Former ABS-CBN broadcaster Anthony Taberna on a facebook live went on to criticize the ‘incorrect’ Philippine history regarding the Marcos regime.
Although he said that he is not a supporter of Pres. Duterte, Taberna recently criticized Sen. Kiko Pangilinan after the latter criticized how the government after the decision to dismantle the UP-DND Accord.
“Alam ko yan galit kayo sa administrasyon tungkol dun lalo na yung mga taga UP community, yung mga pulitiko halimbawa si Vice President Leni Robredo, Kiko Pangilinan, naku sino ba yung Kiko Pangilinan bat nasabi ko pa yun, walang kakwenta kwenta yun,” said Taberna.
During his live video, he sounded that he was defending the late Philippine President for enslaving the country for 20-years under a dictatorship government.
Taberna who went live on January 23 while traveling to Tagaytay, expressed his admiration to former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, who had sided with Marcos then late President Cory Aquino, whom he both betrayed in the process.
He insisted that the late President was not to blame but his cronies such as Enrile who was an administrator during the Martial Law.
He then proceeded to give his insight regarding the ‘twisted’ history that the Aquinos have instilled in the minds of Filipinos—Marcos is a dictator. According to Taberna, the successor of former President Ferdinand Marcos taught the next generation how to hate the Marcoses for his proclamation of Martial Law.
“Yung mga bata na ang edad ay sabihin natin eh 18 years old pababa, o mas bata pa. Kasi tignan niyo, nung panahon ni dating Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos, na hanggang ngayon marami pa ring galit sa mga Marcos dahil sa Martial Law. Hanggang ngayon dine-demonize yung mga Marcos lalo na yung mga maka-Cory Aquino versus Marcos eh,” the broadcaster said.
Later on, Taberna said that the books teaching that the Marcoses were evil were used to manipulate children. Moreover, according to the history books, the Marcos regime was considered the ‘darkest era’ in the Philippines and Ferdinand Marcos is an evil President.
“Pag naging masaya ka, masama ka. Halimbawa na lang yung Marcos versus Aquino. Bakit ba may mga bata na galit pa rin kay Marcos? Halimbawa lalo na yung mga aktibista. Syempre kung sino ang kausap nila eh.
“O anong nakalagay sa libro? Eto mga textbooks ng mga bata, public schools actually pati sa mga private schools. Ano nakalagay? Ang pinakamadilim na parte ng kasaysayan ng Pilipinas eh nung panahon ni Pangulong Marcos. Ang diktador ay si Marcos. Ang pinaka walanghiyang President eh si Marcos,” said Taberna.
Taberna went on to claim that the history books in the Philippines also reached other countries. And because of manipulating children to think that the family of Marcos is nothing but evil, made even former First Lady Imelda Marcos the evilest one because of her shoe collection.
“Kaya nga hindi lang sa libro natin dito sa Pilipinas eh. Pati dun sa ibang bansa. Mag-Google ka nga eh ang pinaka-masamang First Lady eh si Imelda Marcos dahil sa mga sapatos. Yun kasi ang pinunla mo sa mga isip ng mga bata eh,” Taberna added.
The broadcaster also said that despite Enrile and former President Fidel Ramos being an administrator of Marcos during the Martial Law, they were not mentioned as the villains, only the dictator.
“Pero sa textbook hindi masyadong nababanggit na nung panahon ni Marcos na isa sa mga administrador ng Martial Law si Enrile, si Fidel Ramos na naging presidente pa. Walang ganon. So dapat maging matalino tayo.”
Contrary to what he said, the Marcos era was indeed the darkest that the Philippines had ever been.
In the book Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime by Alfred McCoy, citing reports of Amnesty International, there were 3,200 victims of extrajudicial killings, 77,000 political detainees, 3,500 torture victims, and more than 700 disappearances from 1975 to 1985.
When it comes to how activists influence the youth in despising Marcos, the launching of the book Stories and Struggles shared the memoirs of the activists who fought the dictatorship. It also aimed to part the lessons learned from Martial Law. And this book is an eye-opener as youth activism continues the fight for freedom.
During Martial Law, 1,500 male Muslims were slaughtered inside the Malisbong Mosque by the Philippine Military on September 24, 1974. Not only that, but some women were also raped before getting killed. This horrifying event was known as the Malisbong massacre.
Also, in February 1995, the US federal court in Hawaii gave Marcos’ victims $1.964 billion worth of assets as they found that Marcos has committed numerous human rights violations during his 20-year dictatorship.
In July of 2003, the Philippine Supreme Court also affirmed the decision of the US federal court that the 10,000 victims who surfaced against Marcos’ cruelty were entitled to compensation using the $10 billion Swiss bank deposits of Marcos as the courts deemed the wealth of Marcos as “ill-gotten”.
In the case of Imelda Marcos, her extravagant lifestyle and a vast collection of shoes during the 20-year dictatorship of his husband was convicted by the Sandiganbayan 5th Division in November 2018 of 7 counts of graft. The First Lady of Marcos had a staggering 3,000 pairs of shows which 800 of them were placed in Marikina Shoe Museum. During the downfall of her husband in 1986, activists and rebels who stormed the Palace were disgusted when they discovered the thousands of shoes in Imelda’s closet.
The reason why Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile were not mentioned in the textbooks that tell children that they were the mastermind of the Martial Law is that they were serving under the leadership of Marcos. They were mere administrators of Martial Law but the real mastermind behind its proclamation is none other than the president who proclaimed Proclamation 1081, ending the democracy in the Philippines.
According to the Official Gazette, Marcos revealed in his diary that he staged Enrile’s ambush on September 22, 1972, to give him the leverage to put the country in Martial Law. It was also confirmed by Enrile in 1986. Primitivo Mijares, a journalist also exposed the truth until he disappeared 1973—without a trace.
These events were written with evidence. It was indeed Marcos who orchestrated the “ambush” of Enrile in order to justify Martial Law. He merely used the former senator as a tool to finally put his plan into place. But Taberna was also half-right. The textbooks did not mention Enrile and Ramos solely because it was Marcos’ intention all along.
