BAGNET
From the words of President Duterte in 2017 that still bother me,
“Why do we have to debate on that?”
“As far as the Ilocanos (are) concerned, Marcos is a hero.”
First of all, I am an Ilocano and I would like to debate on that.
I remember when I was in 3rd grade, I asked my mom who was her favorite Philippine president and she said it was Ferdinand Marcos. She would tell me how the country was in its best form under his term. Me, a naive little girl, ingrained this perspective up until I was in 9th grade. However, I have never really worshipped his ‘accomplishments’ nor was he my favorite president. I just know that he was the 'best’ president, at least for most of the older generation Ilocanos I know.
I remember when I was in 10th grade, Twitter was starting to become a platform of unmasking truth about underlying deceptions of a lot of things. One of them is the truth about the Marcoses and the Martial Law era. Here, I started to realize why some people see Marcos’ term was the best, they fail to see that every deceitful 'accomplishment’ he attains for the country has a hidden agenda. They fail to see that this era’s 'economic boom’ has aggravated the country’s debt and we are still paying it up until now. They fail to see that behind the aid programs he built for the people is people suffering from the military oppressions during his dictatorship.
I remember when I came home from a semestral break. There were successive family gatherings during this time. There was one time when I and my relatives talked about Marcos or Apo Lakay, what most Ilocanos call him. The overall atmosphere of that conversation for me was an infliction of pain. Believe me when I say I tried to oppose their affirmations on Apo Lakay but they always thwart me from speaking up by saying this statement:
“Gapo a agbabasa ka dita Manila'n kasla met la ammom aminen. In-brainwash da kan sa metten.”
(Just because you are studying in Manila, you act as if you know everything. I think they have already brainwashed you.)
Isn’t it the other way around? The moment I Ieft this Ilocos bubble to study in Metro Manila, my way of thinking changed. I realized how we, Ilocanos, have been deprived of the truth, at least for me. They venerate Apo Lakay and justify his heroism. All those years, his name has been cologned from the people surrounding me just to find out the reeking horror he has done. I recall when my lola said how Martial Law has not affected the Ilocos Region. In Ilocos, there is no commemoration of this dark era because they think that Ilocos was 'exempted’ from his tyrannical leadership. But what about the rest of the Philippines?
Frustration and rage are constantly crawling in my mind about how I cannot even defend myself from my relatives’ assertions. I always think of the things I should have said during that time, to justify my opposition towards him. If I were to go back to that conversation with my relatives, I would have told and explained to them these things:
Just because Ilocos did not experience his tyranny, that does not mean it didn’t happen. While they argue that Martial Law was mainly concentrated in Metro Manila, other regions also had a taste of his abuse. An example is from Region 3, numerous are still crying out for help until now. Human rights victims are seeking justice from their husbands who disappeared during that era but are still being denied.
Indeed, I did not experience firsthand his tyrannical but…the numbers don’t lie. About 70,000 people were imprisoned and 34,000 tortured. Thousands of people were tortured in different ways. Some were electrocuted, strangled, and slowly beating them to death. While it is true that there numerous infrastructures that were built, but it came with an appalling cost. The Philippines are drowned with billions of dollars of debt, from $8.2 billion in 1977 ballooning to $24.4 billion in 1982.
Ilocos was not spared from the tortures of Martial Law. Even in his province that he calls home, human rights violations still persisted. In 1984, many farmers from Ilocos Norte were illegally arrested and experienced torture by the military. Three members of an indigenous community in Pallas Valley, Vintar, and eight farmers in Bangui were salvaged. Also, IPs were forced to evacuate from their ancestral domain. These Ilocano victims are not yet compensated until now.
These are just among the arguments I should have thrown. It is saddening how some people are still blinded by this so-called 'golden age’ made possible by Marcos and how some people are simply, misinformed. Seeing these people I know denying the tyranny made by this man is like denying the suffering of the Martial law victims and their families. Compensations do not fully relieve all the pain but rather we recognize all of their sufferings. Although some Ilocanos still see him as a hero, as an Ilocano pride. For me, as an Ilocano, Marcos is not a hero, this is not what a hero manifests.
References
Bulatlat. 2020. Ilocanos Remember Dark Days Of Martial Law, Vow To Continue Fight - Bulatlat. [online] Available at: https://www.bulatlat.com/2012/10/02/ilocanos-remember-dark-days-of-martial-law-vow-to-continue-fight/ [Accessed 24 October 2020].
Rappler. 2020. Martial Law Victims, Kin: Still No Justice, Full Compensation After Decades. [online] Available at: https://www.rappler.com/nation/martial-law-victims-families-decry-lack-compensation [Accessed 24 October 2020].
Rappler. 2020. Martial Law, The Dark Chapter In Philippine History. [online] Available at: https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/martial-law-explainer-victims-stories [Accessed 24 October 2020].















