Why we need Ferdinand Marcos today

When will this hullabaloo end?

There are so many things going wrong right now that I’m left wondering what kind of president can put a stop to all this chaos.

Feel free to ride your De Lorean for this one. We’ve only had 14 presidents, excluding the incumbent one that can’t figure things out. Feel free to choose from Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo up to Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. But if you ask me, I’m placing my bet on Ferdinand Marcos.

Before you start bashing me for writing this piece, kindly hold on to your horses.

Every Filipino knows that the Martial Law era was one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history. It’s right there with the Spanish, American and Japanese occupation. And to say that the guy behind it can run things right today, is well, kinda lucrative, especially coming from a person who wasn’t even born during that time.

But as the Aaron Carter song goes, though I’m not old enough to have any first-hand account of the Marcos regime, I’m not too young to just start thinking out loud without any basis for such idea.

Let’s just have a quick recap of what’s happening in the country right now:

Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis, North Ave. double whammy (courtesy of the informal settlers at Sitio San Roque and some FX drivers), the unresolved Maguindanao/Ampatuan massacre, La Salle-grenade incident, the public protecting a criminal’s rights, and now, you got people getting killed, abducted or raped in broad daylight. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Drugs, gambling, economic development and corruption, the list is endless and longer at that.

Now, in retrospect, based on the stories I’ve read from people who were around during 1960s-1980s, crime wasn’t a big issue during the heydays of Ferdinand Marcos.

Back when Big Mac was in charge, the entire archipelago had the respect of its Asian neighbors. Fast forward to year 2010 and everybody tries their best to be anything but similar to the Philippines.

Drugs proliferated in your neighborhood? Marcos can fix that. He’ll probably grab the generation’s biggest drug lord and have him shot by a firing squad ala Lim Seng – a warning to all those who aspire or are in the drug dealership trade.

Perverts wouldn’t even dare unleash their sexual rage on a defenseless person, more so a minor during McKoy’s presidency. The people who raped Maggie dela Rivera were executed in less than four months after she filed a complaint against the four men who violated her.

If Marcos was still in office, the six guys who raped a nurse in Cotabato City and the 11 men who raped 2 girls in Negros are probably cowering in fear right now. Actually they should be thankful that Marcos just wants to put an end to their pathetic lives. If you ask me, they deserve to have their sex organs chopped off by means of primitive methods. That way, they’ll have a reminder of their f---ing mistake for the rest of their lives. I bet even Hayden Kho would have gotten a taste of Marcos’ wrath if the pornographer filmed his videos during the 80s.

Just can’t say the same for Ampatuans though. McKoy is responsible for the deaths of several journalists.

If Marcos is still around, I’d like to see the impulsive and aggressive youth of today pull something like killing their teacher or setting up explosives during the Bar Exams with hordes of soldiers roaming the streets of Metro Manila.

Informal settlers and FX drivers would think twice before clogging up EDSA just to fight for their right. Given that Marcos has been accused and found guilty for a number of human rights violations, do you think you’d be treated any better for anarchic acts, regardless of age?

Ex-Police Inspector Rolando Mendoza wouldn’t even take anyone hostage even in his wildest dreams. McKoy’s government did favor law enforcers and soldiers so he didn’t have to demand for his benefits. He could’ve gotten it, and more, in advance.

How about Ivan Padilla? He’s a criminal, period. But that would be in Marcos’ time.

Even the economy was better during the first few years of Marcos’ presidency. Just go ask the poor and Manny Castañeda of DZMM. Yesterday, in his show Talakan, he said back then, the only difference between the rich and the poor was the latter was eating a cheaper version of what ever the former was having. Just don’t ask the rich. McKoy can go to hell for all they care.

My friends, this is the price we pay for ousting the dictator. This is the price of our freedom.

I didn’t write this piece and threw every bad thing that Marcos did out of the window. In fact, I encourage you to keep all of it in mind. Research, discover, remember and never let those lessons of history go, because that may be the very legacy that McKoy left behind.

Filipinos are not yet ready to be free. We have no right to be free when we ourselves don’t know how to police ourselves. We have no right to liberty when we squabble amongst ourselves for a solution to a problem slowly getting out of hand.

We need a dictator to maintain order, a disciplinarian to limit and correct our mistakes, and lastly a villain. Yes, we need a common enemy to unite all of us, you know, someone like Lelouch. We need someone we can fool into thinking we abide by his rules then do as we please behind his back. Because by doing so, we save ourselves from exposing the animals in all of us – tame when in captivity, wild when free.

Democracy is overrated. While it granted us with so much power, it isn’t as user-friendly as the gadgets coming out nowadays. We can probably learn from our mistakes overtime, but won’t it be too late before we’ve fully understand what it takes to be free?

And while were thinking of a solution to the problem, the rallies that bother even the innocent passersby, the opposition that gets us nowhere, the rebel forces that shouldn't be around, the beer drinking sessions along the street that causes quite a ruckus in your barangay, the drugs, the jueteng and the corruption that even in Marcos’ time was rampant (at least he had roads and hospitals constructed during his time, heck even the MRT was his idea) live on.

Yes, I wasn’t born in the Martial Law era. Yes, I didn’t know how harsh McKoy was. But for a guy who hasn't seen anything better, can you blame me for wishing him back?