NEVER AGAIN?: A Study On Pro-Marcos Political Propaganda

NEVER AGAIN?
: A Study on Contemporary Pro-Marcos Political Propaganda
A Senior Seminar Paper

Submitted to
Dr. Renato Oliveros
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of
the degree in Interdisciplinary Studies
Angelica Joyce S. Benitez

Ateneo de Manila University
S.Y. 2014-2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................
Background of the Study..............................................................................................
A Brief History........................................................................................................
Examining Marcos Propaganda...............................................................................
On Imelda Being Welcomed in Ateneo..................................................................
Statement of the Problem.............................................................................................
Scope and Limitations of the Study..............................................................................
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework......................................................................
Windschuttles Conception of History History.......................................................
Social Representations Theory................................................................................
Postmemory.............................................................................................................
The New Internet Model of Media..........................................................................
Review of Related Literature........................................................................................
Political Propaganda and its Propagation................................................................
In the Philippine Political Context and Beyond......................................................
Hypothesis and Assumption of the Study....................................................................
Methodology.................................................................................................................
Organization of the Study.............................................................................................
1
1
2
5
6
7
8
8
8
8
10
12
12
15
17
19
20
20
II. SUPPLEMENTARY RELATED LITERATURE...........................................

Social Representations..................................................................................................
Regime Participants.................................................................................................
Marcos bust, museum, and mausoleum........................................................
Ilokano Literature..........................................................................................
Noteworthy case: Primitivo Mijares.............................................................
Opposition Participants...........................................................................................
CPP................................................................................................................
Other oppositionist forces.............................................................................
Bantayog ng mga Bayani..............................................................................
Unsophisticated subjects.........................................................................................
Luisita farmers..............................................................................................
Sophisticated subjects..............................................................................................
The Lopezes..................................................................................................
Makati business district rallies and demonstrations......................................
22
22
23
24
27
30
32
32
34
34
35
35
36
36
37
III. CONTEMPORARY PRO-MARCOS CLAIMS OF THE MARCOS
REGIME...............................................................................................................
Comment by Ist12345..............................................................................................
Context...........................................................................................................
Rommel Lapuss Facebook post.............................................................................
Context...........................................................................................................
Examining the claims...................................................................................................
Infrastructures..........................................................................................................
39
39
40
41
42
42
42
Economy..................................................................................................................
Implementation of Martial Law..............................................................................
Peace and Human Rights.........................................................................................
EDSA Revolution....................................................................................................
The Marcos-Aquino dichotomy..............................................................................
44
48
50
51
52
IV. THE INTERNET AND POSTMEMORY................................................................

Postmemorial representations on Twitter................................................................
54
56
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................

Summary..................................................................................................................
Conclusions..............................................................................................................
Recommendations....................................................................................................
60
60
67
68
BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................................
69
APPENDICES
Appendix A..............................................................................................................
Appendix B..............................................................................................................
Appendix C..............................................................................................................
78
79
82
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study

Introduction
History has long since invalidated the dichotomy between the Aquinos and the Marcoses
as good and evil. Corazon Aquino, despite her success in toppling over the Marcos dictatorship,
has failed to improve the state of the economy and to implement agrarian reform.1 Narratives
from tenant farmers in Hacienda Luisita also reveal feelings of contempt toward the landowners,
the Cojuangcos. 2 Aside from this, Ninoy Aquinos alleged affiliation with Communist
organizations has slightly tainted the familys reputation.3 Historical revisionism, in this sense,
has clarified what is not yet known to most.
However, narratives that claim that Marcos tyrannical administration was better than
recent administrations in the Philippines are also emerging. These accounts are generally
considered to be biased because they reduce the misdeeds of Marcos and highlight his supposed
achievements. Backed up with so-called statistics and sources, they are spread in social media
websites through attention-grabbing forms such as videos, photos, and texts. The accounts also
claim that mass media (controlled by oligarchs who have been censored during the martial law)
has covered up and twisted the truth to go against Ferdinand Marcos. Well constructed and
succinct, these can quickly influence individuals, especially those who have not experienced the
Marcos regime. Even veteran television news producer and blogger Paul Farol said that he had to
Thompson, W. Scott, Introduction: Three Ways Out in The Philippines in Crisis: Development and
Security in the Aquino Era (1986-1992) (New York: St. Martins Press, 1992), 5.
2
Claudio, Lisandro, The Silenced Struggle: Hacienda Luisita and the Unraveling of the People
Power in Taming Peoples Power: The EDSA Revolution and their Contradictions (Quezon City: Ateneo
de Manila University Press, 2013), 94-100.
3
Claudio, Lisandro, Ninoy networked with everyone, Reds included, GMA News. August 18, 2010.
stop himself from buying into everything it [propaganda video] was saying, in an interview with
the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).4
Despite having several detractors, these campaigns are widely circulating on the Internet
and are receiving a considerable number of assents. They present a danger in that they glorify an
era that is known to most as an era of tyranny, repression, injustice, and corruption.5
A Brief History
Ferdinand Marcos imposed martial law on September 22, 1972 by Proclamation No.
1081, during his second term as president.6 His imposition was considered constitutional, and was
justified by of the state of rebellion in the country caused by Communist insurgencies, the
danger to the public that these caused, and as well as the state of economic disarray that the
country was in.7
In September 1976, four years after the declaration of martial law, the government
announced the success of restoration of peace and order, culminating in the dramatic capture of
two top NPA leaders.8 There were, however, no signs that the dictatorial regime was ending. The
justification now superseded that of Proclamation No. 1081; it was now claimed by the
administration that the continuance of this authoritarian regime could be the only way to achieve
its goals of rapid economic development and greater social justice.9
And yet, that era saw numerous human rights violations3,527 were killed, 35,000
tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated.10 Accounts of human rights cases have yet to be answered to
even to this day; in fact, according to McCoy, elite torture military officials during martial law
Lingao, Ed, A Different EDSA Story, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. February 24,
2012.
Bengzon, Alfredo R. A., To Struggle Against Forgetting, in Memory, Truth Telling and the Pursuit
of Justice: A Conference on the Legacies of the Dictatorship (Quezon City: Office of Research and
Publications, Ateneo de Manila University, 2001), 77.
6
Wurfel, David, Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival. Pacific Affairs
50, No. 1. Ontario: University of Windsor, 1977: 5.
7
Rodriguez, Filemon, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation (New York: Vantage Press, 1985), 90.
8
Wurfel, Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival, 7.
9
Ibid, 7.
10
McCoy, Alfred W., Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime in Memory, Truth
Telling and the Pursuit of Justice: A Conference on the Legacies of the Dictatorship (Quezon City: Office
of Research and Publications, Ateneo de Manila University, 2001).
have achieved impunity for their crimes, and some even political power, with their being
elected into the Senate.11
The Marcos regime was also marked by graft and corruption.12 Abinales and Amoroso
note on how Marcos did not differ with other presidents in his drive for economic liberalization,
pursuit of productivity gains over comprehensive land reform, and the use of executive and
military agencies to shape society.13 He also did not differ in his self-serving use of power to
enrich himself, his clan, and his allies.14
Other sources also focus on the Marcoses extravagant lifestyle. Despite this, Marcos,
during his first four years as president, was successful in bringing about economic progress; there
was annual growth of about 5.8 percent in the GNP after 1965. 15 There was said to be
considerable progress in the agriculture, fishery, forestry, mining, utilities and construction.16 The
countrys road network is also said to have greatly expanded. The unwise and unnecessary
spending of government funds in the latter part of his presidency, however, have later proven to
be detrimental to the economy. Sugar centrals, cement factories, and steel-mill projects have been
abundantly constructed, resulting in an immense oversupply of resources with little demand.
In addition, the increase in the production of export crops like sugar and coconut have
negatively affected the economy. The expansion of the lands wherein these types of crops are
planted made rice lands smaller, subsequently making the country dependent on imports for staple
food. Abinales and Amoroso17 also add that the decline of the production of rice and corn brought
about unemployment in the rural areas, resulting to the migration of these workers to the cities.
The industries in the cities, however, could not accommodate the number of people who have

11
Ibid, 129-141.
Aquino, Belinda A., Politics of Plunder: The Philippines Under Marcos (Quezon City: University
of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance, 1999).
13
Abinales, Patricio N. and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines (Pasig City: Anvil
Publishing Inc., 2005): 197.
14
Ibid, 196.
15
Rodriguez, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation, 25.
16
Ibid, 25.
17
Abinales and Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, 194.
12
gone to do menial work. This surplus of labor thus brought about the formation of a new urban
proletarian class.18
In addition, the regimes desire to abolish oligarchies failed, and even resulted to the
creation of a new set of cronies. Rodriguez posits that the unstable economic situation in the
country, together with the opportunities to loot large amounts of money, enabled the presidents
friends to participate in the loot, and the people who would later be identified as his cronies
began to surface.19
The assassination of Aquino is considered by most to be the turning point of the collapse
of the Marcos regime. The then acquiesce and apathetic public started to become politically
involved; the elites, in their trepidation of the economic repercussions of the incident, started to
express their anger. Catholic priests and nuns also started to demonstrate their opposition to the
regime through mass demonstrations.20
Among others, the most pressing threat to the regime came from the Reform the AFP
Movement (RAM). Supposedly formed to promote military reform, RAM clandestinely acted as a
group aimed to perform a coup against the government.21 However, the coup attempt of RAM
failed. The rest that followed was history: a wave of people gathered in EDSA, following the
Catholic Churchs call; the Marcoses were flown to Hawaii with the aid of the United States; and
the reinstitution of a new revolutionary government was made with Corazon Aquino as its head.22
However, many lament that the restored democracy after EDSA was not the
constitutional democracy that it was supposed to be. Rather, it was the same as the kind of
political order that dominated the country before Marcos elite democracy.23
Called the EDSA system, this post-authoritarian regime is characterized by the socalled democracy set up by Aquino, the comeback of the political elite, the economic decay that
the country encountered, and the agrarian reform projects that never seemed to reach completion.

18
Ibid, 194.
20
21
Ibid, 223.
22
Ibid, 224-225.
23
Anderson, Benedict, Cacique Democracy in the Philippines: Origins and Dreams, New Left
Review 169, no. 3 (1988): 27-30.
19
It is also characterized as a reproduction of the flaws of the former system of governance.24 This
persisting notion perhaps explains why, in recent times, some Filipinos feel that an authoritarian
regime designed to perform radical change, much like Marcos, has once again become necessary.
Examining Marcos propaganda
Pro-Marcos propaganda are nowadays being promulgated through social media websites
and blog posts. Pro-Marcos sentiment, however, is not new. As in all political administrations,
there were also Marcos loyalists who ardently stood by the decisions of their leader during and
even after the said leaders regime. The New York Times in 1987 reported loyalists in one of their
activities raised their hands in the V sign and chanted his campaign slogan, Marcos
forever,25 almost deifying Marcos. The news report emphasizes, however, that although this
subculture is fervent about its beliefs, its numbers were faltering.
Yet the consecration of Marcos persists until today. A user comment in an Inquirer article
likens Marcos to Jesus Christ:
When our Lord and Savior was crucified, everyone in his time and place thought
that he should be crucified because people were deceived of lies being spread that he was
subversive to the Roman state. Yet history proved to be the ultimate judge and even the
Roman Empire who crucified him, is now the capital and defender of the Catholic faith.
I say that the predicament is comparable to what happened to Marcos. He was
demonized by the communists, greedy oligarchs, and treacherous politicians to this day.26
The comment further claims that no other president that came after Marcos has built
infrastructures, boosted the countrys economy, and improved the image of the Filipino more than
Marcos did. It substantiates its claims by pointing out that, during Marcos regime, the Philippines
was exporting rice, which contributed to the growth of its GDP; that the government was
subsidizing household utilities; and that the government was in control of mass media, as opposed
to today, in which it is controlled by oligarchs affiliated with politicians that air biased
information to the public. Furthermore, the user questions the validity of the claim that Marcos

24
Bello, Walden, Herbert Docena, Marissa de Guzman, and Marylou Malig, The Anti-Development
State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines (Quezon City: University of the
Philippines Diliman and Focus on the Global South, 2004): 2.
25
Mydans, Seth, Pro-Marcos Activity Persists but Ranks Thin, The New York Times, October 4,
1987, http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/04/world/pro-marcos-activity-persists-but-ranks-thin.html.
26
Ist12345, July 23, 2014, comment on Conrado de Quiros, Storytelling, Inquirer.net, July 23, 2014,
http://opinion.inquirer.net/76788/storytelling.
was a murdering dictator by citing the EDSA Revolution: how can Marcos kill thousands
of Filipinos if not a single blood was shed in EDSA 1? If he was a murdering dictator, clearly,
there could have been an incident in the EDSA revolution that shed blood, right?27
An image 28 posted by a user named Rommel Lapus on Facebook also claims that
Ferdinand Marcos was able to put up twenty power plants, 11,472 meter-long bridges, forty-eight
state and community colleges, and thirty-seven national high school campuses. The user also
claims that Marcos administration brought about the green and blue revolutionthe green
revolution referring to the Philippines being able to be self-sufficient rice-producing country
through its cultivation of the IR-8 hybrid rice. It also mentioned that the Philippines, in 1968,
have exported rice worth US$7 million. The blue revolution refers to the distribution of marine
species such as prawns, mullets, milkfish, and tilapias to citizens living near coastal areas.
In addition, the user claims that the Marcos administration has provided liberalized credit,
education reform, agrarian reform, health care programs, housing programs, labor reform,
infrastructure growth, political reform, and fiscal reform in the country. It also contends that the
state of peace and order, self-reliance in energy, and the number of exportations the country has
made have improved during the period. 29 Rommel Lapus, in short, proclaims Marcos to be the
best president that the Philippines has ever had.
Other arguments, apart from these, will be examined more closely in the following
chapter. This brief overview, however, exhibits enough for us to contend that pro-Marcos
narratives are, in fact, a threat to the prevailing memory of the Marcos regime, more so with
todays easier means of disseminating propaganda.
On Imelda Being Welcomed in Ateneo
A recent incident involving Marcos wife in an event organized by the Ateneo
Scholarship Foundation occurred in July this year. This incident has received clamor not only
from the Ateneo community but also the greater populace for the foundations insensitive

27
Ibid.
Facebook Inc. Rommel Lapus Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/Madame
ImeldaMarcos/posts/10153352540060720 (Accessed September 10, 2014).
29
Ibid.
28
decision to invite Imelda Marcos to its event. Pictures of the university president and some
Ateneo scholars posing with the first lady spurred some outrage, garnering comments that
described the invitation of Imelda as an insult to Atenean student-activists such as Edgar
Jopson, who were killed during the Marcos era.30
Despite the backlash received by Imelda in this incident, the Marcos family remain to be
generally well integrated into Philippine society. Imelda Marcos is a fixture in television and in
political and social events; she is also the current representative of the second district of Ilocos
Norte. Her son, Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos, Jr., is in the Senate and is rumored to run in the
2016 presidential elections. Her daughter, Imee Marcos, is the current governor of Ilocos Norte.
Even Imees son, Borgy Manotoc, is a popular figure among the youth.
It can be remarked that there is a discrepancy between the accepted history and the proMarcos narratives, and as well as between the collective dissent of the people for the Marcoses
and the garnered political reaction. There is a need therefore to analyze how the Marcos regime as
an event is being remembered and how it translates to the Marcoses continued political presence
in present time.
Statement of the Problem

