Men We Call Heroes

This is a little late. But I got angry enough that I think I needed to say something about it.

Germans learn about Adolf Hitler in school.

It gets lectured, again and again, why such a horrible person like him gained so much power and followers to make his horrible ideas become reality. They get told about how Hitler manipulated the mindset of his fellow Germans, about how his charismatic speeches sounded like redemption, about how he took advantage of the fact that his country was now an international disappointment and strategically used it to launch a political career that would kill millions.

Most importantly, Germans learn not to let a dictatorship like that ever happen again. They learn not to make the same mistakes.

Germany has to acknowledge that they spawned one of the most horrible people in the world every day. It's a stain they can never erase, and a stain they had to painfully accept.

But it's good that they acknowledge it. Because they accept that mistakes were made, and people became victims, and those people need to be recognized in that they existed. They're the proof that the suffering was real. They're the proof that Germany needed to make an apology to the entire world - but also an apology to themselves, for what they've done to their fellow countrymen.

So, honestly, is nationalism in the Philippines so weak that other Filipinos would willingly erase all those who suffered under Martial Law?

Because when I see people supporting Marcos' burial in LNMB, that's what I see. You're erasing the people who were killed, who were tortured, who were never to be seen again. You're erasing the reason why EDSA was such an iconic movement. You're erasing the reason why Ninoy Aquino died, why his wife was elected president despite having no experience, why his son was elected president in a burst of national sympathy.

You're erasing such a fundamental aspect of our history. And for what? Is it because of the infrastructures that were made during his term? Is it because the law he made allowed you to finish school? Is it because of a case of regionalist pride, in that you also came from Ilocos?

He deserves respect for that, I know. There were good things too. I used to be a Marcos apologist like you.

But those buildings, that law, that pride. . . how does it compare to the lives that were lost?

Burying Marcos in LNMB may have given him the respect that he may, technically, deserve. But it erases the respect that we gave, and have to continue giving, to every single Filipino that fought against him.