“Never Again!”: Remembering The Atrocities Of Martial Law Through The Eyes of Hope for National Transformation

By Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu

 In his book, The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon stressed on the creative and redemptive roles that story-telling and memory-reminiscing play in achieving genuine liberation and societal transformation of peoples who were oppressed by colonization, neo-colonization and militarization (pp. 79-87). Fanon observed that it is in-between the interstices of the stories of subjugation and memories of peoples’ struggles to symbolically and militantly subvert the hegemonic power that hope for the future and pro-active courage to act for integral emancipation are being forged in the hearts and minds of the oppressed. “When hope arises in the mind of the masses, courage is sure to follow”; so said Fanon (pp. 100-101).

Telling stories of the oppression committed against the downtrodden and recounting the memories of the resistance against oppressors and the courageous struggles waged by the basic masses for and behalf of national liberation allow our heart, mind and spirit to hope for the best for our country that was once ravaged by the heartless and inhuman dictatorship of the Marcoses and the monster that this oppressive regime of the past had unleashed as its brutal tool for its own self-preservation—the infamous Martial Rule of 1972. Remembering the atrocities perpetrated by that demoniac Marcos regime and reminiscing the stories of noble acts of self-transcendence that activists and those fighting for integral national liberation are indeed potent means to encourage our hearts and our whole being to go on with our liberative effort and struggle to build a free just, humane and egalitarian society for one and all.

It is indeed refreshing and enlightening to note that by listening to and reflecting on the narratives of courage and selflessness of people who lived through that dangerous era of Marcos misrule with its dehumanizing and life-denying propensities, our hearts can be softened to commit once again to the socio-political agenda of holistic and integral emancipation for our nation. Despite the terrors unleashed by Marcos and his henchmen, there were still courageous people who sided with the masses against the excesses of the dictatorship. Despite innumerable dangers to their lives, limbs and their loved-ones, these brave souls, in their altruistic acts of self-transcendence boldly protected our basic human rights and lifted high the torch of our flickering freedom; thereby reviving the hope for the advent of a democratic Philippines in the future. Despite and in the midst of the stench of death, brutalities and tortures that the dictatorship had unleashed upon them in order to weigh-down and diminish their resolve to fight for justice, freedom and equality, these activists stood their ground and gave us shining examples of genuine altruistic heroism.

For me, the inspiration and the shining examples that can sustain us activists and advocates of social change (in our present milieu) can be found in the stories and instances of the brave daring of the masses and ordinary people in aggressively and heroically fighting against the diabolical powers of darkness and death during that sorry and sad state of our nation’s history; namely, Martial Law. Memory is powerful and it is redemptive. Activist-heroes who gave their lives during that blight and treacherous regime paid the cost of their heroism and valor not cheaply—some were brutalized, raped, tortured, maimed, incarcerated without just reasons and without the benefit of due process accorded by law; while others were cruelly butchered for standing against the Conjugal Dictatorship. Like the ancient nation of Israel whose people were enslaved by Pharaonic totalitarianism, we Filipinos were once ruled by a Conjugal Dictatorship supported by reactionary and fascistic military elements. The memory of this slavery and the narratives of courage in our efforts to actively struggle against the dark-elements of brute power can be harnessed as effective sources of national zeal and as a potent bulwark against any attempts to restore dictatorship, militarization, and Martial Rule in our midst! “Never again will there be Martial Rule in our beloved country! Never ever again!”—we must declare this slogan loudly and strongly from within the inner core of our very being.

However, the remembrance of that unhappy event of Martial Law and the subsequent joy of our national redemption when we had successfully extricated ourselves from the grips of the dictator will only be beneficial to us and to our nation if it is kindled with a pro-active and liberating hope; and not just a fatalistic kind of hope. A memory devoid of the promise for our continuing national liberation is an empty useless hope—it is nothing but a wishful thinking that can even lead us back to social apathy and political leniency! Real hope for the future must be geared towards integral national liberation, holistic social change and total societal emancipation. Pro-active hope for the future of our country is achieved in the midst of the struggle towards genuine and total redemption of our nation from all sinister powers of darkness, violence and death. Let us fulfill actively the hope of our eminent emancipation by our firm resolve never to return back once again to our former slavery by working-out realistic possibilities and prospects of serving justice, freedom and genuine people’s democracy in our day-to-day existence.

Never again! Let us never forget the many inhuman and cruel atrocities perpetrated during that darkest era in our nation’s past! Never ever again to Martial Rule! Let us always be vigilant and be on guard against any State-sponsored human rights abuses and denial of citizens’ basic freedoms that are presently happening in our midst!

“Never again! Never ever again to Martial Law! Never again to fascism, dictatorship and totalitarianism!”—we sincerely say and hope with all our hearts and with all our being. The lessons that we learned from the victory we achieved against Martial Rule and against Marcos Dictatorship should enjoin us to live justly and peaceably with others. The lessons we learned should actively prod us to work vigorously in building a truly democratic Philippines where peace, joy, equality and love eventually triumph in our midst and where authentic socio-political and economic liberation will be fully realized by every Filipinos, hopefully in our lifetime. Amen! Let it be so! Mabuhay ang Bayang Pilipinas!