This study attempts to validate or invalidate the narratives posed by pro-Marcos
advocates and to provide a reason for the Marcoses relative popularity despite the general
acceptance of the claim that the Marcos regime is remembered to be that of repression, injustice,
and corruption.
In addition, this study will also answer how the present electorate remembers the Marcos
regime, in an attempt to answer whether their perceptions could be the reason for the familys
continued political presence.
Scope and Delimitations of the Study

30
When Imelda visited Ateneo Rappler, July 10. 2014, http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak /insidetrack/62850-imelda-visit-ateneo.
This research attempts to study the validity of the arguments posed by pro-Marcos
advocates. This study is delimited to the analysis of the claims given by user ist12345 in an
Inquirer articles comment section and Rommel Lapus post on Facebook. This study will be an
attempt to clarify contradicting narratives of the Marcos regime.
This study also attempts to analyze underlying causes of the Marcoses continuing
presence in Philippine politics. An in-depth analysis of the construction of memory will be done
in order to come up with a valid and sufficient conclusion.
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Windschuttles Conception of History. Windschuttle contradicts the claim of the postmodernist
theory that historical truth is relative. It is his contention that facts exist; history contains
incontestable, objective accounts of events that happened in the past. He also argues that the
politicization of history the legitimizing of the multiplicity of voices by a specific minority
only allows for the validation of a specific groups inclinations, and the marginalization of those
that do not fit with their ideas. This case is problematic as it indicates that all perspectives are
legitimate, and therefore no genuine historical debate can occur. He clarifies that he is not against
the construction of history by specific groups, as long as they are supported by ample evidence
and research.
Social Representations Theory. The social representations theory forwards the idea that subjects
and phenomena are understood through collective processes that occur among social groups
through constant communication and action. The process of social representation, according to
Moscovici,31 has two functions: the first is to establish an order which will enable individuals to
orient themselves in their material and social world and secondly to enable communication
by providing a code for social exchange and a code for naming and classifying unambiguously the
various aspects of their worlds and their individual group history.
Social groups operating within societies assert its own beliefs with regard to different

31
Moscovici, Serge, Introduction, in Health and Illness. A Psychological Analysis (London:

Academic Press), xiii.
subjects and therefore become distinct from other groups. Wagner et al.32 refer to the phenomenon
that composes the local world of a specific group as social objects. These social objects are
composed of representations, produced and exhibited through discourse and collective action by
the members of the group.
Figure 1. A Simplified Schema of the Formation of a Social Representation
Source: Wagner, Wolfgang, Gerard Duveen, Robert Farr, Sandra Jovchelovitch Fabio LoreziCioldi, Ivana Markov, and Diana Rose, Theory and method of social representations, Asian
Journal of Social Psychology 2, No. 1: 96.
Figure 1 shows the process by which social groups incur events and phenomena that are
unfamiliar to them and interpret these phenomena into becoming a groups new social
representation. This process, termed anchoring by Wagner et al. and conventionalisation by
Bartlett, was also mentioned by Moscovici in his paper,33 which he describes as the means by
which something unfamiliar is assimilated and the whole thing is unified in a representation of
the new object in the process. Bauer and Gaskell34 define anchoring as the process by which new
encounters of ideas, things, or persons are named and classified. Objectification, on the other

32
Wagner, Wolfgang, Gerard Duveen, Robert Farr, Sandra Jovchelovitch, Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi,
Ivanka Markova, and Diana Rose, Theory and method of social representations, Asian Journal of Social
Psychology 2, No. 1: 95-125.
33
Moscovici, Serge, La psychoanalyse, son image et son public (Paris: PUF, 1961).
34
Bauer, Martin and George Gaskell, Towards a Paradigm for Research on Social Representations,
Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 29, No. 2 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1999): 172.
hand, is what solidifies and makes tangible the abstract and potentially threatening new idea,35
achieved through the use of images, models, and verbal metaphors, among others.
Bauer and Gaskell36 add that social representations have three defining features: they are
cultivated in communication systems, they have structured contents that serve various functions
for the communications systems and its participants, and they are embodied in different modes
and mediums.
Moreover, Moscovici writes that the creation of new representations is a constant in
society for purposes of motivating action and making sense of interactions stemming from
everyday problems. 37 This means, thus, that social representations help shape present day
behavior.
This function of social representations, that is, of its being able to influence collective
behavior among people, is exhibited through its performative and constructive attributes.
Representations are performative in that they can define a situation, and constructive in that
groups can integrate conceptions about persons and objects into their groups own preconditions
in order for them to maintain their groups cohesiveness through similar shared conceptions
regarding new subjects.38
Social representations continually affect the social identity of a group, and vice versa. Liu
and Hilton write that a groups representation of its history conditions their notion of what it
was, is, can and should be, and is consequently tied to how these groups construct their identity,
norms, and values.39
Postmemory. Hirsch defines postmemory as a kind of memory that the generation following
those who have experienced a significant cultural or collective trauma, termed postgeneration,
have. Postmemories are constructed through stories, images, and behavior passed on to the
postgeneration; yet, because of the deep and affective way in which these stories have been

35
Ibid, 172.
Ibid, 170.
37
Moscovici, Serge, Notes towards a description of Social Representations, European Journal of
Social Psychology 18 (1988): 218.
38
Ibid, 230.
39
Liu, James and Denis Hilton, How the past weighs on the present: Social representations of history
and their role in identity politics, British Journal of Social Psychology 44 (2005), 1.
36
10
transmitted, they are to be regarded as memories.40 There is a risk, therefore, of an individuals

own memory being displaced by the memories of the past generation.
Figure 2. The broadcast model versus the Internet model of media
Source: Miller, Vincent, Key Elements of Digital Media, in Understanding Digital Culture
(New York: SAGE Publications, 2001).
Aleida Assman 41 distinguishes postmemory into four different formats: individual
memory, family/group memory, national/political memory, and cultural/archival memory. This
assumes that memories are shared and linked between individuals and, she adds, Once
verbalized, the individuals memories are fused with the inter-subjective symbolic system of
language and are, strictly speaking, no longer a purely exclusive and unalienable property... they
can be exchanged, shared, corroborated, confirmed, corrected, disputedand, last not least,
written down.42
Hirsch argues that the aim of postmemorial work is to fuse more distant social/national
and archival/cultural memories with individual and group memories. This will lead to the
increased engagement of the less-directly affected participants, which can then ensure the

40
Hirsch, Marianne, The Generation of Postmemory, Poetics Today 29, No. 1 (Porter Institute of
Poetics and Semiotics, 2008): 106-107.
41
Assman, Aleida, Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit: Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik
(Munich: Beck, 2006).
42
Ibid.
11
persistence of postmemory.43
The New Internet Model of Media. This model is characterized by a less hierarchical formation of
information dissemination and consumption, allowing for two-way communication, in contrast to
the old model, which only allowed for one-way communication.44 In this model, it is assumed that
there is less hegemony as the production of message can be performed by anyone.
Review of Related Literature

Braun in The Holocaust and problems of representations45 examines the difficulties in
historiography, particularly in the recording of events during the Holocaust. Braun recognizes the
core problems in history: the conflict between the meaning of past reality as knowledge
(epistem), the formation of representations of the past as opinion (doxa), and the relationship
between past reality as construction of mind in the present and in the past.46 It is Brauns aim to
put forward the idea that representation of history is connected to problems external to the
academic sphere, arguing that there are political and social factors that help mold representations
of history.
This social dimension in the creation of history is reflected in the analyses of phenomena
that use the social representations theory as their framework. Moscovicis La psychanalyse, son
image et son public studies how three segments of French society responded to the new method
of psychoanalysis in the 1950s. The study showed that there were differing methods in which
segments in society communicated their message with regard to psychoanalysis to the public. The
first segment, the Communists, communicated their negative message with regard psychoanalysis
through propaganda. The Catholic Church, meanwhile, communicates its didactic views by means
of propagation. Lastly, urban-liberals, a group usually characterized by its weak group identity,
communicate differing opinions through diffusion. This study exhibits the means by which

43
Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory, 111.

Miller, Vincent, Key Elements of Digital Media, in Understanding Digital Culture (New York:
SAGE Publications, 2001).
45
Braun, Robert, The Holocaust and problems in representation, ed. K. Jenkins, (New York:
Routledge, 1997), 418.
46
Ibid, 420.
44
12
specific groups have communicated differing notions about psychoanalysis, represented through a
groups particular ideal. These differing representations, then, reflect the resistance of common
and old knowledge being usurped by new knowledge.
The study on madness in British television47 utilizes the social representation theory in
analyzing media, justifying this choice by the rationale that mass media are social in their
production, social in their texts, and social in their consumption, given that the theory of social
representations take into account the identities, interests, histories, and cultures of groups. The
study problematizes the stigma that people with ill mental health are violent and dangerous, in
light of how they are portrayed in British television. The study discovers that the way mentally
sick person are represented affect the publics perception of them, marking them as different and
therefore as another.
The theory of social representations was also used in analyzing political phenomena.
Wagner et al. 48 discover that European countries have different judgments as regards to
democracy, relative to the political system that their country adhered to. They observe that people
from post-communist countries regard democracy more negatively than democratic states.
The authors ruminate that this notion was propagated through propaganda, similar to
Moscovicis findings in his study with psychoanalysis. Propaganda, they say, attempts to
transform ideology into being part of common sense and culture.
The study showed that social representations are structured, that the theory of social
representations can contribute to the study of macrosocial phenomena and, more relevant to this
study, that peoples representations reflect their traditional values, heritage, and backgrounds.
Moreover, it furthers what Breakwell49 in his study remarks about social representations, that they
serve particular functions for a group. Some representations serve to intergroup prejudices, while
others use it to foster a strong group identity, among others. Breakwell, however, distinguishes
between the function of the process of representation and the function of representation itself.

47
Wagner, et al., Theory and method of social representations, 9.

Ibid, 13.
49
Breakwell, Glynis M. Social Representations and Social Identity, Papers on Social
Representation 2, No. 3 (1993): 4-5.
48
13
Bauer and Gaskell50 illustrate social representations functionality: ideologies, for instance, can
maintain its dominance if its anchors and objectifications contradict a particular social milieus
idea. Functions that affect the attitude of people are seen when judgments and choice are to be
made. To summarize, social representations can serve identity, mythical, and attitudinal
functions.51 Aside from this, Bauer and Gaskells study also enumerates the four modes of
representation: habitual behavior, individual cognition, informal communication, and formal
communication.52
Liu and Hiltons study,53 meanwhile, use the concept of social representations in history.
The authors posit that representations of history help to define the social identity of peoples,
especially in how they relate to other peoples and to current issues of international politics and
internal diversity.54 Another study by Liu et al. shows that specific historical events can be used
as basis for examining a particular groups social-psychological processes.55
Montiel56 thus uses social representations as grounding for her study on the People Power
Revolution of 1986. Her study shows that the EDSA narrative is subject to temporality in that it
changes over time. It also claims that there are differences with regard to the way in which EDSA
is narrated by civilian and military groups, which are in opposition to each other. Montiel argues
that the construction of these opposing narratives of EDSA by the civilian and military groups are
due to each sectors attempts to enhance their social identities. She also posits that the civilian
sector, because of their relatively positive view with regard to EDSA, will tend to act in the same
nonviolent manner when faced with a similar action. Military groups, on the other hand, who
mostly have a negative view towards EDSA, will most likely resort to the means that they
employed in the said event. These inclinations will then be sustained through the groups

50
173.
51
Ibid, 173.
Ibid, 174.
53
Liu, James and Denis Hilton, How the past weighs on the present: Social representations of history
and their role in identity politics, 1.
54
Ibid, 1.
55
Liu, James, Marc Stewart Wilson, John McClure, and Te Ripowai Higgins, Social identity and the
perception of history: Cultural representations of Anteroa, European Journal of Social Psychology 29
(1999): 1021-1047.
56
Montiel, Cristina Jayme, EDSA 1 in the Public Minds of Filipino Civilian and Military (Quezon
City: Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University, 2010).
52
14
continued adherence to their beliefs, and sometimes, through the propagation of these beliefs
through propaganda.
Political propaganda and its propagation
Political propaganda has been in occurrence since modern man has had the means to
spread widespread information in a short span of time. Cantril in his study cites that the
abundance of propaganda corresponds to the development in the mediums of communication such
as print media, broadcasting, and filmmaking.57 Another study posits that the social reasons for
the expansion of propaganda are the growth of popular education, the widespread reduction of
illiteracy, the achievement by the masses of universal suffrage, and the direct primary.58
The art of propaganda making, however, is old. Den Boers study on political propaganda
in Greek chronology shows that politicians in the 4th century have skewed history for their own
political ends.59 Pope Gregory XV, as early as 1633, already established a Catholic propaganda
institute.60 Propaganda during World War One was also instrumental in enticing young men to
fight for the army and in convincing the civilians to continue supporting the costs of the war.61
Propaganda can be generated using several techniques. Cantril observes that
propagandists often connect an idea or an object to a symbol, emotion, or attitude that appeals to
the masses.62 This is illustrated in the frequent use of positively imbued words in campaigns such
as progress, future, economy, equality, and the like.63 This method, however, can be
ineffective for a discerning audience. The propagandist, thus, furthers his spin by building a new
conception around a product or idea by using subtle, concealed suggestion.64 This is done
through inserting propaganda into newspapers as news or as editorial pieces. Cantril also
enumerates the method of disguising propaganda as explanation as another way in which

57
Cantril, Hadley, Propaganda Analysis, The English Journal 27, no. 3 (1938): 217.
Casey, Ralph D., Party Campaign Propaganda, Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science 197 (1935): 96.
59
Den Boer, W., Propaganda in Greek Chronology, Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte 5, no. 2
(1956): 177.
60
Cantril, Hadley, Propaganda Analysis, 217.
61
Oliver, Neil, Was World War One the birth of spin? BBC, Date.
62
63
Datinguinoo, Vinia M. and Olarte Avigail, 10 Gimmicks Practiced by Natural-born Politicians,
The Investigative Reporting Magazine: The Campaign, 2004.
64
58
15
publicists can spread biased information, which can be done only by those who are in power.65 In
this method, educators, textbook writers, and college professors are hired to write articles that
answer to the demands of the powerful.
Casey, in his study, adds that:
The propagandist works on emotional attitude, pays little attention to logical
arguments, and plans a publicity campaign designed, first, to furnish traditional voters
with rationalizations to keep them lined up with the party, and, second, to induce the
voters of the uncertain group to attach their affections to the partys symbols.66
Today, the use of the word propaganda is immediately tied to reference the political
and its negative connotations. Fellows observes that attitudes toward the word are more
unfavorable compared to the attitude towards it in the past centuries, when it was regarded in
connection to the Church rather than the state, perhaps due to the publics increased recognition of
the employment of communication channels by a group to its own special interest. Fellows,
however, observe that the word is garnering a more favorable connotation in recent times. He
posits that this phenomenon is due to the increasing awareness regarding the propaganda
techniques and the indifference to contents being promulgated.67
In relation to this, a study by Arno Jewett68 assessed the ability of high school juniors and
seniors to critically discriminate pieces from print media and opine on them based on the most
accurate data. He wished to discover whether the students who were taught material on the
nature and techniques of propaganda learned to generalize more carefully, to distinguish between
strong and weak arguments, and to judge the probable truth of inferences drawn from given
statements of fact.69
In this study, Jewett found out that a higher relationship exists between knowledge of
facts about social problems and ability to detect and analyze propaganda concerning those
problems than exists between intelligence and ability to detect propaganda.70 Thus, it can be

