Miah Learns to Write

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 o...

Bayanihan sa Bukid by Carlos "Botong" Francisco Let me be frank, has there ever been unity in the Philippines? Not just in clusters, I mean the nation as a whole, what moment in the history of the Philippines has national unity been displayed? Some may point to the People Power or EDSA Revolutions of 1986 and 2001, but I don't see how those can be categorized as symbols of national unity. I say that because I don't think that those are representative of every people group in the Philippines. I wasn't there, but based on pictures and stories, it doesn't seem to depict national unity at all. Furthermore, the nation wasn't at all in agreement or involved in those two events. I'm pretty sure many Ilocanos didn't agree with the deposition of the former Pres. Marcos Sr. And we don't even know if the Visayas or Mindanao provinces had any say in those two civil resistances. I would even dare to say that those two "revolutions" were actually c...