The resurrection of Ferdinand Marcos

The once relentless call for justice has started to fade out. The criminal
is now the hero.
Jayeel Serrano Cornelio
Published 7:00 PM, November 08, 2016
Updated 7:00 PM, November 08, 2016

He died in 1989. But he continues to haunt all of us.

Soon Marcos will be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. His family
after all cannot wait. But the story of his resurrection is just beginning.
To blame the Supreme Court though is a mistake. Long before the
magistrates made their decision, fundamental questions about what
defines our soul had already become trivial. If the values cherished by
a society constituted its soul, then ours has long been deeply divided.
And early this year, a survey showed that 50% of respondents believed
that Marcos "was worthy to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani."
The other half rejected the idea.
Misleading question
There could be no more opportune time than this to hijack heroism.
Marcos in this light is alive again. Not just because of the legalists who
invoked the silence of the law, but because many have decided they
don't care anymore. Together they have drowned out the cry for justice
among those who reject the heroic claim of the former dictator.
There are thus three sides to the story of his resurrection: the legalists,
the moralists, and those who are tired they don't care anymore.
To then keep Marcos lying in state in Batac has been a very wise move
for his family. They knew that this day would come, when people would
no longer remember his crimes. They would recast him as the leader of
the country's glorious past and pit him against the failures of the
present.
Many ask what the decision's consequences are on our society. But
that is a misleading question. We should instead be asking ourselves
what brought us to where we are today: weak institutions, lingering
distrust of the government, miseducation of the youth, and the
neoliberal project that turns our people into laborers devoid of
historical and political consciousness.
Deeply divided

So where are we now? Our society is deeply divided and we are always
looking for heroes. This is the space that has been hijacked.
And it is clever. As a result, the once relentless call for justice has
started to fade out.
The criminal is now the hero.
The legalists may continue to claim that the decision does not turn him
into one. But why insist on it in the first place? Precisely because
cemeteries are not neutral spaces where the dead are left to decay.
They are commemorative spaces where kinship patterns linger and
legacies are rehearsed time and again.
He is not a hero but he will be buried among heroes. No other
vindication will trump this honor in favor of the man who orchestrated
the murder of hundreds, the silencing of his critics, and the looting of
wealth much of which remains unreturned.
At his resurrection, many are celebrating.
But many too are weeping. Think about the coconut farmers. Think
about the families of desaparecidos. Think of those who were tortured
still reeling from trauma and pain. Think of those who gave up their
dreams to fight for liberty and the rule of law. Think of those who lost
their lives so we might live today.
Alive again
Marcos is alive again. But perhaps he never died in the first place.
Those who supported his burial among heroes carry the heaviest
burden. Explain to the rest of us how we are now to move on.
From this day forward, the wounds of injustice are open once again.
The onus is back on those who fought hard for Marcos's burial. How
can healing, as Bongbong Marcos claims, now proceed? How then shall
we live?
The answers they offer are all oblique, appealing to an imaginary
future that looks bright. But unless the injustices of the past are
rectified, hollow is the rhetoric of this claim. In this light, the world will
soon see that the resurrected hero remains soulless.
For those of us on the losing end, we admit that we are disheartened.
But we must continue to stand for what is right. Even if unpopular.
Even if we've lost all the courage to do so. Rappler.com

Jayeel Serrano Cornelio, PhD is a sociologist and the director of the

Development Studies Program. He contributed to High Chair's most
recent issue on historical revisionism. Follow him on Twitter
@jayeel_cornelio.