65
Ibid, 218-219.
Casey, Ralph D., Party Campaign Propaganda, 103.
67
Fellows, Erwin W., Propaganda: History of a Word, American Speech 34, No. 3 (1959): 18866
189.
68
Jewett, Arno, Detecting and Analyzing Propaganda, The English Journal 29, No. 2 (1940).
Ibid, 106.
70
Ibid, 115.
69
16
assumed that cognizance regarding social issues can lead to a more discerning eye than
intelligence alone.
In the Philippine political context and beyond
David Wurfel in Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival
studies the ways in which Marcos maintained the stability of his regime, including the proposal of
various economic development policies, the institution of referenda, and his control of media.71
Wurfel determines whether these methods are effective by classifying the respondents of the July
1973 referendum, wherein citizens were asked to make written remarks regarding the current state
of politics, economy, and society in the country. Wurfel then classifies these responses into four
categories, depending on their granting of legitimacy or their acquiescence to the regime. The first
category is that of the regime participants, whose members may be part of the regime itself and
are possibly obtaining benefits from it. The author points to members of the military, segments of
the bureaucracy, and friends and province-mates of the Marcos family as possible members of
this group.
The second group are the unsophisticated subjects, whom the author claims primarily
make the Marcos regime possible. Members of this cluster include uneducated peasants,
fishermen, and workers. The sophisticated subjects, which is the third category specified by the
author, are better educated and are therefore aware of constitutional processes and the illegality of
the regime. Despite this, they maintained acquiescence to the regime until the economic state of
the country dwindled. Lastly, the opposition participants refuse to grant legitimacy to the
regime. Notwithstanding, only a small percentage of this group openly opposes the regime; some
express their rejection of the regime through their avoidance of verbal expressions of
acquiescence or martial law elections. This group comprises of politically aware peasants,
workers, students, clergy, middle-class professionals, and landlords from left to right.72

71
72
Wurfel, Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival, 11-13.
Ibid, 13.
17
Galam73 demonstrates the acquiescence of the first group, the regime participants, and the
possible non-acquiescence of former regime participants in his study. He uses two Ilokano novels,
Juan Hidalgo Jr.s Saksi ti Kaunggan (1986) and Clesencio Rambauds Dagiti Bin-I ti Kimat
(1995) as points to which he examined this phenomenon. Saksi, according to Galam, utilizes and
appropriates the arguments Marcos used in legitimizing his regime in its story. This novel thus
serves as an apologia for the regime. Bin-I, on the other hand, hints on the re-assessment of the
regime and its legacies. Its ambivalence and uncertainty with respect to the regime leads Galam to
infer that it registers the diminished and diminishing status enjoyed by Marcos among
Ilokanos74 rather than a full acquiescence to the regime, which is usually the case for Ilokanos.
However, Galam recognizes that these representations are rooted on the authors
individual memories of Marcos, in which an intersubjective construction (indicating that the
authors have nonetheless been influenced by society) is implicated. He then concludes that
individual versions of narratives of the past, like the novels, must ultimately inform collective
memory and the nations sense of history.
Goertz75 in her study on postmemory sheds light on the subject of a postgeneration
remembering events that have occurred in the past through images and stories passed on from
the previous generation, specifically that of the Holocaust. Goertz examines the strategies by
which the postgeneration express their opinion with regard to their inherited, un-experienced past.
The study showed that there is a difficulty for the postgeneration in terms of their transmission of
memory due to their temporal distance vis--vis the event.
In support of this, Halbwachs study argues that individuals are able to acquire and
localize memories, either recent or distant ones, through membership in a social group.76 The
author asserts that the retention of memories is due to the groups evoking them and subsequently

73
Galam, Roderick, Narrating the Dictator(ship): Social Memory, Marcos, and Ilokano Literature
after the 1986 Revolution, Philippine Studies 56, No. 2 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University,
2008) 151-182.
74
Ibid, 176.
75
Goertz, Karein, Transgenerational Representations of the Holocaust: From Memory to PostMemory, World Literature Today 72, No. 1, 1998: 36-38.
76
Halbwachs, Maurice, On Collective Memory, ed. and tr. Lewis Coser (Chicago: Chicago University
Press, 1992).
18
its being assembled in our minds. Connerton in How Societies Remember succinctly summarizes
Halbwachs main thesis, writing: He [Halbwachs] showed how different social segments, each
with a different past, will have different memories attached to the different mental landmarks
characteristic of a group in question. And he singles out, as illustrative of his general thesis, the
particular cases of memory as it works within kinship groups, within religious groups, and within
classes.77
Hypothesis and Assumption of the Study

This study attempts to validate or invalidate the narratives posed by pro-Marcos
advocates and to provide a reason for the Marcoses relative popularity despite the general
acceptance of the claim that the Marcos regime was remembered to be that of repression,
injustice, and corruption. As a hypothesis to the first objective, this study posits that pro-Marcos
narratives are generally false, and therefore are propagated as political propaganda.
The author posits that specific social groups have interpreted the past according to their
groups beliefs, as prescribed by the social representations theory. Thus, they collectively
remember the regime based on their groups respective representations, and become apparent in
various aspects of culture. Different narratives regarding the regime, based on each groups own
representations of the period, are thus constructed.
Hirschs concept of postmemory is also utilized in this study in examining the attempt
of pro-Marcos advocates to revise history. It is hypothesized by the author that the
postgeneration, like the generation that have come before them, has come to believe different
narratives of the event. This postgeneration, not having experienced the event, form their ideas
based on their respective backgrounds and through different sources on the web that they
themselves have consumed. It is also hypothesized that new media and the Internet further
enables new memories and postmemories to emerge, although not all of them are necessarily
substantiated.

77
Connerton, Paul, Introduction in How Societies Remember (Great Britain: Cambridge University
Press, 1989): 1-5.
19
Methodology
This research will obtain its data from primary and secondary resources. Primary and
secondary recordings of the events that occurred during the Marcos regime such as books,
newspapers, blogs, and others will be compared and contrasted with recent pro-Marcos narratives
in order to prove or disprove their validity. The pro-Marcos narratives and contentions that will be
examined are the comment by user Ist12345 in an Inquirer article and Rommel Lapus Facebook
post.
Qualitative and quantitative data will be utilized in answering the questions posed at the
start of this chapter. In addition, the postgenerations opinions of the regime will be assessed
through the content and the quantity of their tweets.
The tweets are to be searched using the keywords Ferdinand Marcos and President
Marcos. Only the tweets from the time of Imeldas visit in Ateneo on July 5, 2014 to the EDSA
Revolution Anniversary on February 25, 2015 will be included. The tweets are to be categorized
as to whether they are pro- or anti-Marcos and then tallied. Links to news sites, ambiguous tweets,
and tweets that are not relevant to the subject are to be disregarded. Content analysis will likewise
be employed as a method to come up with a conclusion.
Organization of the Study

This study is divided into five chapters. The first chapter contains an introduction of the
study, added to serve as a means to frame the problem and to deepen the understanding regarding
the phenomena to be discussed. It contains the background of the study, statement of the problem,
scope and limitations, review of related literature, framework, methodology, and the hypothesis
and assumptions of the study.
Chapter two will contain additional background data with regard to perceptions on the
Marcos regime. Chapter three will deconstruct the numerous arguments found in pro-Marcos texts
on print and online. The objective of the third chapter is to validate or invalidate the pro-Marcos
claims through the juxtaposition of facts with the said claims. Chapter four will focus on the
younger generations perception of the Marcos regime.
20
The last chapter will synthesize the whole study. A conclusion and a summary of the
research findings will be provided, detailing the answers to the questions posed in the first
chapter. It will also contain recommendations for the further improvement of this study. Pertinent
sources gathered by the author will be attached to the appendices of the study.
21
CHAPTER II
SUPPLEMENTARY RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents a background of representations with regard to the Marcos regime
through the analysis of monuments and museums constructed in memory of relevant historical
events, second-hand data as gathered by researchers, and news articles written concerning the
Marcos regime. This is because it is through these mediums aside from others, including written
texts, music, icons, history books, and mnemonic rituals that collective memory and
representations are being articulated.78
The social groups whose representations will be surveyed in this chapter will be based on
Wurfels classification of society79 during the rule of Ferdinand Marcos regime participants,
unsophisticated subjects, sophisticated subjects, and opposition participants.
This method of comparison aims to show how differing groups represent history
according to their position in relation to an object or an event, thus supporting the social
representations theory described in the previous chapter. It is important to note that in this section,
levels of analysis vary individual, collective, regional or institutional levels of analysis may be
used for each subsection.
Social Representations
These attempts to produce varying narratives lead to collective discourse regarding
certain social objects. It is in this kind of context, then, where social representations thrive.80
The social representations theory proposes that social groups assert their own beliefs
through collective processes of communication and action, thereby making themselves distinct

78
Schwartz, Barry, Commemorative Objects in International Encyclopedia of the Social and

Behavioral Sciences (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001).
79
Wurfel, David, Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival, 11-13.
80
163-186.
22
from other social groups. Social representations, then, are means by which social groups interpret
events in accordance to their beliefs. Hirsch adds to this idea by writing: Individuals are part of
social groups with shared belief systems that frame memories and shape them into narratives and
scenarios.81 These representations are produced and exhibited through discourse and collective
action by members of the group.
Social representations when applied to history have three distinct characteristics, as
highlighted by Montiel.82 First, social representations are constructed and negotiated by a group
of people rather than achieved by a single person. Thus, social representations are neither right
and wrong; they are what they are.
Second, social representations are dynamic and evolve continuously over time and
space.83 In addition, unlike theories that espouse frameworks of collective life which remain
unchanged across several generations, social representations occur in groups, encompass
communication, and deal with common sense thinking in todays world. 84 Lastly, social
representations incite collective action.
Social representations theory thus complements the postmodern theory of history, which
asserts that history is subjective. History when viewed using social representations theory
becomes a means by which individual goals are met by different social groups. This theory
forwards the idea that each group has within them the objective to appropriate events and ideas
according to their groups individual ideals. The following section will elaborate on the
manifestations of different social groups representations and memories of the Marcos regime.
Regime participants
Regime participants, according to Wurfel, are those who are so involved in the present
political and economic order, and reaping so much benefit from it, that they are willing supporters
of constituted authority and its claims to legitimacy.85 Wurfel enumerates the members of the

81
Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory, 110.

Montiel, EDSA 1 in the Public Minds of Filipino Civilian and Military.
83
Ibid.
84
Ibid.
85
82
23
military, the business community, and the province-mates of the Marcos family as those who are
part of this group.
There are different ways in which regime participants have expressed their support of
Marcos. Galam86 writes that a number of Ilokano writers and artists Marcos province-mates
expressed their personal loyalty to and support for Marcos through poems, essays, novels, and
paintings 87 that celebrated the supposed achievements of the late president. Other regime
participants, on the other hand, have expressed this support through the erection of monuments
and museums. Given this, this subsection will use Ilokano literature, the Marcos bust along
Marcos highway, and the Marcos museum in Ilocos as units of analysis. These were chosen as
they are mediums of social representations and avenues by which memories of the regime are
constructed by a specific social group, namely that of the social group regime participants.
Marcos bust, museum, and mausoleum
The Marcos bust located in the boundary of La Union and Benguet was constructed while
Marcos was still in power. Said to be funded by Marcos friends and supporters, the bust was
however destroyed in 2002 by an unnamed group of perpetrators. The bust, measuring 99-foot
tall, was built by Anselmo Day-Ag, an Ilongot-Igorot native. The construction of the bust was
controversial as a group of Ibaloys had to be displaced for the bust, recreational park, golf course,
and hotel to be built in the area.88 According to a news report, the bust for the Ibaloys was a
symbol of mistrust of the authorities,89 because of the disarray that the monument caused.
Moreover, the Marcos regime also seized more 500 acres of fertile farmland from the tribe in
order to build the bust and the rest of the park, paying only the previous owners a few cents per
square meter for the said lands.
In 1986, during Corazon Aquinos presidency, plans of blowing up the statue surfaced.
This was rejected by Aquino, who opted instead for the performance of the Ibaloys of lambakan,
a ritual that aims to purify the area and to foresee the future of the tribe as regards the land that

86
after the 1986 Revolution, 151-182.
87
Ibid, 152.
88
Dumlao, Artemio, Marcos bust blasted, Philstar.com, December 30, 2002.
89
Ibid.
24
had been taken from them.90 One of the Ibaloys interviewed by LA Times reporter Mark Fineman
remark on the effect the bust have on them: Imagine living with this huge Marcos head staring
down at you for the next many years long after hes gone. All it reminds us of is the damage and
the pain he caused to all of us.91
Although it is estimated to have cost more, Marcos loyalists claim that the construction of
the bust cost about three million pesos. In addition, the widowed Imelda Marcos claims that the
bust was a loving offering of local residents to the late president. Whether the construction of
the bust was funded by Marcos, his friends, or citizens of the town is uncertain, with some news
reports 92 noting that it was commissioned by the Marcoses and others claiming otherwise.
Nevertheless, it is seen by critics as an attempt of Marcos to immortalize himself. Its destruction
in 2002, however, perhaps prevented this attempt from being realized.
The Marcos mausoleum and museum in Batac, Ilocos Norte is another means by which
pro-Marcos sentiment can be seen. The mausoleum houses Ferdinand Marcos body, supposedly
while his supporters lobby for him to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The mausoleum
receives a score of visitors, often students from grade schools. A travel website93 notes on how
peddlers outside the mausoleum fondly address the dictator as Apo or Old man.
Not far away from the mausoleum is the Marcos Presidential Center or the Marcos
museum. The grandiose museum contains artifacts, paintings, and memorabilia previously owned
by the family. It also highlights the achievements of the past president, such as his war medals,
bar exam rating, and projects as president. Certainly, a visitor unfamiliar with some aspects of
Philippine history would get the notion that Marcos was incredibly brilliant and without fault.
The publicity that Imelda Marcos visit of the mausoleum last July of 2014 for her 85th
birthday made perhaps shows how the public still takes an interest on the family. Upon leaving
her birthday party, she exits into the street and is met with crowds of supporters both old and

90
Fineman, Mark. Government Spares Huge Marcos Bust, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1986.
Ibid.
92
Philippines blast wrecks Marcos bust, BBC News, December 29, 2002,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2612709.stm.
93
Laputt, Juny, The Province of Ilocos Norte, The World Tourist, http://worldtourist.us/
91
ilocosnorte/laoag.html.
25
young. 94 She hands out 100-peso bills to her constituents while some kiss her cheeks and her
hands. Imelda Marcos is currently a representative of Ilocos Norte, while her children Imee
Marcos and Ferdinand Jr. are a governor and a senator, respectively. It can be surmised from this
that the mass appeal of the Marcoses is still somewhat enduring, at least perhaps in the Ilocos
region.
Figure 3. An infographic outside the mausoleum, highlighting Marcos achievements
Source: Aubrey, Celerhina, Marcos Museum and Mausoleum (Batac City, Ilocos Norte),
Reigning Still (blog), June 30, 2013, http://www.celerhinaaubrey.com/2013/06/marcos-museum-andmausoleum-batac-city.html.

