The Truth Behind the Martial Law Era of the Philippines

From Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility

I was born in 1997, 11 years after the ousting of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. I have no idea about the events during that time. I only hear stories on television, from my family members, and from teachers at school. I don't remember reading much about it on textbooks either, so as a member of the next generation, I was completely in the dark, and I still am. As far as society is concerned, that time was the darkest period in Philippine history. Though now, I don't exactly know by what measures they conclude that to be the case, because I consider the 300 years of colonization to be the darkest era of Philippine history, but I digress.

There is so much that we don't exactly know about that time. It's as though it's shrouded in mystery, and will forever be buried in the dark because nobody who was in control during that time, or who knew what was going on, wants to divulge the inner machinations of the former dictator, as well as his opponents. The story being propagated is that he was an enemy of the people, and those who deposed him were the heroes of history. I beg to differ, not because I want to defend Marcos, but because we don't know exactly who was fighting for the nation.

It seems to me that everybody just has their own self-interests at heart, nobody really cares about the nation as a whole. If ever there are people who did care, they're not in power and so have become hopeless that anything remotely good will ever come to the country. There are activists who still hold on to past grudges which I think is counter-productive. It's not about one man. It's about a whole system, and not simply a political one, but one of worldviews.

So what is the truth behind that time? I'm still in the process of researching and reading materials that, at least, try to be impartial with regard to how they see and interpret history. I don't have anything against people who have convictions or leanings toward one particular view or stance. What I care about is whether we are able to uncover the truth of the things that happened during that time. I don't care about propaganda, I just want to know the events as they are, black and white without any other shade of color. Because then, we can figure out how to go from here.

As I mentioned, I'm not defending the Marcoses. I'm not an apologist of theirs or of the atrocities that happened during their regime. At the end of the day, Marcos was the president and so he bears the responsibility and has culpability over the things that happened, even if he was not directly involved, which I think is the case with the death of Ninoy Aquino. And that's simply because it's ridiculous to even think that he was at all involved in the planning or execution of it. Only a stupid person will believe that he, in any way, had a hand at the death of Ninoy Aquino.

For other incidents like the Plaza Miranda bombings or the human rights violations, I can't say for certain. We know that people disappeared, never to be heard of again. Whether it was by the command of Marcos or by some opportunists who took that chance to exact retribution, I cannot say because there is no clear evidence. Nobody confessed to anything either. We can only speculate on what happened to those people and who was responsible for it.

What exactly was the truth? I feel like there's so much censorship about that time, not just from the allies of the administration, but even from the opposition. And there were many who opposed the government. Many powerful people opposed the government, and I think that's one of the reasons why we are still left in the dark about that time. If those were shed to light, then everything else connected to those people behind those events will also be exposed. And they don't want that. So, it's much better to keep everything hushed, and leave people in the dark so that they can stay in power.

I feel as though there would be a file or a cabinet in the CIA or some other spy agency about the martial law era in the Philippines. I know there are people who know exactly the motives, the events, and the truth behind that time in our nation. But nobody wants to expose any of that. However, the rest of us, especially those from the succeeding generations deserve to know who were responsible, what exactly happened, and all the gruesome details. Marcos seems like a scapegoat. But I think it was much more sinister than that. It was definitely a struggle for power from different fronts, but we don't even know who the players were.

I hope that somebody does bring these to light. I have always wanted to write something about it, but without the right materials, I can't. So, I will only take advantage of what is available so far. And thankfully, there are some people with scholarly impartiality to view history from a different perspective. Hopefully, I'll gain some insight from there.