The DEM
CRAT
ANG MALAYANG PAHAYAGAN NG MGA MAG-AARAL NG UNIVERSITY OF NUEVA CACERES (UNC) HULYO 15 - OKTUBRE 2021 • TOMO LXIX, BILANG I
You would be surprised that in the Philippines, the Marcos regime is considered by some as the best era our country has seen, despite history confirming that it is one of the country’s darkest periods. The golden era of the country as they call it. You would be shocked that an epitome of an Orwellian dystopia such as the Marcos Regime is painted by some as the utopia our country ever wished for. There are those claims that Martial Law is necessary because it has saved the Philippines from communism. People would also repeat the narratives of their grandparents that they didn’t at all experience chaos as the media portrayed, and in fact, their lives were better that time. People also admired the fact that many of the iconic structures in the country were named under the brand of Marcos, further cementing their views of him as a great leader. Also, according to the other side of history, other countries were envious of the Philippines because it was the richest during that time and the country was the first to innovate on many things. The darkest period of the history perpetrated by the Marcoses is even reduced to being just the conflict of the Aquino’s and them. All of these claims are preposterous. According to the World Bank, the annual GDP Growth Rate of the country hit negative for the first time in history with a staggering amount of -7.3%, so it is false to say that the economy under the Marcos regime is the best. What made this worst is that the dictator family continued to pillage the country despite its dying state. In total, they have amassed an estimate of 5-10 billion dollars of loot after two decades of dictatorship. Currently, the PCGG has already recovered 172 billion pesos worth of ill-gotten wealth. Even if some people didn’t experience the atrocities during this time, the numbers
Duterte delivers his last SONA; highlights 3 pressing issues in the country Emphasizing the war on drugs, government response against COVID-19, and communism, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his sixth and last State of the Nation . . .
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The Orwellian Utopia EDITORIAL
don’t lie. According to Amnesty International, around 70,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 tortured, and more than 3,000 were killed during the Marcos Regime. Many of the claims about Marcos such as the first international airport in Asia, author of the 13th-month pay, and so much more were debunked already by many historical files and fact-checking entities. It is false to say that this point of history is just about the political rivalry of the Aquino’s or some would coin as the Dilawans vs. the Marcos regime. All these numbers and records are pointing to one conclusion; it is the Marcoses vs. The Filipino people. The tainting of history has been happening ever since, but notice that in this modern world we live, the rust spreads quicker. As the sea of information continuously drowns us, it has become so easy to insert and disguise a false one appearing as the truth. The misinformation is so widespread that right now, it has become a case of history being just an interpretation of what transpired. To be precise, let me borrow Imelda Marcos’ words in the documentary, The Kingmaker (2019), “Perception is real and the truth is not.” How did it come to this point? The bitter truth is, the Marcoses are finding great success in distorting history. This has been their campaign ever since. Even little by little, they are reaping the rewards of their labor. Here is how they did it; slowly making a comeback by running in government positions such as Imee Marcos returning as a senator. They know how to play
Philippine National Drug
People are becoming increasingly glued to their phones as the world advances. In the beginning, technology, particularly social media, was dismissed as merely a source of pleasure. PITAK 06
the game well. This is especially true for Imelda. She would go to the poorest slums and she would give money and food from their stolen wealth to the people there. With that, the poor have found a messiah. The Marcoses are also forging powerful political alliances for the greater blow. In the 2016 presidential election, BongBong Marcos ran as Vice-President under his Presidential running mate Miriam Defensor Santiago. However, the Marcoses themselves supported former Davao Mayor Duterte instead, who would later win the election. And now for the payment of their support, Rodrigo Duterte has allowed the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Hero’s burial). In this upcoming election, Bongbong Marcos is running for the presidential position. Their campaign for historical distortion is not yet done. In the interview platform, he paints his family as saintly and worthy of admiration while the interviewee seemingly agrees with all his lies. The Marcos Camp would even go as low as hiring paid trolls, topping up polls, creating pages for the sake of propaganda such as fake news and credit grabbing, or trolls that would engage in the posts of the oppositions. Good thing that there are independent fact-checkers in the social media that police these distortions and even Facebook has taken the initiative to label an unverified claim as “false information”. So what is the common denominator here? If you would notice, we have been giving this wretched family the tools to reforge their fallen dynasty. They’re still being allowed in government positions, they are being allowed to spew lies on any platform and given chances to be heard. A grievous insult to the country and the victims of their atrocities. They’ve already utilized this opportunity and have succeeded. We have reached the point where fact-checking fake news and combatting trolls is not enough. The people are already fooled into thinking that most of the
ONLINE CLASS: The Horrors Behind the Learning
“Tagu-taguan maliwanag ang buwan, pagkabilang kong sampu nakatago na kayo. Isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pit-LATHALAIN 10
mainstream media, historical books, court and government records are paid-brainwashing entities and an institution that publishes “biased” truth. Proactive actions must be done. The tools they use must be taken away from them. One of these measures currently in progress is barring Bongbong Marcos from candidacy. It is only reasonable because a corrupted man like him from a corrupted family should never have this chance in the first place. It is not only applicable to Bongbong Marcos but this also extends to his other family since most of them share the same point of view anyway and most of them are seeking to reserve a seat for the Government. Since most of the primal knowledge of people comes from academic education, educators must also be on-hand in proliferating the truth and must not be allowed to give their “own” interpretation of what happened because doing so is like giving a dangerous poison to the students. Educators must not be an accomplices of historical distortions because doing so is not education, it is conditioning and brainwashing. Politicians must also be forbidden from denying the atrocities and must acknowledge the full extent when discussing this issue. This is what they did in Germany. After the reign of the Nazi regime, the German Government has taken the initiative in making it mandatory to paint the Nazis as the evil scourge in history and not giving any chance for other interpretation. Some of their neighboring countries also made it illegal to deny the holocaust and illegal to portray the Nazis positively and admirably. This is to ensure that history will not repeat itself. It is scary to think that the Philippines is doing the opposite. Here we are again amidst unrest. We must not allow this force of evil to cling and taint further the honor of our country with their corrosive presence. Every effort in helping the cause of stopping them as little or as big as they may seem matters. The voice of truth should be louder more than ever.
Pagsaludo sa Isang Idolo
“Ang galing ng isang tagapagsanay ay hindi lamang makikita sa bilang ng tropeyo na naiuwi ng kaniyang koponan, bagkus ito’y makikita sa kung paano niya naimpluwensyahan ang kaniyang mga manlalaro.” PALAKASAN 13