94
Newton, Jennifer, Imelda Marcos kiss for her husband as she celebrates 85th birthday: Disgraced
former Philippines First Ladys solemn visit to body of Ferdinand, Daily Mail Online, July 2, 2014.
26
Ilokano literature
Rodrick Galams analysis95 of two novels, Saksi ti Kaunggan (1986-1987) by Juan S.P.
Hidalgo Jr. and Dagiti Bin-I ti Kimat (1995) by Clesencio B. Rambaud, however, shows that the
perception of the Ilocanos with regard to Ferdinand Marcos may have changed over time. Saksi,
while written as an ode to Marcos as a hero, runs differently from Bin-I, which, according to
Galam, was written in an attempt to re-assess the legacy of Marcos.
Saksi ti Kaunngan, or Innermost Witness, was an attempt by the author to re-channel the
shock of Marcos ouster as president by focusing on the EDSA Revolution as a time in which the
country should shake off US imperialism and set off on a project of self-determination.96
Galam interprets Saksi as a hagiography of Marcos, one that rewrites the 1986 revolution as the
time and means not of the expulsion of Marcos but of his redemption, resurrection, and return as
Filipino nation-freedom.97
The protagonist of the novel, Felipe Lazaro Saleng, is a metaphor for the Philippine
nation and later on, for Marcos. Galam enumerates sections of the novel that leads him to this
conclusion:
1) Felipe, on February 28, 1986, says:
My nervousness became worse and at its worse, my heart felt like it was going
to explode and its blood pressure shot up until my outer nerves bulged and my temperature
was as hot as fiery coal; I felt that there was always an earthquake, as though strong
rumblings issued from the depths; that my head was no longer a part of my body and it felt
like just sat on my shoulders that leaned on both sides alternately when shaken, turned
and I began to hear, even when I was awake, a multitude of voices and cries that came from
all directions and once, I heard the loud scream of a woman in the east, in the west, in the
north, in the south. I won! I won! followed by thunderous claps and shouts; and because
of these that I suffered, I was forced to lie down; four specialists examined me and said the
same thing. I had a defect in my head; I may have to be operated on; there is something
wrong with my heart; I may have to be operated on; but I said that I do not have any money
for an operation and that up to now, my debts are up to my head.98

95
after the 1986 Revolution,151-182.
96
Ibid, 153.
97
Ibid, 154.
98
Ibid, 156.
27
2) Felipe also dreams of the downfall of Marcos, the People Power Revolution, U.S.
imperialism in the Philippines, the ideological and armed conflicts that are tearing the country
apart, social oppression where the perpetrators and victims are Felipe himself, and political and
armed struggles where the actors (or contending forces) are Felipe himself and where the victims
all look like Felipe.99
3) Felipe dreamed of events alluding to those that led to the revolution: the electoral battle
between Aquino and the dictator, the military mutiny and, finally, the start of the revolution in the
military camps along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA).100
Galam further claims that Felipe is the nation that embodies Marcos. The protagonist, at
the dawn of 25 February 1986, dreamt of a person cutting off his head and a dentist extracting his
tooth; in each of these instances, the ones that are removed are immediately replaced with
another. When Felipe wakes up, he sees a fiesta in a nearby subdivision being held for the
crowning of the communitys fiesta queen. Given that he is not being crowned instead of the
queen and that the fiesta is being held in a different place, Galam then surmises that Felipe
embodies Marcos.
Furthermore, the author of the novel argues that the 1986 revolution was plotted by the
United States. There is the notion that Marcos himself, being nationalistic, could not serve the
wants of the US. The loyalists in the novel also believe that the country, given Marcos numerous
projects, was moving towards progress. The US, wanting the Philippines to remain subservient to
it, deposes Marcos and plans to replace him with another leader who is acquiescent to them. This
novel, then, also seeks to redeem Marcos.
The novel also contains paintings by two characters in the novel, namely Felipe and
Eugene del Mar, a Marcos loyalist. Their paintings are chronological and are both in support of
Marcos. The timeline of Felipes paintings span from the pre-colonial to the colonial history of
the nation, whilst Eugenes deal with the post-1986 events. Felipes paintings portray the

99
Ibid, 156.
Ibid, 156.
100
28
Filipinos as being heavily embedded with colonial mentality, which he then uses to evidence his
claim as to why Filipinos are willing to collaborate with colonizers.
Eugene del Mars eleven paintings can be divided into three. The first group of his
paintings aims to criticize the post-Marcos administration and so justify the continued support for
Marcos. The second grouping show the challenges faced by the country, and the third show the
suffering of loyalists and the nation and with the nations deliverance from communism and
Muslim separatism.101 The paintings goal is to legitimize the martial law. Moreover, according
to Galam, the paintings reflect Marcos version of history, as what is written in a history book of
his own writing, entitled Tadhana: The History of the Filipino People (1977). In this book,
Marcos attempts to put himself beside other Filipino freedom fighters such as Lapu-Lapu and
Rizal.102
Moreover, the paintings mimic Marcos claim against student radicalism, wherein Marcos
shows doubt of these groups nationalism as they have fashioned themselves after foreign models
of ideology. The paintings then argue, that the communist movement, with which the militant
student movement was identified, was inspired by a different kind of colonial mentality.103
Aside from these, the novel also seems to suggest that Marcos himself was the only one
who could save the country from the colonizers, Cory, and the communists. The idea that Marcos
was the only one who could bring back the pre-colonial Filipino soul-body captured by the
colonizers 104 is strongly embedded in the novel.
The second novel, Dagiti Bin-I ti Kimat, on the other hand, rejects a positive view of
the achievements of Marcos military rule and questions the benevolent construction of the
dictator.105 It does not, however, express these claims explicitly. It does not even mention
Marcos and his regime. Galam however speculates that Bin-I, given its arguments for the side of
benevolent militarization, serves as a critique of the counterinsurgency undertaken during

101
Ibid, 160.
Ileto, Reynaldo, The past in the present: Mourning the martyr Ninoy, in Filipinos and their
revolution: Event, discourse, and historiography (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1998).
103
Galam, Narrating the Dictator(ship): Social Memory, Marcos, and Ilokano Literature after the
1986 Revolution, 161.
104
Ibid, 163.
105
Ibid, 166.
102
29
Aquinos presidency, and also as a veiled critique of Marcos military regime and his failure to
use the military to bring peace to the nation.106 The novels conceptualization of benevolent
militarization then involves making the military and the use of its power rational and
redefining its masculine constitution.107
The protagonist in the novel, Moises Coloma, is a metaphor for what the author proposes
to be a good state, which is characterized by one that has a revitalized, rational, and good
militarization.108 This imposition of benevolent militarization seeks to unify the nation through
the addressing of Communist threats and Muslim separatism. Galam conjectures that this claim
challenges the regime of Marcos, which utilized military force however in a malevolent manner.
Noteworthy case: Primitivo Mijares
The case of Primitivo Mijares is one that deserves to be examined. Mijares was a former a
regime participant he was Marcos aide and right hand man during the said presidents first
term as president who turned his back on Marcos in 1973. Mijares was a noted journalist and a
lawyer, writing for Manila Chronicle and soon after for Daily Express, as Ferdinand Marcos
owned the latter. He was a prominent writer and senator who worked closely with Marcos during
the early years of his presidency. It therefore came as a surprise when, in 1986, Mijares published
an expos, entitled The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, which detailed
the injustices committed by the infamous couple.
An example of Mijares accounts is the conversation between Ferdinand Marcos and
Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile that tells of how Marcos have allegedly planned Enriles
ambush, which is considered by most as the turning point in which Marcos declared martial law.
According to Mijares, the irritated Marcos called Enrile, saying: Secretary Enrile? Where are
you? You have to do it now ya, ya, the one we discussed this noon. We cannot postpone it any
longer. Another day of delay may be too late Make it look good. Kailangan seguro ay may

106
Ibid, 167.
Ibid, 170-171.
108
Ibid, 171.
107
30
masaktan o kung mayroon mapatay ay mas mabuti O, hala, sigue, Johnny, and be sure the story
catches the Big News and Newswatch and call me as soon as it is over.109
This account of the story counters Juan Ponce Enriles autobiographical account,110 which
claimed that the ambush was not planned. He also claimed that it was his political opponents that
spread this news. This is a lie that has gone around for far too long such that it has acquired
acceptance as the truth This accusation is ridiculous and preposterous, Enrile wrote in his
book. Whether I was ambushed or not, martial law in the country was already an irreversible
fact. So what was the need to fake my own ambush?111
This contradicts the former claims he once made with Fidel Ramosthe history we all
know and the truth they once stood bythat the whole ambush was planned.
Aside from this, Mijares also wrote of how the couple abused their power and used it in
repressing the press, committing human rights violations, sequestering companies, amassing
wealth, and others. Mijares, due to this, became a whistleblower, testifying before the US
Congress against Marcos human rights violations. Shortly after this, he was asked by the Chief of
Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), General Fabian Ver, to return to the
Philippines as his family was facing threats. Upon returning however, Mijares son was abducted
and was soon found dead and mutilated.112 A few years after this incident, Mijares mysteriously
disappeared. Speculations arose that it was Marcos that ordered for him to be nabbed due to the
book he wrote. Until now, however, no evidence of his disappearance had been found.
What is of importance and unique in this case study is the fact that a former regime
participant, and a close one at that, chose to discredit the cacique even if it is to his own
disadvantage. This is significant since it leads us to the conclusion that there is more likely a truth
to his latter claims than his former, as the former was governed by his ties with Marcos and the
latter was governed solely by his own conscience.

109
Mijares, Primitivo, The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, (San Francisco:
Union Square Publications, 1986), 49.
110
Enrile, Juan Ponce, Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir (Quezon City: ABS-CBN Publishing, 2012).
111
Ibid.
112
Crescini, Dino, Remembering Martial Law: Part 2, Philippine Tribune, December 22, 2014,
http://www.philippinesentinel.org/2012/12/remembering-martial-law-part-2/.
31
Opposition participants
Wurfel defines opposition participants as those who refuse to grant legitimacy to the
regime. Although this group largely composes of people who oppose the regime in the smallest
ways possible, such as refusal to participate during martial law elections, other members of the
group outwardly oppose the regime. Some of the most well-known and extreme oppositionists of
the Marcos regime were the members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), its
military arm, the New Peoples Army (NPA), and its aboveground National Democratic (ND)
organizations.
CPP
The growth of the CPP has been steady since its conception in 1968 by Jose Maria Sison
and until the collapse of the Marcos regime. The emergence of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist
organization can be traced back to the late 1950s when student radicalism was on the rise.113 Jose
Maria Sison and his wife, Juliet de Lima-Sison, established the Student Cultural Association of
the University of the Philippines (SCAUP). The SCAUPs expansion, coupled with critical
international events, help give rise to student activism. Nemenzo114 writes:
The impetus in their political awakening came from international events,
particularly the Cuban Revolution, the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the deepening of the
US involvement in Vietnam, the leftward swing of Sukarnos government in Indonesia and,
after 1966, the Cultural Revolution of China.115
Around this time, the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) invited Sison to join the
party.116 Sison was immediately assigned to be the secretary head of the youth section. He then
soon played a part in establishing a revolutionary movement called Kabataang Makabayan (KM),
also a Communist organization. This group was composed of urban middle-class radicals and

113
Caoutte, Dominique, Constructing and Controlling Peoples Power from the Grassroots:
Philippine Social Movement Activism in Historical Perspective, 3.
114
Nemenzo, Francisco, 1984, An Irrepressible Revolution: The Decline and Resurgence of the
Philippines Communist Movement, Paper presented at the Work in Progress Seminar, Research School of
Pacific Studies (Canberra: Australia National University, November).
115
Ibid, 74.
116
Caoutte, Constructing and Controlling Peoples Power from the Grassroots: Philippine Social
Movement Activism in Historical Perspective, 5.
32
peasant groups.117 By the mid-1960s, however, KM was part of the broader resurgence of student
activism and youth activism in the Philippines. But more importantly, KM activists managed to
reach out to a wider spectrum of social sectors118urban middle-class students, urban poor
peasant youth and peasant youth who were members of Malayang Samahang Magsasaka
(MASAKA or Free Association of Peasants).
Caoutte notes on how Sison packaged their organization, that is, by combining various
themes of past nationalist struggles and convincing others that their organizations were the
contemporary embodiments of past nationalist struggles. It was sometimes perceived that Sison
was starting the Second Propaganda Movement, a continuation of the propaganda movement of
the Philippine 20th century nationalist heroes.119
During this process of student radicalization many forms of contentious collective
actions were emerging: violent demonstrations, industrial strikes, parliament of the streets, the
Diliman Commune, etc. During this process of greater student radicalization, NPA guerillas
became folk heroes to many students.120
The CPP considers the First Quarter Storm as a point in which broad revolutionary mass
movements were at its peak.121 The Battle of Mendiola furthermore set the style of mass
movement for the succeeding years.122 After the First Quarter Storm, the CPP seized the
initiative from the blundering PKP and absorbed the new radical forces that simultaneously
emerged.123 The CPP was open as regards its plans to carry out a protracted peoples war, and so
it set out to expand its network of organizations, especially among students. During this time,
even the Ateneo student body president was a member of a Communist organization.124 The
popularity of these Communist parties would further be galvanized with Marcos declaration of

117
Chapman, William, Inside the Philippine Revolution: The New Peoples Army and its Struggle for
Power (New York: W.W. Norton, 1987): 73.
118
119
Ibid, 10.
120
Ibid, 13.
121
Ang Bayan, On the January 26th Demonstration, Ang Bayan (Special Release), 1970.
122
Nemenzo, Francisco, An Irrepressible Revolution: The Decline and Resurgence of the Philippine
Communist Movement, (Canberra: Australia National University, 1984).
123
Nemenzo, Francisco, Rectification Process in the Philippine Communist Movement, in Armed
Communist Movements in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1984).
124
Claudio, Lisandro, Taming Peoples Power.
33
martial law, which some consider to be the golden days of Philippine revolutionary
movement.125 Marcos imposition of martial law enabled him to quell opposition, detaining
about 30,000 individuals in a span of a few days. Bonner notes that the majority of those in
prison were Filipinos who expressed their opposition to Marcos in democratic ways.126 The
Communist organization grew even more when Marcos swayed election results to his advantage.
Filipino writers remark on how Marcos himself drove people to radicalism 127 and how the
Communist party was the only organization that opposed the regime.128
This growth, however, eventually stopped when the Marcos regime collapsed. The
decision of CPPs committee members to boycott the snap elections organized by Marcos proved
to be a mistake, in that it resulted for the public to question the partys leadership.
Other oppositionist forces
Certainly, there are also other anti-Marcos groups that were not affiliated with
Communist organizations. Other members of this group, according to Wurfel, are politically
aware peasants, workers, student, clergy, middle-class professionals, and landlords.129 Claudio
also lists religious groups, liberals, and social democrats as oppositionist forces that superseded
the Left forces in the ousting of Marcos in 1986, which also permeated popular memory in
mainstream representations of history.130 The struggle of the Left then came to be superseded by
these other oppositionist groups, even stripped down of their contributions to the ousting of
Marcos.
Bantayog ng mga Bayani
Yet Claudio propounds that a museum organized by Jovito Salonga in Quezon City called
the Bantayog ng mga Bayani serves to remember the struggles of the Left. The Left in the
Philippines, as defined by Quimpo, has been associated with communist, socialist, and social

125
126
Bonner, James. Waltzing with a Dictator: The Marcoses and the Making of American Policy, (New
York: Times Book, 1987): 112.
127
Wurfel, David, Filipino Politics: Development and Decay (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila
University Press, 1988).
128
Rocamora, Joel, The United Front in the Philippines, Southeast Asia Chronicle 62 (1978): 2-6.
129
130
Claudio, Taming Peoples Power, 82.
34
democractic (SD) movements, parties, groups, and currents.131 The museum then diverges from
the usual narrative of the anti-Marcos struggle and instead gives credence to those who fought the
regime, albeit without mentioning their political ideologies, in . It diverges from mainstream
memory in that it pulls the focus away from the religious groups and the bourgeois social group
the usual groups in focus when the topic of the ouster of Marcos emerges and instead highlights
the violence and repression that Leftists experienced during that period. In this representation,
therefore, it is the atrocities of the Marcos regime that are being highlighted. This knowledge is
significant to the study since it serves as evidence that Marcos oppositionists, even those who
were not directly involved with Communists, were victims to the atrocities and human rights
violations of the Marcos regime.
Unsophisticated subjects
The unsophisticated subjects, according to Wurfel, make up a large percentage of the
population composed of poorly educated peasants, fishermen and workers. With their fatalistic
mindset with regard to politics and Marcos effective exercise of authority, they have come to
believe that the regime is somehow legitimate. For them, corruption is a universal attribute of
government.132
Luisita farmers
Claudio in Taming Peoples Power exhumes the social memory held by Luisita farmers
with regard the Marcos regime. The case of the Luisita farmers is interesting in that the farmers
are in conflict with their landowners, the Cojuangcos, for their failure to distribute land. Thus, the
revered hero of the EDSA revolution, Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, was instead a symbol of
injustice for the farmers. Therefore, there was an overall feeling of trepidation when Cory Aquino
stepped into power after Marcos fall.

