Battle for the truth

VITO CORLEONE PAOLO GABRIEL JAMER @paolojamer • paolojamer@gmail.com

My 65-year old auntie, who witnessed the martial law era, argued with me that martial law years were the golden era of their time since there was peace and order in the country and Filipinos were disciplined at that time. She added that in Naga City there are no human rights violations as far as her memory can recall. “The truth is during martial law that is the best years of my life,” my auntie decisively said.

From then on, I am confused about the truth since there are many boomers in our family that are convinced that romanticizes orderliness during martial law years until such time that I figured out that there are 2 faces of the truth. One which is beneficial and the other which is wicked. If the truth for some is beneficial, then can we be indifferent to the others who have experienced the evil truth of a particular event such as martial law years, which is considered as one of the darkest eras in Philippine history? The battle for truth remains a constant fight because of this apathy and narcissistic mentality.

There are Filipinos who still believe that the Marcoses are the greatest leaders disregarding the truth that there were human rights violations during martial law years and it is not to be regarded as golden age since there are pieces of evidence that suffice the fact of abuses, extrajudicial killings, corruption and violations of human rights. These Filipinos can still fathom to claim such when in fact 70,000 were incarcerated, 77 disappeared, 3,275 extrajudicially killed and 35,000 tortured as provided by Amnesty International.

These atrocities were further corroborated by Primitivo Mijares, media man of Ferdinand Marcos and a to be united on what is right. The Filipinos should dispel lies and apathy so that victims of the cruel martial law years will be alleviated of the pain which is irreversible all at once by the proliferation of the truth. The reverence of the wholistic truth should be the means for us to be united as Filipinos especially now that the election nears with the namesake dictator’s son, Ferdinand “Bongbong “Marcos Jr, aspires to be the president of the Philippines.

All students have the responsibility of ascertaining the historical fact that martial law years are not the golden age of the Filipinos and that must remain in the textbooks and minds of all Filipinos. Students now, being learners and the future generation, are imbued with this promising responsibility of valuing patriotism, historical truth, and advancing Filipinos’ interest first.

An octogenarian martial law victim once said, “Are you all oblivious of the brutality of martial law since you did not experience this tragedy of being tortured and threatened of your life? Are you apathetic to my yearning for justice? You should pray that it will never happen to you and your family.”

writer of the book titled, “The Conjugal Dictatorship,” wherein he narrated how his youngest son disappeared, was tortured, and eventually found dead due to his father’s revelations in the said book. This horrific tragedy that happened to the life of Mijares and his son manifests the brutal rule of the Marcos rule. If someone will oppose their policies, for sure anytime Marcos men will just abduct them.

There are still claims of the Marcoses that the martial law years is the golden age of economy for the Filipinos since the Philippines was exporting rice to other countries and the extravagant projects of the First Lady Imelda Marcos as the greatest legacy of the Marcos regime up to now. The Martial Law Museum stated in its report that the debt of the Philippines skyrocketed to $28.26 billion in 1986 from $0.36 billion in 1961. More so, the infrastructures being bragged by Imelda are funded by debts that sacrifice long-term benefits for shortterm gratification and put future generations’ burden on paying these debts.

With these historical facts and data, claims that martial law years being a golden age for Filipinos should be stricken out and those Filipinos made to believe in those golden lies must adhere also to the totality of what happened at that time. Nevertheless, they cannot just turn a blind eye that the protagonists’ reality of Martial law years should only be the content of our history. More than that, it is crucial for learning especially in seeking historical truths of martial law that it never brought golden haven to all Filipinos. Most Filipinos experienced death already while they are longing for life.

Now, the students are being targeted to believe in those lies of the Marcos family by revising history in textbooks. These disgraceful acts made a great divide among Filipinos of the truth. The youth who were not yet born at that time were susceptible to be fooled, but not all. Adults who never experienced cruelty at that time persuade the young that indeed there is discipline and clamors of being the best days of their life without regard to those martial law victims.

It is high time for all of us Are you all oblivious of the brutality of martial law since you did not experience this tragedy of being tortured and threatened of your life? Are you apathetic to my yearning for justice? You should pray that it will never happen to you and your family.