Holy Week Issue

A social media post reacting to a PR firm's "win a date with Sandro (Marcos)" promo that resulted in a backlash against deniers of post-Proclamation No. 1081 atrocities/abuses. Photo grabbed from Twitter.

DIYOS ko. Holy Week na Holy Week ay gusto akong hatakin ng isang Marcos loyalist sa debate tungkol sa katotohanan ng mga nakasulat sa mainstream History tungkol sa Marcos martial law atrocities at abuses. Gusto niya akong hatakin sa kanyang alternative facts. Ano ang tingin niya sa akin, tangang isda na papatol sa bulateng pain niya? Hindi ako hangal na kakagat sa gusto niyang mangyari, na ako ay magalit at maglitanya tungkol sa maraming facts ng kasaysayan at tuluyan na ngang mailagay niya sa posisyon ng may burden of proof na siya ngayong magpapatunay na totoo nga ang lahat ng detalye ng History na binanggit ko. At sa bandang dulo, may alas siyang itatapon sa mesa na magtatanong sa akin kung sigurado ako sa aking mga facts at kung ilang units sa History ang nakuha ko sa kolehiyo at sa kung saang paaralan, and so on. Trial niya, at History ang nasa defensive sa aggression ng kanyang confirmation bias. Hindi ako mangmang na kakagat sa gusto niyang mangyaring ang History ang mailagay niya sa gitna ng kanyang dakilang imbestigasyon sa ngalan ng gaslighting.
    Pren, sasabihin mo, pero di ba dapat ding mailabas ang katotohanan? Totoo, dapat ilabas ito. At sasabihin ko sa iyong ilabas mo ito sa madla. Subalit dapat mo ring malaman na walang patutunguhan ang pakikipagdebate sa deniers ng anumang kasaysayan, dahil sa either of two reasons lamang. Ang one of the two reasons, malakas ang paniniwala ng isang denier sa kanyang sariling bersyon ng katotohanan, kung kaya’t wala kang mararating sa iyong mga facts. May mababali ka bang relihiyosong malakas ang paniniwala sa kanyang relihiyon o bersyon o konsepto ng Godhead or Godness? Wala. The other reason, mayroon siyang motibo. Kung kaya’t ikaw ang paglalaruan niya. May makukumbinse ka bang isang tao sa prinsipyo ng katotohanan kung alam niya rin naman ang katotohanan at alam din niyang nagsisinungaling siya sa ngalan ng kanyang mga sikretong motibo?
    Wala akong oras makipagdebate tungkol sa katotohanan sa mga taong either may malakas na paniniwala sa kanilang bersyon ng katotohanan, at di kailanman makukumbinsi ng anumang ibang bersyon, o dili kaya’y may suwapang na motibo sa likod ng kanilang mga salita, at di kailanman magpapatinag sa talino ng anumang may saysay na interpolasyon.
    Kung mag-aaksaya man ako ng panahon sa kanila, hindi ang isyu nila ang papatulan ko kundi ito—sila, bilang ang isyu. Itatanong ko sa akademya ng tao, sa bawat nakikinig na may sariling isip, kung ano ang interes ng isang tao sa isang kasaysayan. Bakit niya ba kinikuwestiyon ito? Ano ang motibo niya? Maganda kaya ang motibo niya o hindi? Kinukuwestiyon niya ito sa ngalan ng ano? Sa ngalan nino? Sa ngalan ng anong korporasyon o paksyon pulitikal? At kung sasabihin niyang pure ang kanyang motibo at walang halong selfish interest, dapat ba siyang paniwalaan? Ano ang power o supremacy na makukuha niya sa pagkapanalo ng kanyang metanarrative?
    Para sa akin, sapat nang malaman na natural lang sa isang apologist ng dictatorial system at militarismo na maghanap ng isyu tungkol sa kasaysayan ng anumang dictatorship at militarist rule. Sapat nang malaman na galing siya sa isang pamilya, barkada, ethnic o linguistic group, o anumang sistema ng groupthink, na nakinabang o makikinabang sa sistemang diktadurya o militarista, para maliwanagan ako sa tunay na dahilan sa likod ng kanyang behavior o mental anatomy bilang isang denier o historical negationist.
    Uulitin ko. Sa harap ng mga taong ganito, pipilitin kang hatakin sa isyu nila, kung saan ang History mismo ang magiging isyu. Subalit ang isyu ay hindi ang History, Ang isyu ay SILA at ang MGA MOTIBO NILA. Kung may pagdedebate, dapat ito umikot sa pagkatao, o sa mga facts and figures sa likod ng pagkatao NILA. Take it from there. . . .
    Hay, sus. Pasensya na, mga bes, at binulabog ko ang Holy Week ninyo. . . . Pero, on the other hand, baka Holy Week issue rin naman ‘to. Di nga ba’t may mga denier din dyan, mga deniers na nagsasabing mas mabuti ang naging kalagayan ng Ancient Israel sa pamamalakad ng Roma, o na si Satanas ang tunay na maka-kapayapaan dahil hindi niya hahayaan ang mga sakuna? Well, wala namang masama sa pagkuwestiyon sa anumang mga detalye ng kasaysayan o ng mitolohiya per se, na tinatawag ng history professors na historical revisionism. Ang masama ay kung ayaw mong isama ang sarili mo sa imbestigasyon, kahit ikaw ang may dala ng mga kuwestiyon, na maaaring maturing na isyu ng historical negationism. Pag ganito ang nangyayari na hinahayaan natin ang imbestigasyon sa anumang teksto nang walang pag-iimbestiga sa masama o mabuting motibo ng kumukuwestiyon, may mga rewriting na nangyayari at nagtatagumpay nang ganun-ganon na lang. Tulad, halimbawa, yaong pagkarewrite sa kuwento tungkol kay Maria Magdalena upang palabasin na siya ay nagbagong prosti at hindi babaeng disipolo ni Hesus na ka-lebel, kung di man mas mataas sa lebel, nina Pedro. And for what motive? To deny women the priesthood? Go, take it from there! [S / -I]

WAS THE AQUINO GOVERNMENT ALSO TO BLAME FOR THE MARCOSES' COMEBACK?