131
Quimpo, Gilbert, Contested Democracy and the Left in the Philippines After Marcos (New Haven:
Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 2008): 56.
132
35
What is more surprising, however, is that some Luisita farmers even speak of Marcos
fondly.133 This is because when Cory announced that she was running for presidency in 1985,
Marcos had the Ministry of Agrarian Reform (MAR) order the Cojuangcos to surrender their
hacienda in an attempt to perhaps weaken them. Luisita farmers, however, took this surrender of
the Cojuangcos as a victory despite the lands not being distributed and the Cojuangcos
subsequently re-claiming their land because Marcos fell from power with his defeat during the
snap elections.134 This situation tells of the overwhelming importance of the position of the
subject in relation to the object. Although the farmers in Luisita were in some way cognizant of
the martial law and its atrocities, they still somehow attach it with memories of hope of perhaps
acquiring their own farmland.
Sophisticated subjects
Sophisticated subjects are the segment of the Philippine population who are better
educated as compared the other social groups. Members of this group include businessmen,
prosperous farmers, professionals, and people within the military and laboring classes. Wurfel
estimates that this social group is made up of less than thirty percent of the population. Members
of this social group are acquiescing to the regime only so far as they are finding sufficient
economic benefit under the present regime, while refraining from public or semi-public verbal
opposition as well as acts of resistance. They somewhat know of the constitutional processes at
work and so they believe that Marcos martial rule is neither legal nor moral.
The Lopezes
Alfred McCoy in An Anarchy of Families expounds on the rent-seeking relationship
between the company-owning Lopezes and Marcos. Eugenio Lopez, the founder of one of the
biggest broadcasting companies in the Philippines, used his patronage with Marcos in order to
secure subsidized government financing and dominate state-regulated industries, thereby
amassing the largest private fortune in the Philippines.135 In a sense, the Lopezes have once also

133
Claudio, Taming Peoples Power, 104.

Ibid, 104.
135
McCoy, Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime, 430.
134
36
been regime participants. Upon Marcos imposition of martial law, however, some of the
Lopezes assets were sequestered and transferred to his cronies. McCoy writes that aside from this
sequestering being an attack on privilege and old oligarchies, it also stemmed from a bitter
personal and political dispute with his former patron. 136 Since then, the Lopezes stood in
opposition of Marcos and his regime. In addition, the Lopez-owned network ABS-CBN presently
appears to propagate propaganda in favor of the Aquinos.
Makati business district demonstrations and rallies
The white-collar employees and businessmen in Makati have been relatively acquiescent
during the early years of Marcos presidency. Businessmen and employees are usually the last to
join any opposition or revolution, said Ricky Gonzales, a management consultant, quoted in a
newspaper. These people are middle class. You can imagine how angry the poor people must
be. 137 It is the assassination of Benigno Aquino that spurred their anger towards the
administration. On September 14, 1983, Makati mayor Nemesio Yabut organized one of the first
demonstrations of what were to become weekly demonstrations.138 These rallies were joined by
almost one hundred thousand office workers, who walked in the streets of the business center.
The middle class demonstrators chanted Marcos resign, Ninoy, Ninoy, and Justice for
Ninoy!139 The cream of the Philippines has now joined the masses, and that is whats significant
to me, Agapito Aquino, the brother of Benigno Aquino, said. According to him, it is a sign that
the businessmen are just as frustrated with the regime as the masses. A foreign newspaper
describes the scene:
Employees ripped yellow pages from telephone directories and showered them
from office windows on the cheering people below. Others hurried down computer
printouts, typewriter ribbons and yellow toilet paper. The color yellow had symbolized
Aquinos homecoming.
Motorists blared their horns, adding to the uproar. A bus at the head of a
motorcade carried a streamer reading, Let Ninoy not die in vain! Several firecrackers
were set off.140

136
Ibid, 436.
Businessmen join Marcos protests, The Day, September 16, 1983.
138
Trumbull, Robert, Marcos declares he wont step aside, The New York Times, September 21,
1983.
139
Ibid.
140
Businessmen join Marcos protests, The Day, September 16, 1983.
137
37
Other members of the noncrony private sector, in the latter part of Marcos presidency,
have also been active in opposing Marcos. Enrique Zobel, in 1981, formed the Makati Business
Club to sponsor discussions on the economy among business organizations [It] denounced the
inattention to agriculture, growing income disparities, and graft and corruption in government, all
of which contributed to the strength of the left.141 Zobel was of the landed gentry who ventured
into the field of finance and urban real estate.142
The general discontent is rooted in this social groups worries that the political crisis
may drive the countrys shaky economy into a nose dive, and they hope for changes that would
restore their rights and influence and long-term stability.143 A book details the economic state of
the country:
Since the Aquino killing, foreign commercial credits have been delayed and industrial
expansion projects postponed. The peso has declined 20 percent and may soon be devalued.
So much capital is fleeing (perhaps $200 million in the last month) that Mr. Marcos has
offered rewards for information on currency black marketers. About 40 percent of the
Governments $18 billion foreign debt is in short-term loans and major American banks
may soon start talking about rescheduling their portion of it. Said a Western economist,
Everybodys operating in super-short-term.144

141
Haggard, Stephan. The Political Economy of the Philippine Debt Crisis, in Economic Crisis and
Policy Choice: The Politics of Adjustment in the Third World (Princeton University Press, 1992), 237.
142
Ibid, 237.
143
Campbell, Colin, Some in the middle class begin to fault Marcos, The New York Times, October
2, 1983.
144
Ibid.
38
CHAPTER III
CONTEMPORARY PRO-MARCOS CLAIMS
OF THE MARCOS REGIME
The never again rhetoric, made famous by the Holocaust and the 9/11 disaster, is
likewise being used by Marcos oppositionists in response to the growing problem of the proclivity
of the Filipino nation towards collectively forgetting the atrocities of the Marcos dictatorship.
This problem stems from emerging claims that defend the Marcos regime, thereby challenging the
never again battle cry of those who have experienced or have been witness to the cruelty of that
period. This chapter will analyze the three ways in which present pro-Marcos claims are
expressed and are attempting to assert a memory that diverges from mainstream memory. These
are Ist12345s comment on an Inquirer article and Rommel Lapus pro-Marcos post circulating on
Facebook. This chapter will seek to analyze whether these claims are substantiated or not by
looking at the objective facts surrounding the Marcos regime.
Comment by Ist12345
A comment on an Inquirer article likens the demonizing of Marcos to that of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The comment argues that, just as the Roman Empire at some point
realized that Jesus was the savior of humankind, the nation will also realize that Marcos is in fact
better than most presidents that came after him. The user argues that Marcos performance and
accomplishments as president, along with the progress that this ensued, commanded respect from
other countries. In addition, the country during Marcos time exported rice to other countries,
subsidized utilities, and had control of its mass media. The country was beautiful and its citizens
were disciplined. The user compares it to his description of present conditions in the country: it is
now merely a nation of domestic helpers, importing rice and relying on help from other countries
39
in times of calamities. Oligarchs are also now in control of the prices of products and the
information being propagated in mass media. The comment also questions the notion that Marcos
killed people who opposed him; the user argues that if this were the case, then the EDSA
Revolution would have not been peaceful and bloodless.
Context
The text is a comment on an article by Conrado de Quiros on Inquirer, entitled
Storytelling. The op-ed ruminated on the Ateneo scholars posing with Imelda Marcos at a
scholarship function. In the article, De Quiros laments on the stories regarding the horrors of the
regime not being passed on to todays generation. He says that this is comparable to how the
Japanese occupation is being forgotten year after year. De Quiros thus advises for the story not
just to be told, but also to be told right.
The article garnered about seventy comments as of February of 2015. These comments
are of a mixture of pro- and anti-Marcos sentiments. Ist12345s pro-Marcos comment, however,
stood out. It has been posted twice, first as a comment on the article itself and second as a
response to another comment.
The first time it was posted as a comment, two users replied. The first merely commented
on the lengthiness of his comment, while the second one somewhat refuted his claims, saying that
it was not possible to write something against the government during Marcos time. Tadasolo, the
second commenter, also said that the Marcos was as evil as Hitler, and so it would be wrong to
compare him to Jesus Christ. In response to this, Ist12345 says that he is not comparing Marcos to
Jesus Christ; rather, he was comparing the way the Romans were fooled with their perception of
Christ to how present Filipinos are now blinded by yellow propaganda. In addition, he says that
families allied with the Aquinos and the Cojuangcos control the media today, implying that things
were better when the government controlled the media. He concludes, then, that there is no
freedom today by using a quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: None are more hopelessly
enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
40
As the comment has been posted in Disqus program, which requires users to register in
order to comment, it is possible to see other comments posted by Ist12345 in different articles. A
survey of all of his comments shows that he is a staunch supporter of Ferdinand and Bongbong
Marcos, and an oppositionist of the Aquinos.
Rommel Lapus Facebook post

Rommel Lapus Facebook post is straightforward; it lists the infrastructures that Marcos
had built during his twenty-year presidency. The list exhaustively includes the twenty power
plants, forty-eight colleges/universities and thirty-seven high schools that he had constructed. It
also lists the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Folk Arts Theater, Manila Film Center, Philippine
International Convention Center, Makiling Center for the Arts (National Arts Center),
Malacaang ti Amianan in Laoag, Nayong Pilipino, Museum for Native Art in Tacloban, Palace
in the Sky, the Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center, Kidney Institute, Philippine Children
Hospital, the Manila North Diversion Road (dubbed by the poster as the precursor of the North
Luzon Expressway (NLEx), and the Marcos Highway to Baguio as the projects of Marcos.
Aside from this, the poster compares the aforementioned projects of Marcos to the lack of
projects of the five presidents that followed Marcos Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, and Benigno Aquino III. It claims that all the power plants built during the
latter presidents presidencies were and are now mostly owned by elite families such as the
Lopez, Aboitiz, Aquino, and Cojuangco families. It also claims that aside from the failure of the
five presidents to establish colleges and universities, they also renamed or re-founded them after
1986. The posters conclusion at the bottom reads: Although Marcos was branded as dictator
(sic), corrupt, human rights violator by fictional tales passed on from generation to generation and
his achievements were expunged subtly by the manipulation of mass media and vindictiveness of
the administration that succeeded him, the impacts of his interventions remained and are
undeniably germane part of our countrys system.
41
Context
Given that the user on Facebook has a private profile, there is no way of knowing other
information about him, except that he is a Marcos apologist. His post, as of writing, has 91 likes
and 240 shares. All those who have shared his post agree that Marcos was an excellent
president. Others even commended him for his extensive research, saying that this rectified the
biased history written by Marcos haters.
Examining the claims

The postmodern theory asserts the idea that there is no objective truth; truth is created
rather than discovered. This theory when applied to history presents a conundrum: if there are no
objective truths, should facts then be completely disregarded? It is the view of the author that
objective statistics cannot be discounted as baseless, and therefore can be used as grounds and
corroborating evidence in creating historical accounts. As Keith Windschuttle argues:
There are two things wrong with this view. First, if we can no longer have any concept of
truth, that is, if there are no truths, then the statement there are no truths cannot itself be
true Second, this is a silly thing to say but we have very good knowledge not only about
some things that happened in history but of tens of thousands, perhaps even millions of
things. For instance, we know all the names of the leaders of all the nations for at least the
past two hundred yeas and most of the leaders for many centuries before that as well. We
know for certain the historical fact that John Howards was elected Prime Minister of
Australia in 1996 and that John Curtin was Australias Prime Minister for most of World
War II.
This section will attempt to look at the objective facts with regard to the regime in an
attempt to validate or invalidate the claims posed by the two Internet users above.
Infrastructures
One of the more famous arguments pro-Marcos Loyalists pose is the abundance of
infrastructures that have been built during the Marcos administration. This claim is, without a
doubt, substantiated. It must be noted, however, that it is unreasonable for one to compare the
performance of Marcos to the presidents that have come before and after him; Marcos was in
office for twenty years, whereas others had about four or six years of service.
42
Table 2: External Debt of the Philippines by Borrowing Sector, 1961-1986: A Constructed Time
Series (US$ Billion)
Year
Total
Borrowing Sector
Real Total
Outstanding
Public
Private
1961
0.36
0.17
0.19
1.14
1962
0.26
0.19
0.17
1.14
1963
0.38
0.23
0.15
1.21
1964
0.48
0.28
0.20
1.52
1965
0.80
0.46
0.34
2.48
1966
0.91
0.50
0.41
2.73
1967
1.28
0.68
0.60
3.84
1968
1.49
0.76
0.73
4.36
1969
1.83
0.90
0.93
5.15
1970
2.30
1.10
1.20
6.25
1971
2.39
0.92
1.47
6.28
1972
2.73
1.11
1.62
6.87
1973
2.89
1.15
1.74
6.43
1974
3.76
1.57
2.19
7.04
1975
4.94
2.33
2.61
8.47
1976
6.77
3.52
3.25
11.09
1977
8.07
4.03
4.04
12.46
1978
10.69
5.69
5.00
15.31
1979
13.35
7.65
5.70
16.99
1980
17.25
10.25
7.00
19.24
1981
20.89
12.80
8.09
21.35
1982
24.68
15.43
9.25
24.72
1983
24.82
16.73
8.09
24.55
1984
25.42
17.55
7.87
24.56
1985
26.25
19.12
7.13
25.49
1986
28.26
21.83
6.43
28.26
Source: Boyce, James K. The Political Economy of External Indebtedness: A Case Study of the
Philippines: 23.
Aside from this, it must also be noted that the building of these highly superfluous
infrastructures literally came with a high price, whose constructions were shouldered primarily by
public debt through heavy borrowing by the government.
Table 2 shows the external debt of the Philippines from 1961 to 1986. The steep increase
in debt is strikingly clear. This would have been reasonable if it were spent on economically
sustainable projects; this, however, was not the case. Economist Germelino Bautista
43
145
writes:
bankrupt government entities [as well as] structures which by themselves were not
income-generat[ing] (e.g. monuments, government buildings and bridges of love); which
were auxiliary if not plainly superfluous to the unarticulated economic structure (e.g., the
oversized Bataan export processing zone and nuclear plant); or which merely enlarged
existing industries that catered to a volatile market (e.g. sugar mills and hotels).
It can be surmised from this, therefore, that the Marcos administration had been unwise
with its spending, opting to construct white elephant projects to project an image of a
progressive economy instead of investing it on sustainable industries that would have been
beneficial to the growth of the economy. The following subsection will further expound on this
factor.
Economy
Three indicators will be used in comparing the economic situation of the Philippines
before, during, and after the Marcos presidency, namely economic growth, inequality of wealth,
and unemployment.
The Gross Domestic Product of the Philippines (GDP) during Marcos reign experienced
an increase due to the various projects and industries that the technocrats in his administration
have espoused. The unsustainability of these projects, however, subsequently proved to be
detrimental to the Philippines and so the GDP went into a dip by the year 1981.146 Solon and
Floro147 enumerates some of the reasons for this economic crisis: the manufacturing expansion
largely occurred in highly protected sectors; the incentive system was not conducive to a broadbased export expansion; the increased government participation in productive parties; and the
increased government reliance on external sources of finance with external debt from 5 billion in
1975 to 24 billion in 1982.148

