30 Years After Revolution, Some Filipinos Yearn for ‘Golden Age’ of Marcos
By FLOYD WHALEY

MANILA — As Filipinos prepare for the 30th anniversary on Thursday of the “People Power” revolution that toppled Ferdinand E. Marcos, the Marcos family legacy is undergoing a political renaissance by those who claim it was a “golden age” of peace and prosperity.

“I think Marcos was our best president,” said Richard Negre, a Manila resident who was born two years after the dictator was overthrown. “That was when the Philippines was the leader of Asia. We were respected.”

Ferdinand Marcos, who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, ruled the Philippines with an iron fist for two decades, with his wife Imelda, whose lavish lifestyle — and thousands of pairs of shoes — became a global symbol of greed and corruption. Marcos was removed from power in 1986 when millions of Filipinos poured into the streets for days of peaceful protests.

But in the decades since Marcos was ousted and fled the country, the outrage has faded for many Filipinos. Despite the accusations of widespread corruption and human rights violations, none of the Marcos family members have been jailed. The family has quietly returned to politics — Mrs. Marcos is a now member of Congress, while her daughter Imee Marcos is a governor.

The family’s political resurgence is led by Marcos’s son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., known as Bongbong, a popular senator who is tied for first place in the vice president’s race for the May 9 national election, according to a recent survey.

Mr. Marcos has built a coalition from his father’s remaining supporters and young people who were not alive when martial law was declared in the 1970s. He is also backed by the well-funded families who benefited from the Marcos presidency, according to Ramon C. Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform in Manila.

Mr. Marcos has also drawn close to popular politicians. He often appears at rallies with the boxer Manny Pacquiao, a senatorial candidate who is loved by millions of Filipinos. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who is running for president with Mr. Marcos, has a large following among young people on social media.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Marcos usually discusses his plans for the future, but he has also touched on what his father’s supporters consider the “golden age” of the Philippines.

Imelda Orduña, a 70-year-old retired schoolteacher living in the city of Caloocan, north of Manila, who attended one of his recent political rallies, said she remembers well the time of Marcos when there was no traffic, police officers did not extract bribes and criminals were on the run.

“Life was easier under Marcos,” she said. “We had peace and order and corruption was minimal. We have to tell our children and grandchildren about these times.”

Mr. Marcos was campaigning and not available for an interview, his staff said, but during a television interview in August he said he would not apologize for his father’s administration.

“What am I to say sorry about?” he said during the interview, adding that under his father thousands of miles of roads were built, the country had one of the highest literacy rates in Asia, and it was an exporter of rice — the country’s staple food — not an importer, as it is now.

But, he noted during a Feb. 17 news briefing, the issue of martial law and his father’s human rights record does not come up that often on the campaign trail.

“People no longer ask about martial law,” he told reporters. “They are interested in the current problems of the country, such as jobs and traffic.”

Michelle Pulumbarit, 31, a customer service operator who lives north of Manila, said Mr. Marcos was putting forward a proposal for the future that will bring back the best of the Marcos years. She is not concerned about martial law and human rights violations, she said.

“For me, those are things of the past,” she said. “That was a time when our economy was booming. Even Imelda did a lot of good things. She shared our culture with the world. I can forgive her for having so many shoes.”

For others in the Philippines, the idea of a Marcos “golden age” is not supported by the facts. In her recent book, “Marcos Martial Law: Never Again,” the journalist Raissa Robles estimated that more than 3,200 people were murdered by the government during the Marcos years, and about 40,000 were tortured.

“It was a ‘golden age’ if you were politically aligned with Marcos,” said Mr. Casiple of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform. “The cronies and the warlords of Marcos lived well and got the best of everything, but not the rest of society. Our school textbooks don’t reflect the agony of what was taking place during that time.”

On Tuesday, a spokesman for President Benigno S. Aquino III told reporters that the country is more successful now than it was under Mr. Marcos. “It took us three decades to return our country’s honor,” he said. “We are now known as Asia’s rising star, an investment-grade economy and an example of good governance.”

Lisandro Claudio, a professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University, said the Marcos family has changed the political narrative over time, focusing on the glamour and high-profile achievements of the Marcos years.