WAS the Aquino government to blame for the Marcos family's comeback, as hinted by former Vice-President Jejomar Binay and as per the legalist defense of President Duterte himself re his funeral honors for Ferdinand Marcos?
    Well, partly, yes. A big part? Yes. Binay's and Duterte's technicalities aside and the people's pulse as the primary measure, when the Aquino government used the Marcos era as the very opposite to its own, and then the intelligentsia itself failed or refused to call the Aquino government's own little Marcosian atrocities and tag as Marcosian its sporadic dictatorships by liberal legalism, and then also call that government's members' own business with---or alleged tax accommodations for---Marcos- and Romualdez-affiliated business interests, e.g. Benguet Corporation, among others. . . . the Marcos comeback road was definitely paved by that government, ripe for loyalists' long-awaited historical revision and historical negation programs.
    So, was the Aquino government also to blame for the Marcos comeback? Again, definitely yes. But so is the Duterte government's loving embrace of the late dictator's family, as was Binay's own transformation from being a human rights lawyer during the Marcos years to being a symbol of Marcosian kleptocracy in later years. As were all those post-Marcos acts of governance (or absence of governance) that failed to demonstrate Good opposite to the historical metanarrative concerning Marcos' Evil. So was the intelligentsia's failure to see that the history it was academically writing was not the history that the people were reading. [S / -I]

WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE SCHEDULED STATE BURIAL (WITH HONORS, AS A MATTER OF COURSE) OF FORMER DICTATOR FERDINAND MARCOS AT THE LIBINGAN NG MGA BAYANI?

cartoon borrowed from paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com

1.) The Filipino oligarchy's leadership under various faces, with its filial penchant for forgiving, even if only a bit, and permitting people in exile to return to their regions of wide support in exchange for the surrender of a few centavos of their stolen wealth. Along with this, the dismal performance of the Presidential Commission on Good Government in running after the Marcoses' stolen wealth in offshore accounts, not to mention the reported corruption of some appointed officials of the commission. Along with this, the oligarchies' lack of transparency with regards to the amount and whereabouts of all the recovered ill-gotten wealth from the Marcoses' haul.

2.) The Filipino oligarchy's leadership (through one of its own or otherwise a puppet), with its treatment of Philippine politics as a game wherein its leaders can nurture an anti-Marcos image, complete with TV documentaries about the Marcos era and annual anniversaries reflecting on the Marcos oppressive years of horrors, while entering into business jointures and secret political alliances with elements of the Marcos family; in the case of Noynoy Aquino, fanning anti-Marcos rhetoric on PTV4 and ABS-CBN care of the Lopezes even as he patches up differences with the Danding Cojuangcos and the Floirendos and other former Marcos allies to build both business and political alliances for his Liberal Party machine, one of which products may have been getting back a larger influence on Hacienda Luisita stocks that would result in Kris Aquino's sitting on the board of the corporation, to mention a few such arrangements beyond our masses' full comprehension.

3.) The Filipino oligarchy's leadership and its failure to govern beyond the (legalist) ways and habits of the crony-serving Marcos era, which led to people's disillusionment with these post-Marcos governments that led in turn to a popular belief that perhaps Marcos was just a victim of black propaganda and that maybe what those Marcos-supporting white and grey propaganda releases have been saying were probably more right than not.

4.) The Filipino oligarchy's leadership with its secret arrangements that may have given the Marcoses leeway to enter the various propaganda media, which entry would lead the Marcos machine to convince millions of disillusioned Filipinos of old and new generations to consider the possibility that maybe Marcos was not that bad, culminating in an almost-win for the vice-presidential candidacy of Bongbong Marcos.

5.) The Filipino oligarchy's leadership, with its failure to strengthen a continuing knowledge of all the recent Philippine history of abuses and inculcating all this into the memories of both old and new students and teachers.

6.) Finally, the irony of a newly-elected President who unabashedly proclaims that he is a socialist (partly true, perhaps, while also partly false) while confessing to a close friendship with the rightist Marcos family, and---after the elections---confessing to having been primarily funded by a Floirendo (a former Marcos ally in Mindanao) during his presidential campaign. (Incidentally, it was purportedly thanks to this Floirendo that a Duterte-Marcos 2016 tandem became the most common tandem on the presidential election posters on the walls and fences of Davao).

7.) And. oh, we almost forgot: the Filipino people being too divided on their impression about the Marcoses, thanks to all of the above, that would now render it impossible for them to launch a revolution against all of Marcos' friends in government (if there is even such an animal as a true enemy of the Marcoses in the highest roster of government since the presidency of Ferdinand's cousin, Fidel Ramos). [S / -I]