I covered this State Visit of the late President Ferdinand Marcos to the US in 1982. What was remarkable and memorable was that this welcome ceremony at the White House lawn was one of the very rare times that such a ceremony was held in which the Old Guards (those in red uniform) was brought to welcome a visiting dignitary. That was in 1982 and this was not repeated again. What does it mean? It means that was how valuable the US regarded the Philippines under the leadership of Marcos. But when negotiations for the surrender of the Yamashita gold much of which Marcos found fell through, the Americans who rolled out the red carpet for Marcos also began plotting his ouster. Marcos was demonized even during the post-Marcos era but as events began to unfold from 1986 when a change in government was effected through People Power up to now, none of these succeeding administrations can compare to the Marcos government. Despite his unceremonious ouster, Marcos may yet be remembered as the greatest President the Philippines ever had. As to the situation that the Philippines now finds itself in, this is what happens when you change a government through unconstitutional means. Look at 1986. Did the Philippines progress in the six years that followed Marcos. Again in 2001. Could you really say we were able to recoup even a fraction of our countrys strengths that we enjoyed in the Marcos era in terms of how we were regarded by our Asian neighbors. Today, we are being bullied all over the place. Ive seen Pres. Marcos up close during his meetings with foreign heads of state and dignitaries and he always stood above the rest and it makes you proud that we can be at par with the best of the world. Perhaps its about time that the body of Marcos be laid at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani. He was after all a former President who regardless of how much you demonize him has also done great things for this country.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:59:36 +0000
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