The Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) denounces Senate Bill No. 452 authored by Sen. Robin Padilla that willfully distorts history’s damning judgment of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines and turn the infamous day of the martial law declaration into a national holiday honoring “unsung heroes,” the “unsung heroes” being the state security forces that actually had their hands bloodied in a rampage of human rights violations.
The bill’s content is virtually indistinguishable from the official martial law propaganda at the time glorifying the dictatorship’s establishment as a move that “saved the republic” and “formed a New Society.”
We all know, of course, that as Marcos Sr. was about to end his second and last constitutional term, he declared martial law to perpetuate himself in power, using the so-called communist threat as a convenient pretext. Marcos Sr. monopolized power by abolishing Congress, closing down the media, and ruling by decree. He jailed political dissidents, seized his opponents’ assets and properties, plundered the public coffers and amassed wealth for himself, his family, and his cronies.
Senator Padilla conveniently skipped all this.
The Marcos clique’s naked abuse of power alienated large segments of the population. Its polarizing effect brought forth a broad united front that included both the traditional opposition, the middle and working classes, liberals, and communists that mounted an overwhelming resistance on all fronts. Many of the martyrs and heroes of this struggle came from the armed and underground movements, whose ranks grew exponentially because of the martial law repression.
Senator Padilla’s bill also glosses over the massacres and all atrocities committed by Marcos forces against the Moro people before and especially under martial law.
Truth is, the unsung heroes and martyrs of this era are those whose names have yet to be enshrined at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani and similar monuments, or those who, known only by their noms de guerre, worked selflessly and indefatigably to end to the dictatorship. By no stretch of the imagination could the brutal martial law implementers and military men who arrested, tortured, killed and abducted tens of thousands of Filipinos in the anti-dictatorship resistance be called heroes. Neither they nor the regime they served deserve a day and place of honor anywhere.
Senator Padilla’s bill should be thrown in the dustbin where it rightfully belongs.