Something from the Philippines Free Press which I think I can relate to considering that I am a Martial Law baby.
I would like to share this as a way for the younger generation to appreciate that Martial Law was not a time in our country’s history when people simply go to the streets to overthrow a corrupt leader.
Sure, months before the declaration there were streets protests almost on a daily basis in Manila, but then the declaration came, the student activists were nowhere to be found. Everyone knew that they could simply disappear and not be heard of again.
Here’s what Charlson Ong shared with the Free Press:
I was twelve when Martial Law was declared. Too young for activism but old enough to have followed Ronnie Nathanieslz’ live updates on demonstrations in Plaza Miranda over radio; to have read Pete Lacaba’s scintillating reportage on the ‘Battle of Mendiola;’ to have been fascinated by my elder brother’s accounts of teach-ins at the Ateneo and the U.P.; to be intrigued by the presence of firearms and Maoist literature at our neighbor’s bodega; and be captivated by Ninoy’s eloquent put downs of Marcos on TV.
If I were older and in college, I too might have been caught up in the romance and rage of the times, gone to the hills when the time came to choose or settled down eventually to a comfortable mid-life with memories of the ‘First Quarter Storm’ and the ‘Diliman Commune.’ As it is I must contend myself with listening to the reminiscences of the ‘veterans’ of those days, feeling oddly that I had missed out on the most exciting period in this country’s post war history by a few years and increasingly convinced that our generation had been denied its place in history, had in fact become the subject of a most comprehensive, if not cynical, social experiment.
There was Soc Rodrigo and his Kuro Kuro, sober and thoughtful, his Tagalog sublime. There was Ninoy, clean cut and chubby, showing us scenes from a fast growing Taiwan, saying how this country could similarly take-off once his Liberal Party assumed power. There was Eddie Ilarde on Student Canteen, Orly Mercado on Radyo Patrol, Akong on Kwentong Kutsero. There was my father staying up to the wee hours hoping to catch the x-rated flicks that communists propagandists were supposedly broadcasting clandestinely as part of their destabilization campaign. There was Yvonne centerfolded in Pic magazine, another publication whose early demise we truly mourned. There was the Quintero expose and the Jabbidah Massacre. There was Rossana Ortiz, Jessica, Saging ni Pasing all at the mini-theatre along Recto. There was Bayside, Wells Fargo, the Flame, and other joints along Roxas Blvd. where my elder siblings and uncles went to for booze, roulette and slot machines. Rock was heavy and grass was cheap. It was crass, vulgar, decadent and exciting.
And then it ended. Not at once but sudden enough to catch the best of them off guard. I remember the tension that pervaded our household. The older people cautioned against discussing politics over the phone. School was suspended indefinitely and the streets, empty. Downtown Manila became a ghost town. The world had ended while we slept through the night of Sept. 22-23, 1972.
To read the whole article do click the link above.
It pains me to know that the youth these days have little understanding of how serous Marcos’ Martial Law was. I guess it is largely also due to the failure of the Philippine history teachers, student councils and movements, and the country’s educational institutions in general.
To remember the Martial Law and its victims is not to espouse communism or activism, rather it is to make sure that Filipinos will never again allow a single person, family or class impose its will through violence upon the whole country.
The imposition of Martial Law should also be recalled to remember those who took up the struggle to challenge the Marcos dictatorship in ways they found themselves best able to.
Many among the youth of the country then offered their blood and lives so that freedom would be restored to this country.
We should never forget!
There was one story that I remember being told to me by a publisher at the time. The military had created a list of ‘subversive’ elements; those who were the most outspoken and should be brought in.
He was in the office that morning when a friend came running in and told him and his staff to flee right now: the police and military were coming for them. They fled the premises and almost immediately after, the police stormed the office carrying their lists of targets.
They got away, but other prominent media men were not so lucky. The crackdown against the media had begun.
Something to remember today: What the curtailing of media freedoms really entails. And the awesome responsibility that the media has.
They are the voice of the people. That is why Marcos went after them first.
