Why so fearful of a second Marcos presidency? Indeed, the most popular — no, the only — argument detractors of Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr have against him is the “horror” of the years that allegedly marked his father’s “regime”. Unfortunately for them it is also a weak argument.
In simple terms, the logic being used by Marcos vilifiers goes like this:
IF: Bongbong Marcos or, for that matter, any Marcos ascends power;
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THEN: the Philippines will be plunged into another era of authoritarianism.
In short, a Marcos return to power will be a cause of a return of tyranny to the Philippines.
So let’s now ask ourselves: Where is the sense in that logic?
First of all, does a cause-and-effect relationship exist between a Marcos ascent to power and the threat of a dictatorship taking over the Philippines today? Believing so is like betting that lightning will strike the same spot twice. The Philippine society that Bongbong Marcos faces today is vastly different from the one his father dealt with back in the 1960s and 1970s. Saying that Filipinos will once again be suckered into a Marcos-era-style dictatorship is tantamount to a vote of no-confidence in the strength of the Philippines’ democratic institutions as they stand today.
In short, people who wail and gnash their teeth at the thought of another Marcos presidency are showing an absolute lack of faith in the ability of the Filipino to chart their own destinies by channeling their power to do so via the democratic governance they enjoy today. They are the ones who have little faith in the measures in place in today’s Philippine democracy to mitigate the risk of another tyrannical regime running roughshod over its institutions.
Second, these shills forget that it is the very people who will be trooping to the polls in 2016 who were a party to the overthrow of the Marcos “dictatorship” in 1986. So their choice in 2016 will be by virtue of that same power they exercised in 1986 — only, this time, that power will be channeled via the now-mature democratic institutions put in place by the government of the late former President Cory Aquino in 1987. Whoever the Filipino people choose to be their leader in the next election — whether it be a Marcos or someone from another family — will be the vote of the Philippine electorate.
So to those who are on a tililing rampage over a possible Marcos presidency claiming that a Marcos in Malacanang will be a cause of the next “evil” Philippine dictatorship should get a grip and snap out of the emo spell they are in.
Think like a 21st Century human being for a change, stop insulting peoples’ intelligence, use a human brain rather than a simian one for thinking, and quit those idiotic clucking tirades that seem to be meant to do nothing better than influence little coloured circles in so-called “mood meters”.
There is NO causal relationship between a future Marcos presidency and a future Philippine dictatorship any more than going straight to bed after taking a shower without drying your hair thoroughly will cause you to go blind overnight.
The hope here is that Filipinos will not be as stupid as they were in the past. Whether there is substance in said hope is, of course, another matter for debate. But here’s the more interesting thing to ponder for now: You kinda wonder about people who seem to harbour an irrational aversion to “cool, handsome, glamorous” people. Perhaps it is because they are everything but.
If you want Filipino voters to stop acting stupid, then stop saying stupid things to them. Now that logic makes sense.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
I do not care, if Bong Bong Marcos will run , and win the Presidency. The only concern that I have are: does he have vision for the country to better things? How about his programs to solve our festering problems? Is he ready to handle the Presidency?
We have been through worse times than dictatorship, in the Aquino era. Times of incompetence; massive graft and corruption; virtual dictatorship by Aquino and his Oligarch buddies.
The Media became the Propaganda Machine of Aquino. Most of the Journalists are in the payroll of Aquino.
Thanks to all Bloggers and Web Blog Writers; who are called: “Citizen Journalists”…they cannot sanitize the Truth, anymore.
Whoever will handle the Presidency, after Aquino, is gone, will have a hard time straightening things. It will be a though job.
So, Choose the President, who has the best qualifications and ability.
It should read:” “It will be a tough job”…sorry for the wrong statement…
you should have asked that yourself when you chose to elect Noynoy who has not passed a single bill during his time as a congressman and as a senator.
Look at BBM’s achievements then you will know the answer to your questions
Nice shot @louie!
I did not vote for that Mentally Retarded Aquino. I voted for someone else, in the last election…
yes indeed well said BBM IS more reliable than noynoy…
Love to see another Marcos to be PRESIDENT OF OUR REPUBLIC..SEN. BONGBONG MARCOS IS MOST QUALIFIED AND EDUCATED–EXPERIENCED .OUR COUNTRY TODAY–BEFORE WE ARE MOST RESPECTED..
Wasn’t there someone who said, politicians feed on people’s fears to win? That said, we can observe Filipinos are a fearful people. They fear being poor, they fear missing favorite telenovelas, they fear discipline, they fear not having the latest iPhone, etc. Perhaps also Filipinos should study the dynamics that led to the elder Marcos’ rise to power, and the dynamics today that will affect government leadership. But wait, study? They don’t care. They just want to keep up with the Joneses and catch up with the latest telenovela.
