#neveragain #neverforget
Manila, 21 September—Forty-six years since the imposition of Martial Law in 1972, and the Marcoses are still at it, still trying their best to hold onto power. It’s disgusting, what they got away with (Trajano, Libingan ng mga Bayani, Imelda’s acquittal), and what they’re still getting away with (Revisionism).
Journalist Raissa Robles is right: They never really left, did they.
When I looked at today’s paper, there was no particular Martial Law remembrance feature on Page 1, save for the Martial Law museum report.
I remember re-working and updating Martial Law timelines and fast facts for years under LJM, once upon a time. Whenever late August started rolling around, we’d be all over our martial law books, trying to shine a light on whatever story we hadn’t done the year before. In 2014, it involved combing through a 1976 Amnesty International report about torture during the first few years of martial law. In 2015, it was a series of reports on young people who perished during the regime.
All too often, we wondered if people ever got sick and tired of commemorating Those Dark Days year after year. Today, years later, we realize in the midst of constant revision, how necessary these remembrances actually are.
We tended to take them for granted, as they happened year after year, but today, as the real estate devoted to these remembrances dwindle, I believe, they are more important than ever.
Readings.
Solita Monsod’s History revised by BBM and JPE.
Michael Tan’s To wake up—and remember.
Manolo Quezon’s September 23, not 21.
2012 special report. Susan Quimpo: ‘We were not rebels but simply a family.’
2013 special report. Marcos diaries: Delusions of a dictator. (Part 2 here)
2014 special report. The Marcos regime’s kleptocracy.
2015 editorial. #NeverAgain.
2015 special report. Attention millennials—you ain’t seen nothing yet.