SEPTEMBER 21 over the past more than three decades has had a way of making Philippine history stand still. On that day in 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law, and since then, the date has invariably been an occasion for changelessness in the way people recall the dictator. No change in perspective. No change in attitudes. No change in media predilection to picture Marcos evil and his prime detractor, Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., good. August 21, the day in 1983 when Ninoy executed his euthanasia at the Manila International Airport, has even been declared a national holiday.

In physics, inertia is changelessness in things staying the way they are unless acted upon by an outside force. Inertia is, therefore, best for something good. For something evil, inertia must work a disaster.

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