What does ‘move on’ really mean?

SYNTAX and grammar insinuate that “move on” is a verb in the imperative mood (a command), which is why there is a frightening ocean of meaning that separates the speaker from the spoken-to, by the very utterance of this. “Move on” is best just a resolution to be whispered to oneself as one would acknowledge one’s own wrong choices or actions, and plan what to do next. But it is an arrogant breach of personal boundaries when someone else tells another to “Move on,” especially if that other has been the victim of that someone who has caused pain and loss. It is the brutal last kick in the dust. It reeks too much of the despotic commands of oppressive martial law.
And yet “the eldest daughter of the former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos has advised Filipinos to ‘move on’ and forget about the past, drawing angry rebukes…in a country that suffered under two decades of her father’s brutal regime. The daughter, Imee Marcos, 62, and the rest of the Marcos family have been enjoying a revival of sorts under the presidency of President Rodrigo Duterte, a self-professed fan of Ferdinand Marcos and his strongman ways” (www.nytimes.com/2018/08/22).
“How can those who were unjustly detained, tortured and murdered move on when there is (no) remorse… any act of atonement…acceptance and recognition of wrongdoing on their part?” Sen. Francisco “Kiko” Pangilinan, the opposition Liberal Party president asked (www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/08/23). He said the issue was never just between the Marcos family and the family of the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. but “between the Marcoses and the entire nation that suffered immensely from the abuses, the greed, and the oppressive and tyrannical rule of Marcos the dictator.” For many, the atrociousness of Imee Marcos’s “move on” was that it was imperially commanded of the Filipino people on the 35^th anniversary of Ninoy’s assassination, which had triggered the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that ousted Ferdinand Marcos.
“The millennials have moved on and, I think, people at my age should move on as well,” the dictator’s daughter was quoted as saying (Ibid.). In mainstream and social media, the youth protested and censured Imee for speaking for them. They shouted that they are aware the two-decade rule of Marcos was marred by killings, human rights abuses, disappearances and media repression, which the Marcos family has not acknowledged. Amnesty International estimated that 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured and 3,240 were killed during martial law” (Ibid.).
Millennials ranted that they still suffer the consequences of Marcos’s authoritarian rule, citing the $10- billion plunder, the $28.3-billion debt from the World Bank/IMF that funded his “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure projects and the economic deprivation in those years that stunted development vis-à-vis our Asian neighbors (Ibid.). No, not even the youth agree with President Duterte that “Marcos was the best president the Philippines ever had” (GMA News Online, Feb. 10, 2016).
Now this: barely two weeks ago, Duterte announced that he was tired, and ready to step down “if the likes of Senator Francis Escudero or former Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. succeed him in office” (http://www.gmanetwork.com/2018/08/15). Marcos lost to now Vice-President Leni Robredo by 263,473 votes — still being protested by Bongbong.
And in scary déjà vu, it was virally reported that Duterte fell very sick after that declaration (a rumor started by Communist Party of the Philippines founder, exiled Jose Maria Sison), and the nation was in anxiety about the leadership of the country, like when the illness of Ferdinand Marcos was kept secret from all. The chimera of a tumultuous power grab should Duterte go, gripped the nation’s throat — and tightened with Imee Marcos’ ominous follow-through: “Move on!”
“Move on” in this political scenario would probably be best paraphrased as “You lost. Surrender!” It means “Forget your past hurts, you had no reason to be hurt; revise your thinking and accept that the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos was good for the country, and agree to let the country be again governed and run in the way of what Marcos called his ‘benevolent dictatorship.’” Revise history.
The once-high profile Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) created by President Corazon Aquino to run after the Marcos wealth has lost steam through the years, starting with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who moved it from the direct supervision of the President to the Department of Justice. Early in his term, Duterte called the PCGG useless and said it must be abolished (ABS-CBN News, July 26, 2017). In December the House approved 162-10, HB 7376 to abolish the PCGG and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) and transfer powers to the Office of the Solicitor-General [OSG] (Philstar, May 15, 2018). But at the Senate, the counterpart bill was not approved, citing that the PCGG was a performing agency and could still bring in collections from the Marcos wealth (Rappler, June 13, 2018). A majority of the senators wondered how Solicitor-General Jose Calida, a known Marcos loyalist and one of the top campaigners for Bongbong Marcos as vice-president in the 2016 elections, could objectively and fairly supervise the recovery of the Marcos wealth (www.philstar.com/2018/05/15).
Of the estimated $10 billion plundered by Marcos, about $3.6 billion (P170 billion @$1 = P47.58) had been recovered by the PCGG as of the 30^th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution, before Duterte assumed office (Rappler, Feb. 25, 2016).
Is there some chance to recover the balance of $6.4 billion from the Marcoses? Of course, P340+ billion (@$1 = P53.48 Aug. 24) cannot ever come in an avalanche, but that amount is one-third of the staggering P1.19 trillion to finance the fiscal deficit in next year’s budget. National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon herself said this is the first time the government’s borrowings will exceed the trillion mark, with P297.2 billion ($5.504 billion) to be foreign borrowing (The Philippine Star, July 10, 2018). This, at a time when the peso is depreciating rapidly, inflation is rising, and GDP is falling below targets.
But more than for the plundered wealth — which must be returned — insult cannot be heaped upon injury by the blatant disregard of the Filipino’s dignity and self-respect from Imee Marcos’s imperious “Move on!”
No, we will not move on until the Marcos debts — moral and material — to the Filipino people are paid.
 
Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.
ahcylagan@yahoo.com