Idineliber sa porum ng Center for Liberalism and Democracy, “Fifty Years After: Mga Turo at Hamon ng Martial Law sa Bayan at Kasaysayan,” Bantayog ng mga Bayani, 17 Setyembre 2022
“…I am a beneficiary of the good work that was done in my father’s time.”
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, April 2016
On the campaign trail during the vice-
presidential election
“I once knew a man who saw what little had been achieved since Independence in a land of people with greatest potential for achievement and yet they were poor. But he got it done.”
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, 30 June 2022
Inaugural speech as 17th president of the Philippines
It’s a woven narrative in the massive disinformation campaign launched by the Marcoses for their comeback, thanks hugely to Cambridge Analytica. Considering the reports, one is convinced that the idea preoccupied them as soon as they had settled down in Makiki Heights, Honolulu, Hawaii in February 1986, bringing along in the luxurious estate at least seven million US dollars in cash, jewelry, and negotiable instruments. (A lot more of their crates, boxes, suitcases, etc. had been impounded by the US customs.)
The narrative, of course, is false as false could be. But it is a concentrate of the Marcos historical distortions. The bottom line is that Marcos Sr was a hero who had all the good intentions for country and people, the best president we ever had, and was never a dictator. And now, it has become the son’s purpose in life to continue the legacy of the father.
Heaven have mercy on the Philippines. Otherwise, patay tayong lahat diyan.
One early morning in April 1974, I heard myself muttering the same words: “Patay ako dito.” Around 20 fully armed soldiers of the notorious 5th Constabulary Security Unit had swarmed the tiny house where my two companions and I were doing media and cultural work in the underground resistance movement. The physical abuse right there and then impressed upon me that they possessed the power of life and death over us enemies of the state. In Camp Crame where we were taken, it was shock and awe all throughout to break my morale so I would name names, decode documents, identify photos, lay bare plans.
My respite from the torture was sleep every time I was thrown back in my cell. But even in the dead of night, they would wake me up and the abuse would resume. One time, as torture started, they waved a card that looked like a photo and bragged that it was my wife in it, and if I persisted to refuse to lead them to at least one underground house, she would suffer the consequences, and it was all going to be my fault. For some time, I was in denial about that torture experience.
The inhumanity of the Marcos martial law enforcers was either methodical or whimsical, depending on whether they wanted to extract information or disliked my face. One first lieutenant, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy no less, even made life worse for me, as if it was not bad enough, simply because I was a student at the University of the Philippines.
The first two weeks were hell, not that the following weeks were not. But with the passing of days, I somehow lost tactical value and they shifted focus on those they next seized.
Shortly after I was given temporary liberty, my sister, a cultural activist, went missing, together with nine other rights workers in Southern Tagalog. It turned out that Ground Team 205, a composite intelligence unit of the military, arrested them. Dalawang lalaki sa 10 ang itinapong patay na sa Tagaytay. Isang babae ang nahukay sa isang common grave sa Lucena City, Quezon.
GT 205 was the same team that snatched Adora Faye de Vera, Rolando Federis, and Flora Coronacion in Lucena City in 1976. Rolando and Flora were executed by their captors. Adora was raped repeatedly, was able to free herself, but was rearrested in 1983. She was among those who were released by the proclamation of President Cory Aquino in the aftermath of the Edsa Uprising. Only last August 24, Adora was in the news again. Military agents pounced on her for the third time. Adora, among the finest poets I have known, embodies the enduring commitment of Filipino freedom fighters undeterred by martial law then and now, declared and undeclared.
A song reminds me of her tenacity: Dahil mithi nati’y palayain/ bawat isa sa pagkaalipin/ Sa gitna man ng gutom, kahirapan, at pasakit/ hinding-hindi tayo susuko.
At maging ang historical distortions, hindi natin susukuan.
Let me again quote the son of the dictator whom I will never call by the initials by which Cambridge Analytica admonished told him to go by. Kung sakaling mapilitan ako, bear in mind what the letters actually mean: BaBalik ang Magnanakaw. Or better yet, Budol-Budol Master. Because budol-budol, in the Marcoses’ playbook, is precisely historical distortion.
“The good works of my father brought me where I am now.” Marcos Jr said it, without batting an eyelash, on 13 September 2022 in his first presidential one-on-one media interview with Toni Gonzaga – assuming that she is legitimately media.
