Medyo mahaba ang artikulong ito but please bear with me and read Cynthia Patag's commentary in the inquirer...We must remember never to forget...

Not in my hometown

Posted:11:17 PM (Manila Time) | Apr. 25, 2003
By Cynthia Patag

"WE'RE never coming back," my eldest sister declared. "Iloilo is primitive! All those shanties!" My sister and her cardiologist husband reside in Texas, USA. To think Iloilo province prides itself in having a broad middle class.

I am a true-blue Ilongga. When my family relocated to Manila in 1972, right after I graduated from high school, this “promdi” (provincial lass) experienced a culture shock of enormous magnitude. When I came back to Iloilo early this year, I got another shock.

The first jolt came when I went to the West Visayas State University (WVSU) to enroll for a Bachelor of Science in Education diploma. The dean of education, Dr. Andora, mentioned casually that their guest speaker for this year’s graduation rites was Congresswoman Imee Marcos.

"Kaya naman namamatay na 'tong bayan natin, eh! [That’s why this country is dying!]" I protested. "If there's one person who ravaged our country, it's Ferdinand Marcos. Before he became president, our nation's debt to the World Bank was one billion dollars. By the time the Marcoses were driven out of this country after 21 years in power by the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986, the amount had risen to 20 billion dollars. Today, our nation owes its foreign creditors 54.4 billion dollars. We have never recovered from the rapacity of the Marcos regime!"

Maybe I should have warned the dean not to get me started. But then I remembered Liliosa Hilao.

On April 4, 1973, Liling, 23 and a fourth-year journalism scholar at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila [University of the City of Manila] and editor of Hasik, the student publication, was picked up by four burly agents of the Constabulary Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), led by Lieutenant Rodolfo Garcia, at her house in the Project 2 district of Quezon City. Two days later, Liling was found dead in a toilet at the CANU headquarters and foaming at the mouth. She had reportedly drunk muriatic acid.

An independent inquiry showed that Liling had been severely tortured, sexually abused and then killed by her captors. The military officer held principally responsible for her torture and death was Lieutenant Arthur Castillo. He remains in the military service.

On April 7, 1986, the SELDA group of former political detainees filed a class action suit against Marcos before the Federal District Court of Honolulu, Hawaii, for gross human rights violations. Liliosa Hilao's case was the first to be presented in court.

"But the sins of the father shouldn't be visited on their children," said the dean.

In his speech at the 17th anniversary of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo noted "the thorough and systematic plunder of the Treasury and government banking and financial institutions and corporations during the Marcos regime, such as the DBP (Development Bank of the Philippines) and the PNB (Philippine National Bank), so much so that in 1986 and 1987 alone, at least 209 billion pesos of taxpayers' money was required to bail them out." Romulo lamented that many years later none of the Marcoses and their cronies were behind bars.

"As Christians, we must learn to forgive," the dean reminded me.

I had to take a deep breath. "The Marcos family is not asking for forgiveness!" I told her.

During a visit to General Santos City, Imee Marcos, who many believe is seeking a senatorial post in 2004, said, "We are willing to apologize provided we know what it is we are supposed to say sorry for."

In March 1997, the US Federal District Court ordered the Marcoses to indemnify 10,000 human rights victims of the Marcos regime to the tune of two billion dollars. Lawyers representing the victims cited at least one human rights case involving Imee Marcos.

The victim's name was Archimedes Trajano, a 20-year-old student of the Mapua Institute of Technology. In 1973, during a forum held at the University of Santo Tomas, Trajano asked Imee Marcos why she was serving as chairperson of the Kabataang Barangay (Youth Council) when there had been no election. Immediately after the forum, Imee’s bodyguards abducted him. A week later, his corpse was found. It bore unmistakable signs of torture.

Trajano's parents sued Imee Marcos for murder and torture before the US Federal District Court of Hawaii. In 1992, the court found Imee Marcos guilty and ordered her to pay Trajano's parents the sum of one million dollars.

"Those are your perceptions," the educator retorted.

Whoa. What's next for Imee Marcos -- an honorary doctorate?" How naive of me.

"And what did Imee donate to WVSU?" I asked.

"Nothing."

As if. I decided to enroll at the Central Philippine University.

* * *

"Nothing," Dr. Rosario Acerson of the Iloilo Doctor's Hospital (IDH) replied when I asked her if she had anything new to say after the Supreme Court ordered the Kuratong Baleleng case reopened. A week earlier, upon the recommendation of Dr. Rene Juaneza, the IDH board had invited Senator Panfilo Lacson to be the guest of honor and speaker at the launching of the IDH Kidney Foundation.

Were the doctors who had worked hard to put up the foundation aware of the character and background of their guest of honor?

"I can't tolerate this," Dr. Acerson said.

As if. Exactly what she couldn't tolerate, she didn't explain.

My hometown is giving me a colossal culture shock! The general apathy I've experienced alternately disgusts and saddens me. But lately, thank God, I have met some Ilonggos with a social conscience. Let's not forget June Abordo.

To this day, the Marcoses have not paid a single centavo to the human rights victims, many of whom have passed away. In the meantime, Imee Marcos, with gazillions of loot at her disposal, is everywhere in the Western Visayas region. “Artista ang packaging, 'day!” [Being packaged as an actress!] “Nangangampanya na talaga” [Campaigning in earnest], with a formidable national media network to cover her activities. The buzz is that her staff solicits invitations for her to grace events even in the remotest towns. Malls are not spared.

The local government officials who invite her are equally revolting. (Are they salivating for blood money as doles?) Shame.

Then there's the legendary short memory of Filipinos. I call it cowardice.

The youth comprise 59 percent of the voters in 2004. Most of them, however, are not aware of the major role Marcos and his cronies played in the "death by decomposition" of our nation, as Nelson Navarro once put it. Every day, as many as 3,000 Filipinos, among them members of the upper middle class, leave our country, having lost all hope for our country.

If Imee Marcos wins a Senate seat in 2004, she will be the first Marcos to win in a national election since EDSA People Power I, although she won't be the first to use the Senate as a refuge from civil and criminal suits. "Pag itong isinuka na ng bayan ibabalik pa sa poder, patay na" [If this person that the nation rejects will be restored to power, that's it for us]. Justice will never ever come to pass "sa mahal nating bayang Pilipinas" [in our beloved country the Philippines]. So help us God.

Cynthia Patag has a Bachelor of Arts in Literature degree from De La Salle University and is now working on a second diploma so she can teach English to public school students.

:: Bing Tuesday, July 08, 2003 [+] ::
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