MILITANT lawmakers yesterday denounced the passage at the House of Representative of a bill declaring September 11 as “President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Day” in Ilocos Norte, saying it is once again an attempt to revise history.
Members of the left-leaning Makabayan bloc said House Bill No. 7137 is a disservice to the country by giving someone they called a “plunderer” and a “killer” a day for people to celebrate.
“Teachers will not allow another attempt to revise history and rewrite it as if the Marcos era was all good, no injustice and corruption when in fact history already judged him as a plunderer, murderer, fascist and criminal,” said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party-list Rep. France Castro.
The House late Wednesday afternoon voted 197-9 negative with one abstention to approve HB No. 7137 declaring September 11 as “President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Day” in Ilocos Norte and making it a non-working holiday in the province.
September 11 is the birth anniversary of the late former president.
The authors of the bill are Ilocos Norte Reps. Ria Fariñas and Angelo Marcos Barba, and Ria’s younger brother Probinsyano Ako party-list Rep. Rudy Caesar Fariñas.
Castro said declaring a day for Marcos in his province “celebrates a plunderer and a violator of human rights.”
She said the measure makes it appear “that the victims of Marcos’s dark reign are the ones who were wrong, and their kidnappers, torturers, murderers, and oppressors including Marcos himself were right.”
“Celebrating Marcos will only formalize what’s happening now: fascist rule and human rights violations, civilian supremacy overturned by military rule, wanton cronyism and corruption,” she said.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat slammed her colleagues for approving the proposed law, saying she could not fathom what got into them that they approved the measure.
“Anong klaseng pagiisip nito na dapat kailangan pagdiwang ang isang magnanakaw ng kaban ng bayan at mamamatay tao? Ito ay napakalaking kalapastangan ng ating kasaysayan (What kind of mentality do we have that we need to celebrate a thief and a killer? It’s such a huge disservice to our country’s history),” she said.
Cullamat said the measure disrespects history’s judgment and the sufferings of the victims of the Marcos regime under his martial rule.
“Hindi kailan man makakalimutan ng taongbayan ang ginawang kahayupan at kalapastangan ng panahon ni Marcos (The people will never forget the atrocities under the Marcos regime),” she said.