Without batting an eyelash. Lying through his teeth. Blatantly. Unabashedly. Salin sa Filipino – nang buong kakapalan ng pagmumukha.
Mukhang may innovation ang Marcos camp sa ilang turo ng kanang kamay ni Adolf Hitler na si Joseph Goebbels. It is something like: Kung magsisinungaling ka rin lamang, ipakete mong iyon na — mismo — ang gospel truth. Huwag ka nang mag-iwan ng espasyo para sa pagdududa ng iyong ibubudol. Garapalan na. Kung ano ang katotohanan, baligtarin mo nang syento por syento. Direct opposite talaga. Hayup na katotohanan iyan! Letseng ‘the truth shall set us free!’ Lilikha tayo ng ibang dimensyon ng realidad, ibang perception. Untruth will let us reclaim our old glory!
Eh di ba, sinabi ni Imelda ito? “Perception is real, and the truth is not.”
And by the looks of it, umepekto talaga ang manipulasyon nila sa attitude, preferences, at behavior ng malaking bahagi ng 89 million Filipinos na may Facebook account, idagdag mo pa ang milyon-milyong may iba pang gadgets.
Historical distortion is a pandemic whose implications are far more serious than the coronavirus. No epidemiologist can prescribe a vaccine. How then do we combat historical distortions? Palagay ko po, nagsisimula iyan sa isang comprehensive, thorough understanding ng kung ano ba ang nature ng historical distortions, saan at paano nagmula, sino ang promotor, at kung ano-ano ang platforms na ginagamit nila upang maimpeksyon ang mga tao.
Ayon sa artikulong lumabas sa lasallian.com at sinulat nina Jezah Mae Bagsit, Kim Balasabas, at Deo Cruzada, “History, as public memory, is integral to a society. After all, how people perceive—or even deal with—the important events and figures in the past can shape the realities of the present. But public memory is not set in stone; people can deliberately change the facts and interpretations to influence the opinions of others.”
Mahalagang alam natin ang difference ng historical revisionism at historical distortions. Wika ni Prof. Jose Alain Austria ng De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, “Historical revision, in itself, is neutral,” dahil sa mga bagong nadidiskubring ebidensya at pananaliksik. Kaya si Prof. Francis Gealogo ng Ateneo de Manila at ng network na Tanggol Kasaysayan ay nagpapayo na gamitin ang deskripsyong “negative historical revisionism” upang pag-ibahin ang kinakailangang pagrerebisa ng history at ang pagrerebisang budol-budol ang intensyon para makabalik sa Malakanyang.
Wika pa rin ni Dr. Jose Victor Torres ng DLSU Department of History, ang distortive practices na ito ay sinasamantala ng mga nakakaalam na mayroong puwang o kakulangan sa kaalaman ng mga tao. Iyan, sa aking palagay, ang dapat nating punuan.
Mapanganib ang historical distortions. Ang panganib, wika ng historians, ay dahil gusto ng mga tao na makarinig ng mabuting kwento, halimbawa, na minsan sa isang panahon, ang Pilipinas ay umabot sa isang golden age. Gusto nila na kahit minsan, may mga lider tayong totoong mabubuti, gaya ng mga Marcos. Iyon nga lamang, pinasama sila ng mga kaaway nila.
At dahil ang labanan para sa historical truth ay nangyayari sa YouTube at social media, kailangan, wika ni Prof Xiao Chua ng De La Salle, na ang mga pagsusuri at naratibo natin na nagtataguyod ng katotohanan ay maging “more relatable” sa higit na nakararaming masa.
Ang bottomline, wika ng historians, ay “Educate, not humiliate.”
Tayo mismo, each one of us, must do our own research and must have a firm grasp of history.
Maggumiit tayo sa laban kontra sa historical distortions. Ang lahat ay ninakaw na sa atin – ang ating kalayaan, mga karapatang pantao, kabangyaman ng bansa. Pati ba naman ang kasaysayan at ang ating memorya, ipapanakaw pa natin?
Maraming paraan upang maipagwagi ang laban kontra sa historical distortions. Isang paraan ang sa ganang akin, bilang artista — ang patuloy na paglikha ng mga dula at pelikula. Isa pang paraan ang sa kay Adora Faye de Vera, na siyang pinag-aalayan ko ng maigsing diskursong ito.
