(FILE) Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman
MANILA, Philippines —More than just a slogan to protest Ferdinand E. Marcos’ rule, “never again” should be a code to live by, according to martial law veteran and Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman.
During a privilege speech on the House floor on Wednesday, Lagman compared the phrase “never again” to the atrocities committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
He said the phrase serves as a moral code urging people to never again allow themselves to be victims of abuse.
“Mr. Speaker, the slogan ‘never again’ is not used exclusively to refer to martial law in the Philippine context. It was first used as a battle cry against the horrors of the Holocaust, and later genocide and tyranny in general. But ‘never again’ is more than a battle cry. It should be a moral code that we must live by. Never again must we allow ourselves to be victimized,” Lagman said.
“Never again must our human rights be trampled upon. Never again must our nation be shrouded in fear and oppression. Never again should a brother so dearly loved lose his life so that we may live to enjoy basic freedoms. It is both a prayer and a promise that we will never forget the tragedy of martial law and that evil will never again be allowed to thrive. We should not forget the perpetrators and beneficiaries of martial law until they admit their odious crimes and show contrite repentance,” he added.
Lagman was referring to his brother, lawyer Hermon Lagman, who disappeared during martial law.
According to Lagman, his brother was the first lawyer to fall prey to the regime of the late former president Marcos, the father of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Hermon remains missing 45 years after he disappeared.
Lagman said that the tragic recollections of the victims should serve as motivation to oppose any attempt to rewrite history to the Marcoses’ advantage.
Despite Republic Act No. 10368 mandating the teaching of martial law atrocities, Marcos Sr.’s two-decade grip on the country is barely taught now.
“The memory of both the horrors of martial law and the courage and conviction of its victims and survivors must be indelible in our history. We must resist all attempts of historical revisionism and self-serving sanitizing in literature and the arts, including cinematography,” he explained.
“Lamentably, the sins of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship – the grievous human rights violations, unrestrained cronyism, the plunder of the economy, the negative economic growth are barely taught in educational institutions, especially in the basic education level, despite the provision under R.A. 10368 or the ‘Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act’ for ‘DepED and the CHED to ensure that the teaching of Martial Law atrocities,” he noted.
Forgiving past sins is one thing, but forgetting abuses is another, as Germany and Spain have done following Hitler and Franco regimes.
“Filipinos can forgive but should never forget the atrocities and despotism of martial law. Widespread amnesia of the abhorrent abuses and inordinate profligacy of the martial law era must be cured and jettisoned as a national malaise,” he said.
“Mr. Speaker, contrite apology and genuine repentance are demanded of martial law’s perpetrators and beneficiaries in order to eventually achieve this administration’s much-ballyhooed call for national unity. Acknowledging and rectifying the errors and excesses of the past is a condition precedent to forging national unity as what Germany and Spain did on the respective odious regimes of Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco,” he noted.
Martial law’s 50th anniversary was marked by protest rallies by several human rights groups on Wednesday. President Marcos might have been in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a fateful day, but his father’s sins cannot be hidden.
READ: Bayan tells Marcos Jr.: You can’t escape your father’s crimes
READ: ‘Son of the dictator’ tag doesn’t bother Marcos: ‘I know they’re wrong’
READ: Marcos defends martial law, admits abuses ‘like in any war’
READ: Bayan rebuts Marcos Jr.: Martial law unnecessary; your dad just power hungry
Wednesday’s commemoration included several activities. Demonstrations are also expected at Plaza Miranda, the Commission on Human Rights grounds, and the University of the Philippines.– Kristelle Razon, INQUIRER.net trainee