Providing facts, challenging mistaken notions: Media and the commemoration of Martial Law

THERE CAN never be enough stories on martial law. Filipinos failed to form a Truth Commission as the South Africans did to establish consensus about the Apartheid. We have yet to read a definitive history of the Marcos years. A generation of Filipino students still read Martial Law propaganda written into history textbooks. Marcos loyalists present their rosy memories about this passage in national history.

More than four decades after the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081, the country has marked September 21 as the advent of a dictatorship launched under the pretense of creating a “New Society.”

On the 43rd year since the declaration of martial rule, the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility reviewed media coverage of the anniversary of one of Philippine history’s darkest times.

Among the Manila broadsheets, the Philippine Daily Inquirer was the first to run stories recalling the Marcos dictatorship. Coinciding with the celebration of National Heroes Day on August 31, the Inquirer began the week-long series “Never too young,” which commemorated the lives of the men and women who fought the Marcos regime. GMA News Online also posted a timeline as early as September 19.

Never forget

Accounts of the horrors of the martial-law period were abundant in other papers. The Manila Bulletin, the Inquirer and The Philippine Star ran stories on the experiences of different people on Sept, 21, 1972, and subsequent years.

Among the three, the Inquirer had the most number of accounts from Monday, September 21, up to Friday, September 25. The Inquirer began yet another series of stories on martial law on September 20, which ranged from a personal account of the author’s experience on the actual day of the declaration (“I saw martial law up close and personal,” September 20), the former first lady’s fascination with fashion (“Imelda and the ‘terno’ of her affections,” September 20), to how the satire-charged Jingle Chordbook Magazine came to be (“Angel rained on martial law’s parade,” September 23).

Underscoring the value of liberty, the Bulletin’s “Remembering Martial Law and the value of freedom”, published on September 20, recounted how basic freedoms were trampled on then.

InterAksyon.com, TV5’s news portal, also began a series of multi-media features chronicling experiences of martial law victims. (“40 Years After Martial Law: #NeverForgetMartialLaw“)

Harrowing narratives by the sons, daughters and other kin of political prisoners, as well as by political prisoners themselves, provided a sense of how anyone deemed a dissident could be arrested, tortured, and even killed.

Continuing struggle

Contextualizing martial law was not limited to providing accounts by those who survived it. Current issues were also linked to it, with claims that the horrors of Marcos’ regime are still real today.

The Inquirer’s “Lumad killings traced to Marcos’ martial rule” was among the stories that made the connection. In Bulletin’s “Traces of Martial Law still present, militant solons say”, representatives of the Makabayan bloc attributed the Lumad killings to President Benigno Aquino III “sponsoring incessant militarization.”

The Star’s editorial “Martial law, after 43 years” lamented that not one of the perpetrators – whether for plunder and/or human rights violations during martial law – have been punished. The failure to sanction executions, according to the editorial, “has bred the kind of impunity that led to the 2009 massacre of 58 people, half (sic) of them journalists, in Maguindanao”.

Bridging gaps

To correct the many misconceptions during the marital law, ABS-CBNnews.com posted a six-minute video “Life under Marcos: A fact-check” on September 21, countering the claims of Marcos supporters by supplying essential facts and figures. Among these were: that the country was rich during the martial law; that Marcos was not corrupt; that life was peaceful; and that martial law was declared to enforce law and order.

“Life under Marcos: A fact-check” did a good job in correcting the misconception that the Philippines enjoyed economic growth during the period. It was the only report to focus on the economic failures which were covered up by showcase infrastructure projects of the Marcoses. The report recalled the increase in poverty and the unfavourable peso-dollar exchange rate, among other indicators.

Connecting to millennials

To address the waning interest of the younger generation in anything about the past, some media organizations took an innovative approach to informing the millennials about this dark chapter in Philippine history.

Rappler.com ran “#AnimatED: Millennial, paano ka apektado ng Martial Law? (How you are affected by the Martial Law, Millennial?)” which explained how certain current terms are connected to that period.

Among those terms were “Butcher,” which claims to describe retired Army Major General and known anti-communist Jovito Palparan; “Impunity” which has been used to refer to the Maguindanao massacre as well as the Daet and Escalante Massacres; and “collective amnesia” – recounting Senator Bongbong Marcos’s “what am I to say sorry about?” when asked if he would apologize for his father’s abuses.

Rappler also published “#NeverAgain: Martial Law stories young people need to hear” on September 23 which detailed the torture experienced by Archimedes Trajano, Maria Elena Ang, Dr. Juan Escandor and Boyet Mijandres, among others.

The Inquirer had “Attention millennials: You ain’t seen nothing yet” on September 20 which gave a list of key facts about martial law, including the actual date when Proclamation No. 1081 was signed, Enrile’s “ambush” on September 22, 1972, the disaster-ridden construction of the Manila Film Center, and the state of freedom of expression, among others.

Shortage

But the primetime newscasts on free TV fell short of providing enough information or context. 24 Oras (GMA-7), Aksyon (TV5), and TV Patrol (ABS-CBN 2) merely provided events coverage as the three newscasts ran one story in the evening of September 21, which was mainly on the protests by people’s organizations during the anniversary, the information about Martial Law limited to shouted slogans and painted poster.

All three also reported the Commission on Human Rights’ receiving about 75,000 applications claims from alleged martial law victims. However, it was only Network News (CNN Philippines) which covered the delay of monetary and non-monetary benefits.

Never again

The point of remembrance is not to blame villains, but to teach the lessons to be learned from history. The lesson of the Marcos years should be recalled for the purpose of improving our electoral choices. Our elected leaders, given power without public scrutiny, will abuse that power. Otherwise, we will be doomed to repeat our mistakes (see In Media Res).