#NeverAgain To Marcos? What About #NeverAgain To Protectionist, Presidential Governance?

Let's consider the fact that the Marcos Years were DEFINITELY not the golden years. But do you even know WHY they're not the Golden Years? You can always talk about human rights violations. When talking about Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany - it's easy to first raise about the massacre of the Jewish people or how much Hitler was a dictator. However, are they aware that the Hitler Years were also protectionist? Hitler's Germany was a protectionist regime under the Nazi Party. Nazi means National SOCIALISM. Mao Zedong's China was also a highly economic protectionist country. North Korea is a highly economic protectionist country. Are the Marcos critics aware that the Marcos Years were actually run with protectionism? Yes, that means what's the use really of tagging #NeverAgain with Marcos when you actually support economic protectionism? 

Scared of another Marcos leadership if we shift to parliamentary? Well, Ninoy Aquino himself that the Marcos Years were a MOCK parliamentary. I wonder how many were aware of his speech in Boston where he actually mentioned that Marcos' parliamentary and constitutional reform policies were a mockery? How can Marcos have a parliament if he is BOTH president and prime minister? He went from British to France and as Ninoy says - it's like 80 Days Around the World with what happened. Ninoy also mentioned that in a parliamentary - the president is a ceremonial power. Again, I may be questioning Ninoy as a hero but he was RIGHT in mentioning that Marcos' parliamentary was a mock, not real one. A real parliamentary would've had already kicked out Marcos by a vote of no confidence. Its' because there would be a formal opposition, Marcos would've been exposed as a fraud, and chances are he would be overthrown before 1986. Ruling for 20 years is no problem if the quality of the rule is good. The late Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore for more than 20 years and changed Singapore from a poor country into a first-world country. It's not about the number of years one rules but the quality of the rule that one gave. Not to mention, six years isn't enough to make a big difference. 

Do you wonder why the Philippines UNTIL NOW still hasn't paid back the Marcos debt? Stop complaining about the ill-gotten Marcos wealth if you support 60-40 or economic protectionism. Getting the Marcos's ill-gotten wealth back is essential but how easy is that? Why didn't the lawmakers decide to focus on FIXING the damage from the Marcos years? The inflation rate during the Marcos Years was attributed to rampant CRONY CAPITALISM. Economic protectionism restricted the supply and didn't fill in the demand. How can you expect prices to be low if supply is low and demand is high? The post-Marcos Years should've focused on dismantling the state protectionism that was further worsened under Marcos. That's what Fidel V. Ramos wanted. Later presidents such as Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Noynoy Aquino worked to ease the restrictions against foreign investments in certain sectors. However, Noynoy should've worked to get rid of the negative list entirely than just choose certain sectors to ease. If the Philippines were more open to foreign investments then that debt would've been paid back long ago without having to pursue the Marcos wealth. Foreign investments mean more jobs and more jobs mean more taxes. The more job providers mean the more taxes will be paid. Tax-exempt people are not tax-exempt other - they buy something with a VAT then they are paying for the value-added tax of the respective establishment. When they buy something with excise tax then they are paying for the excise tax.

September 21 approaches - it's time to go beyond #NeverAgain. We need to think not just of Marcos as a dictator who didn't respect life. We also need to consider that Marcos was a dictator that also disrespected life through his crony capitalist presidential government.