Everywoman remembers 5O years of Martial Law, Calls for vigilance in fighting historical revisionism

Everywoman remembers 5O years of Martial Law, Calls for vigilance in fighting historical revisionism

Everywoman joins the nation in marking the fifty years of the infamous martial law. We remember those years not only to reflect and learn from its bitter lessons but, more importantly, to honor and celebrate the lives of those who fought, resisted, and died to defend our rights and freedoms during the darkest period in our history.

We remember that in the days, weeks, and months following the declaration of martial law on September 21, thousands of student leaders and activists, journalists, farmers, workers, and church people were arrested, detained, or tortured. According to Amnesty International, there were at least 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 “disappeared,” and 70,000 incarcerations. Women in particular were subjected to the most horrific acts of rape and gang rape, molestations, and sexual harassment, perpetrated with impunity by the military and their civilian agents. The press was silenced, curfew was imposed, and civild political rights of Filipinos were suspended. The military seized control of Congress and the Senate as well as the judiciary and those who defied the authoritarian rule of Marcos were subjected to court martial. Families were torn apart as suspected subversives like friends, relatives, fathers and mothers were arrested in front of traumatized children. Fourteen years of martial law destroyed our social and political institutions and left the economy in ruins, with the country burdened with the biggest foreign debt and the national coffers drained by the massive corruption of Marcos and his cronies.

While we have seen the worse atrocities committed by Filipinos, we remember the heroism and courage of many more who risked and lost their lives fighting abuses, atrocities, and corruption.
Ordinary citizens gave food and safe haven to those who were hiding, hid and distributed underground newsletters with friends, relatives, and the circles of opposition in neighborhoods, communities, and the different regions. Inspiring stories of heroism and resistance, many led by women, were evident everywhere. Women journalists bravely wrote critical articles exposing the abuses and corruption during martial law; women religious helped organize immediate assistance to activists who were tortured and detained and helped families to trace relatives of the disappeared. In big and small ways , ordinary citizens resisted the normalization of terror during martial law, eventually culminating in the historic EDSA Revolution which overthrew the dictatorship.
As we continue to heal the country from the ravages of the martial law years, let us, together, continue to fight an even bigger threat of historical revisionism, disinformation, and creeping authoritarianism.

Everywoman
September 21, 2022