Bring both truth and lies about martial law to light

How many times have we heard (or read) comments like life was better during martial law?

Forty years after its declaration, it is wise to bring to mind the infamous Proclamation No. 1081 that placed the entire archipelago under martial rule and ponder what it meant to the country.

While most of us are probably too young to remember martial law, none of us, I assume, is too technically inept to do some research. For those who no longer remember or those who do not know, this is the challenge. It is a moral imperative to study the events that transpired during those dark years, if only to help ensure that we do not repeat the same mistakes.

Let us do the research, then. Let us not rely on what we hear from our parents or friends, or what we hear from politicians who have an agenda or two to advance. Let’s open the history books, study, read old newspapers, check facts through Google or Bing, find out about the Marcos dictatorship and martial law. The information age has now made it a lot easier for us to discover the facts so we have no excuse. So by all means, research away. Learn about the Light Rail Transit, sa ika-uunlad ng bayan, the Green Revolution, the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, Kadiwa, Channel 4, the US dollar equivalent then. Let’s also learn about Gen. Fabian Ver and Gen. Fidel Ramos, the Metrocom, the Johnny Enrile ambush, the Plaza Miranda bombings where Jovy Salonga got injured, a young Joker Arroyo boldly challenging the validity of Proclamation 1081 before the Supreme Court, Ninoy’s assassination in 1983.

Let’s read about personalities like Jose W. Diokno, Lorenzo Tañada, Bobby de la Paz, Satur Ocampo, Kumander Dante, Rene Saguisag, Etta Rosales and movements like the Kabataang Makabayan. The ugly truth about martial law should be taught in all schools; it should have its own Facebook page as an online monument to the atrocities committed during that time and it should sink into our consciousness and remain there until we die. It is only in remembrance of things past that we help to avoid future errors of judgment.

Martial law (and the Marcos dictatorship) should be remembered for what it was: a dark chapter in our history because it robbed us not only of our innocence and freedom but of some of the most brilliant minds that the country ever produced. So when we hear the comment or read the tagline that we were better off during the dictatorship, let’s remember that the most dangerous lies are the ones which not only attempt to conceal the ugly truth but attempt to make it more palatable.

At the end of the day the truth is all we have. Let’s keep it close and keep it safe.

—ALBERT MENDOZA,

8 Mabolo, Dacon Homes, Cainta 1600