By: Allena Sofia de Castro |
The time has come for us to listen to the cries of the people that brought us to freedom from the iron fist of a tyrant. It is now the golden anniversary of the “Golden Era.” But was it truly golden?
It has now been 50 years since the blatant agony and denial of human rights—the Martial Law, and now, the very architect is seated at the highest position of democracy—we now have another Marcos as president. It is like rebirthing a glimpse of the past.
Today, the horrible past is buried within lies after lies—this was now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s tactic to win the presidency. However, we must not be blinded by his family’s attempt to erase the history that marked our freedom.
Ears are covered in bloody hands, covered by the pretentious secrecy given by Martial Law. During his regime, the people’s food can never be bought with the wages of the ordinary. There is a huge myth during and after the time of the Marcoses "there were no poor people on the streets." They could never be more wrong. Poverty worsened during Marcos’ era, where 6 out of 10 families were below the poverty line nearing the end of his ruling. Even now, we are still paying for the dictator's and his family's debts, which are so large that even our future grandchildren and their descendants will also be responsible for paying them for the rest of their lives.
In 1976, the Tagbanua people were greeted with stomps and roars from exotic animals hailing from Kenya on orders of the Marcos couple—Imelda and Ferdinand. They forcefully removed 254 families from their own soil to make room for their exotic toys; leaving the natives on their knees begging for mercy that was never served.
Is ignorance our only salvation? In the heed of oppression, the bullets only find those who fought. An act only a blood-sucking dictator would engulf in a warm hug.
More than 3,240 were killed, 35,000 were tortured, and 70,000 were subject to brutal confinement. One of them was Adora Faye Devera, fondly known as "Dong" by those closest to her. She was born on December 31, 1955, in Pangasinan. Dong, bitterly remembering her time during the brutality, said that the perpetrators asked her several questions. And when she refused to let a squeak out, an official named “Captain E.S” ordered her to strip naked in front of 20 men. She was raped mercilessly by these soldiers and slept on the antithesis of comfort—on the floor with clothes that were once her only luxury, now non-existent. Dong enjoyed reading poetry so she wrote one for her son, who barely knew her and was raised by her relatives.
“Anak ko, magpakabait. Sa mamamayan huwag mag malupit. Kabutihan ng anakpawis ang iyong igiit. Huwag palalason ang mura mong isip. Sa bayang tinubuan ka dapat umibig.”
The misery, the horror that was Martial Law. As they were told to strip, piercing the skin with excruciating electricity. The people refused to succumb to its atrocious woes, where death is their only mercy, for they crafted the pillars of liberation while the boots of the oppressors glue themselves to the head of our activists. But not once have our heroes licked the soles of the tyrants. Until now, people and families are still grieving for the warmth of their own family members that was stolen from them.
The people sang the power of liberation in the streets of EDSA, providing footprints laced with the activists’ cries and the martyr’s blood. This was our salvation—the People Power Revolution. Whispering through the blinded ears of the regime was our only ally. “Makibaka, ‘wag Matakot” was our war cry. This was the language of our activists and now we cry its rhythm today.
We were enticed and enraged as the vultures of before preyed on our last drop of salvation. Our “Golden Era” was never gold but red. For Marcos was never a hero, worshiping him as such is like thanking the hands that gave you nothing but agony. Let's eliminate this delusion and defend the truth, for history is not just complexity carved in stone. It is the salient ink of our liberation—a sovereign sanguine.
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