Vice President Leni Robredo. (Screen grab)
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo urged Filipinos on Monday to continuously push back attempts to rewrite the dark history of the Marcos regime as the country marked the 48th anniversary of the imposition of martial law.
In a statement, Robredo said Filipinos must assert the truths of the many horrors that happened during the late dictator’s regime.
“In a time when divisiveness is the norm and the gaps in society continue to widen, it is essential that we strive to find more spaces of commonality,” Robredo said.
“We do this by telling our stories, and by asserting the truths that bind us together as one people, with one history: Maraming pinahirapan, naglaho, at pinatay noong martial law; lumobo ang utang ng bayan na binabayaran natin hanggang sa ngayon; lumalim at lumawak ang kahirapan. Dinurog ang mga institusyong haligi ng lipunan. Naging bahagi ng diwa ng pamamahala ang korupsyon at pang-aabuso,” she added.
(Many suffered, disappeared, and were killed during martial law; the country’s debt ballooned which we continue to pay until today; poverty worsened. They crushed institutions that are pillars of the society. Corruption and abuse became part of the rule.)
Noting these truths “know no political color,” Robredo said there is no debate that these indeed happened to the nation.
“And those who attempt to tell us otherwise are not only merely telling a supposed version of the story: They are lying to our faces, stealing our truths from us, stealing our stories,” she said.
“Our task is to push back against these lies at every instant. To tell the stories of martial law and dictatorship over and over so that this generation, and the ones that come after, may be bound tighter through remembering,” she stressed.
It was on Sept. 21, 1972 when martial law was proclaimed, but it was only formally announced two days later.