Shattered visage

There is a well-known poem by Shelley about a once colossal statue that was in ruins in the desert. Standing on the pedestal were the two huge legs, but the rest of the body was gone. Nearby, half-buried in the sand, was the shattered visage, the remnant of the once colossal face. There was enough however to indicate that it had been the face of a ruthless and all-powerful monarch whose every wish was law. On the pedestal was the inscription: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"

That poem came to mind the other day when I read of Marcos’s huge bust havinng been blown up by dynamite.

It had indeed been colossal: 30 meters (90 feet) high, probably the largest representation of a human face in the world. When that huge statue was erected (doubtless at enormous cost) it was probably intended to last forever. It was to be a perpetual memorial to Ferdinand Marcos’s greatness. Its hugeness would protect it from any petty attempts to destroy it, and the reinforced concrete of which it was made would withstand the strongest storms or earthquakes. Alas, they did not foresee what dynamite could do.

That shattered face in the Ilocos countryside is a symbol of how impermanent human greatness is. Marcos did not have the name of king, but he was as powerful as any absolute monarch. His word was law. And he believed in pomp and splendor. He had a large throne installed in Malacañang, and in receiving the credentials of foreign ambassadors, Marcos stood in front of that throne as if he were indeed a king. The visiting ambassador would approach from the other end of the room and make several bows as they approached ( I don’t remember now whether it was a triple bow).

It was faintly reminiscent of the Oriental splendor and pomp of the Popes before Vatican II, when the visitor would approach and make a triple genuflection before kneeling to kiss the papal feet.

All that pomp and splendor is gone, and the shattered image in the Ilocos countryside is a symbol of its disappearance.