because they couldn’t find a decent job here. Many of them went to the Middle East accompanied by the Marcos government’s overseas employment program that was made to address the surplus of workers in the Philippines.
Towards the middle of the 1970s, Martial Law was declared by Ferdinand Marcos, and it would go on for another decade and more. In the middle of this decade, it was now mothers who had to leave. The Philippines saw an increase of invisible migration where women would leave as tourists to Europe and would stay there to work as illegal domestic helpers.
I will let that sink in. If the economy here was growing, why are our people still leaving?
A common theme that we hear from our older folks when asked about the Marcos era is how it was the Philippines’ “golden era”. As evidence, they would always point out the Manila Light Rail Transit System, the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, etc. Infrastructures were among the hallmarks of the regime. It implied the statement of a growing economy. But again, an economy powered by debts.
Currently, the Philippines has a debt of $229 billion. This is all our debts and its interests combined ever since the Philippines came to being. During the Marcos presidency alone we had loans totalling to $16 billion, $10 billion of which were kept in Marcos’ “treasure chest”. Perhaps, we can choose whether this “chest” is rhetoric, a folklore legend, or a fact. After all, the great Imelda Marcos herself once said in the critically-acclaimed documentary The Kingmaker, “Perception is reality, the truth is not.”
Today, the Filipinos are still paying for this debt. And we’re not even halfway there.
“By the way, please inform Toni Gonzaga and Paul Soriano about this as they feel so victimized by Cancel Culture when truth be told, the very family they serve and help rise back to power actually invented it.”
Another great argument about the glamour of the Philippines’ golden years is the iconic NutriBun, which admittedly excites people when talking about Marcos’ accomplishments. My Tito said that this free food is one of the reasons they felt valued by Marcos, and because of the present prices of food it was awesome hearing a president looking out for young people.
Yet, personally, in all the unfortunate things that can happen, the most frustrating one is finding the truth.
The truth is that the Marcos administration was indeed the reason behind the development of NutriBun, NOT because they’re looking out for children, but because the U.S. AID was so bothered by the high rates of malnutrition in the country that they had to develop a meal to address it.
So, why are our people still leaving?
Malnutrition, lack of better opportunities, endless debts. If there’s one thing I know about a growing economy, it’s that it shouldn’t have any of these issues.
The other half of the decade was marked by people who wanted to ask questions because just like us, they wanted to know too.
It’s people like Archimedes Trajano, a student-leader who attended a forum with the president’s daughter Imee Marcos. He wanted to ask a question, but the only answer he got was two days of torture that ended his life. His body was found thrown out of a building in Manila on Sept. 2, 1977.
The Martial Law era also marked the rise of those so-called great infrastructures like hospitals that are considered “Tatak Marcos” through which Filipino doctors got to serve their fellowmen. One of them was Dr. Juan Escandor, a PGH doctor who also took care of urban poor patients. But in 1983, his body was left lifeless after an encounter in Quezon City. His autopsy showed signs of abuse where bruises were found all over his body, his brain shoved into his stomach, and his head carved out and filled with rags and garbage.
And yet they say that the years of Martial Law are golden. Maybe it’s for us to find out whether or not this golden rhetoric is another legend.
“Mas maganda noong Martial Law ni Marcos, tahimik at disiplinado ang tao. Yung mga nanggugulo lang yung tinotorture.”
When I ask my Tito about his own experiences of Martial Law, he would happily reply with this exact statement. I’m not even paraphrasing.
“His son, Marcos Jr. He is what we have left and just like his father, he knows what he’s doing.”
That era created new norms that we ironically think only happened in our present generation.
Back then, television was controlled by Marcos; ABS-CBN was closed down for the first time in 1972. And you think Cancel Culture was of Gen Zs and Millennials? I hate to break it to you, my friends, but we can actually trace back its origins from the Martial Law era where a fan-favorite anime Voltes V had to be taken off air in 1979 because of its rebellious theme that didn’t sit well with the regime.
By the way, please inform Toni Gonzaga and Paul Soriano about this as they feel so victimized by Cancel Culture when truth be told, the very family they serve and help rise back to power actually invented it.
It was undeniably quiet during Martial Law. People went home before dawn because of a military curfew that might land you an overnight stay in jail or worse, might never see the sunrise the next day. Just like Felicisimo Singh Roldan, a Far Eastern University student who went to play basketball in Mendiola, Manila on January 30, 1970, but was shot in the chest and found dead by dawn.
So what is left for us?
His son, Marcos Jr. He is what we have left and just like his father, he knows what he’s doing.
Marcos Jr. ran as a congressman, governor, senator, vice president, and now he’s vying for the presidency, yet never once did he acknowledge any of the atrocities his family has done. Never once did he thank us for the money that he used to go to Oxford for that special diploma or to send his children to world-renowned universities, while we’re in the country struggling to pay our own tuition fees.
Marcos Jr. was the reason I braved EDSA’s traffic jam in 2016 to get his campaign materials because I wanted to hang it proudly out my window. He was also the reason why I got into a heated argument with my History teacher because I believed in what I saw online.
And boy, did the Marcoses give me plenty more reasons AFTER 2016.
“So yeah, Bongbong Marcos’ name is the reason I registered to vote again. In hopes that I will return to a country where my nieces and nephews don’t have to leave their homes because of necessity.
Marcos Jr.’s name got shaded in my FIRST ballot. But this May 2022 national elections, we shall fight for it to be the LAST time we’ll ever see a Marcos trying to cage again a once freed nation.
Today, I found out THE TRUTH: Marcos Sr. didn’t care, Imelda didn’t bother. The hell Marcos Jr. ever will.
I voted for Marcos Jr. in 2016. Agbabawi ak.”
Because I then realized that they are also the reason why I cried in airports when my mom would leave to work abroad because she couldn’t find work here.
They are the reason why I’m currently living abroad, knowing that better opportunities are offered here, or else, I will still be paying the interests of the money that the late dictator and his family kept in their own pockets. Otherwise, I will be left working my whole life until the day I die, paying for the money that I didn’t even know existed. Just like my mom, I was left with no choice.
So yeah, Bongbong Marcos’ name is the reason I registered to vote again. In hopes that I will return to a country where my nieces and nephews don’t have to leave their homes because of necessity.
Marcos Jr.’s name got shaded in my FIRST ballot. But this May 2022 national elections, we shall fight for it to be the LAST time we’ll ever see a Marcos trying to cage again a once freed nation.
Today, I found out THE TRUTH: Marcos Sr. didn’t care, Imelda didn’t bother. The hell Marcos Jr. ever will.
I voted for Marcos Jr. in 2016. Agbabawi ak.
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Today is the 36th year anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution that ended the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
From a former Marcos Apologist, #NeverForget #NeverAgain.
