LOOMING before us is a darkness that makes us feel restless and uneasy. Perhaps, it’s due to the rainy season ahead, or maybe it’s because of the big elephant in the room — the Marcoses, a notorious political dynasty, are back in the Malacañang Palace. 

It is not tsismis when historians and scholars say that Marcos Sr.’s regime was coated with various human rights violations, graft and corruption. These are undisputed facts based on extensive research, legitimized by Supreme Court rulings, and evidenced by the world-renowned 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, where the Filipino people toppled the dictatorship. 

With the only son and namesake of the late dictator formally inaugurated as the 17th President of the Republic of the Philippines, will the next six years be as it was during his father’s regime, or will he shock the country — and to an extent, the world — and prove that the apple does fall far from the tree?

Sen. Imee Marcos, sister of Pres. Bongbong Marcos said in an interview during the canvassing of votes for President and Vice President, where it became apparent that her brother was winning by a large margin against his most notable competitor in the Presidential race, former Vice President Atty. Leni Robredo, that she was grateful for the “second chance” that their supporters, loyalists, Ilokanos, and others gave them. She claimed that their life had taken a toll after 1986, “Kung ano-anong kaso ang hinarap namin bukod pa do’n sa pangungutya at pang-aapi, sabihin na natin, eh medyo hirap talaga ‘yong pamilya namin for the past almost four decades.” 

Were they really in a struggle for the past 36 years after 1986? 

Enter the Philippine Commission on Good Governance (PCGG), a government agency created under Executive Order No. 1, series 1986, whose main task was to recover the ill-gotten wealth that the Marcoses acquired. As of 2019, the PCGG had recovered more than ₱171 billion of ill-gotten wealth from Marcos and his cronies. Meanwhile, Amnesty International reported that from 1972-1981 “some 70,000 people were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured; over 3,200 people were killed.” Our own Supreme Court also ruled against the Marcoses, forfeiting their illegally acquired assets in favor of the State. 

It is also worthy to note that former first lady Imelda Marcos was convicted of seven counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division, but since she posted bail and is appealing the decision to the Supreme Court, the widow of the late dictator and her family has been enjoying her freedom for the past four years. The incumbent President was also alleged to be involved in the highly controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) Pork Barrel scam in 2014 by Janet Lim-Napoles, and as verified by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, President Marcos Jr. was guilty of nonpayment of taxes and failure to file income tax returns from 1982 to 1985 when he was the Vice Governor and later Governor of Ilocos Norte. 

Their family has successfully held positions in their bailiwick of Ilocos Norte and the Legislative since 1986. The President’s nephew, Matthew Joseph Manotoc is the incumbent Ilocos Norte Governor; his sister Imee Marcos is a Senator; his son Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos is the representative of the First District of Ilocos Norte and the Senior Deputy Majority Leader, and his cousin Martin Romualdez is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. President Marcos Jr. also served as Congressman for Ilocos Norte and Senator for the 15th and 16th Congress. 

For almost four decades, the Marcoses seemed far from experiencing “pangungutya” and “pang-aapi.” 

Supporters and loyalists of the Marcos family have stated that we shouldn’t be too hard on the incumbent President and that we should give him a chance to prove himself worthy of being the President of the Philippines. However, it is not far-fetched to say that these are laments of supporters of the fallen “strongman” who had been gaslit and manipulated into thinking that the sins of the fathers are not the sins of the son; that because you do not follow the rule of an iron fist, you deserve to be killed; that every word of a charismatic leader must be praised and worshipped as if it’s religion, as if it’s the oasis that will save them from the seemingly never-ending drought; that the solution to the crashing economy and divisive country is “unity.”

True unity is the acknowledgment of the truth — that there were human rights violations during his father’s regime, that they had illegally used public funds for their own gain, and that they ensure that justice remains the rule of law in our country. It will be interesting to see what the incumbent President will do with notable events that the Filipinos remember every year: the 50th anniversary of Martial Law on September 21, and the EDSA People Power Anniversary on February 25  — all of which are reminders of the atrocities committed during his father’s dictatorial rule. 

But the blame isn’t solely on them. 

We are all guilty of letting them escape persecution, then and now. We were too forgiving. We did not do enough to ensure that justice was delivered to the families and loved ones of the Martial Law victims, most of whose bodies were never recovered and are still missing. We did not do enough to make sure the notorious political clan from the North would never step foot inside the once called “People’s Palace.” Now, it is up to our generation to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself. We now have the greatest responsibility of our life to ensure that our country doesn’t fall into the same trap as it did before and ensure that truth, above all else, shall always prevail. 

As Taylor Swift wrote in her song, “Only The Young,” the young are the only ones who can run, so run.