It's Bobong-Bobo To Demonize Bobong Marcos While Supporting Presidentialism-Protectionism With Bobong Reasons To Do So

Credits to Benjie Jr. Contreras for this scan

I don't know if I should laugh or cringe at this demonization of Bongbong ahem BOBONG Marcos which I heard is part of the Laban Leni comics. I'm just laughing at this childish tactic. Back then, we had the "hit comic book" called Sa Ginta Ng Unos. We have Wonder Leni after the release of Super Mar last 2016. This is probably a desperate tactic (and a very stupid one) because it seems that a Bobong Marcos presidency is unavoidable. People are too focused on Bobong's being a Marcos than him lying about Oxford (if ever) or for whatever reasons. Then again what makes you think Leni Loud Robredo is automatically better because Bobong is well... bobong?

I find the whole anti-Marcos movement stupid not because I support the Marcoses. I'm anti-Marcos and I regret why I even gave Bobong a chance last elections. I even wanted to believe Bobong win until I realized he deserved to L-O-S-E. I decided to watch The Kingmaker which also featured the late Noynoy Aquino (who left us too soon). The book From Third World to First also featured the late Lee Kuan Yew's encounter with the late despot Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. in his chapter about the Philippines. The Marcos Years weren't the golden years such as how inflation and subsidy ruined the economy. It's very easy to talk about the Marcos crimes such as illegal detention, extreme censorship, and having only ONE station which made the Philippines near to North Korea. Those were some of the characteristics that we commonly read or hear about the Marcos Years. I've heard about those experiences from my elders. 

However, there's still some fake news regarding the Marcos Years used to push anti-reform talk

It's very easy to talk about the Tallano Gold being a myth - which it IS A MYTH. It's very easy to talk about how Marcos stole money but why is it HARDLY MENTIONED that the Marcos Years were HIGHLY PROTECTIONIST YEARS. I'm amazed at how the Monsods and JC Punongbayad (of Rappler) could talk and talk about the inflation of the Marcos Years. I'm NOT saying that they're wrong in that regard. The big issue is that while it's RIGHT to talk about the Marcos Years as the darkest years of Philippine history - the wrong side is when fake news is spread along the way.

I think one of the biggest FAKE NEWS about the Marcos Years is that it was a legitimate parliament. Some people say that a parliamentary system wouldn't work in the Philippines because of the Marcos Years. However, the digital age can now allow us to access important stuff such as Ninoy's speech in Boston (and take note that he's a co-founder of PDP-Laban which President Rodrigo R. Duterte hails from) where he talked that the Marcos Years were a MOCK PARLIAMENTARY. Lee even called the so-called "prime minister" namely Cesar Virata a SITTING DUCK of a politician. If Virata was truly a prime minister and the Philippines was truly a parliament - Marcos would just be symbolic as a president. A real parliamentary system would've had Marcos and Ninoy duke it out in a weekly question hour. EDSA 1986 wouldn't even happen because Marcos' shortcomings will be exposed ON AIR on a real parliament. Marcos may even be shamed by a vote of no confidence if his party and the opposition deem him unfit to rule the country. Yet, the fake news that the Marcos Years were a parliamentary to begin with.

I think another piece of fake news is that the truth about protectionism was withheld. Lee had mentioned in his book that the accepted wisdom of the "development economists" was that of protectionism. Lee challenged that wrong thinking when he invited foreign investors to do business in Singapore WHILE IT STRUGGLED. That's why I'm challenging the credibility (not the credentials) of a Filipino economist who says protectionism is better. I'm not denying Winnie Colitas-Monsod has a real degree in contrast to Bobong. However, I want to think that Winnie herself is most likely a dishonest prick who gets paid to lie. I think the same is true for her husband Christian Monsod. I can admire how they managed to stick as a couple. However, I can't admire how they dare to say that foreign investment just played a "minor role" in development of Singapore. WTF. Seriously? Lack of foreign investment due to HEAVY PROTECTIONIST POLICIES also helped the Marcoses in their power struggle! Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Pol Pot, and Mao Zedong were also protectionist freaks! 

Besides, one of the things that Ninoy exposed in his Boston speech was how the 1973 Constitution was an ILLEGAL MOVE. The 1987 Constitution wasn't meant to be set in stone either. Amendments can be made with a legitimate constitutional assembly. In short, if the 1987 Constitution has a flaw that needs to be corrected then IT CAN BE CORRECTED. Has Hilario "Hilarious" Davide Jr. ever forgot that when he was one of its framers? Marcos bribed officials and the change of constitution during 1973 was best compared to 80 Days Around the World. It was pretty much how Palpatine went from Supreme Chancellor to Galactic Emperor to abolishing the Imperial Senate in Star Wars. Palpatine created the Imperial Senate to be for show. Marcos created the Parliament to be for show. So, Duterte's desire for charter change is NOT EVEN ILLEGAL under constitutional assembly. A legislative is needed not just to implement laws but to amend and make news relevant to the modern age. The "1987" is just a label so it's possible to remove excessive foreign investment restrictions WITHOUT writing a new constitution. I think it might be possible to even go parliamentary by amending the current constitution without rewriting it entirely.

The empirical data is already there that the Marcos Years wasn't a parliament nor was it foreign investment-friendly. Don't tell me that the Philippines went poor because Marcos invited foreign investors to invest? If one can provide empirical data for that then by all means they should receive a billion pesos tax free. If not, they should probably get barred from history forums because they're spreading FAKE NEWS. Don't tell me that Imelda Romualdez-Marcos' shoes were brought in by foreign investors. The Marcos Years started the OFW phenomenon and even worsened the late Carlos P. Garcia's "Failipino First Policy". That's why both Marcos and Garcia deserve to be buried next to each other. The empirical data of the abuses is one thing. The empirical data regarding Marcos' "parliament" and poor economic policies are just as important. 

I guess that's why Clueless Benign0 of Get Real Philippines is really that anti-reform. I guess what matters to the ever-clueless guy is that the Marcoses return to power. Sometimes, I can't help but think that Get Real Philippines might as well be guilty of fake news when it comes to the Marcoses. I guess that's why Benign0 even IGNORANTLY STATED in his weak argument during COVID-19. I guess that's why Benign0 foolishly even said that the Philippines should learn to support itself primarily through domestic production. Isn't that what Marcos even said? I'm amazed that Clueless Benign0 even lives in AUSTRALIA - a country that greatly benefited from foreign investment! Even funnier is how Clueless Benign0 would rather argue with that idiot Pinktard, Darth Moron the Wuss, than focus on solutions. That's why I thnk Orion Perez Dumdum was rightly justified in leaving the said group!

Any call to dismiss constitutional reforms just because of fake news about Marcos is stupid. I don't want to deny the human rights abuses and the bad economy. Marcos' protectionist policies allowed him and his allies to enrich themselves. Marcos was ousted as a PRESIDENT and the 1973 Constitution was a PRESIDENTIAL system. We're now in the digital age so we can see the obvious EMPIRICAL DATA that the Marcos years were neither parliamentary nor foreign investment-friendly. Besides, a new constitution even had to be written because Marcos' faulty 1973 Constitution was what gave him even more power than presidents have now. Though, the 1987 Constitution still needs to be reformed every now and then to fit with whatever needs there are. Enough half-truths about why the Marcos Years were horrible, okay?