145
Bautista, Germelino, From Contradiction to Crisis: The Case of the Philippine Political Economy
in Transnationalization, the State, and the People: The Philippine Experience (Quezon City: United
Nations UniversityUniversity of the Philippines Third World Studies Center: 1984), 28.
146
Solon, Orville and Maria S. Floro, The Philippines in the 1980s: A Review of National and Urban
Level Economic Reforms, Transportation, Water, and Urban Development Department (TWURD)
Working Papers 1 (February 1993).
147
Ibid.
148
Ibid, 10.
44
Table 3: Philippine GDP, 1961-1986
Source: Philippines GDP, Trading Economics.
Table 4: Real GDP growth rates in selected Asian countries, 1970-1995

9
8
7
6
5
Real GDP
4
3
2
1
0
Indonesia
Korea
Malaysia
Philippines
Thailand
Source: Gerson, Philip, Poverty and Economic Policy in the Philippines, Finance and
Development: A Quarterly Magazine of the IMF 35, No. 3. Published September 1998.
45
Table 4 shows the growth of the Philippine economy compared to its Asian neighbors
from the years 1970 to 1995. It demonstrates how far behind the country is in terms of economic
growth. Furthermore, the growth in GDP of the country was only about 1.4 percent during the
Marcos regime, as compared to the 3.5 percent growth from the years 1951 to 1965.149
The faltering economy especially affected the lower tiers of the Philippine population.
Table 5 shows the percentage of Filipino families who lived in poverty from 1965 to 1985. A
comparison of the years 1985 and 1965 will show that poverty increased by almost 18 percent,
with 58.9 percent of families living below the poverty line in 1985.
Table 5: Estimates of Poverty Incidence by Region, 1965-1985 (percent of families living below
poverty line)
Region
1965
1971
1975
Manila & suburbs

Ilocos
Cagayan Valley
Central Luzon
Southern Tagalog
Bicol
Western Visayas
Eastern Visayas
Central Visayas
Northern Mindanao
Central Mindanao
Western Mindanao
Southern Mindanao
National
10.6
57.3
67.6
32.3
34.0
38.5
37.7
52.3
16.0
56.3
65.5
30.7
39.8
49.8
36.9
61.5
40.6
51.7
56.5
37.8
50.9
55.9
53.5
54.9
47.8
51.5
65.6
51.2
47.0
55.2
41.0
43.8
51.5
World
Bank
11.2
40.3
43.1
27.4
31.3
42.7
50.0
33.0
48.1
38.6
28.4
40.1
33.3
34.6
1983
Mangahas
31
53
67
46
43
58
66
66
69
75
52
76
60
55
Total
1985
Urban
Rural
43.9
51.6
55.7
43.5
55.2
73.5
70.2
70.2
69.9
63.0
60.2
65.6
63.6
58.9
43.9
55.4
49.7
44.5
50.0
62.6
69.6
69.6
60.9
60.1
60.4
67.4
55.0
52.0
50.6
56.7
42.8
58.4
76.3
70.4
70.4
74.1
63.6
60.2
65.0
65.5
63.2
Source: Boyce, James, The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in
the Marcos Era (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993): 43.
One of the reasons cited for the increase in poverty is the underemployment and the
unemployment in the country, as illustrated in Table 6. Table 6 shows an immediate decrease in
unemployment when Marcos came into power. Further along his presidency, in around 1974,
however, unemployment again increased.

149
Ibid.
46
Furthermore, the real wages of workers have likewise decreased. Laborers, in 1960,
received P5.10 pesos per day. Disregarding inflation, these same workers receive P4.90 pesos per
day in 1981. The decrease in wage of clerical workers and professionals are more drastic: in 1960,
clerical workers and professionals received P11.70 and P18.20, respectively, whereas in 1981,
they only received about P8.60 and P14.00 per day.
Table 6. Labor Force Participation, Unemployment, and Underemployment, 1961-1986
Year
1961
1966
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976a
1976b
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
Labor force
participation
rate
Open
unemployment
(% of
working-age
population)
57.6
55.9
50.0
50.8
49.9
50.2
50.2
51.8
60.5
59.7
61.8
62.8
61.8
62.6
63.6
63.8
63.3
63.9
64.2
Underemployment
Headcount
Full-time
equivalent
Total
unemployment
(% of labor force)
7.5
7.1
5.2
6.3
4.9
4.0
3.9
5.0
5.2
5.1
5.2
4.2
4.7
5.4
5.5
4.9
7.0
6.1
6.4
21.2
22.1
14.4
11.9
11.8
9.8
11.2
10.1
24.2
24.2
14.1
NA
21.4
22.8
27.6
30.3
24.3
17.5
16.5
14.3
14.9
9.7
8.0
8.0
6.6
7.6
6.8
16.3
16.3
9.5
NA
14.4
15.4
18.6
20.5
16.4
11.8
16.5
21.8
22.0
14.9
14.3
14.3
10.6
11.5
11.8
21.5
21.5
14.7
NA
19.1
20.8
24.1
25.4
23.4
17.9
22.9
Source: Boyce, James, The Philippines: The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in
the Marcos Era (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993): 31.
Furthermore, the assertion that the peso-dollar exchange rate throughout Marcos
presidency was almost P2.00 to the dollar is unfounded. According to Boyce,150 the rate rose to

150
Boyce, The Political Economy of External Indebtedness: A Case Study of the Philippines.
47
P20.53 for every dollar in 1986, upon Marcos descent to power. This shows, along with the other
facts shown above, that the country did not experience economic prosperity under Marcos. In fact,
these show that Marcos himself was responsible for the decline of the Philippine economy.
Table 7. Real Wages of Laborers, Clerical Workers and Professionals in the Philippines, 19601981 (Pesos per Worker per Day, 1960 = 100)
Year
Laborers
1960
1963
1966
1969
1971
1973
1976
1979
1981
5.10
4.70
5.50
5.30
5.00
4.70
4.00
4.40
4.90
Real Wage
Clerical
Professionals
workers
11.70
18.20
9.60
15.40
10.00
18.10
11.70
19.10
10.30
16.90
8.40
16.20
7.70
15.00
8.20
14.60
8.60
14.00
Real Wage Index

Laborers
Clerical
Professionals
workers
100
100
100
92
82
85
100
85
99
104
100
105
98
88
93
92
72
89
78
66
82
86
70
80
96
74
77
Source: Reyes, Edna, Edwin Milan, and Ma. Teresa Sanchez, Employment Productivity and
Wages in the Philippine Labor Market: An Analysis of Trends and Policies, Working Paper No.
89 (February 1989), 49.
Implementation of Martial Law
Claims as to why Marcos implemented martial law are likewise being constructed. While
it was implemented with the intention of improving the economic state of the country, preventing
Communist insurgencies, preventing terror bombings and the like, the events leading up to its
proclamation are questionable.
David Wurfel,151 for one, claims that the the rising political violence after 1969 was to a
considerable degree the creation of Marcos himself, first in trying to get himself re-elected and the
in preparing a justification for martial law.152 The Plaza Miranda bombing on August 21, 1971,
where about ten people were killed and a hundred injured, is surmised to have been one of the
ploys by Marcos to justify martial law.153
In addition, the constitutional convention that convened by Marcos in 1971, which was
formed due to the growing perception that the country needed to be reformed, have also further

151

Ibid, 5.
153
Rodriguez, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation, 48-49.
152
48
legitimized and prolonged Marcos grip of the country.154 The new constitution enabled Marcos to
rule by decree until such time that he decides to activate the parliamentary provisions of the new
basic document.155
In fact, an inspection of Marcos journal entries earlier in his presidency reveals his
dissatisfaction with taking the easy and safer way outthe solution to this discontent perhaps
being the leader to an authoritarian regime.156
Primitivo Mijaress 157 account of the conversation between Ferdinand Marcos and
Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile tells of how Marcos have allegedly planned Enriles ambush,
which was the turning point in which Marcos declared martial law. This contradicts the former
claims he once made with Fidel Ramosthe history we all knowthat the whole ambush was
planned.
Despite the uncertainty as to whether the coup was staged or not, the skill of Marcos in
strategizing and scheming became evident; his political and public relations finesse had been put
to use even during his beginnings as a politician. While in college, he was involved in the murder
of his fathers political foe, Julio Nandalasan. Nandalasans murder became a sensation. No
sooner did the accused, Ferdinand Marcos, also garner public interest because of his apparent
intellect and eloquence; he was able to pass the bar examinations as the top-notcher and, after
being convicted, was allowed to plead his own case in courtan unusual setup for a judicial
proceeding. After being convicted, the court then acquitted him as they thought such a genius
must not rot in prison.
Marcos also portrayed himself as a medalled war veteran, even though this turned out to
be a myth. His marriage with a beautiful socialite from Leyte, Imelda Romualdez, further boosted
his appeal. When his first term was about to end and he wanted to be re-elected, being aware that
his popularity had already declined, he launched the most determined and dirtiest election

154
Espinosa-Robles, Raissa, In 1971 and 2006, New Charters Designed to Keep Embattled
Presidents in Power, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
155
Rodriguez, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation.
156
Rempel, William C., Delusions of a Dictator: The Mind of Marcos as Revealed in His Secret
Diaries (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1993).
157
Mijares, Primitivo, The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos (San Francisco:
Union Square Publications, 1986).
49
campaign in Philippine political history, exhausting all his resourcesthe infamous goons, guns,
and goldto influence the public.158
In September 1976, four years after the declaration of martial law, the government
announced the success of restoration of peace and order, culminating in the dramatic capture of
two top NPA leaders.159 There were, however, no signs that the dictatorial regime was ending.
The justification now superseded that of Proclamation No. 1081; it was now claimed by the
administration that the continuance of this authoritarian regime could be the only way to achieve
its goals of rapid economic development and greater social justice.160 This is questionable, since
the former goals of the regime have already been met yet Marcos insisted for the authoritarian
regime to remain. Whether the said justifications of the implementation are truly the reason for
the implementation remain to be unconvincing.
Peace and Human Rights
Pro-Marcos apologists contend that the country was peaceful and the citizens were
disciplined during the reign of Marcos. This, however, is not true; Communism in the country,
spurred by the implementation of martial law itself, continued to grow. Paradoxically, the
authoritarian regime, which was established to subvert these very forces, became the primary
recruiter for citizens to join Communist parties. Finding that its method of putting political
opposition into prison insufficient, the regime resorts for the military to perform extra-judicial
execution or salvaging, which spurred outrage amongst the citizens.
The Marcos regime boasts of 3,527 extra-judicial killings, 35,000 tortures, and 70,000
incarcerations. McCoy161 notes that unlike the Argentine military, which operated like an invisible
machine, the Philippine military opted to intimidate its opponents through its random displays of
torture victims. Abinales and Amoroso162 contend that this method perverted the image of the

158

160
Ibid, 7.
161
McCoy, Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime.
162
159
50
military to the civilians, with the opposition therefore garnering more recruits, and helped human
rights groups portray the regime as a brutal dictatorship rather than a benevolent democracy.
One of the victims of the military brutality is Edgar Jopson, an Atenean who went
underground to fight the Marcos regime, and eventually killed during a military raid in Davao.
Even nonviolent demonstrators were targeted by the military. Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan wrote of how
he was hurt as if he were a criminal and thug despite being a peaceful protester. 163 This
experience transformed Galvez Tan from a moderate activist into a radical student.
Martyrs were also honored during the 25th anniversary of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani
(Monument of Heroes) museum. 164 One of the honorees was Marsman Alvarez, who was
abducted and killed for his activism and for being a brother of Senator Heherson Alvarez.
Alvarezs body was mutilated and displayed for other Marcos oppositionists to see.
Other heroes of the struggle against Marcos were Chino Roces and Jose Diokno, who
were arrested and detained upon the declaration of martial law. Chino Roces headed various
protest rallies during the regime, and as well as supported Cory Aquino in her presidency.165 Jose
Diokno was likewise opposed to the military rule of Marcos. Upon the suspension of the writ of
habeas corpus, Diokno left Marcos political party as a form of protest. Aside from this, he also
protested against the abuse of civil liberties in the country.166
These examples illustrate the brutalities and the injustices committed by the Marcos
regime. The Marcos apologists claim that the 1970s were a peaceful time, therefore, is a hugely
inaccurate depiction of that era.
EDSA Revolution
The apologists claim that Marcos benevolence was evidenced in his deciding not to
harm the citizens during the EDSA Revolution, even if doing so ensured that he was to lose his
position as president, is also highly unverified. In actuality, Marcos wanted for his generals to

163
Galvez Tan, Jaime Z, Of tears and rage: How the First Quarter Storm radicalized me,
Rappler.com.
164
Doyo, Ma. Ceres P.,14 martyrs for freedom honored today, Inquirer.net, November 30, 2011.
165
Roces, Joaquin Chino P, Bantayog ng mga Bayani.
166
Diokno, Jose W, Bantayog ng mga Bayani.
51
attack the civilians. Sandra Burton, a TIME reporter who was present during the scene, wrote:
Viewers had just witnessed another bit of play-acting, or moro-moro, between Marcos and
(General Fabian) Ver, which seemed intended to impress upon his official US audience the
president's concern for preventing bloodshed, even as the Americans' sensitive communications
devices were intercepting his generals' orders to fire on rebel headquarters."167 The military
generals, however, were reluctant to attack.
The Marcos-Aquino dichotomy
The dichotomy being made between Marcos and Cory Aquino by Marcos oppositionists,
however, may be one that should be open to discussion. The sanctification and the presentation of
Cory as the polar opposite of Marcos can be contested by the fact that Aquino was slightly
influenced by her interests as a hacienda owner in the distribution of farm lands to the farmers.
Bello et al. writes that Aquinos promise of agricultural reform as disrupted by shady deals,
dubious accomplishment reports, and most especially, by the exemption of the Aquino familys
6,000-hectare estate, Hacienda Luisita.168
Furthermore, traditional patterns of political behavior have changed little during Aquinos
presidency. Timberman writes that major political parties remained to be non-ideological
groupings of factions that are personality-based and election-driven.169 Political elites have also
made a comeback. A survey conducted by the Institute of Popular Democracy170 reported that 130
out of 200 House representatives belonged to political families, while the other 39 are relatives of
these families. On the other hand, congressmen who had not been elected before 1971 and who
were not from political families are numbered to be only at 31. The survey also reports that in the
senate, only a few people hail from pre-1972 traditional political families. Also, seventeen of the

167
Burton, Sandra, Impossible dream: the Marcoses, the Aquinos, and the unfinished revolution (New
York, NY: Warner Books, 1989).
168
Bello, Walden, Herbert Docena, Marissa de Guzman, and Marylou Malig, The Anti-Development
State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines, 33.
169
Timberman, David G, A Changeless Land: Continuity and Change in Philippine Politics
(Singapore: Institute of East Asian Studies, 1991), 387.
170
Anderson, Cacique Democracy in the Philippines: Origins and Dreams, 27.
52
twenty-one members of the agrarian reform committee in the congress were landlords, thus
making agrarian reform in the country hard, perhaps even impossible, to implement.171
This is possibly why Walden Bello meant by describing the post-Marcos administration
as an EDSA system, a system wherein there is continuity and reproduction of the flaws of the
previous regime. Some people have pointed out that despite the EDSA revolution occurring in the
country, nothing has really changed. Benjamin Muego, a student leader activist during the 1960s,
notes: the only difference was that while many of them [political personalities] used to
unabashedly praise Marcos, now they are damning him to the heavens.172
Despite this, the atrocity of the Marcos regime still cannot be discounted. It is the authors
contention that the restoration of democracy upon the fall of Marcos the comeback of the free
press, the collapse of the monopolies, and the reinstallation of liberty is far more valuable than
the claimed growth that was achieved during an authoritarian regime, even more so that these
growths are contested and that the human rights violations and the atrocities of the regime proved
to have affected thousands of Filipinos.

