In May last year, a month before Bongbong Marcos was to be inaugurated as the 17th president of the Philippines, his sister, Senator Imee Marcos, expressed the hope that the family would finally be given the platform to “clarify” the legacy of their father. She said: “We have been there, the truth is, our return to the Palace is not that important. What is most important to us is our name, the family name that has become so controversial and so difficult at times to bear. The legacy of my father is what we hope will be clarified at last.”
In his conversation with World Economic Forum President Borge Brende in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 19, President Marcos said: “I was determined not to go into politics. I could see the sacrifices he had to make to do a good job. But after we came back from the United States, after exile, the political issue was Marcos. And for us to defend ourselves politically, somebody had to enter politics and be in the political arena so that not only the legacy of my father but even our own survival required that somebody go into politics.”
The Marcos family has had the platform to clarify the legacy of the patriarch for almost a year now, but all they have said about the widespread corruption and rampant abuse of human rights with which their father’s martial law regime is associated is that it is “all political propaganda.” That is no clarification. The widespread corruption during the Marcos regime is supported by testimonies of their father’s own accomplices in the plunder of the national coffers and by documentary evidence. The rampant abuse of human rights is also backed up by the accounts of surviving victims of torture and by the admission of guilt by some of the violators of human rights.
Deposit slips signed by his father and namesake and former First Lady Imelda Marcos showed that the couple had $356 million in deposits in Swiss banks, which according to the Philippine Supreme Court was manifestly disproportionate to their aggregate salaries as government officials. US Customs Service records showed that the Marcos family had brought to Hawaii after fleeing Manila in February 1986 22 crates of cash valued at $717 million, deposit slips in foreign banks worth $120 million, 300 crates of assorted jewelry with an undetermined value, $4 million worth of unset precious gems, $7.7 million of jewelry including a 150-carat Burmese ruby, a 12 x 4 ft box crammed with real pearls, a three-foot solid gold statue covered with diamonds, $200,000 worth of gold bullion, nearly $1 million in Philippine pesos and 65 Seiko and Cartier watches.
No clarification, no explanation on how the Marcos couple had gotten so much money and collected so much valuable jewelry has been made because none is possible other than the fabulous wealth was ill-gotten. What the elder Ferdinand Marcos had done can no longer be undone. He has been long gone. His deeds are history. His reign is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as “the greatest robbery of a government.”
The family name Marcos will remain controversial and difficult to bear, as Imee intimated. But the name can be restored to respectability if the son who also bears the name Ferdinand Marcos does the reverse of what the first Ferdinand Marcos did.
There was once a name that was difficult for some to bear — Benigno Simeon Aquino. The name became associated with betrayal when the man who first bore the name collaborated with the enemy — the Japanese occupation government. The son who also bore the name Benigno Simeon Aquino did the reverse. He fought fiercely and relentlessly the man who oppressed and robbed the Filipino people, He lost his life in the process. The nation now honors him. The anniversary of his death is a national holiday.
There is also the story of another name, Alfred Nobel. When Ludwig Nobel died in Cannes, France in 1888, one French newspaper headlined the report “The Merchant of Death is dead,” mistaking Ludwig for his brother Alfred, the inventor of dynamite and other more powerful explosives. Alfred was aghast when he read the obituary. So, that is how he would be remembered, he realized. To leave behind a better legacy, Alfred Nobel bequeathed much of the fortune he amassed from his inventions to the establishment of the Nobel Prizes — the awards to those who have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.
Imee said back in May last year: “I think now is the time to show what we can still do for the country.” Her brother Bongbong could have done something great for the country on March 29. On that day, he joined the leaders of the United States and 72 other nations in declaring: “We, the leaders of the Summit for Democracy, reaffirm our shared belief that democracy — government reflecting the effective participation and will of the people — is humanity’s most enduring means to advance peace, prosperity, equality, sustainable development and security. Democracy is necessary to ensure that every voice is heard, that the human rights of all are respected, protected, and fulfilled, online and offline, and that the rule of law is upheld. We recognize that democracy can take many forms, but shares common characteristics, including free and fair elections that are inclusive and accessible; separation of powers; checks and balances; peaceful transitions of power; an independent media and safety of journalists; transparency; access to information; accountability; inclusion; gender equality; civic participation; equal protection of the law; and respect for human rights, including freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
But President Marcos botched the opportunity to do something great for the country when subsequently he disassociated from the Declaration’s reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The declaration included this commitment: “We commit to fight against impunity and promote accountability for violations of international law, particularly genocide, war crimes, the crime of aggression and crimes against humanity, including where such crimes involve sexual and gender-based violence. We acknowledge the important role played by the ICC as a permanent and impartial tribunal complementary to national jurisdictions in advancing accountability for the most serious crimes under international law.”
The dissociation made President Marcos’ affirmation of his belief in democracy disingenuous. In January, the ICC pre-trial chamber reopened its investigation into the extra-judicial killings under his predecessor Rodrigo R. Duterte’s bloody war on drugs because it was not satisfied with the efforts of the country’s social justice system to probe the human rights abuses during Mr. Duterte’s term as mayor of Davao City and during his presidency.
But Bongbong Marcos can still do the country great if he reverses all the dictatorial acts of Duterte, like instructing the Justice secretary prosecute those identified by witnesses as perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and to drop all charges against Leila de Lima, reinstate Maria Lourdes Sereno at least as associate justice if not as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, persuade the House of Representatives to grant ABS-CBN a franchise, and to order the Securities and Exchange Commission to review the revocation of Rappler’s license to operate.
Maria Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for merely standing up to President Duterte. President Bongbong Marcos can also win the Nobel Peace Prize if he reverses all the dictatorial acts of Mr. Duterte and fulfill all his commitments in the Declaration of Democracy without disassociation and reservation. If he wins the Nobel Peace Prize, then the name Marcos would no longer be difficult to bear.
Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. is a retired corporate executive, business consultant, and management professor.