Artists, activists throw 100th birthday ‘bash’ for Marcos

Protesters staged a party to protest the Marcosian regime of President Rodrigo Duterte ahead of the 100th birth anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. All photos by ANTHONY Q. ESGUERRA/INQUIRER.net

They were not invited so they threw a party to bash Marcos.

Artists and youth activists held on Saturday night a birthday bash for former president Ferdinand Marcos, ahead of the 100th birth anniversary of the late dictator on Monday, September 11.

Wearing party hats bearing the images of President Rodrigo Duterte and Marcos splashed with the word “diktador” (dictator), some 300 “party goers” staged a different kind of protest at a bar in Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

Protesters expressed anger at Duterte’s supposed alliance with the Marcoses and favors that the Chief Executive has accorded to the former first family.

They also slammed Duterte’s bloody war on drugs that claimed the lives of thousands, mostly poor.

One of the organizers, Temperamental Brats, a social media movement seeking to block the return of the Marcoses to power, said they thought of organizing a party to counter the family’s lavish celebration at the expense of the Filipino people.

“Ang mga layunin namin sa party na ito ay maipakita na walang pinagkaiba ang pasismo na inihandog ni Marcos sa pasismong inihahandog ni Duterte,” Belle Castillo, a member of Temperamental Brats, said.

“Party ang ginagawa namin dahil pinapakita namin na hindi lang sila Marcos ang may kayang mag-celebrate ng kanyang kaarawan,” she added.

Former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos had sent out invitations for Marcos’ birthday party set at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, where the late strongman was buried in secret rites November 18 last year.

Duterte had declared September 11 a holiday in Ilocos Norte, the Marcos bailiwick, amid criticism.

READ: Duterte: What’s wrong with declaring Marcos birth anniversary a holiday?

Gatecrash 

The party is set to continue on Monday at 8:00 a.m. as protesters plan to gatecrash the event organized by the Marcos family for the late dictator.

Organizers of the protests said they will troop to the Libingan ng mga Bayani to block the Marcoses and their guests.

READ: ‘The people have not forgotten’: Mass protests set on Marcos birthday

The Marcoses “will party like it’s the 1970s all over again — using stolen wealth of course and on hallowed grounds no less,” organizers said.

They encouraged protest participants to wear funeral attire. je