“They have poured a lot of money into this,” he said. “They have engineered this resurgence for decades and it taps into something genuine: that Filipinos don’t think they are respected in the world anymore. They feel they are globally insignificant.”

Marcos supporters note that most of the accusations against the family have never been proved in court. Ferdinand Marcos was never convicted of a crime, but in a class-action lawsuit after his death the United States District Court in Hawaii found his estate liable for torture, summary executions and disappearances.

The Philippine government estimates that Marcos and his associates spirited away $5 billion of government funds by moving the money to overseas bank accounts, as well as buying lavish works of art and jewelry.

Some fear that the election of Mr. Marcos could slow the recovery of that fortune; Mr. Casiple noted that the court system is overwhelmed and in some cases judges are not motivated to rule against associates of the Marcos family.

“Some of the people in the courts were appointed by Marcos during martial law,” he said. “This is a statement of the residual power of the Marcos family. All of the administrations that have followed Marcos have had a very difficult time prosecuting them in the courts.”

Apple Buiza, 26, an employee of a Manila aluminum siding company, said the fate of Imelda Marcos’s jewels was not a priority for her in the next election. Ms. Buiza spends hours each day battling traffic to get to work and is frustrated by the current government. She said she has heard stories of how orderly the country was during the Marcos years.

“During the time of martial law, the Philippines was disciplined,” Ms. Buiza said as she gestured toward a group of jaywalkers dodging vehicles and blocking traffic. “People don’t even know how to cross the street now.”

獨裁結束30年 菲民眾反憶「黃金年代」

今天（2月25日）是菲律賓「人民力量」推翻獨裁者馬可仕30周年紀念日，由馬可仕遺眷策劃推動的政治形象翻修工程也如火如荼展開。紐約時報報導，配合馬可仕之子參選副總統，民間已經出現馬可仕執政是菲國「黃金年代」的說法。

馬可仕被推翻2年後出生的馬尼拉市民奈格爾表示：「我認為馬可仕是菲律賓史上最好的總統。菲律賓當時是亞洲的領袖，受人尊敬。」

鐵腕統治菲國廿載的馬可仕，1986年在民眾4天的和平抗議後下台，流亡海外，1989年病逝於夏威夷。妻子伊美黛擁有成千上萬雙高跟鞋，成為貪瀆和腐敗的象徵。

伊美黛帶著子女回到菲國，儘管當年貪瀆與迫害人權劣跡斑斑可考，馬可仕家族卻無人為此坐牢。伊美黛現在是眾議員，女兒伊蜜是省長，兒子是參議員，要選副總統，目前民調並列第一。

父親的殘部、當年受惠於老馬可仕執政的財團家族，還有沒經歷過1970年末期戒嚴的年輕人，構成馬可仕的基本盤。馬可仕競選時除了暢談願景，也不忘記老馬可仕支持者口中的「黃金年代」。

70歲的退休老師歐杜拉說，她還記得老馬可仕執政時，交警和刑警不會索賄，罪犯都在跑路：「人民日子比較好過，我們必須讓子孫知道這段歷史。」

馬可仕則說，參選以來沒有被問到有關當年戒嚴的問題，「民眾關心的是現在的問題，像是就業和交通。」

對於其他菲律賓民眾來說，老馬可仕執政絕對不是菲國的黃金年代。「馬可仕戒嚴法：絕不再來」一書的作者賴莎估計，老馬可仕執政時期有3200多人遭政府謀殺，4萬人被刑求。

現任總統艾奎諾出身政治世家，與馬可仕家族是死對頭。23日的總統府記者會上，發言人表示今日的菲律賓比當年老馬可仕統治時期更成功，是亞洲新星、優良治理的典範，是花了30年才有的成果。

京都大學東南亞研究中心教授克勞迪歐指出，馬可仕家族砸很多錢建構「黃金年代」的論述，強調老馬可仕執政時的經濟成就，並說出菲國民眾心底的悲哀：菲律賓如今在全球舞台無關緊要，被人看輕。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/world/asia/30-years-after-revolution-some-filipinos-yearn-for-golden-age-of-marcos.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/asia-pacific/20160224/c24philippines/zh-hant/

2016-02-25．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯張佑生