“Let us not be cowed. We are on the right side of history. We will continue to fight for the country. In the midst of lies and oppression, our call remains – we will struggle on.”
“(These films) are a big chunk of our collective memory as a people of what happened during the Marcos era and these we have to preserve.”
But what perhaps connects to the viewers are grief and the grim reality of state repression. When some activists were abducted, their torture scenes seem to be lifted straight from testimonies of Martial Law victims. Name every method and it gets shown here. Here, the film becomes art that disturbs those who had lived in the comfort that Martial Law.
“We vow to continue the claim for reparation and recognition of thousand more victims by pushing for a better reparations law. We vow to continue to claim our hard-won non-monetary benefits, as mandated in RA 10368 or Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013. We will continue to resist the historical distortion peddled by the Marcoses and their apologists, and the return of the $6 billion more that the Marcoses stole from the Filipino people.”
The wrongs of history have to be told and re-told, so we rid our future of costly mistakes. This is why I see this movement as very timely, very important and very necessary. The movement will be a collective process and effort to perpetuate eyewitness testimonies of a horrific past.”
But this week, international attention has turned to the Philippines as Ferdinand Marcos Jr. prepares to become the country’s next president. Instead of stamping out reminders of tyranny, will there be a restoration? With an ousted dictator’s son taking power, will historical documents be destroyed? Will the memories of victims be forcibly erased?
A human rights group has called on the public to express their rejection of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte as they lead the number of unofficial transmitted votes from yesterday’s elections, saying they represent the “the worst brand of traditional politics and governance.”
As Filipinos return to the polling precinct next month, Bulatlat, the Philippines’ longest-running online alternative news and authority in human rights reporting, has revisited the stand of those running for president and vice president on issues confronting the marginalized and the oppressed. This is part of Bulatlat’s commitment to truth-telling, defending press freedom, and resisting…
Citing the unpaid estate taxes of the Marcoses, martial law victims said the family of the late dictator continues to rob the people.
EDSA 1986 was a time of great promise, much of which, besieged by several coup attempts, the Corazon Aquino administration failed to deliver. But it nevertheless removed from power a regime whose abuses, corruption, and brutality have long been established by documentary evidence and those who survived it.
Many citizens today, particularly the youth, may think that the Duterte administration invented red-tagging. But they should not be surprised to learn that almost 50 years ago – under his martial-law one-man rule – Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was already sticking that label on those who openly criticized and opposed him. Certainly, the term “red-tagging” was not in use then, but the alleged acts invoked fitted those in the above-cited definitions.