Next generation should be taught ‘factual history’ of martial law—Honasan

Actors reenacts the EDSA rally at the People Power Experiential museum at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on the day of 30th celebration of People Power anniversary. The interactive museum, which is composed of nine halls, recreates the martial law victims’ struggle for democracy, including the events that led to the bloodless revolution in 1986. RICHARD A. REYES

Amid the mythmaking and whitewashing on the abuses of martial rule, Sen. Gringo Honasan on Thursday said only “factual history” must be taught to the next generation of Filipinos, who did not witness the oppression and torture committed during the late dictator’s regime.

READ: Angry Gringo: We had plans, we took action

“Turuan natin ‘yung mga susunod na henerasyon ng factual history, ‘wag ‘yung mga distortions. Ang daming napiprisinta na kami daw ay nandito, nandoon,” Honasan told reporters in an ambush interview in Candelaria, Quezon.

“Let us teach our next generation of leaders and citizens real factual history para malaman natin this is work in progress. Wala namang nagsasabi na magiging madali kasi nagpalit lang ng personalidad,” he said.

The colonel Honasan, his allies then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos, and officers of the Reformed Armed of Forces Movement (RAM) broke away from the administration of Ferdinand Marcos and planned to launch an assault on Malacañang.

He is now gunning for the vice presidency and supporting the presidential bid of Vice President Jejomar Binay, a human rights lawyer and activist during the Marcos regime.

Three decades after the historic 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution that peacefully toppled the dictatorship, Honasan recalled the bloodless uprising as a getting together of Filipinos “from all walks of life, not just in Edsa as a physical location, but all over the country.”

READ: ‘Sobra ang democratic space ngayon’—Honasan

But in an interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM, Honasan also expressed fears that there may be too much “democratic space” today.

“We should not give up. Our children are not only worth living for and fighting for, but also worth dying for,” he added. JE

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