News Roundup 04 December 2022
Dec 04, 2022 • 5 min Read
What’s in a name? ‘Maharlika’ evokes time of mythmaking | INQUIRER.NET – Ang Mga Maharlika was the supposed anti-Japanese guerilla unit led by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a claim that has been repeatedly debunked. “Maharlika,” or warrior class, was a term used and popularized by the dictator to mean nobility as a propaganda tool. A national highway and a hall in Malacañang Palace were named Maharlika. Now, decades after Marcos was ousted, a bill in Congress is seeking to create a sovereign wealth fund to be called Maharlika. Opposition lawmaker Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the proposed measure was apparently aimed at helping “rehabilitate” the image of the president’s late father, Ferdinand Marcos, whose regime was marked by widespread corruption and human rights abuses. “The mere mention of ‘maharlika’ sends me heebie-jeebies,” Hontiveros said on Friday. “It’s part of the legacy of the martial law dictatorship, the mythmaking that they are really milking to rehabilitate those images to the detriment of accountability for human rights violations and plunder of the past,” she said.
Discredited
The role of Marcos during the war, particularly his claim that he was a decorated soldier and leader of the guerilla unit, has been repeatedly discredited by research and archived documents from the United States, which ruled the country as a commonwealth before World War II. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) in a study released in 2016 ahead of his burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani described his military record as one that is “fraught with myths, factual inconsistencies and lies.” Its study was based on documents and official websites of US government agencies concerned, among other sources, and was undertaken as “part of its mandate to conduct and disseminate historical research and resolve historical controversies,” the NHCP said. According to the commission, Marcos himself claimed he had received “major” medals — the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and the Order of the Purple Heart—but several writers and historians disputed this.
‘Atrocities’ vs compatriots
Military records repeatedly stated that the US government never recognized his guerilla unit, Ang Mga Maharlika, and his leadership of it because of grave doubts about its authenticity, according to the NHCP. In 1986, the New York Times reported that between 1945 and 1948 various US Army officers rejected Marcos’ requests for official recognition of Maharlika, calling his claims distorted, exaggerated, fraudulent, contradictory, and absurd. The Times added that the United States Veterans’ Administration, with help from the Philippine Army, found in 1950 that those who had claimed membership in Maharlika had actually been committing “atrocities” against Filipino civilians rather than fighting the Japanese. The Washington Post also ran articles on Marcos’ allegedly bogus claims, quoting research done by John Sharkey, its assistant foreign editor who cited US Army records. “At no time did the Army recognize that any unit designating itself as Maharlika ever exist as a guerrilla force in the years of Japanese occupation 1942 to 1945,” the US Army said.
Vergeire: State auditors can get vax deal documents | INQUIRER.NET – Department of Health (DOH) officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that documents pertaining to the government’s multibillion-peso COVID-19 vaccine purchases could be handed to state auditors, contrary to the position of her predecessor that these could not be shown to the Commission on Audit (COA). The nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) signed by the DOH with the vaccine manufacturers included “exemptions stating that if it is required by law, [or] if it’s required because of the process for auditing or investigation, we can already share [the documents],” Vergeire said. This matter is also being studied by the health department’s legal team to avoid possible breach of contract, she added. Vergeire’s statement contradicted the stand of former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who informed the COA in a letter that the health agency could not release the procurement documents because of the legally binding NDAs. Duque’s refusal to hand over the documents was disclosed by new COA Chair Gamaliel Cordoba during his confirmation hearing at the Commission on Appointments last week. Cordoba warned that the COA would take legal action, including issuing a subpoena to the DOH, if it continued to refuse to submit the documents, asserting that his agency was “not bound by the NDAs.”
‘Special audit’
But Vergeire pointed out that it was the DOH that had asked the COA for a “special audit” of the national government’s vaccine procurement after the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), two of the world’s largest multilateral lenders, “required” an audit to be conducted. She also said the DOH would support and cooperate with the COA once it starts its audit of the COVID-19 vaccine deals.
Quiapo Church starts runup to Nazarene feast | PHILSTAR.COM – The Quiapo Church started this month a series of activities to mark the feast of the Black Nazarene in January 2023 as part of its efforts to ensure the celebration would not become a superspreader event. The church started the “pagdalaw” on Dec. 1 to bring the image to “visit” different communities, hospitals and government agencies, according to Bong Grajo, Nazareno 2023 coordinator. The “pagdalaw” will run until Dec. 15 but will be suspended from Dec. 16 to 26 to give way to the traditional Simbang Gabi or dawn masses. The visits will resume on Dec. 27 to 29, Grajo said. He added that the blessing of the images or replicas of the Black Nazarene and the “istandarte” or the flags of different groups of devotees will be held twice each day from Dec. 27 to 29 at the Plaza Miranda. Grajo emphasized that a different route from last year will be opened for the blessing leading to Plaza Miranda. He said the devotees’ entrance will be on Rizal Avenue going to Plaza Miranda and exit on Quezon Boulevard, which is different from the usual route of Quezon Boulevard going to Plaza Miranda. Before the year ends, Grajo said that a “thanksgiving motorcade” will be held at 11 p.m. on Dec. 30. The motorcade will start at the Plaza Miranda straight to Villalobos, turn right on Carlos Palanca, right on Plaza Lacson, right on Carriedo, left on Evangelista, right on Gonzalo Puyat, right on Quezon Boulevard, left on Ilalim Palanca and left on Quezon Boulevard. From Quezon Boulevard right on Arlegui, left on Legarda, left on Concepcion Aguila, right on Carcer, right on Hidalgo, left on Bilibid Viejo or G. Puyat, left on Guzman, right on Hidalgo, left on Quezon Boulevard, right on Ilalim Palanca, right on Villalobos and Plaza Miranda to Quiapo Church.