Not sure I’d want Marcos up there either, but with the current choices and the current state of affairs, he is becoming less and less unattractive.
“they fear not having the latest iPhone…”
That about sums up the entire Pinoy culture.
ChinoF,
And, most importantly, Filipino “fear” each other. I’m not a Marcos fan either, but, compared to what we’ve had since his ousting from power in 1986, he’s definitely the “lesser of all evils.”
I’ve always enjoyed using this example to describe Marcos and the kind of leaderships we’ve had since his departure. ‘When Marcos stole 1 pesos from the country, he spent 50 centavos on his people. Today, when all the oligarchs steal 1 peso from the country, they spend 5 centavos on their people.
A thief is a thief no matter how you look at it. Marcos was a thief, but he was a “Robin Hood” kind of thief. The oligarch leaders we’ve had since Marcos are the “Prince John” kind of thieves.
Aeta.
democratic point of view that we are enjoying today is useless because a lot of filipino is affected by those in politics power cheating us and habitually promising that we are in a stable economy but that was shown by those CORRUPT leaders without any projects done to our country but doing more laws and pocketing the money of the people, compared beyond the performance of our late president FERDINAND E. MARCOS, so tell us which government is better ? another MARCOS IN MALACANANG IS A CONTINUATION OF PROGRESS IN THIS COUNTRY that his father had already shown. if the logic saying that Marcos is cheating the people at least we can say its worth we can see the development in our country but the previous and the present government starting from the Aquino and so on until today is nothing but a worse CORRUPT LEADERS THAT WE HAD, BEFORE MARCOS CAN CONTROL BUT AQUINO GOVERNMENT IS A LOST COMMAND.
Ang isang dimocrasia na walang disiplina ay isang panis na uri na dimocrasia. Ito ang uri na dimocrasia na meron tayo sa Filipinas. I wowould like to use an analogy about our country. It’s like this, ang isang barko hindi tutolin o diritso ang takbo niyan kong walang timon o rader. O kong sira ung rader o kong walang disiplina ang homahawak ng timon o rader ng barko ang ating bansa. Ung humahak nang timon o rader ng ating bansa ay ang tatlong power na miron tayo, executive, judisiary, paliamentary. Irong 3 na ito nagkulang sa disipkuna
After all is said and done, the solution to our country’s problems is VOTE MARCOS. What would Lee Kuan Yew say about this?
“Only in the Philippines could a leader like Ferdinand Marcos, who pillaged his country for over 20 years, still be considered for a national burial. Insignificant amounts of the loot have been recovered, yet his wife and children were allowed to return and engage in politics.”
GET REAL is nothing more than an Ilocano propaganda sheet. What a waste of time!!!
you and people like you are the waste
I don’t like the Aquinos and I don’t like the Marcoses. I’d rather we didn’t gain independence from the Americans.
Bongbong Marcos is just like his dad in cooking up fantasies about his war time heroics. In Bongbong’s case, it’s his Oxford fantasy. The guy can talk what you want to hear, just like his daddy. But behind the scenes he worked so hard to get into the top 10 of the World’s Most Corrupt Leaders.
What a waste of time this website turned out to be!!! GET REAL = VOTE MARCOS underneath all the points and counter-points and little arrows going one way and another.
hahacienda,
“I’d rather we didn’t gain independence from the Americans.”
This is probably why the United States gave us our independence in 1946. The Americans knew they’ll be in for a major migraine, by trying to rule over 7,000 islands, inhabited by millions of self-serving and arrogant people, who are unable to set their personal interests and differences aside long enough to know what being “United”–as in United States–means.
Aeta
Hmm… Who are panicking. Maybe the fear emanates from those in the past who created their own ghosts. They were too protected and confident that all the lies they made up were all buried safely. Who knows the real truth? Read back stories. Many articles mentioned about myths, lies, truths about the Marcoses. Every Juan has created his own theory and believed it to be the truth.
I see. Now I understand. This site is for Marcos Zombies. Trash, in other words.
Apparently you haven’t read the article (or maybe you read it but don’t have an inkling of what it’s supposed to mean)
Marcos declared Marshall Law for a reason but dictatorship it was not. Dictatorship is now with the Aquinos and its propaganda. Many Filipinos think of Marshall Law as something really bad because that’s how the Aquinos & co. AKA traitors of this country propagandized it and how they fooled this nation with so called democracy and full of corruption. The Cojuancos stole the lands of the people of Hacienda Luisita, how can you forget that? People who dare to stand up against them gets murdered. How did a Cojuanco-Aquino got to presidency twice? Propaganda then keep most Filipinos poor so they can’t afford healthy food for a healthy brain.
