Just my opinion
By Raïssa Robles
I had not expected this.
I thought few would be interested in reading about the Marcoses at a time when the Binays are the hot topic.
To all those who shared and read my piece, I would like to thank them all. One thing the Internet has done for writers is to give us almost instant reader feedback. Until I started this blog, I had been used to writing in isolation.
But as I said, I wasn’t expecting that many people to read it. I thought it would be treated as just a period piece to mark a dark anniversary.
Possibly, interest on the Marcoses has been revived by Imelda Marcos’ announcement that she wants her only son Ferdinand Bongbong Jr. to run for president in 2016. Bongbong believes his boyish appeal and the windmills being built in his home province will make young voters go for him.
Before I go on to another topic, I would just like to answer MC who wrote in the Inquirer as a comment to my piece:
MC
Tell me a country with no bloody history. More than a million people were killed during the Cultural Revolution of Chairman Mao. A large part of the American population were killed during their civil was notwithstanding the obliteration of the indigenous American Indians who are the real Americans. Russia killed more than a million people during the Stalinist era. We just have to move forward. WHAT IS TO BE DONE?What was written by the lady was better reserved for academic discussion in the halls of the academe where continuous dissection can be made in an ambiance of pure scholarship. But the problem at hand is economics. What are we gona do to create jobs, stimulate investments, increase agricultural productivity and restore peace and order? Those are the missions that have to be accomplished. What has the Marcoses got to do with the present lack of mining policy up to now; absence of car manufacturing roadmap or deteriorating peace and order condition? Don’t tell me that it is still Marcos who is to be blamed for the construction of the White House for Mr. Purisima or it is Imelda who is to be blamed for the mess of the MRT. What is the concrete technicallt and financially feasible proposal of Ms. Raissa to solve the daily EDSA traffic jam would be a better piece of journalism that can be written.
This is what I would call Marcosian logic that Filipinos were constantly bombarded with during the dictatorship.
The first paragraph actually justifies the use of bloody violence: Why, russia killed over a million during Josef Stalin’s one-man rule. And MC concludes – “We just have to move forward.”
My reaction to MC – you are A BLOODY COWARD. If you really believe in what you say, you will not hide behind those initials.
You want me to reserve my writings “for academic discussion..in an ambiance of pure scholarship.”
Try again, MC. You just want me to shut up, right?
And then you say – “But the problem at hand is economics” – then you go on and on and on…
My answer is, we should discuss BOTH. Why does it have to be one or the other? Why not both? Ooooh. Unless you are pro-Marcos, of course.
As for me, I like discussing the Marcoses and the present economy and a lot of things besides. On the economy, see my previous article where I discussed the laws that need to be passed in the final years of the Aquino administration. It’s entitled Pass the Freedom of Information Act – the Right, the Left and Center all urge President Aquino
Thank you, Sunstar, for inviting me to lecture on journalism before students in Cebu
I would also like to thank Sunstar publications for giving me a chance to lecture in Cebu.
The Sunstar reporter who wrote a piece on my lecture got the facts right. I commend Kevin A. Lgunda for his piece. You can read Lagunda’s report entitled “Journalist says opinion should be based on fact” by clicking here.
I also finally met Sunstar opinion editor and columnist Bong Wenceslao in person. He looks fierce in his photo. In person, he’s gentle. I knew he was closely following my blog during the trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Bong Wenceslao also wrote about my lecture and I’m glad he pointed out one of the gems of my blog – the many insightful commenters who congregate here and discuss in our Cyber Plaza Miranda. You can read his column entitled Freedom and responsibility by clicking here.
As a keepsake, I have this photo taken with the Sunstar editors and officials of Smart Communications – the company that sponsored my Sunstar lecture.
From left, Sun.Star Cebu editor-in-chief Isolde Amante, Smart Communications senior public affairs officer-Vismin Marylou “Des” Gocotano, Sun.Star Cebu managing editor for special pages and features Cherry Ann Lim, Sun.Star Cebu executive editor Michelle So, Smart Communications senior manager for public affairs-Vismin Atty. Jane Paredes (partly hidden), Raissa Robles and Smart Communications public afffairs officer-Vismin Mier Villegas.
I learned a lot in turn from all of them, including some very juicy gossip I’m not allowed to publish.
