NOTEBOOK: Martial Law: Lest we forget

NOTEBOOK: Martial Law: Lest we forget

Marcos installed a dictatorship in 1972, 39 years ago. We remember our fallen heroes.

If you are reading this column today, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, you may want to attend the event “Martial Law: An Evening of Poetry, Music and Memories of Struggles” at 6 p.m., at Trinity St. Paul United Church at 427 Bloor St. West, Toronto.

It is a commemoration of the 39th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines on Sept. 21, 1972 by then president Ferdinand Marcos.
If you miss that gathering, we still have a reading treat for you. In this issue we publish three detailed personal accounts of martial law experiences by individuals who went through it: Danilo Vizmanos, Jr., Erie Maestro and Connie Sorio. The previous issue contains the first personal account by Chris Sorio who was subjected to horrific torture by state security forces.

In the commemoration event, more will share their martial law stories. There will be poetry reading, music and solidarity messages.

* * *

I belong to that generation who in the late 60s and early 70s witnessed the political upheavals in the Philippines and made life-changing choices. We had two distinct choices: one, be apathetic, focus on building a career and a quiet family life and ignore the political and social turmoil; two, be concerned and get involved in the struggle for change.

The 60’s saw the phenomenon of student power, black power and the civil rights movement in the U.S. Western Europe went through a similar experience. Not too long after, the Filipino youth and students had their own awakening. 1969, I recall, was the year of student strikes in the campuses. The university belt on Recto Ave. and nearby areas became the hotbed of student activism. Parellel developments were taking place in other sectors. Labor unions were being reorganized, peasant associations were demanding genuine land reform. Exposes of the exploitation of sugar workers and sacadas revealed turn-of the-century hacienda slave labor still existed in the countryside.

Jeepney strikes were frequent and the price increase of oil and gasoline added fire to the already explosive situation of grinding poverty in both urban and rural areas.

In the meantime, the youth and students continued to mobilize and organize around national issues like U.S. imperialism, the Philippine involvement in the Vietnam war, the landlessness of the peasants, low wages of workers and massive corruption in government. Demonstrations were becoming bigger by the tens of thousands. In 1970, the massiveness, frequency and intensity of the mass actions culminated in what is now called the First Quarter Storm which saw police brutality, military repression and the death of some student leaders and demonstrators.

August 1971 saw the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus where the military could make arrests without being accountable to the courts. Hundreds of leaders were arrested and put in a wanted list.

One year later in September 1972, martial law was declared by Marcos. The Philippine Congress was abolished, the media were closed down, the civilian courts were made inoperative and military courts were established. Marcos and his most loyal generals and civilian cronies had absolute control of the government.
Marcos’s main justification was the existence of a conspiracy between the communists and the oligarchs and he wanted to save the Republic and later on, to create a New Society.

At first, many people, except his critics and the activists, took his word. But as the weeks and months passed, despite the complete control of the media, stories of repression spread quickly and widely.

Marcos imprisoned his critics and appropriated the wealth and assets of his political opponents, specifically the Lopezes. In a period of a few days alone in September 1972, more than 10,000 were detained in Camp Crame in Quezon City. And this is not to count those arrested in the other parts of the country. Among those detained were senators, congressmen, other public officials critical of Marcos, labor, peasant, youth and student, women leaders, urban poor. Torture, enforced disappearances, summary executions (then called “salvaging,” is now tagged “extrajudicial killing”), were perpetrated by the military.

The Marcos dictatorship, backed by the U.S. government, came to an end after 14 years, in 1986, in what is now called EDSA uprising.

Marcos’s martial law destroyed the lives of millions of Filipinos who suffered under a represssive military rule.

This month, we remember and pay tribute to those who fought the dictatorship and made untold sacrifices. Many made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives so that Filipinos would be free from tyranny.

Our victory against the dictatorship was short-lived. Very soon after EDSA, the same military leaders and pro-Marcos politicians retained positions of power. After five presidents, the country is in a worse situation. Repression has heightened, deep poverty and hunger are more widespread. The best way we can honor our fallen martial law heroes is to continue their struggle for change.

Meanwhile, the younger generations do not have memories of martial law the way we do. It is our duty to tell them our stories. It is said that ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’

Let us not allow them this possibility.