Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 16) – A House of Representatives panel on Tuesday passed a measure seeking to rename the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte into Ferdinand E. Marcos State University (FEMSU).
Voting 7-1, the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education approved House Bill 2407 refiled by Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba, a nephew of former President Marcos.
MMSU President Shirley Agrupis told the committee that she and majority of the university’s Board of Regents are supporting the bill, saying the ex-President should be honored since several public schools were established during his term.
Marcos ruled the country for two decades.
Agrupis said they recommend that the institution be officially named as Ferdinand Marcos State University (FMSU), which means without the former president’s middle initial.
Director Danilo Bose of the Commission on Higher Education office in Ilocos Region, meanwhile, said they have no objection to the bill.
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel was the lone lawmaker present in the deliberations who voted against the move.
He said it runs counter to laws and executive orders recognizing the human rights abuses committed during the late Marcos’ regime. He added that the Supreme Court already ruled that the Marcos family has tens of billions of pesos in ill-gotten wealth.
The youth representative also said it is difficult to accept the name change, especially when several students were tortured and killed, or had disappeared during the martial law years. He showed pictures of some young victims, including Archimedes Trajano, Emmanuel Lacaba, William Begg, Noel Tierra, Resteta Fernandez, Liliosa Hilao, and Boyet Mijares.
“Ilan lamang po sila sa mga lider-estudyante at lider-kabataan na kailangan nating paliwanagan kung ipapangalan natin ‘yung isang public university na pinopondohan ng pera ng bayan sa isang nagnakaw at nang-abuso sa kanyang mga kababayan,” Manuel said.
[Translation: They were just some of the student and youth leaders who deserve our explanation if we are naming a public university, which is funded through Filipinos’ money, after someone who stole from and abused his countrymen.]
Manuel added he received position papers from several groups rejecting the proposal. Among them are the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto, and the National Union of Students of the Philippines. He said some concerned MMSU alumni and residents of Ilocos have also signed a letter expressing disapproval of the name change.
However, no debate ensued after Manuel raised these points, with the other House committee members proceeding to vote.
Mariano Marcos, after whom the school in question is currently named, was a congressman and the father of ex-President Marcos.