@ ADMIN, ‘Where is the sense in that argument?’, you ask?
Besides the apple NEVER falling far from the tree, and the fact that this guys Mother still has all the money she stole and brags about it (see YOUTUBE.com for proof).
Much of this guys Ftaher’s Money never left the Philippines,it is in PLDT stocks and currently ,it is rumoured ,that the Marcos clan owns much of the countries main corporations.The people(and their families) that sheltered FM’s money and were in places of power in the military/congress (look at Enrile that old scumbag ! he is still in power), never wavered in their loyalty and remain in the same positions that they were in when FM was thrown under-the-bus (How did the wheels miss his head?) and can implement the orders of a martial law regime instantly.BUT there is no need to do that, they thieving is taking place quite nicely as it is.
Dont fool yourself, or go ahead IDGAS….but the fact is much of the ‘infrastructure’ of the Marcos years still remains to this day, resuscitating it will be easy.
Go ahead and elect this guy, I DARE YA !!!!
IF the Philippines wants change as much as it says it does??? Why does it keep electing the same families representatives for the last 50 years????? CHANGE? CHANGE WHAT? FISRT NAMES? Filipino’s dont want change they want to suffer like dogs in July.If Filipino’s wanted change they would consider electing NEW PEOPLE to the jobs the thieves and their families have held for over 50 years.
“currently ,it is rumored…” Well, you can suck my name. It is currently “rumored” to be big.
The last two sentences of this article says it all. The flawed logic in this article and the assessments it makes regarding FM detractors are subjective at best, fantasy at worst. Even worse the fact that the writer seems to think that Filipino’s are incapable of having an open mind and are very gullible. If not, the last two sentences would not be necessary.
I rather see a Marcos dictatorship than seeing undiscipline Filipinos,!! Those who are afraid of dictatorship are guilty of their own hidden crimes thats why they are afraid cause they hide so many illegal things!!! I want to see these kind of people be killed cause they have no right to live in this World.
Rodolfo Manansala,
The self-serving (kanya-kanya) and aristocratic (hambog) nature of the Filipino people requires a dictatorial-type of leadership.
We Filipino do not trust one another, nor are we willing to set our personal interests and differences aside, to come up with ways to solve our country’s problems as one people.
Anyone who feels otherwise are in denial of this truth about our people, and do not want the delusions of their “Pinoy Pride” dispelled.
Aeta
BS Aquino and their YellowTard minions of stupid fools and assholes are “so intelligent” that they feel impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the Failippines. Unfortunately, they are not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when they act on their theories, they behave very often like G-D-SOBs and lunatics.
Who was the real author of martial law? Who ordered killing and abductions? Was it Marcos? I think not. But he has command responsibility for it. So who actually raised martial law? I hear it was Enrile and Ramos? Who ordered killings and abductions? Maybe Ver?
Let us not forget the “hocus pocus” machine. We should be more focus now on the accuracy and credibility of the computerized election. Who are the people involved in the bidding process, operation and security. These people should be carefully selected possessing untarnished integrity, competence, independency and patriotism, as well as properly oriented and compensated enough by the government not by traditional politicians.
Propaganda’s and conspiracy are rampant. From plaza miranda bombing, killing of ninoy, cpp-npa, mv karagatan. supposed assassination of enrile, human rights. etc. all things were pointed to marcos. its either true or false. people try to justify it if its true it was already proven. if its not propaganda’s shall continue? isn’t clear to the eyes of everyone? BBM sincerity to rebuild the trust and confidence of the people and to continue the visions of his father, to give back the filipino nation its true identity and take our proper place in the community of nation, i dont see anything wrong with that. compared to other candidates, his attitude and character is very far, his a gentleman, family man, even his hobbies, he dont even smoke, I never hear him say bad words even he’s under pressure sometimes by the media, I think he’s just professional and sincere in his works, like his father “constitutional authoritarianism”, I think BBM is also more on constitution however I doubt he’d be as authoritarian as his father.. he have a good character compare to his rivals. I guess that is the basic qualification of a good leader.
The people are now awake! They dont mind to vote for a future “dictator” like Marcos Jr., VP Binay & Duterte! We have realized a weak leadership dressed in “western democracy” equals to the country being poor and robbed! While a strong and authoritarian leadership disciplines everybody and leads to better nation building!
“Now-mature democratic institutions” – loving the witty sarcasm here, Benigno.