September is one month wherein Filipinos don't want to remember an event but cannot quite forget.
The Dictator Ferdinand Marcos - on September 21, 1972 - declared Martial Law and ruled the country with an iron hand for 14 years.
There is a theory that goes around the bars that Marcos, in his insecurity and fear of America, could not have declared Martial Law without the blessings of Washington. That might be true.
For the 1970s was the height of the Cold War and the communist bogey was often used to scare national leaders that the Reds were knocking at the walls of the nation's capital, ready to grab power by the power of the gun.
But the very cruelty of Martial Law, far from solving the communist insurgency embittered more people that led to the swelling of the ranks of the New People's Army to 250,000 then Marcos, therefore, was branded then - as the best "recruiter of the NPA."
That 250,000 NPA force then is now the equivalent number of the entire personnel of the present Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) today. In turn, the Jabidah Massacre and the slash and burn episodes against the Muslim rebels also escalated the fratricidal war between brother Christians and Muslims.
The entire duration of the country during Martial Law was spent for the country to be perpetually in a state of war.
Consistent with anti-people battles waged in Latin America, many Filipinos disappeared or were assassinated in the old version of the Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) perpetrated by a militant rightist quasi-military group - in the hallowed name of democracy. The Government, then, believed that its duty was to preserve democracy, not to practice it.
The Supreme Court was littered by lapdogs whose Chief Justice's main mission in life was to hold the umbrella to protect the First Lady Imelda Marcos' porcelain face during warm public appearances. The whole Judiciary system was co-opted.
Equally compromised were the local government officials - beholden - by force or circumstance to support the Waltzing Dictators by the Palace while the Congress, in the form of the decadent Batasan Pambansa was an instrument to manufacture rules that made the Dictatorship function.
The business community was run by a Group of Zaibatsus, moneyed and influential families that gobbled for themselves, kin and associates the entire economic wealth and opportunities of the nation. Protected by tariffs and political influence, they bloated into inefficient white elephants that gravely prejudiced the economy.
Except in the later stages of Martial Law, Philippine Media was the epitome of political bias and vastly personal and compromised. It was a shameful episode that out-pushed democratic space and freedom of expression into the gutter. The political debate leading to maturity was in limbo - producing great illiteracy and lack of integrity of political mindsets.
The Military became the sledge hammer that pulverized the nation into submission. They were rewarded with positions of wealth and power. They had to be pampered to keep the Dictatorship in power.
Corruption may not have been as widespread as today - but the graft was concentrated among a few people (Marcos and kin) and empires identified with the Palace called cronies. Many of them, including Imelda Marcos who was identified as a major plunderer are still alive today - prancing with the fruits of their dishonesty. And the whole nation bowed its head then - as if they thanked the Heavens for the ironic gift of suffering and oppression.
Roads and bridges were built - justifying Marcos despotic rule. The truth was, it was in Marcos Martial Law years that the country lagged behind its neighbors in infrastructure that largely explained the lamented state of poverty of the people then and today.
Only Filipino art and culture prospered with Pinoy music and indigenous arts and crafts.
The Cultural Center, the Folk Arts Theater and the Film Center were built. The world-class Heart, Lung and Kidney centers were erected in Quezon City.
Meantime, the white elephant Bataan Nuclear Plant was constructed at the cost of billions - only to have it today as a useless monument of corruption, useless and unutilized.
Political opposition were either jailed or murdered and the electoral process was prostituted by a Comelec that did not know how to count numbers.
All in all, it was a period of shame. We lost our confidence. We lost our sense of identity. We were no longer free Filipinos but part-time slaves.
We remember those times of Martial Law to grieve over our loss and spark our vigilance - that never again should we allow the specter of Martial Law to ever come to pass over our country in our lifetime.
That GMA's Rule has been likened to Martial Law II - without its formal declaration - by some quarters is proof we have short memories.
Remember Santayana who said "that those who do not learn their lessons from their mistakes in history - are bound to repeat them." - Editorial, The Bohol Chronicle
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