Country ‘not yet free’ from social ills

WE regained our freedom, but we are never really free.

Political scientist Dr. Rhodora Bucoy, one of the activists who was detained after the declaration of Martial Law 39 years ago, said the Philippines has not experienced “substantial change” in the post-Marcos era.

“What happened in the past is still in the present,” said Bucoy,  chairperson of  the Social Sciences Division of the University of the Philippines Cebu College.

Bucoy said the only big positive change from the Marcos days  is the freedom experienced by the media.

In 1972, with the declaration of Martial Law,  radio stations and newspaper offices were shut down. A crony press and government agencies  would only report  good things about the administration, and few  dared  criticize it.

“Now, media is more free, except that the Freedom of Information bill has  yet to be passed,” she said.

Bucoy said  although people stood up against the Marcos administration, their  demand for social justice, genuine agrarian reform and government democratization have yet to be fully met amid persistent poverty and corruption.

Bucoy was a 22-year old professor at the Ateneo de Cagayan when Martial law was declared in 1972.

She said the military put her under surveillance  and would listen to her classroom discussions.

“It was a year of living dangerously. There was no freedom of speech and there was a lot of pressure from the military,” she said.

The generation that was not yet born during the “dark days” of  martial law should be taught about  what happened to prevent the scenario of a “few rulers” and dictatorship from recurring, Bucoy said.

There’s a need to renew the youth’s sense of nationalism and heroism, she said.

“Some are not too open to say that they took part in the ouster of the dictatorship. I wear it like a badge,” Bucoy said.