The Martyrs of Martial Law: To forget them is to kill them twice
I remember a story, written by Maxine Hong Kingston, of a certain lady in China who was ignored by her entire village mainly because she was a mistress of an adulterer. Being ignored simply entailed ostracism by silence. Every time the lady would pass by the streets of the town, the villagers simply ignored her. When she asked a question, the villagers simply stared past her, never answering her. In her own house, her family also ignored her. Her parents burned all family pictures that included her. It was as if she never existed. The lady, deeply resenting this for this was worse than death, decided to die. She saw the family’s water well, the only well that the village drew water from. And then she jumped… to her death. She thought that in that way, the villagers would be forced to remember her. And for good or for ill, oh how she would have relished that they did remember.
Perhaps in a country with a perceived historical amnesia (or a relativistic and pragmatic set of morals in politics), we historians are burdened by the past. I call it a burden, because while we live in the present, so many voices from the past remain silenced, primarily by ignorance, by lack of primary sources, or by simply being suppressed. And this suppression takes many forms. Revising history to suit one’s own political agenda is one of them. And while I would be accused of politicking, since it’s election year this year, I think, as do all students of history, that we all owe the silenced something they’ve been longing for—that is, to be heard and to be acknowledged. That once upon a time, they existed, fought the good fight, but were silenced.
Many of these men and women were fellow citizens like you and me who had families of their own. They saw what was wrong in the country, but instead of turning a blind eye and live comfortable and passive lives, they chose to stand for what was right. Some never thought that their simple act of courage would entail such a sacrifice. Their bravery would cost them their lives.
Historical revisionists abound in the country today. To whitewash the cruelty of the dictator, they would either come up with half-truths to cover it up, or say that it was worse now than it was then, effectively belittling the lives of the victims of an oppressive regime.
Let me be blunt to people like them: Blood is on their hands.
For by making people forget the victims of martial law, to borrow the words of a holocaust survivor, they kill the victims the second time.
Perhaps it would be more personal to us if we know the martyrs by name, and their stories. Perhaps, in this small way, if we keep on making their memories alive, these revisionists would be kept at bay.
When Ambeth Ocampo asked the historian Teodoro Agoncillo on writing about Martial Law in September 1984, Agoncillo said:
“You have to wait. I will not write on it because we are too near the time. There must be perspective and the documents are not available yet. We have to give everybody a chance. That is the essence of impartiality.”
Ocampo asked, “How many years?”
He answered, “Probably twenty years.”
Well, we have heard the Marcos supporters side loud and clear. “Di tayo ang nakaraan.” they say. Don’t you think the time is ripe to write about the era and talk about it in loud voices (not in hushed tones), and not simply be dragged along by memes and catchy slogans?
There are worse things than death. Like being forgotten.
We owe it to the victims of Martial Law. Let us remember them by name. Let their scars be a loud testimony, louder than the smiles and watered-down statements of politicians who would gain from a passive audience swallowing everything they say as ‘truth’, hook, line and sinker.
Throughout this year and way after this election (when all the dusts of politicking have cleared), I will begin a blog series on the Desaparecidos and the victims of Martial Law. Please do freely reblog them. May the testimony of the victims resound. That no matter how some people make us forget, no matter how they make angry noises to drown us out, as our strong act of defiance, we shall always remember. And we shall pass on these stories to generations to come.
*VIDEO ABOVE: Millenials encounter the victims of Martial Law, a video made by the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA).
Join us in this effort! Please sign the CARMMA’s petition for the Department of Education to Include the Full Story of Martial Law Era in Philippine History Textbooks. It’s time.
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