BACOLOD CITY - When presidential aspirant, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. came into town last February 23, 2022, eyebrows were raised among Bacolod and Negros Occidental citizens as to who came out to support the son of the former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.
It was of no surprise that Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer was leading the party to welcome Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The dots are so easy to connect. Vice Governor Ferrer is the spouse of the Representative of Negros Occidental's 4th District, Hon. Juliet Marie "Yoyette" Ferrer, daughter of Philippine movie industry icon Kitchie Benedicto. Kitchie Benedicto was the daughter of former Philippine Ambassador Roberto S. Benedicto, who is known to have been Ferdinand Marcos' crony for cornering the proceeds of the sugar industry.
Under Martial Law, then President Marcos allowed Benedicto (known locally as "RSB") to take control of the Philippine Exchange Company (Philex), which monopolized the sugar planters' international trade. Benedicto used Philex to buy cheap sugar from local producers and sell it abroad for large profits, largely at the expense of the planters who in turn could not in turn pay back bank loans and wages of people in their farms.
The domino effect was that hunger was widespread in the countryside, breeding an insurgency and making Negros island a hotbed for local communist rebels.
These were the worst days of Negros after World War II and most Negros sugar planters remember how bitter those days were. Only most remember the bitter days of unrest and hunger in Negros because when Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. flew in last week, it seemed like quite a lot had forgotten their sorry state under the plunder of RSB.
Without having to name names, they were there. The ones who left for the US in the early 1980s as students or as young professionals to start a new life because there was hardly any future for them left in Bacolod. Today, having bounced back, living well, and retired or semi-retired in Bacolod, they are now throwing support behind Bong-Bong Marcos, oblivious to the agonies of their late parents who staunchly fought RSB and Marcos.
As if to spit on the graves of their deceased parents who hurt the most during the RSB years, the fresh local supporters came out in red and green in adulation of the dictator's son.
When one looks back, there will always be the supporters of the late President Marcos in Negros. Even back then under Marcos years, there were families who were loyal to Marcos up in the north and down in the south. No one forgets the infamy of the Escalante massacre in 1985. So yes, FM loyalists have their place in Negros. And yes, you have to give them some loyalty award for being there all throughout.
What puzzles though is the selective amnesia many have shown. It is one thing to support FM Jr. because you were there all along like your father was an Assemblyman during Marcos time and you had access to FM, getting some minor favors from the strongman along the way. But it is definitely another story, painfully hilarious, to see the ones shouting, "Sama Sama tayo Babangon Muli", knowing very wall that thirty six years ago, they were at the Bacolod Public Plaza chanting, "Tama Na! Sobra Na! Palitan Na!".
As it is, with a strong following, in Negros, you have to hand it to the supporters of the Uni-Team for having called up the ghost of the Marcos crony and plunderer Roberto S. Benedicto, as if to sneer on all who were victimized, "I'm baaaaack!".
This only prompts those on the other side of the fence, whether for Pacquiao, Lacson, Isko, or Leni, to fight harder as never before.