171
172
Ibid, 28.
Muego, Spectator Society: The Philippines Under Martial Rule, 11.
53
CHAPTER IV
THE INTERNET AND POSTMEMORY
This chapter attempts to answer the second problem posed in the first chapter, that is, of
answering how the present electorate remembers the Marcos regime. In this section, Marianne
Hirschs concept of postmemory will be used to describe the opinions of the generation that
were born after the ousting of Marcos.
The aim of this chapter will be accomplished through an examination of the range of
opinions with regard the Marcoses from Twitter, a social media website. It supports the argument
that new media have been able to bring previously silenced histories to light, while also opening
the door to inflamed passions, exaggeration, and unsubstantiated claims.345
The opinions that the said generation holds are termed postmemory. Postmemory,
according to Hirsch, is a kind of memory that the generation following those who have
experienced a significant cultural or collective trauma, termed postgeneration, have.
Postmemories are constructed through stories, images, and behavior passed on to the
postgeneration; yet, because of the deep and affective way in which these stories have been
transmitted, they are to be regarded as memories.346 Hirsch argues that the aim of postmemorial
work is to fuse more distant social/national and archival/cultural memories with individual and
group memories. This will lead to the increased engagement of the less-directly affected
participants, which can then ensure the persistence of postmemory.347
Aleida Assman 348 distinguishes postmemory into four different formats: individual

345
Bird, S. Elizabeth. Reclaiming Asaba: Old Media, New Media, and the Construction of Memory
in On Media Memory: Collective Memory in a New Media Age. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011: 88103.
346
Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory, 106-107.
347
Ibid, 111.
348
Assman, Aleida, Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit: Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik
(Munich: Beck, 2006).
54
memory, family/group memory, national/political memory, and cultural/archival memory. This

assumes that memories are shared and linked between individuals and, she adds, Once
verbalized, the individuals memories are... no longer a purely exclusive and unalienable
property... they can be exchanged, shared, corroborated, confirmed, corrected, disputedand, last
not least, written down.349
The social representations theory that was used in the second chapter is similar to this
aspect of memory, as social representations can be understood as a framework for sense-making,
a space for the negotiation of meaning linking the individual and the social.350 It is crucial to note
that this postgeneration, apart from having a differing memory of the past that they have not
experienced, are also mediating their postmemories in an entirely different medium from their
predecessors, that is, through the Internet.
According to Poster,351 the advent of the digital revolution brought about change in the
method of communication. While the old broadcast model was one-way, hierarchical, and was
largely controlled by the elite, the new Internet model of media is more interactive and
decentralized as compared to the former model. In this model, there are equal opportunities for
people to produce their own media. Anyone could be a knowledge producer on the Internet.
This new model is characterized by a less hierarchical formation of information
dissemination and consumption, allowing for two-way communication, in contrast to the old
model, which only allowed for one-way communication.352 This is why it has been said that
traditional media helped create the silence; new media helped break it.353 This discussion on
media is significant since media is the means by which social groups propagate their
representations and assert it to individuals and to the general public.354 This does not mean,

349
Ibid.
Tateo, Luca and Antonio Iannaccone, Social representations, individual and collective mind: a
study of Wundt, Cattaneo, and Moscovici, Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science 46, No. 1
(Salerno, Italy: University of Salerno, 2011): 57-69.
351
Miller, Vincent, Key Elements of Digital Media, in Understanding Digital Culture (New York:
SAGE Publications, 2011).
352
Ibid.
353
Bird, Reclaiming Asaba: Old Media, New Media, and the Construction of Memory, 99.
354
Schwartz, Commemorative Objects, 51.
350
55
however, that oral communication among an individuals personal circle is to be discounted as a

means of constructing and mediating a postmemory.
The role of media in collective remembering, thus, is essential. According to Pentzold,
they [media] record, store, transmit, and provide material for memory work and, on the other,
they are places for remembering themselves.355 Furthermore, the web, as a digital networked
media, is discursive and enables individuals to interpret the past beyond established cultural
modes of interpretation. 356 The background of individuals, however, cannot be totally
disregarded in the creation of memory. 357 This is why memories of the past are configured from
varying frames of reference.
Postmemorial representations on Twitter

The popularity of social media among Filipinos is incontestable. In a study conducted by
Labucay,358 it is seen that 89 percent of the population who use the Internet use it for social
networking. Although Twitter usage in the Philippines is low, most of those who use it are from
the upper social strata, and are therefore presumed to be somewhat educated (Table 7). It is
striking therefore that despite this, there are still a number of Twitter users who believe that
Ferdinand Marcos is the best president that the Philippines has ever had.
An examination of the publicly available tweets that have been made from July 5, 2014 to
February 25, 2015 shows that there are more pro-Marcos tweets than anti-Marcos tweets. When
the search term Ferdinand Marcos is entered, forty-nine tweets out of seventy tweets are proMarcos. When President Marcos is entered, two hundred eighty six tweets are pro-Marcos, as
opposed to the one hundred eighty three tweets that are anti-Marcos. In both cases, the proMarcos tweets make up at least sixty percent of the total number of relevant tweets. It should be

355
Pentzold, Christian and Vivien Sommer, Digital networked social memory: Theoretical
foundations and implications, Aurora 10 (2011): 72-85.
356
Ibid, 82.
357
Verovsek, Peter, The Politics of Memory: A Conceptual Approach to the Study of Memory in
Politics, The MacMillan Center, 9.
358
Labucay, Iremae, Internet use in the Philippines.
56
noted that other tweets, such as links to news websites, social media posts that do not indicate
direct support of Marcos, spams, and other irrelevant tweets are disregarded. Only those that
outwardly state their reverence or irreverence for the regime are included.
Table 8: Frequency of Internet use (2011)
Area
Socio-economic
class
Education
Age
Metro Manila
Balance Luzon
Visayas
Mindanao
Classes ABC
Class D
Class E
No formal education/Some
elementary
Up to elementary graduate
Up to high school graduate
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55 and above
Social networking
Online social
Use Twitter
networking
86
20
93
12
85
12
86
24
91
21
89
91
73
15
8
0
89
90
93
87
90
75
100
21
13
18
18
13
0
17
Source: Labucay, Iremae, Internet use in the Philippines, 21.

The anti-Marcos tweets often have the impression of giving counsel to those who revere
Ferdinand Marcos and his regime. The tweets advise the supporters to research, open their history
books, ask their grandparents, look into what Hong Kong is fighting for now, be thankful for
the EDSA revolution, and to factor in the extrajudicial killings during his regime. Other tweets
simply lambast Marcos supporters, saying they are greatly misinformed, with their information
coming mostly from memes on Facebook, and that they were not alive during the Marcos era and
therefore cannot justify their claims. They also identify Marcos supporters on Facebook as people
they would quickly un-friend and as people who are scary for declaring someone who murdered
hundreds of people as the best president.
Aside from this, other anti-Marcos tweets include links to news articles that evidence the
atrocity of the regime. Even a sexist quotation from Marcos is used against him Hindi
57
magagampanan ng babae ang pagkapangulo. Panlalaki po ito. 359 Others simply declare the
Marcos is the best president ever rhetoric as a lie, without including any explanations.
These tweets are outnumbered, however, by pro-Marcos tweets. The pro-Marcos tweets
are sweeping generalizations of the past that rarely include any justification, or if rationalized,
only vaguely note that the claim is proven by history, disclaim that it is only an opinion and
they have their own reasons for supporting him, or remark on an unfounded and incorrect claim
about the regime. Some of these claims include the Philippines being the Tiger of Asia during
the regime of Marcos and now merely being the Kitten of the World, and claims that simply
assert that the country was rich and economically developed then. As shown in Chapter 3 of this
study, however, these claims are substantially unfounded. Not only did Marcos fail to improve the
economy; he even made the economic conditions of the country worse.
Table 9: Number of tweets from July 5, 2014 to February 25, 2015
Pro-Marcos tweets
Anti-Marcos tweets
President Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
286
183
49
29
Furthermore, the tweets that show support of the Marcos regime also seem to push the
idea that Marcos was the best president, without consideration of the other, more atrocious
aspects of his regime. In this regard, the tweets even go so far as to say that they want another
president who is as firm and productive as Marcos, and that they would take a dictatorship over a
democracy that is economically stagnant any time. Comparisons of Benigno Aquino Jr.s
presidency with his regime are especially prevalent in the tweets.
Other tweets merely focus on Ferdinand Marcos as an individual himself. The tweets
remark on his intelligence, his love story with Imelda, and sometimes even his abs.
Yet there are also tweets that are ambiguous, either stating the two sides of the argument
or showing confusion over contradicting sources. These show, along with the contradictory tweets

359
Official Gazette PH, Twitter post, February 25, 2015, http://twitter.com/govph.
58
with regard to the perception of the Marcos regime, that the Internet has become a place for
mediation and for the negotiation of meaning of the postgenerations memories. These also show
how the Internet has allowed for information even unsubstantiated information to be freely
exchanged amongst individuals, and not come from a lone source. This may be the reason, or
merely a contributing factor, for the continued dissemination of pro-Marcos sentiments.
59
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It is very important to remember that what is considered a founding event in our

collective memory may be a wound in the memory of the other.375
Summary
This study attempted to validate and invalidate the propagandas that are being spread in
print and online by Marcos apologists. In addition to this, the study attempted to provide a reason
for why the Marcoses are still popular despite the period of Marcos rule being generally
remembered to be repressive, unjust, and corrupt.
The second chapter showed that the pro-Marcos claims exist due to the representations of
a specific social group, namely the regime participants. This claim supports the social
representations theory, which hypothesizes that social groups represent and interpret events
according to their own belief systems and agenda, thus forming various and often different
representations.
In addition, the study shows that the pro-Marcos propagandas are false. Chapter three
presents the claims of more contemporary Marcos apologists, which were all subsequently
invalidated in the following subsection of the chapter. It was shown that although there were a lot
of infrastructures built during the regime of Marcos, there was no indication that the economy was
developing; rather, the debts that were incurred in constructing these white elephant projects
even caused for the Philippine economy to go down and for foreign debt to increase. The country
was also neither peaceful nor orderly, due to the increasing membership of the CPP and the unrest
in Mindanao. Furthermore, extrajudicial killings and unjust tortures were especially rampant
during the presidency of Marcos.

