A PERSON'S legacy, especially that of a political leader, will inevitably come under reevaluation as time passes following the person's demise. This is exactly what is happening in the Philippines regarding former dictator Ferdinand Marcos as his son and others agitate to have the former politician's body moved from public display in a mausoleum to a cemetery reserved for prominent figures. Marcos was a stalwart against Communism at the height of the Cold War, the major reason that the US did everything in its power to keep Marcos in the Philippine presidency despite his abysmal human rights record. Thousands were arrested for political activities, and countless Filipinos were killed by the Marcos regime even as it looted the national treasury. No one who was alive at the time will ever forget the bizarre behavior that precipitated the dictator's abdication. The blatant government-backed assassination of Benigno Aquino was the trigger that started the process of terminating Marcos' seemingly unending presidency. Then, there was the truly strange image of one of the dictator's sons singing “We Are the World” even as the truth of the Marcos administration's abuse of its own people and its robbery of national coffers was becoming clearer and clearer. The fate of Marcos' body is clearly an internal matter for the Philippines to decide on its own. But it is interesting that, as time has passed, many Filipinos have tempered their views. No matter the behavior of his government, he was still in charge of the country for decades, and many people apparently still look to him as a father figure of sorts. Time heals all wounds goes the old saying. There are significant number of Filippinos whose wounds caused by the Marcos administration have yet to heal and, most likely, never will. The pain prompted by the loss of family members never fully passes. The time for a new debate on the Marcos legacy has arrived in Manila. __
