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Empire of Memory - Post Colonialist Viewpoint


Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was also a consummate politician. Born in 1932, he interrupted his college studies to pursue a journalistic career in Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia and other areas of Southeast Asia. Like Marcos, Aquino was an extremely popular political figure. If martial law had not been declared in September 1972, Aquino would probably have defeated Marcos or any handpicked successor in the upcoming presidential election. Instead, Aquino was one of the first to be jailed when martial law was imposed.
             Eric Gamalinda's novel Empire of Memory was published in 2000, about two young men, Jun Hidalgo and Alfonso Diaz, as they are approached with a request from President Marcos to re-write the history of the Philippines, and through the power of their writing create an image of President Marcos" destiny to rule the country in undisturbed perpetuity. They undergo an adventure miraculous and ordinary at the same time, encountering military generals, mercenaries, rock stars, the Beatles, spies, witches, learning the ways of life such as love, hate, betrayal and loyalty. It is narrated through the span of the Marcos era, and concludes itself in the month of July 1999. Empire of Memory is a reflection upon the happenings in the Philippines during the Marcos era, immersing its reader in a panorama of bizarre episodes that show the futility of the American, Spanish, and Japanese invaders, as the country has already been colonized from within by the Marcos regime.
             A misunderstanding between the first lady and the Beatles in the first pages of the book already sparks attention to the fact that the nation of the Philippines has been colonized from within. The miscommunication leads to the cancellation of a meeting between the first lady, her children and the Beatles, ending up with the first lady being "very, very disappointed". What begins as a successful concert, .
             "Eighty thousand hysterical fans cramped into Rizal Memorial Stadium to watch the Beatles, the largest crowd Manila has seen since the Elorde-Ortiz boxing match in the same stadium.


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