And I had ice-cream with them. One of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted in my life and that includes the gelato in Venice.
Cebu has Durian ice cream 
Honey says
???
I agree…
To add …
The Marcoses plundered $10 billion from public coffers, of which only $4 billion was ever recovered, according to official estimates. After Mr. Marcos suspended democracy and imposed martial law in 1971, more than 100,000 people were murdered, tortured or jailed without due process,
Amnesty International says.
Mia's Mommy says
Reserve the discussion in academic halls? Kaya siguro ang karamihan sa kabataan ngayon ay wala nang pakialam. Tsk tsk MC, for what seems to be such an intellectually constructed discourse, yun suhestion mo na sa paaralan nalang ito talakayin is really bad. Unless you just really wanted to defend the Marcoses.
baycas says
Paging The Boyoyongs…
Kailangan na rin kayo dito. Gaya nito:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/642858/brazilians-re-elect-clown-with-1-million-votes
baycas says
Kulang pa mga gaya ni Tito…isama na si Vic at Joey…
Josr Manalo (na dating Boyoyong clown) at Wally Bayola…
vander anievas says
@baycas,
tama na po.
marami na tayong tiriricas sa ating ibaba at itaas na bahay.
masosobrahan na ng saya ang bansa natin.
remember” pag may ligaya, may lungkot.”
fed-up says
WHY WE ARE SO CORRUPT?
Writer F. Sionil Jose, Why We Are So Corrupt: According to him, corruption in the country is spawned by three traumas: oppressive colonial rule, Japanese invasion and occupation, and martial rule.
http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2014/06/08/1332164/why-we-are-so-corrupt
Author Sterling Seagrave, “The Marcos Dynasty”, p.15:
“Ferdinand Marcos . . . If his kidneys had not failed him, the dynasty he founded might have become permanent fixture.
What urge compelled him to keep accumulating wealth beyond any possible use for it? After $10 or $20 billion, what was the point? Unlike Imelda, who could always find some bibelot on which to lavish a few hundred million, Ferdinand seemed completely disinterested in spending it. He never missed a chance to extort a few million more, even from the transshipment of sardines that were well beyond their shelf life. Perhaps the act of getting away with it gratified some burning need to prove that he was a superman of Nietschean proportions. But was he the organ grinder or the organ grinder’s monkey?
Hernan Cortes, in the midst of looting the Aztec civilization, melting down its marvelous objects in gold, burning its books, and demolishing its temples stone by stone, paused to offer Moctezuma a word of explanation. “I and my companions,” he said, “have a disease of the heart which can be cured only by gold.”
Columnist James Fallows, “A Damaged Culture: A New Philippines?”
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/1987/11/a-damaged-culture-a-new-philippines/7414/
“In each case the basic explanation seems to be culture: in the one case a culture that brings out the productive best in the Koreans (or the Japanese, or now even the Thais), and in the other a culture that pulls many Filipinos toward their most self-destructive, self-defeating worst.”
leona says
No. I find no connection that ‘We’ are So corrupt because of:
1. oppressive colonial rule. This colonial rule – 300 Years+, never gave evidence we were TAUGHT to be So corrupt. In fact, we resented the rule. Unfair to say colonial rule did teach us that.
2. Japanese invasion and occupation – again, no connection and no evidence. And it was only for 4-5 years at that. We hated in fact this event. So, from there We cannot and did not learn to be So corrupt.
3. Martial Rule – by Marcos, 20 years. To say ‘WE’ is unfair and without basis. Only Marcos, his cronies and atbpa, a small segment are/were So corrupt. Not ‘WE’. We in fact hated it and hate it even now.
F. Sionil…you are impossibly exaggerating corruption effects!
Maybe what Mr. Sionil means is Why are many of our public officials SO CORRUPT – that is a better phrase. Then I agree. But not because of any of the above 3 mentioned.
They are SO CORRUPT because they have become SO EVIL not due to oppressive colonial rule, invasion/occupation or Martial rule.
Just be SO CORRUPT because of BEING SO EVIL. Distorted evil soul in the body. Demonic. Possessed. Conquered by evil.
That is what SPAWNS them.
Lorena says
MC did not mention the bloody salvaging statistics (ubcalculable) and the lives affected by those salvaging, and the PARALYSIS caused to this country.
