‘Golden era’ vs.

martial law: Filipinos on Maui

see Marcos legacy through different lenses
UECHI, C. O. L. L. E. E. N. (Ed.). (2022, May 14). ‘Golden era’ vs. martial law: Filipinos on
Maui see Marcos legacy through different lenses. The Maui News. Retrieved May 16,
2022, from https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2022/05/golden-era-vs-martial-
law-filipinos-on-maui-see-marcos-legacy-through-different-lenses/

Kit Zulueta Furukawa’s hands were shaking as she shaded in her

absentee ballot for the 2022 Philippine presidential elections.

The Wailuku business owner born during martial law felt the weight of
the elections in her home country — pitting the current vice president
and former human rights lawyer Leni Robredo against longtime
politician Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the son of a former dictator
who is remembered by some for ushering in a “golden age” and by others
for imposing a reign of political oppression and violence.

“I had to take a deep breath. It was a moment like the world stopped
around me,” said Furukawa, who cast her vote for Robredo and flew to
Honolulu to sign her ballot in person at the consulate. “It was such an
emotional vote.”

By Wednesday, Marcos Jr. had declared victory after collecting more

than 31 million votes to Robredo’s more than 14 million votes in an
unofficial count from Monday’s polls, the Associated Press reported.
His vice-presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, also appeared to
have won by a landslide.

For many Filipinos in Hawaii, the elections hit close to home, not only
for those who voted from overseas or have family there but also for
those who remember when Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his wife Imelda
Marcos fled to Hawaii in 1986 after being ousted from power in 1986.

On Maui, the Marcos family’s legacy is seen through different lenses,

from the economic prosperity that some recall from their youth and the
terror that others say their family members felt just for speaking out
against the government.
Mike Agcolicol was almost 10 years old and living in the province of
Pangasinan when then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial
law in the Philippines in 1972.

His mother was a teacher and his father was a lawyer who commuted to
Manila and came home to the farm on the weekends. Mostly, Agcolicol
remembers the heavy sense of discipline — the nightly curfews when the
roads were empty except for emergencies, the soldiers who told people to
cut their long hair, perhaps in hopes of rooting out the rebels who were
coming from outside the city, Agcolicol wonders.

Economically, things were pretty good for the Agcolicol family. They
didn’t go hungry and they owned a secondhand car, a 1964 Falcon, and
could travel freely between cities.

For the Wailuku business owner, the thing that sticks out most in his
mind from the Marcos era is the infrastructure projects.

“He’s a good leader because the economic situation, he’ll know what to
do, how to borrow, where to put the money in for the projects,
infrastructure,” Agcolicol said. “Just like all the hydroelectric power
plants in the Philippines. Most of the power plants, geothermal plants,
power for energy, it’s all projects by Marcos. Roadways from north to
south, expressways. Cultural centers, convention centers, all over the
place.”

Agcolicol added that he wasn’t taking sides in the election and would
have backed whoever won.

“Win or lose we support,” he said. “It’s for the country.”

Maui resident and business owner Angelina Abapo also remembers life
during the Marcos era as a time of “peace and order.”

“I was in the Philippines during the Marcos regime,” Abapo said via

text. “And I personally like (how) the late Ferdinand Marcos run the
government. His legacy there was peace and order and less
corruptions!”
Watching her home country from afar, Abapo said she felt “precarious
and at the same time excited as to the results of the election.” She
believed Marcos Jr. would win, pointing out that he had the support of
both the north and the south, where her family is from.

“The resounding victory of BBM and Sara Duterte simply means that
the Filipinos including myself believes that their platform of
government is the answer to the weakening economy and peace and
order in my country,” Abapo said.

Abapo said descriptions of Marcos Sr. as corrupt

are “propaganda” aimed at destroying the Marcos family’s image.

“The fault of the father is not the fault of the son!” she said. “They are
the unifying team. Give BBM and Sara a chance to run the country.”

Furukawa, however, said Marcos Jr. has spent years trying to change his
family’s reputation, thriving off a disinformation campaign online that’s
helped whitewash their past. Hawaii is also “highly Marcos
territory,” and the favorable picture many Filipino immigrants have of
him has been passed down to generations, she said.

“Many families have supported the Marcos family, and if you interact
with them, they would say during the Marcos regime, the Philippines
was in the golden era,” said Furukawa, who hails from Quezon City in
Manila. “They don’t even mention the martial law, just completely deny
the wrongdoing of the Marcoses.”

Furukawa said she has family who experienced martial law in the
Philippines, including uncles who were involved in student government
organizations and rallies and were subject to “red-tagging,” essentially
getting blacklisted by the government and fearing possible execution.
She knows of friends on Oahu who were jailed and tortured, and others
who remember the arrival of the Marcos family in Hawaii “with their
boxes filled with jewelry and money.”
That’s why this year’s election “brings back some trauma” for the victims
of martial law, Furukawa said. Marcos Jr.’s win is not just a loss for
Robredo, “it’s a loss for the Filipino community.”

“This election it was really unprecedented in the way that there’s a

stark difference in the top two candidates,” Furukawa said. “It’s a choice
between a highly competent economist and lawyer who has proven a
great track record, zero corruption issues, versus a strongman who
comes from a well-known family with a history of theft, a history of
crimes convicted in court, who has billions of unpaid taxes, with not so
much to put to his name in terms of projects or accomplishments.”

Danielle, who grew up in the Philippines and asked that her last name
not be published out of concern for her business, said she voted for
Robredo.

“VP Leni Robredo, you can see how much she has helped the Filipinos
during the pandemic especially,” Danielle said. “I have so many friends
who attended the rallies. I watched the rallies online, and it gives hope
to us.”

Danielle remembers learning about the Marcos regime in high school,

about the people who died just because they spoke out against the
government, about the news outlets that the government shut down.

She said if Marcos Jr.’s supporters don’t want to judge the son on
account of the father, they also can’t give him credit for his father’s work
either.

“If he wants to own his dad’s accomplishments, why doesn’t he want

people to connect the bad things his dad did?” she asked. “It’s really
scary to have a president with that background, even though they’ve
(the Marcos government) built a lot of infrastructure in the Philippines.
I think that’s what people see. That’s why they say oh, they did a lot of
stuff. But that was their job.”
BUOD: