THIS SEEMINGLY insolent and impudent government headed by the Marcos administration still forcefully tries to control history in an embarrassing way as they try to protect their already tarnished and notorious name by continuing to rewrite history through wanting to remove the term “Diktaturang Marcos.” As Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vice president is also the secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd), the top two executives of the regime are making efforts to get people to forget the fact that the reprehensible dictatorship of the namesake of the former strongman should still be answered by him, who is now the chief executive. While they may tackle socio-political issues like this in the newly revised MATATAG curriculum, this still does not erase the fact that the regime wants learners to suffer not only from their poorly thought-out curriculums but also from their uneducated heterodoxy.

            Recently, the Education Program Supervisor (EPS) of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Cavite in Araling Panlipunan, Emily Quinto, shared that with recent news of wanting to revise the term “dictator” in DepEd modules, she notes that history is history and the government should not replace that. Furthermore, the official also added that the past tyrant should be remembered for his deplorable actions because history is not just mere gossip. Despite this, she assures that the education sector will tackle the West Philippine Sea (WPS) disputes and even the social and human injustices prevalent in society, notwithstanding the statement she previously mentioned.

            The martial law issued during the dictatorship of the late Marcos has claimed hundreds of lives, with thousands of activists and politically aware citizens being reported as missing, some of whom, up until now, have yet to be found. This is just a testament to the actual impact of the injustices that the dictator did to Juan in the first place, which this Marcos, who only won because of nepotism, wants the people to forget. From this, the idea that they can just plainly erase history from the minds of the Filipinos just because they want the people to forget the people they have tortured—which albeit is not happening now, the chief executive is just tormenting the country due to his unfulfilled promises like low prices of rice and absence from the Department of Agriculture (DA) for six months as its once secretary—is a testament to the new iteration of the political dynasty that is the Marcoses, who definitely “love” its devoted loyalists and apologists.

            Furthermore, words are not just words that can be plainly erased just to protect the fragile image of someone who was hurt, because people are coming to realize the fact that his father was a tyrant with no mercy who was willing to kill hundreds just to protect his pretentious facade. The word dictator can make the youth aware of the wrongs that happened before, which can steer them down the path when they eventually turn into registered voters. They will never repeat the same mistakes that past voters made by electing tyrants like Marcos. Additionally, this just proves that the current administration wants to brainwash the people to accept their propaganda that the last dictatorship was justified, because those who claim that the Philippines was in a golden age back then already deny the injustices that once happened—which DepEd only wants to promote.

            Moreover, as they promise that social injustices and issues like the WPS disputes will be tackled in the new curriculum, specifically in catch-up Fridays, it should not be forgotten that this is nonsense due to the fact that Marcos is like a blind servant lapdog to China and it is also repulsive to see that the government has already done historical revisionism before, just like what they did to the Adarna House Foundation, which showed their lack of guts to face the truth behind the actions of his father. This shows that prevalent injustices like this are only becoming more and more malevolent due to the fact that the administration still does not get enough criticism for their actions. If only the roots of ignorance in loyalists were gone, then this would not enable the winning of Marcos during the election and continuing his debauchery due to them being blinded by their blind faith in Marcos, whose only advocacy was to give vague promises, just like the promises of low prices of rice.

            Should this revisionism take place once more by the current administration, this is just another testament that the country will still be bound by shackles with the students not learning a thing of the past, allowing the Marcos who have had deplorable pasts to be removed, thus allowing those who do not know a thing to be doomed to repeat the past. The government should admit the fact that the dictatorship happened, compensate for their sins by having the chief executive step down from his post, and never let revisions of the past happen ever again by condemning the Marcos and Duterte tandem themselves. Unless, of course, they want to continue on this depravity in fooling the people by continuing on their uneducated heterodoxy.

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