THE celebration of the 25th anniversary of People Power has unwittingly rekindled the four decades-old rivalry between two of the most powerful and prominent clans in this country—the Cojuangco-Aquino family on one side and the Marcos-Romualdez family on the other.
This is bad. For the country to really move forward, Filipinos should relegate this basically tribal war to the dustbin of history.
The internecine rivalry has made Filipinos view their political lives in the prism of the ambitions and misdeeds of just two families which to me is appalling. Sila lang ba ang mga anak ng Diyos? The Marcos-Aquino rivalry has put the Philippines in a time freeze, as if the world of Filipinos revolved around just two families.
Also, it has made the Cojuangco-Aquino family look better than what history should properly credit them for. True, opposition leader Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. was murdered in broad daylight on August 21, 1983, at 50. Instantly, he became a martyr. With a pesky heart problem, there was no telling if Ninoy would have died just the same in some future time after 1983, without the military’s bullet.
A grieving and grateful nation quickly rewarded the family with two presidencies—Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, who served—or rather reigned from February 25, 1986 to June 30, 1992 (a total of six years and four months), and Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino 3rd who won an amazing electoral mandate in May 2010 to serve for six years starting from June 30, 2010—thanks to the death of two beloved Filipinos—Cory’s and the Iglesia ni Cristo leader Eraño Manalo.
Cory and Eraño died in August 2009 just as the presidential campaign was picking up steam, with no one a clear leader or winner. Cory’s death prompted Filipinos to look for a new kind of leader in her mold—not exactly competent but one honest and sincere. That was Noynoy.
The INC command vote is estimated to between 3 and 4 million. Aquino garnered 15 million votes; the second placer, Joseph Estrada got ten million votes. Subtract three million from Noynoy’s 15 million votes, you reduce his vote to 12 million. Add the 3 million to Estrada’s 10 million and you increase his vote to 13 million. Now, 13 million minus 12 million is 1 million—Erap’s victory margin had not Manalo died prematurely.
Also note that the Aquino-Marcos rivalry has made Ferdinand E. Marcos look more evil than he should really be.
Marcos ruled for 20 years. The Aquino clan will rule for 12 years.
Bongbong Marcos says if his father had not been ousted, the Philippines would have been another Singapore—prosperous. Singapore is a wrong metaphor. The island state is smaller than Laguna Lake. It is basically a rule of one party or one family. And people there do not enjoy their democracy as rambunctiously as we do—a possibility Filipinos certainly would not welcome.
Noynoy retorted on February 26, 2011, that “I do not think we would have become another Singapore had we stayed the course with Marcos . . . Were it not for EDSA, we probably could have become another Libya.”
If you look at the record, during Cory Aquino’s presidency, the size of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) more than doubled to 32,000 armed regulars—strong enough to challenge the Armed Forces of the Philippines which was divided between the anti-Cory forces who staged no less than nine coup attempts against her, and the pro-Cory forces led by AFP Chief of Staff and later Defense Secretary Fidel. V. Ramos. Now, isn’t that a formula for a civil war, ala Libya?
President Cory would rather bury a dog inside the Libingan ng mga Bayani than bury a true war hero like Marcos.
“There were great promises that had been made and we have to see how far we have come in the fulfillment of those promises . . . I believe that all Filipinos dream of having a job, to provide their children with an education and that is why they work,” Bongbong told reporters on February 23 on what he thought about People Power.
“I believe that a large percentage of the country have yet to achieve these dreams.”
The British-educated Marcos added: “If there was no EDSA I, if my father was allowed to pursue his plans, I believe that we would be like Singapore now.”
President Aquino promptly reacted to Sen. Marcos’s statement. “Siguro, baka ang pinakatamang sabihin lang doon nagkaroon sila ng pagkakataon para maiangat ang ating ekonomiya,” the President told reporters during the Youth Day celebration at the Rizal High School in Pasig City, also on February 23. “Pero iyong resulta naman ho talaga, after 14 years from 1972 to 1986, tayo po ay di ba napag-iiwanan na ng lahat.”
The revival of the Marcos-Aquino, rivalry, now on its fifth decade, betrays just how few the number of families ruling this country are.The Philippines has about 100 political dynasties and they also have a stranglehold on the economy. Only a true revolution can put an end to the dynastic rule of these 100 families. Manila Times
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