Creeping
Nationwide martial law will probably not be declared today, or anytime soon. But do we resist only when it has been declared? Are our most precious rights trampled upon only when the state expressly declares an issuance of repression?
When one posts dissent to the killing of thousands, and an army of trolls descends like a murder of crows upon one, when these trolls condemn one as an enemy of change, or worse, that one should die like the criminals he or she protects, is that writer’s freedom of expression not violated? Is one’s speech not suppressed when one’s words are smothered in hate speech and fallacies?
When members of a segment of the population, demonized as subhuman and blamed for all the country’s ills, are summarily exterminated, when they are killed wholesale every night, their blood collecting in the gutter, like the dreams their families had for them dripping down the drain, when they are judged, not by magistrates but by faces covered in the darkness, and executed without the benefit of trial, is our presumption of innocence and right to due process not collectively raped?
When we fear those who are sworn to serve and protect us, when we doubt that we are safe as we walk dark alleys, not from the depredations of delinquents but from the excesses of an overzealous police force, are we truly still free to be outdoors at night?
When whole institutions, created to safeguard our civil rights by the very fundamental law that establishes the framework of the state, are slandered and paralyzed, when the very shield meant to prevent excesses of the state, to which we have surrendered our absolute liberty, is publicly ridiculed and emasculated by the leaders we have voted into power, are we not deprived of our protections?
When rule of law, upon which the state derives its legitimacy, is replaced by the primal and base instincts of vengeance and retaliation, is not order, and justice itself, undermined?
Let not this lull fool us into a state of complacency. That is exactly how we lose all our liberties, little by little, in this slow, creeping dictatorship.
Make no mistake. Nationwide martial law will not be declared unless something of disastrous consequence happens. These peaceful rallies now and then will not trigger it. It is a turning point the authoritarians must actively avoid if they wish to hold on to the reins of power.
Ferdinand Marcos’ crucial lesson is that those in power are better served if the people are lulled into a false sense of liberty. To them, it is clear that the people must be continually fooled into this uneasy but somehow still comfortable slumber. And they shall profit.
Hence, let us not be mistaken in thinking that things are still all right because there are no guns to our heads. Let us not think that we are unrestrained as long as a nationwide curfew is not imposed. Let us not be mistaken in our belief that we are truly at liberty to post our frustrations on social media. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that because the news outfits are not padlocked, all information is free and untainted.
Nationwide martial law may not have been declared yesterday. But its specter, that 45 years ago bought forth death, darkness, ignorance, fear and hunger, limns the horizon.
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Gino L.S. Paje, 27, is a government employee and law student.