Maybe MC should have a taste of the Durian Ice Cream to wake up his/her sexy cells (the brains)
Aremem says
For sure he is a Marcos Loyalist as his namesake stands for Marcos Cronies! The Evil Empire still lives and crawls within our Government! Let us stay awake, aware, and ready to fight them! No to Dictatorship!
Rene-Ipil says
“I once wrote that Grace Poe was unusual because, when she speaks, people listen. So the great disappointment here is that, rather than using her special talent and her admired role among the masses to promote a better Philippines, she is holding back. Intentionally.
“For personal advantage.
“If it is not corruption, if it is not unethical, if it is politics as usual . . .
“It is for sure an unforgivable shame.”
That’s Joe America talking. A wake up call.
http://joeam.com/2014/10/02/is-grace-poe-just-an-ordinary-trapo/
drill down says
true selves emerges and/or changes over time and given the right tests.
see http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/381858/opinion/blogs/authenticity-deconstructed?ref=related_stories
vander anievas says
utang na loob.
utang na yan…
imo, d’ grasya shall not spite erap,
nor jjmb, nor the 3 in the senado, este karsel,
imo, she shall deliver for the loyalists and cronies.
her name bears poe, a known crony of marcos’ cronies.
so, imo, she was and shall be soft to the jailed plunderers,
shall be half-blind to their corruption,
shall wish kinship to bbm,
she has the intelligence of the apo,
imo, she is a trapo and remains a trapo.
moonie says
pangwangwang lang yata ang magandang boses ni grace, hanggang dyan lang yata siya. she does not seem to know how to deal with the powerful trapos in equal terms. dont know how to handle them and lock horns with them. kulang ng courage, proverbial crab yata and goes only after soft targets not likely to hit back.
I think, from the beginning, she was given too much credit she has not earned. time for us to take back the high regard we have given her, and let her earn our trust.
utang na luob, really, grace does not have to fall for that trick. she does not have to compromise her convictions just for utang na luob. if she has already paid her ‘debts of utang na luob’ she does not need to pay it over and over again. and if she has guts, she can thrash and deny, or end, anymore calls for her to pay another round of utang na luob.
leona says
The ‘lady’ Ms. Raissa’s writings are BEST delivered in the Halls of Montezuma and not in the halls of the academe for continuous dissection like a ‘corpse’ on the table.
MC maybe is a pure scholar or a coroner. Or he’s an economist. He prefers to accomplish missions like more jobs, more investments, increase agriculture productivity. Without clipping CORRUPTIONS restoring PEACE AND ORDER IS AT A NIL.
Twenty years of MARCOS MARTIAL RULE is not easy to go away with. It’s like an IRON BOLT that cannot be extracted!
That rule has and will still carry on the ILL EFFECTS that were created in our sorry society. The corrupts have learned so much and gets more than extra much. The whole political structure then and now shows those effects.
MC is a dreamer of the kind that does not see things in the past, present and for the future. ‘Just move forward,’ he says. His ‘WHAT IS TO BE DONE’ is a mystery.
He cannot grasp corruption: past, present and to the future at that.
Crimes and corruptions are past events. Yet, for MC, don’t deal with it. Just move forward. MC is in an inexistent UTOPIA.
MC is the same as Marcos…the MCoy!
baycas says
baycas said:
August 18, 2014 at 9:14 am
leona says
Sandiganbayan justices have nowhere to go EXCEPT UP to the Supreme Court, like Court of Appeals justices, same rank category etc.
The Bar examinees also hopes for such feat. Hurdle up to these towering honors.
A lawyer’s DREAM to have that ‘rich source’ at the SC. Towing ‘the LINE’ is one rich source.
If only one DREAM is the prize: to be a good honest lawyer, many would not take the course and pass the Bar.
baycas@
Lorena says
DO you mean the justices who we now consider just and clean are actualyl wolves in sheeps’ clothing?
JoeC says
Thank you baycas for these eye-opening facts. In my opinion, one can only imagine what the SC Justice lineup will look like if Binay or Marcos appoints them. You can say goodby to all their plunder and corruption suits and all the current and future charges that are, or will be, brought against their evil “cronies”, Arroyos, Enrile, Estrada, and Revilla to mention a few.
chit navarro says
If 20 years of Marcos rule is like an iron bolt that can not be extracted, how would you liken the 28 years of BINAY Dynasty in Makati?
