Not moving on

CONTRARY to what 50-something Imee Marcos assumes, the millennials haven’t moved on. They remember her late father’s sins to the people.

There is Nicole Aliasas, a 22-year-old artist, who by her lonesome, stood outside the gates of the Libingan ng mga Bayani during Marco’s burial last November 2016. She had no relatives who were victims of torture and killings in martial law, but she knows she can’t accept how a dictator can be buried a hero.

There is Shibby de Guzman, a teen high schooler from St. Scholastica, a school known for encouraging social awareness among its students. With megaphone on hand, she got our attention on how they are concerned of their future where history is forgotten to the whims of politicians and populism.

Actually the millennials are showing they are well read, aware and involved in our times. I was wrong to assume they aren’t. But those who sustained campaigns from #NeverForget to #SaveLumadSchools, #StandWithLumad, #BabaeAko are the millennials.

Sadly, it is not millennials who are in need of history or values lessons. It is rather us, the old generation. I belong to the martial law babies’ generation, and it is weird that some of my friends still think Marcos was a good leader.

I think growing up at a time with no free media and propaganda is controlled, what we know about Marcos came from talks from parents and relatives, who would say Marcos is a strongman with good intentions, that Ninoy and later Cory are communist sympathizers. They would blame Imelda or the generals for the excesses of his regime. What do we kids know about these things? We kids who were fed with Nutribun, TV episodes of Iskul Bukol, anime, songs of Freddie and Florante.