Veteran San Beda Lawyer and prominent supporter of Pres. Rody Duterte on social media, Atty. Bruce Villafuerte Rivera made an interesting expose about the alleged hypocrisy of the anti-Marcos supporters on social media after the controversial interview by Toni Gonzaga with former Senator Bongbong Marcos.
In a latest post on social media Atty. Bruce Rivera explained the real characteristics of the Anti-Marcos supporters and their hypocrisy of not forgiving. He made some statements regarding the issue after seeing a post sent by a friend that justified his anger on Toni Gonzaga for interviewing Marcos.
According to Atty. Rivera in the post made by his friend, he talked about the victims of Martial Law, the disaparecidos, all the murdered people and asked Toni how she can stomach giving him a platform.
Although the veteran Sen Beda lawyer claimed that he is not a Marcos supporter or defender but he was just stating some facts. He noted that he is still supporting Mayor Sara, so defending BBM at this point is not a good look especially when our generation was the first to get experience the Marcos demonization.
Despite all the demonization against the Marcos family, when the Marcoses returned to the Philippines, Atty. Rivera wondered, why do they fear someone who is dead and if he is a threat, why can they imprison them when clearly, the widow of Ninoy is President and the family is treated like royalty in the country.
Atty. Rivera also asked further that, if the Marcos family is evil, why are they able to come back and regain what they lost. Why did 30 years of demonization fail to convince the nation to shun the family.
Why are Ilocanos so proud of the family no amount of textbook, movies, documentary, news and propaganda can convince them.
When Duterte presidency happened, Atty. Rivera saw how it is when the powerful does not like someone in power. I saw how they can use media to both hostage our thoughts and influence our choices. He saw how media can dictate how we will vote and their role in demonizing the Marcos family.
When Pres. Duterte allowed former Pres. Marcos to be buried, he was demonized by the same enemies of Marcos, but this time around there is social media having more influence than traditional media. Social media indeed played a huge role in the Duterte victory so he was not indebted to those who hated Marcos who controlled the narrative before.
Atty. Rivera explained that the best way to make a judgment is to give all the sides an opportunity to argue their point. Those who say that Marcos is murderer but are afraid to listen to what his son has to say reeks of hypocrisy because you do not have the moral compass to call out when you are cancelling out their ability to thell their sotry. That is indeed unfair and hypocritical.
Read the Complete Statement of Atty. Bruce Rivera:
THE HYPOCRISY OF NOT FORGIVING
I saw a post sent by a friend that justified his anger on Toni Gonzaga for interviewing BBM. In his post, he talked about the victims of Martial Law, the disaparecidos, all the murdered people and asked Toni how she can stomach giving him a platform.
And let me be clear, I am supporting Inday Sara so defending BBM at this point is not a good look especially when our generation was the first to get to experience the Marcos demonization. I read Primitivo Mijares book, watched A Dangerous Life and was 14 years old when Marcos was ousted.
And I saw how difficult it was to be open about supporting Marcos because my grandparents on my father side were staunch Apo supporters and they had to keep quier because it would court controversy in the family. We saw how the society shunned Amay Bisaya, Alona Alegre and so many who openly showed their support. I saw how evil the Marcoses where portrayed and it became normal to us because we see it on TV.
However, when the Marcoses returned to the Philippines despite moves to prevent them, I wondered, why do they fear someone who is dead? And if he is a threat, why can they not imprison them when clearly, the widow of Ninoy is president and the family is treated like royalty.
In the political scene, the so-called pro-Marcos politicians began to show up. Tatad was even Senator. Imelda Marcos became Congresswoman in all the districts she ran despite protests, the Marcos family regained the political influence they lost, BBM won the Senate in the top 4 and Imee won in 2019 after being governor and congresswoman.
So I asked the question. If the Marcos family is evil, why are they able to come back and regain what they lost. Why did 30 years of demonization fail to convince the nation to shun the family. Why are Ilocanos so proud of the family no amount of textbook, movies, documentary, news and propaganda can convince them.
Then Duterte happened. I saw how it is when the powerful does not like someone in power. I saw how they can use media to both hostage our thoughts and influence our choices. I saw how media can dictate how we will vote and their role in demonizing the Marcos family.
And when Duterte allowed FM to be buried, he will be demonized by the same enemies of Marcos. But this time, there is social media having more influence than the traditional media. Social media played a huge role in the Duterte victory so he was not indebted to those who hated Marcos who controlled the narrative before.
What I am trying to say is this: those who cry for the victims of Martial Law fail to understand that many no longer want to be reminded of the time they were victims. Ferdinand Marcos died in exile, if the crimes are true, then that is justice by itself.
If we can reward the people we see as heroes by electing his widow and son, we cannot just punish the children of the person we see as the dictator especially when we become aware of the fact that we may have been brainwashed and that the truth we just accepted because it is the only thing that was shown on TV and that the truth may have been manipulated.
The best way to make a judgment is to give all the sides an opportunity to argue their point. Those who say that Marcos is a murderer but are afraid to listen to what his son has to say reeks of hypocrisy because you do not have the moral compass to call out when you are also cancelling out their ability to tell their story. That is unfair.
And hypocritical.
And yes, many Filipinos went missing or dead during Martial Law. However, if we only blame the Marcos family while we elect his generals, vote for the daughter of a judge in his presidency as our Vice President, is it a unfair and misplaced.
The reality is that a lot of bad things also happened to Filipinos when PNoy, Cory, GMA or Erap were president. But we do not blame all these things on the sitting president. The very people blaming Marcos for the deaths during Martial Law are blaming Duterte for the drug war.
But many conveniently forget that the victims in the Martial Law are suspected NPA who may be killed by soldiers or purged by the NPA themselves in the same way we refuse to see drug victims maybe killed by the police or may have been silenced by the drug syndicates.
When you condemn Marcos or Duterte and use their victims as a reason for your anger but you promote or even condone by silence the CPP NPA, you have just lost your case. When you call Duterte a murderer and you shout from your lofty pulpit and you are allowed to shout, you lost your case. When you want to cancel another because you do not want their side of the story, you lost the case.
The only reason people want to hear the Marcoses is because they have not been allowed to speak. Because media have not given them the fair chance the same way they gave those who are against them.
And a lot of us who want to know both sides have heard only one side exclusively for 30 years. That is also the reason why Filipinos do not really believe all they hear in the news. The reason why Filipinos go to social media for the news is because they are not sure of what the truth is because we just realize that media also has an agenda.
The estate who is supposed to tell the truth was exposed to be untruthful because of how they have been unfair to Duterte.
Toni's interview with BBM will never happen in 1989 or 1999 or 2009. First, no one would even think Filipinos want to know because during our truth closed our minds. Second, there is no social media to open our mind to the possibility. Third, mainstream media will not spend valuable airtime to someone they already judged as unfavorable.
I am not saying you forgive. Hindi lahat naniniwala sa pagpapatawad na turo ng Diyos. Ang ayaw ko lang ay yung nagkukunwaring Kristiyano at galit sa mga Marcos habang walang imik sa ginagawa ng CPP NPA.
Kasi nakakasuka ang kaplastikan.
Bruce Villafuerte Rivera
Source: Atty. Rivera FB Page
Reviewed by Phil Newsome
on
September 20, 2021
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