War Memorialization in the Philippines

Realms of Memory

After fleecing billions of dollars from the Philippines, torturing and murdering thousands during the period of martial law, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was removed from power through a popular uprising in 1986. How was it possible that his son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., was elected as president in 2022? Dr. John Lee Candelaria, from Hiroshima University, argues that a long history of memorializing heros and forgetting the victims of the nation’s past, has much to do with the reality of the Philippines present. From the influence exerted by American authorities during their half century of rule in the Philippines to the dependence on Japanese aid in the present, larger political forces have played a major role in shaping the parameters of official memory in the Philippines.