September 21

Fr. Leo Pabayo.

September 21 is also a significant day in our history. In a previous article entitled, “August 21” I wrote that August 21 is very significant for our nation because two events in our history happened on two separate August 21s which changed the course of our history two times. The first one was the August 21, 1971 bombing of the Liberal Party “miting de abanse” at Plaza Miranda. The second one was the August 21 assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983.
The first one led to the declaration of Martial Law which was on September 21, 1971. The declaration of Martial Law on this day marked the end of democracy and the beginning of 15 years of dictatorship. These 15 years were also days terror for those who dared oppose the Marcos regime. They were years of the disappearances, intimidations, “salvagings” of people opposed to the dictatorship. These were years when some of the best among the young perished. One of the most well them was Edgar Jopson, President of the Ateneo de Manila Student Council and of the National Union of Students in the Philippines who sadly too refuge by joining the Communists. The days of terror reached its highest point in the August 21, 1983 assassination of Ninoy Aquino. 

This assassination, however, also marked the beginning of the end of the Marcos dictatorship as well as the beginning of the restoration of democracy in our country. This restoration would be fully realized in the People Power Revolution at EDSA and the assumption of Cory Aquino to the presidency. 

Sylvia Mayuga who wrote for the Philippine Star and Daily Inquirer wrote on the fetish of Marcos for number 7 and its multiples, like number 21. It is therefore very interesting to note that several significant political events during the Marcos regime were related to number 7 and 21 in the calendar. It was also on the 21st of July when Emmanuel Pelaez was ambushed and nearly killed. When pressured by Washington to hold a snap election, Marcos chose February 7 as the date for it. There is a good reason to believe that that Marcos chose the 21^stof February as the day he ordered the arrest Ramos and Enrile and the members of the Reformed Arm Forces of the Philippines (RAM) who were plotting to stage a coup against him. The nation got to know of this on February 22 when Cardinal Sin had called on the people to come and help Ramos and Enrile.  

It is important to note the superstitious cast of mind of Marcos because it tells us something of the dark side in his character that partly explains why his coming the power had snuffed the lights out of the democratic ideals that our country was living on.

Superstition is a sign of loss of faith in God. When a man is out of touch with God he derives the basic moral norms of his conduct elsewhere, not on the wisdom or the word of God. The norm will be whatever will satisfy his inordinate desire for wealth, fame and power, going against the Lord’s counsel contained in the words He spoke to the devil in Chapter 4 of the Gospel according to Matthew such as `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, etc….’. For the superstitious man, the mysteries of the Christian faith are superseded by superstition.   

Marcos was a card-carrying Christian but he seemed not to have subscribed to the teachings of Christ. This was evident in his Machiavellian political philosophy. If Silvia Mayuga was right the superstition that Marcos subscribed to was some kind of numerology. He must have sought meaning and guidance from it. Numerology is the belief in the magical powers of number and seeks an explanation for things that happen in numbers. It was an ancient belief but have adherents today. Wikipedia states that “Today, numerology is often associated with the occult, alongside astrology and similar divinatory arts.”

To have a leader who seeks an explanation to the mystery of life in superstition is to have the fate of the nation on what pleases him and his superstitious beliefs.

When this happens, all the ideals of our Christian faith as well as the ideals of democracy that we live by are thrown out the window. The sad effects of the Marcos regime still reverberate today.  As Christians, we can only hope and pray that in his last days Marcos received some enlightenment from God before he passed away.