By Ted Alcuitas
Thirty five years ago today, the shot that reverberated throughout the world changed my whole life.We immigrated to Canada in 1968 and four years later in September 21, 1972, Marcos declared martial law. Like many in the diaspora, I first thought that his dictatorship was ‘benign’. I made a leap of faith after Aquino was assassinated and the August Twenty One Movement (ATOM) was born. My life has never been the same again. Today we face another Marcos although by another name. Current President Rodrigo Duterte, the butcher of the nation, has already killed more than 25,000, mostly poor,so-called drug addicts in his drug war.
As we write, Duterte is laying the ground for Marcos’ son, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. to be installed as Vice-President and eventually become President if and when he “steps down”. This followed his order to bury the remains of the dictator in the Heroes Cemetery amidst opposition from the people. That way, he insures his immunity from prosecution for his crimes – a practice embedded in the traditional politics of the Philippines.
The Philippines, for all intent and purposes has been virtually in a state of de-facto martial law ever since Duterte’s election in June 2016.
WHAT MAKES A HERO
By Jose Maria Sison
It’s not the manner of death
That makes someone a hero
It is the meaning drawn
From the struggles against the foe
There is the hero who dies in the battlefield,
There is the hero who dies of hunger or disease,
There is the hero who dies of some accident,
There is the hero who dies of old age
Whatever is the manner of death,
There is a common denominator
A hero serves the people
To his very last breath
Whatever is the manner of death,
There is a common denominator
A hero serves the people
To his very last breath