375
Ricouer, Paul, Memory and Forgetting in Questioning Ethics: Contemporary Debates in

Continental Philosophy (London: Routledge, 1999).
60
However, it is also seen in the third chapter that the depiction of the Aquinos and the
Marcoses as polar opposites with Cory belonging to the good side and Marcos belonging to
the bad side is unsubstantiated. For one, the economy under Aquino barely improved. The
agrarian reform program was disrupted by the conflicts of interest in the part of Aquino, who to
some extent owned Hacienda Luisita. Academics also observed that the state, despite being
democratic, returned to being an elite democracy. Despite this, however, it is the presumption of
this study that democracy is far more preferable to Marcos authoritarian regime.
The issue on the increasing trend of individuals venerating Marcos on social media in
present time, specifically that on Twitter, has been raised on the fourth chapter. This chapter
examined the contents of pro- and anti-Marcos tweets. The new Internet model of media, which
allows for individuals to communicate their memories with one another, allows for other opinions
to be made available to anyone, thus making the negotiation of memory, even unsubstantiated
ones, to be disseminated. There are therefore more opportunities for Marcos apologists and their
contrarian opinion and propaganda to be propagated.
Conclusions
It is the authors contention that the atrocity of the Marcos regime cannot be discounted.
The restoration of democracy upon the fall of Marcos the comeback of the free press, the
collapse of the monopolies, and the reinstallation of liberty is far more valuable than the
claimed growth that was achieved during an authoritarian regime, even more so that these
growths are contested and that the human rights violations and the atrocities of the regime proved
to have affected thousands of Filipinos. The abundance of Marcos propaganda on the Internet,
however, seems to indicate that these atrocities have been selectively forgotten.
It can be surmised from this that there is always a continued attempt by different social
groups to interpret events according to their own beliefs. These beliefs, in turn, are means by
which they regard present phenomena and the ones they choose to propagate unto the public
therefore, there are those groups who highlight the achievements of Marcos and those who choose
67
to highlight his cruelty. Although this idea seems to attest to the contention that truth is subjective,
it does not. Rather, it only serves to substantiate the claim that there are indeed facts; it is only
through various social groups mediation that the propagated ideas are differing. This is also true
for the web. Given this, it can thus be said that it is a fact that lives were lost and that freedom was
repressed during the reign of Marcos. It is also true that Marcos built numerous infrastructures,
yet at the cost of the economy plummeting.
Recommendations
To further examine the reason for why social groups and individuals support or despise
Marcos, it is recommended for other researchers to conduct in-depth surveys and interviews. If
possible, more units of analysis could also be added in a similar study, such that other social
representations can be studied. Focus group discussion of a selected sample of individuals could
also be conducted.
In order for the untruthful claims of Marcos apologists to be repudiated, it is
recommended by the author that interactive websites and infographics be made and disseminated
on social media websites. This recommendation is more apt for researchers whose focuses are on
information design and visual communication.
The analysis of tweets could also be improved, as the fourth chapter lacked quantitative
analysis.
68
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APPENDIX A
COMMENT OF USER Ist12345
When our Lord and Savior was crucified, everyone in his time and place thought that he
should be crucified because people were deceived of lies being spread that he was subversive to
the Roman state. Yet history proved to be the ultimate judge and even the Roman Empire who
crucified him, is now the capital and defender of the Catholic faith.
I say that the predicament is comparable to what happened to Marcos. He was demonized
by the communists, greedy oligarchs, and treacherous politicians to this day. And yet, after more
than 25 years since the EDSA, failure, poverty, killing, crime and corruption is growing even
worst day-by-day. After 25 long years and more than 5 presidents after him, no other presidents
has done so much better in infrastructure, economy and the image of being a Filipino citizen.
The question is, are you really proud to be a Filipino today? The Filipinos of Marcos days
commands respect from the richest nations of that time. Only in Marcos time when the world's
eye are set in the Philippines as being the pearl of the orient, a powerful country full of beauty and
disciplined citizen. Now we are seen as a poor nation of domestic helpers who rely on the help of
other countries whenever a storm comes in or someone threatens our backyard... In Marcos days,
we had the most advanced rice research facility in the world (IRRI) and had trained numerous
states (ex. Thailand, Vietnam, etc.) on how to be self sufficient in producing rice. We exported
rice that contributed to our GDP, now we're just importing rice, losing billions of dollars to
countries like Vietnam while prices keeps climbing... Before, the government subsidized a lot of
utilities, which came as savings to all Filipinos, keeping all prices low... Mow everything is
owned by private (oligarchs) who control the prices. In terms of media, in Marcos time the
Government controls mass media, now it's controlled by private oligarchs affiliated with
politicians who also controls all heavily biased information being aired to the public. If you think
that the media of today allows us to be free, you are wrong. As I quote Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe said, "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
It is a good thing that the youth of today are blessed with intelligence. I've noticed that
they are not easily brainwashed by these yellow propaganda. They ask more questions and are
more critical to information being given today. Just for example, if you're intelligent, you should
be asking yourself, how can Marcos kill thousands of Filipinos if not a single blood was shed in
EDSA 1? If he was a murdering dictator, clearly, there could have been an incident in the EDSA
revolution that shed blood right? Now please don't tell us that the soldiers didnt listen to Marcos
because if that's the case, it goes against what the anti-Marcos has been saying that he ordered to
salvage people if you talk against Marcos. You mean the military/police is willing to salvage
people with Marcos orders but could not fire a single shot against rally-ist? That's totally
contradicting. These are clearly yellow propaganda and I think history will be the ultimate judge
of character... Not the yellow propaganda machine with the Aquinos and Cojuangcos, but the
Marcoses and the true nationalists and patriots of this country.
Note: Minor grammatical errors were corrected
78
APPENDIX B
ROMMEL LAPUSS POST ON FACEBOOK
79
80
81
APPENDIX C
A SAMPLE OF PRO- AND ANTI-MARCOS TWEETS
A. Pro-Marcos
Prince @RenzoBulos 23h
"@jovendolosa: President Marcos is the best as proven by history"
Angelo Gabriel @GeloMontecastro Feb 13
Kunting trivia muna tayo guys. Did you know Imelda marries Ferdinand
Marcos 11 days after meeting him.
Michelle Jean
@_michellejean Feb 4
Ferdinand Marcos did more for the Philippines than the Aquinos could ever dream of.
aerin. @iavfaq Jan 22
tbh, im a fan of ferdinand marcos. lmao. eh ang talino nya kasi and he's just.. basta kakaiba
sya. #okay #walangmaypake
Bernebette @Bernebette Jan 11
I Like Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos I do not care about what other people say..i have my
reasons! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGz6S7SNGpI&sns=tw via @youtube
Marianne Claudette @clauidiego Dec 28
Ferdinand Marcos was once a lover and I just salute how he did it so well
http://instagram.com/p/xLifGngv2g/
#certifiedfan
R @meganvillaruz Dec 12
where do we find a man like ferdinand marcos
Keziah Faye @keziiiaah Oct 17
Bat ba puro bad image ni Ferdinand Marcos pinapakita. Like, marami naman siyang nagawa
for the Philippines. Musta si Aquino?
Julius @hulyito Sep 29
The Philippines was the Tiger of Asia during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. Now, we are
just the Kitten of the World.
El Buenaflor @elbuenaflor_ Aug 27
Ferdinand Marcos was a great president. The people near him were not.
hazel @SKINNYDICKMALIK Aug 27
Nung panahon ni Ferdinand Marcos ang Pilipinas pala ang pinakamayamang bansa sa Asia....
WHAT HAPPENED
Romantic Messages @ObeyMyTweetz Aug 13
Sana may lumitaw na presidenteng matapang at strikto, parang si 'Ferdinand Marcos'
maunlad.
Ana Fernandez @itsANAnymous Aug 12
Sadly, this is true. When can we find the next Ferdinand Marcos?
82
Luis Poe @poetangina Jul 27

Ferdinand Marcos was still the the most productive president ever. So yeah...
Earl Reyes @earlcreyes Jul 20
Yes! Marcos is indeed the best president of the Philippines, despite his crimes. No biased! read
this article http://www.filipiknow.net/facts-about-ferdinand-marcos/
@YGENTERTAlNMENT Jul 14
but srsly ferdinand marcos is the best president for me its just nobody's perfect
@raissendelapena @raissendelapena Jul 13
that's true Mr.Ferdinand Marcos totoo nga cnabi mo bagsak ang pilipinas at baon sa utang
hindi tulad ng panahon nyo
L B SAM xx @cattleya_24 Jul 12
Gusto kong buhayin si Ferdinand Marcos. Ang dami kasing corrupt ee. Nasisilawan sa pera.
Tsk!~
Romantic Messages @ObeyMyTweetz Jul 11
I don't care the negative feedbacks of the Yellow Propaganda against Ferdinand Marcos.
They can't change the fact that he's the best...
Michelle @michellechuaaaa 16h
16 hours ago
sana kasi si marcos nalang forever president natin edi sana maunlad ang pilipinas
alexx @helloimlexayy 17h
17 hours ago
Pero kahit ganun, best president padin si marcos dahil sa lahat ng nagawa niya sa pilipinas.
juancho @juanchsnts 19h
19 hours ago
stupid EDSA revolution, Marcos was a good president lol
abi @abiverutiao Feb 23
The best Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos.
Mhae Marimla @mhae_marimla04 Feb 23
History: Before, Ferdinand Marcos is the President... He able to put the Philippines in Top 3
in Best Successful Country,, and now? What?!!!
Joyce Libayan @isarangHanChul Feb 20
I'm not a Marcos' loyalist, I am just stating the fact. Why do we need to make his image
worst? He's a great president try to search abt him
Regie Norbert @therealregie17 Feb 17
Maganda pa ang pamamalakad ni MARCOS as PRESIDENT kesa kay NINOY, NOYNOY
at CORY.
juanita @daexjung Feb 16
83
President Marcos is the best. I know he hurt a lot of people, but look what he had done for
our country. #marcosparin
Maria Eloisa @mariaeloisa088 Feb 16
Sayang si Former President Marcos. Ok na sana ang Mindanao :-P
Bipolar @jericogarlit Feb 6
We need a president like Marcos!
Leilanie @LeilanieUy Feb 5
Still waiting (and hoping) for that day when Philippines is governed by a president as smart,
powerful, and firm as Ferdinand Marcos.
my name is @kyucraters Feb 4
sana si marcos nalang president ng PH until now. naging kurakot man sya atleast madami
parin syang nagawa eh ngayon nasa bulsa na lahat. :|
pogs fortuno @pogiiings Feb 2
I'm beginning to realize that Marcos is a better president than the Aquino's. because stories in
the past are written by the victors.
Jhikoy Ramos @TheJhonitor Jan 29
Mandaluyong City, National Capital Region
Mr President gayahin mo si former President Marcos kagalang galang at alam yung kanyang
obligasyon at mga dapat unahin #NasaanAngPangulo
Jo Kevin Garbanzos L @jokevinjhongz Jan 20
marcos was the reason why the philippines is the second richest country in asia and youre
saying that he's a bad president? get the fuck off
VK @virakate_ Jan 20
Imagine the Philippines if Marcos was still the President. Just. Just. OMG! We're sitting on
Hidden Golds! GRABE!
VANS-oriano @iamvansoriano Jan 13
If only marcos sr. will be the president of this generation...
Pelio Escalona @rplscln Dec 25
San Juanico Bridge. The longest and the best bridge in the Philippines. The President behind
the creation of such? Pres. Marcos.
@DivineStellar Dec 8
Okay, Marcos is, by far, the best president of the Philippines. And kung wala lang talagang
insecure, sobrang unlad ng Pilipinas.
Grace Kelly @unicoleeee Nov 30
ya'll dumb hoes if ya think Ferdinand Marcos wasn't an excellent president, he just had his
ways
Gyanna @belleofdablvd Nov 16
National Capital Region, Republic of the Philippines
84
you know how we were taught that marcos was a very bad president, but then again, why was
our country economically stable back then?
@gay_to_wowwh Oct 12
Seriously I'm just stating a fact that Ferdinand Marcos is the best President of the country.
Janpee 1989 @janpee_ Oct 4
Calabarzon, Republic of the Philippines
For those people who claimed Marcos was the worst president: Huwag lang kayo tumingin sa
pagdeclare niya ng Martial Law.
Miguel Santiago @AMRSantiago Sep 30
Solid 'Ferdinand Marcos Jr.' for 2016 I want him to become a president. Pro-Martial Law.
Rona O'Brien @ronalaxy Sep 27
I get mad when people say Marcos wasn't a good president. Yeah, he may have lost a huge
part of his heart, but he was a smart president.
Jay III @xjayfied Sep 21
Sa sampung ginawang mali ni President Marcos, ilang daan ang tama niyang nagawa para sa
Pilipinas. #BeFair #1081
Sofia Robite @Sofia_Robs Sep 13
If only Marcos wasn't corrupt, he's one helluvah president. :(
Lee Balmaceda @LeeBalmaceda Sep 13
@NealTayco the philippine economy was way better when marcos was president. He also
started projects to construct roads,buildings, etc
CARMELO @carmeloo13 Aug 29
marcos is the greatest president of the philippines no doubt na yun
Jarrel Ramiterre @j_pretts Aug 25
According to my sources Ferdinand Marcos is the best President in the Philippines before my
parents time
K A T H @capinkathleen Aug 24
Nung una wala akong paki sa mga president ng phil. e, pero simula nung natake ko yung
philo. Narealize ko how great marcos is.
Castiel @_JennyDepp Jul 27
Marcos was a great president.. just not sure about the marshal law thing
R X @rxbsngn Jul 14
Sana may maging president ulit tayo na mala-marcos pagdating sa economy.
B. Anti-Marcos
opinionbuster @opinionbuster Jul 3
Tutuktukan ko ang mga batang magsasabi na mabuting presidente si Ferdinand Marcos.
Pakibuklat nga ang history books nyo!
85
/m @marocharim Jul 6
Marcos was quantified to things we can experience today, like bridges or roads. Of course
hell look like a good president.
Richard @richfrancisco Sep 28
Filipinos, who believe that Marcos was the best president of this country, should look into
what Hong Kong is fighting for now.
Jason @jasonmartonito Oct 13
Apparently, many people believe that that FB Posts that Marcos is the best President we had.
#spoonfed #researchpeople #GenZ
A @ainealej Nov 26
@LEXtaticEffect so i therefore conclude that Marcos IS NOT the best president PH have
ever had. And these kids are greatly misinformed.
Bea Sigua @jeszelmarie Dec 16
@thebribery i find marcos loyalists so scary hahaha how can they declare someone who
murdered hundred of people "the best president" omg
JP Gonzales @jnznpaul Jan 30
So you're telling that Marcos is a better President? Have you experienced Martial Law? Go,
try ask your grandparents!
Alpaca God @supermansocks 12h
12 hours ago
"@govph: "Hindi magagampanan ng babae ang pagkapangulo. Panlalaki po ito." President
Marcos' ad for the 1986 snap elections" Putangina pls
Hazel H. @1nutty_hazel Feb 1
At pwede ba, Noynoy being incompetent doesn't make Marcos a better president. Nakakainit
ng ulo.
IF PNOY IS NOT OUR PRESIDENT
3) Di mababawi ang ill-gotten wealth ng pamilya Marcos (multi MPeso Swiss funds, jewelrie,
etc.)
melvs @_melvindaza Feb 3
To those who think that Marcos was the greatest PH president, please don't forget to weigh in
the extrajudicial killings during his regime.
Jan Dean Babida @jeandeanb 13h
13 hours ago
Pa-macoy is the best president ka pa, hindi ka pa naman buhay nung Marcos era.
#martiallawmomukhamo
Ian @legIANdary Feb 5
i think marcos is amazing and was the best president ever
*unfriends*
86
Dinna Vasquez @mariadinna 17h

17 hours ago
@1nutty_hazel: "Marcos is the best president ever" is not an opinion. It's a lie.
Hazel H. @1nutty_hazel 20h
20 hours ago
Ayan. Best president daw si Marcos. Na-research sa FB. Daming memes e.
Emir Grey @emirgrey 21h
21 hours ago
You call our current President all sorts of names. If you did that during the Marcos regime,
you'd be dead by now. Be thankful for EDSA revo
Hannah Bacani @iamhannahriffic Feb 21
Whenever people say Marcos was the best president of the Philippines, I roll my eyes so hard
that I could see a part of my brain.
C. Ambiguous
Luigi @Wigiiiiiiii Feb 12
Marcos was a good president but he was still corrupt nonetheless. :/
I @Iraholorvida Feb 4
Really want to convince myself that Ferdinad Marcos was the best president that we had but
upon reading different articles.. Errr #Confused
Zeith Daille @ZeinthArriannee Dec 1
Im starting to doubt Ex President Marcos
Lorenzo Mariano @marianolorenzo Jul 19
Not all things about Macoy are negative... http://fb.me/1s6m7JfVJ
Pepe Maglutac @jpmaglutac Jul 3
If Ferdinand Marcos could be alive again and be presi... I have a very neutral stance
towards Martial Law. As I have a very neutral stance to this question.
I am of the opinion that not even Marcos can fix our problems :P http://ask.fm/a/ane81kob
87

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NEVER AGAIN?

: A Study on Contemporary Pro-Marcos Political Propaganda

A Senior Seminar Paper

Angelica Joyce S. Benitez

II. SUPPLEMENTARY RELATED LITERATURE...........................................

III. CONTEMPORARY PRO-MARCOS CLAIMS OF THE MARCOS

IV. THE INTERNET AND POSTMEMORY................................................................

V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................

Background of the Study

Statement of the Problem

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Moscovici, Serge, Introduction, in Health and Illness. A Psychological Analysis (London:

transmitted, they are to be regarded as memories.40 There is a risk, therefore, of an individuals

Review of Related Literature

Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory, 111.

Wagner, et al., Theory and method of social representations, 9.

Hypothesis and Assumption of the Study

Organization of the Study

Schwartz, Barry, Commemorative Objects in International Encyclopedia of the Social and

Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory, 110.

Claudio, Taming Peoples Power, 104.

Rommel Lapus Facebook post

Examining the claims

Table 3: Philippine GDP, 1961-1986

Source: Philippines GDP, Trading Economics.

Table 4: Real GDP growth rates in selected Asian countries, 1970-1995

Manila & suburbs

Real Wage Index

Wurfel, Martial Law in the Philippines: The Methods of Regime Survival, 5.

Rodriguez, The Marcos Regime: Rape of the Nation, 35.

memory, family/group memory, national/political memory, and cultural/archival memory. This

however, that oral communication among an individuals personal circle is to be discounted as a

Postmemorial representations on Twitter

Source: Labucay, Iremae, Internet use in the Philippines, 21.

Official Gazette PH, Twitter post, February 25, 2015, http://twitter.com/govph.

It is very important to remember that what is considered a founding event in our

Ricouer, Paul, Memory and Forgetting in Questioning Ethics: Contemporary Debates in

Facebook Inc. Rommel Lapus Facebook Page. Accessed September 10,

Feldman, Stanley. Enforcing Social Conformity: A Theory of Authoritarianism. Political

Luis Poe @poetangina Jul 27

Dinna Vasquez @mariadinna 17h

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