The cheek of Imee Marcos

Over the weekend, I had a nightmarish experience of being at a provincial dance in which Imee Marcos was the guest of honor. With a retinue of cars marked Mabuhay si Congresswoman Imee Marcos and bodyguards, she came down into a crowd of bare clod gawking poorfolk who mobbed her. "Mga fans ni Imee," whispered a lady dripping with diamonds (couldn’t tell whether they were real or faux because they were so huge) and dressed in a glittering gown reminiscent of ostentation in Imelda’s time. Imee herself was dressed in discreet light blue designer pants suit with a matching three-fourths tunic top. Unlike the rest of the well-heeled women in the town plaza, she stated simple, but expensive fashion to those who really understood. Probably more expensive than all the gowns of all the other women put together. From the latest top European designer? This eldest daughter of the late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos has often been touted as the brightest of the Marcos siblings, brighter than the only boy among them, Ferdinand "Bong-bong" Marcos, Jr. who would have been the heir designate but he is said to be a bit "dull". In any case the dynasty in the making was put on hold with EDSA One. But while most of us would like to believe that we have put those days behind us, Imee does not. There she was blatantly breaking out of the hold in an early bid to become senator of the land. Then the presidency, perhaps?

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A local town official who was first mistakenly introduced as the guest of honor immediately corrected the mistake and went on to praise profusely the real guest of honor – an outstanding congresswoman from Ilocos Sur, conversant in five or six languages, mother of three children, etc. etc. – then breathlessly – none other than Imee Marcos. The announcement was applauded. Since it was an open air plaza, the sound was diffused. It was not possible to tell whether the applause was enthusiastic or merely polite one. Imee Marcos then came to the podium and seemed to have spoken extemporaneously in Pilipino saying among other things that in the midst of so many problems (I suppose she was referring to the war in Iraq, SARS and the generally gloomy picture of economic prospects not just in the Philippines but elsewhere) she praised the town for doing something positive.

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The affair was the coronation of Miss Tourism of the place as part of intensive efforts to make this seaside town well known enough to be a "Boracay" within two hours of Manila. Fine. I accept it was a good pitch. But what overwhelmed me that evening was to be confronted with the reality of our flawed political system. Here was the candidate, a member of the Marcos family which all but bankrupted the country in clever schemes that included stashing moneys and gold into Swiss vaults unashamedly, presenting herself as a political candidate circa 2003. Is she relying on the forgetfulness of Filipinos? She has probably got it right. She could very well be elected senator of the land despite all that Filipinos had gone through martial law. Elections under the present system are such that they will not have anything to do with recalling the damage her father had done to our political institutions. Or was EDSA 1 even a memory or just a bad dream.

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I sulked most of the evening, feeling limp and powerless, twenty years of exile in protest of a dictatorial regime had just been a waste of time. Was it really possible that the gawking masa in whose name so many politicians have launched election campaigns just did not know the difference? Is it time to accept that putting our faith on a masa who could not ever really understand that Marcos’s rule by decree so enriched the family of this woman speaking before them did so at the expense of a better life for them and their children? The connection was not being made between themselves or their poverty and where this guest of honor was coming from. But what about provincial bosses who might have been expected to know better? Fat chance. They too seemed embedded in a system or a way of life that makes no connection about what is fair and just and inviting as their guest of honor someone who had been part of a regretted part of our history. There may be some who would make an effort to think harder and probably make the connection but the drag of the past, albeit a recent past that lasted for more than a decade takes a long time to shake off. But I learned a precious lesson that evening with Imee Marcos. The lesson that evening was that indignation, even anger, could not be relied upon as a leitmotif of reform. It will take more than just anger or tears to stop the return of Marcos and all that he represented. Emotions pass. In that evening’s equation of ignorant folk and Imee Marcos as candidate for senator the onus for knowing better is not on the ignorant folk even if they make up the vast majority of what has come to be called "the democratic vote". The heaviest weight must fall on Imee Marcos. She ought to know better. She knows only too well what her father’s rule had been even if she pretends otherwise. So it is not the poorfolk that should be blamed for the farce of that evening. It is Imee Marcos. The cheek.

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Miscellany: I did not know there was such a day as World Book and Copyright Day. There is and it will be on 23 April 2003. The World Book and Copyright Day was institutionalized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). April 23 was chosen by UNESCO in 1995 as the day of the event because it was on the same date in 1616 that renowned literary geniuses such as Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and Inca Garciliaso de la Vega all passed away. The National Book Development Board (NBDB) has scheduled programs and activities under the theme "Developing Books, Developing Filipino Communities."…At dinner with President GMA recently she told journalists present one of her legacies would be to complete the loop of the new mass rail system, the Megatren, part of which she inaugurated recently.The Santolan-Cubao stretch representing Phase 1 of the project will span 4 kilometers and traverse Aurora Blvd., a traffic-heavy route. Phase 1 will have four stations. Santolan (where the depot is located), Katipunan, Anonas and Cubao . . . I agree with President GMA that infrastructure is so important to the Philippines we should have an Infrastructure Party whose program of government will be simply to commit to building infrastructure, public buildings and parks. A flat fare of P12 per trip will be charged passengers after the free rides from April 5 to 9. If you have not visited Intramuros yet, do so because it has been perked up with great entertainment. The rock band Rivermaya recently played at the Baluarte Plano Luneta de Sta. Isabel, as part of the performances for the opening of the ‘Best of the Regions in Intramuros’ featuring Northern Mindanao for the whole month of April.

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