28 years and all cases against him have been won or dismissed due to technicalities; the only one left is that of the Dra. when she was the Mayor of Makati. Perhaps this has emboldened the VP and the son to just ignore the Senate Blue Ribbon inquiry.
MAKATI, ATIN ITO.
leona says
aha! [ala JoeAm@]…hahaha
I would liken the 28 years of BINAY differently. It’s a VAULT dynasty!
Thus, it has a DIFFERENT JURISDICTION! Many have seen a VAULT…it stands like a PARKING BUILDINGS, Phases 1, 2 and 3.
Constructions COSTS splitted into 5 SEPARATE COSTS to vault away from BIDDING REGS.
Inside the VAULT are LAYERS of liars representing FLOORING LIES for safekeeping.
The ONLY VAULT with 3 ELEVATORS but ONE IS MISSING. Must have vaulted to ANOTHER JURISDICTION!
Simply: It is a VAULT-Bin-AY!
chit navarro says
thank you @Leona.
Your word creativity is beyond compare.
In Ilokano, your Vault Binay would be
BAUL NI BINAY….
AGTU-TUON NGA BAUL TI KAYAMANAN NI BINAY. (LAYERS OF VAULTS OF BINAY’S RICHES)
(I am NOT shouting. I just want to put emphasis n the Vault.)
vander anievas says
“MAKATI, ATIN ITO.”
sa 2016, Pilipinas, sa amin na rin ito…
chit navarro says
papayagan ba natin sila na aangkin sa ating bansa?
vander anievas says
oh no.
not me, ever.
sa evian flu na lang ako.
gala ako sa MM at marami na akong narinig na kwento
jan sa kantohan sa palanan.
kaya sa C-5 ako lagi dumaraan.
iwas sa kati. kurikong.
ayaw kong mag-kamot.
ngayon, lumitaw na ebola pa pala.
di na ako mag-e-edsa.
wala pang lunas ang ebola.
Honey says
I couldn’t agree more!
“The children of late Dictator Marcos enjoy rubbing salt into our wounds.”
Imee Marcos (eldest daughter of former Dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos who has been Governor of Ilocos Norte since 2010.) children, Michael, Fernando Martin, and Matthew Joseph, are now being groomed for politics. It is a tradition followed by political dynasty’s in the Philippines. Sad and scary.
macspeed says
he he he again lost my comments whom my power was consumed, probably stolen by PDAP corruptors, or perhaps there is a script that stop any copy and paste which I did to keep my writings in case it is lost.
Well, I will try to send this to MC, who does not show his identity, perhaps he is on a net-café and the operator allows him to use one machine.
Here in Saudi Arabia, no one is allowed in Net Café to log -in unless an IQAMA or national ID is show and listed.
Dear MC, don’t try to twist the facts, only under PNOY admin has stopped all billions of corruptions. There are petty corruptions in LTO, NBI and DFA by a legal way to expedite processing by paying OVERTIME he he he.
But previous President, the Senators and Congressmen has stolen billions of Peoples money under PDAF.
Now, the procedure has been revised, perhaps there might still be PDAF or DAP under new name but no more corruptions. Whatever they may call it, it is required for PROSPERITY…
The next President has no reasons not to follow the GOOD GOVERNANCE of PNOY ruling…no CORRUPTIONS…
macspeed says
@Raissa
It did goes in by typing. Perhaps copy and past is not allowed or perhaps a timer script less than a period stored in the script does not allow posting.
You also know programming, he he he great, you can be an Instrument Engineer…
drill down says
To young Filipinos who never knew martial law and dictatorship
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/49932/to-young-filipinos-who-never-knew-martial-law-and-dictatorship?PageSpeed=noscript
the above article was written in 2012, september.
after going through the horrors of martial, he gave the following advice:
———————————————-
You’ll hear from those who just can’t stand ideas they don’t agree with, who arrogantly think they have all the answers and must therefore have all the power.
They’ll present themselves as the nation’s saviors based on twisted claims. Some would point to their military discipline and experience. Others would claim to have the correct political line base on historical truths. Some would claim to have god on their side.
Don’t trust the liars and the bullies. Democracy can be messy and chaotic. But the alternatives are even messier. They create a false, deceptive sense of “peace and order.”
———————————————–
prescient?