On Target
Marcos would have succeeded if… by Ramon Tulfo
I AND many others of the “baby boomer” generation who are not leftist would have agreed with Sen. Bongbong Marcos that the country would have become another Singapore under his father had he added the big “If.”
If his mother Imelda and her relatives were out of the picture, the country would have been “great again” as Ferdinand Marcos had promised after he was elected president in 1965.
If Marcos didn’t set up his own oligarchy composed of Imelda’s relatives and his cronies, the country would have become another Singapore.
If he was only as honest and sincere as Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, this country would have become as progressive and corruption-free as the city-state.
If Marcos wasn’t only a henpecked husband to his wife Imelda, things would have turned out differently.
The elder Marcos’ “New Society” movement was very good for the country if it had been pursued in earnest.
The first two years of martial law was life-changing and exhilarating for many Filipinos.
We lined up for rides, whereas before we scrambled and elbowed one another to get into buses and jeepneys.
We threw garbage in receptacles, whereas before we threw garbage everywhere.
We obeyed traffic rules because cops carried out laws to the letter, scared of being arrested by the watchdog military.
People could walk the streets unafraid of being held up or accosted by criminals.
The drug problem was practically nonexistent during the first few months after the declaration of martial law as the notorious drug lord, Lim Seng, was executed in public.
There were far fewer abusive cops than there are now in the first two years of martial law because policemen were afraid of the military.
Abusive military men were dealt with severely by military courts.
There was less corruption, if any, because government officials and employees were scared.
True, there was no freedom of the press and of speech as newspapers, radio and television stations were shut down, but there was little graft and corruption to report.
Foreign capitalists started coming in because martial law paved the way for a good business climate.
The first two years under martial law were the golden years of the Marcos administration.
But then, to use Marcos’ own words, there was “backsliding to the old ways.”
When a patient suffers a relapse, he becomes sicker than before.
The same with Marcos’ martial law regime when the country became a “basket case” among all the countries in Southeast Asia.
* * *
I was a columnist of the Manila Bulletin from 1982 up to 1987 when I transferred to the Inquirer.
When I wrote about abuses committed by military personnel and policemen in my column during that time, punishment from the authorities was swift.
President Marcos himself relieved the entire complement of the Manila Police Station 5 in Ermita, from the commander to the lowest patrolman, after I wrote that most of the cops in the station were engaged in a protection racket.
From where I stood as a columnist, Marcos personally attended to reports of abuses committed by soldiers and cops.
That’s why I was flabbergasted when Marcos’ successor, Cory Aquino, cared little about abuses committed by soldiers and cops.
The Mendiola Massacre during Tita Cory’s time was an example of soldiers and cops shooting down unarmed civilians.
source:
Marcos would have succeeded if… - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
Re: Bongbong: Marcos would have turned PHL into ‘another Singapore’
Originally Posted by pepponeskie
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