HONG KONG -- There was a largely unseen symmetry underlying two political bombshells that recently exploded in the northern Philippines, one after the other: Early on Dec. 29, the effigy of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, seemingly carved into rock in northern Luzon, was at long last blown up. Then, early on Dec. 30, there was a more immediate explosion as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced, out of the blue, that she would not be running in the presidential election due in 2004.
The two bombshells symbolized the political failures of what ought to be one of Asia's most successful democracies. Taken together, they posed questions: Can Arroyo at least start to undo what Marcos did? Or is Philippine democracy beyond repair like Marcos' carved face?
Only Marcos' widow Imelda, still propagating the Marcos myth, mourned the destruction of her husband's mountainside face, saying it had been "a loving offering from local residents" to her husband. It was nothing of the kind.