THE SON of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Bongbong, called for the revision of history books, claiming these contained lies against his father’s administration. He wants history books rewritten as if the Marcos era was all good, no injustice and corruption.
Bongbong’s call, however, is not surprising. Since the start of the Duterte administration, historical revisionism has been sanctioned. Remember the sneaky burial of the dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani?
History has already judged him as a plunderer, murderer, fascist, and criminal. The dictatorship committed several sins against the people, especially to the education sector. Most of the problems faced by schools such as low budgets, lack of facilities, large class sizes, and other perennial problems were brought by Marcos or worsened during his reign. The Education Act enacted in 1982 started the privatization in the education sector and subjected the youth’s right to education to profit-orientation. Bongbong’s call is like rubbing salt in the wound.
Foreign debts that mostly were plundered resulted to compounded problems in terms of finances. Because of it, every administration after Marcos up to President Duterte had been prioritizing the debt servicing rather than allocating the highest budget to the education as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.
Revising the history books to rehabilitate the dictator would mean we would be nullifying the sacrifices of those who lived and died fighting tyranny and plunder. It denies justice to the countless who were tortured, murdered, and disappeared in the name of Marcos and his dictatorship, and the entire Filipino nation whose democracy and economy it trampled.
It is our responsibility and is very important for us to teach the youth the lessons of true, and unrevised history and be able to use critical thinking and guided analysis to make sure that we not allow fascism and state terrorism to pervade.
