Author Ceres P. Doyo to speak on PH martial law media repression

Author Ceres P. Doyo to speak on PH martial law media repression

On September 21, 2022, the Philippines will mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, a grim chapter in the country, the horrors of which resonate to this day.

Martial law survivors, human rights defenders and journalists in Canada will commemorate the Martial Law declaration with an online forum on September 12, 2022 with veteran journalist Ma. Ceres P. Doyo who will launch her award-winning book PRESS FREEDOM UNDER SIEGE: Reportage that Challenged the Marcos Dictatorship.

The event will be held Monday, September 12, 2022, 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. British Columbia/6 p.m. Alberta/7p.m. Winnipeg Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 8:00 a.m. in Manila.

It is organized by the Filipino Canadian Writers and Journalists Network (FC-WJNet) with Malaya Canada and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines North America (NUJP-NA).

PRESS FREEDOM UNDER SIEGE won the Best Book in Journalism Award 2022 by the Manila Critics Circle and the National Book Development Board. It includes stories of atrocities during the Marcos martial law by journalists who were persecuted for writing about them.

“This compilation is a testament to the courage and outrage of the writers who dared, defied, and exposed, through the written word, the excesses of the fourteen-year-long dictatorial rule (1972-1986) of Ferdinand E. Marcocs…a resolve so that history does not repeat itself, get rewritten or revised, so that NEVER AGAIN will tyranny subdue this nation, so that NEVER AGAIN will voices be silenced, so that NEVER AGAIN will the hand that writes be stilled,” says Doyo in the Book’s preface.

The book has been hailed as an important testimony to the dark years of martial and is considered very relevant to present times.

“To see a gathering of literature produced during martial law as no more than dormant literature for picking up, or not, is to miss the point to looking back. As we speak, a Strongman rises again. To look back is to move forward with fewer mistakes, and the literature has already been written to get us there,” says writer Jo-Ann Maglipon, in a back-page testimonial to the book.

“We witnessed The Fall and survived that Dark Age. As we look back to that era now, we can say that we stared at the dark heart of power and tried our best to shine a light, no matter how faint or how fleeting. This book reminds us of those flashes of light,” says Sheila S. Coronel, Dean of Academic Affairs, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University.

(PRESS RELEASE)