Martial Law Archives

Apr192022 No Comments

A Game of Trolls: The Foul Job Exposed

BY FATIMA B. BADURIA TROLLING AS a profession perpetuates online with social media as its main operational base. Many misleading messages are crafted to tip the scale towards a presidential bet. As long as this purpose is served, accuracy ceases to matter. As the trolls oppose the truth, their only logical strategy is to suppress logic. Directed by Maribel Legarda and written by Liza Magtoto, A Game of Trolls conveys a palpable reality through a musical play. The play focuses on a particular historical epoch in the Philippines: the 1970s Martial Law under the dictatorship of former president Ferdinand Marcos. This chapter in history arises as a key project for the trolls in the play since revising it can hasten their political schemes. Taking center stage as the main protag

Nov292021 No Comments

Artlets told to hold dialogues with deniers of Martial Law abuses

News

by ARTHUR N. APOSTOL ARTLETS SHOULD engage in dialogue instead of acting as agents of cancel culture, especially on discussions about Martial Law, a community development expert said. Tyrone Nepomuceno, UST-Simbahayan Community Development coordinator, said people should promote a culture of dialogue with the deniers of the Martial Law abuses as individuals hold different experiences during the era. “It could be good for some, but it could be bad for others, we need to listen to both the positive and negative sides,” Nepomuceno said during the 'Martial Law Balik-Balikan: A Webinar on Historical Distortion and Fact-Checking of Martial Law Resources' last Nov. 18. However, the fact that several Filipinos were victimized during Martial Law should not be overlooked, Nepomuceno

Nov162021 No Comments

Professorial Chair holder: Never forget Martial Law

News

FILIPINOS MUST remember what happened during Martial Law as forgetting or denying the abuses during the period is a form of silencing its victims, a multi-awarded scholar said. Prof. Joyce Arriola, holder of the Teodoro F. Valencia Professorial Chair in Journalism, noted that an avalanche of information and the plurality of opinions are competing with the truth behind the Martial Law narrative. “Some of this information may be true, but some are also false. [Forgetting as an] annulment is done by flooding the market with information, which led to confusion and the muting of the essential story,” Arriola said during her professorial lecture last Nov. 13. Arriola, also the director of the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and the Humanities, said values such as truth, justice,

Mar52017 No Comments

Thomasian Debaters Council to hold symposium on Martial Law

News

THE THOMASIAN Debaters Council (TDC), the official debate varsity of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), will be holding “Diskursong Tomasino: The Martial Law Chapter,” a symposium on the various aspects of Martial Law in relation to present-day events on March 11. “Contemporary events prove how relevant it is to educate our students with what has really happened in the past. […] I think it's important and it's about time that we give faces to the stories that we keep on hearing in order for our students to relate and really understand them,” TDC president Bianca Lacaba told the Flame in an online exchange. The speakers include Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism executive director Malou Mangahas, former Commission on Human Rights chairperson Etta Rosales, Hilda Narci

Feb252017 No Comments

Thomasians urged to take a stand vs. Martial Law

News

“[THE DECLARATION of Martial Law] can happen, but only if you let it happen. ‘Pag pinabayaan niyong mangyari, ‘pag ‘di kayo kumilos, mangyayari.” This was the challenge of anti-Martial Law advocates to Thomasians in a forum held Feb. 24 in commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. Ana Elzy Ofreneo, Commission on Human Rights director for human rights promotion, said the youth should remember and act against what transpired during the Martial Law period, which she claimed to be a “horrible experience to everyone.” “Tyrants rule when the people are meek and silent. Marcos […] showed that [Martial Law] does not work as a model for development because as the saying goes, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely,’” Ofreneo said. The youth played an important role

Nov262016 No Comments

Students, protesters hold Duterte liable for Marcos’ burial at LNMB

News

LIGHT RAINS did not dampen the rage of protesters over the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LMNB). The Filipinos who gathered at the Quirino Grandstand in what was dubbed as the "National Day of Unity and Rage” also held President Rodrigo Duterte liable for allowing the burial. Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said Duterte had the choice to grant or disapprove the hero’s burial because no law states that Marcos should be buried at LNMB but only under the regulations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “Reconciliation? Paano tayo magkaroon ng reconciliation kung ni hindi in-a-acknowledge ng mga Marcos na may human rights violations at may plunder noong Martial Law […] at kung hindi ibalik ang bilyun-bilyong nakaw na yaman

Sep252016 No Comments

Handang Lumaban

Perspectives

Editor’s Note: In line with the 44th anniversary of the declaration of Proclamation 1081 as the law of the land, the Flame will post a series of articles written by the publication’s former staffers during the Martial Law period. The Flame, being one of the student publications who continued its fearless reportage during those tumultuous times, believes that we—both the young and the old—should never turn a blind eye and forget the atrocities and plunders during Martial Law. It is our duty as members of the press to enlighten the Filipinos about that dark period in the country’s history. (This article was originally published in The Flame Vol. 13, No. 1 issue) SUMIBOL ANG binhi ng aktibismo noong 1970 na naging dahilan ng pagdedeklara ng “Martial Law” sa ating bansa. Dito n

Sep242016 No Comments

Panahon na, Bayan

Literary

Editor’s Note: In line with the 44th anniversary of the declaration of Proclamation 1081 as the law of the land, the Flame will post a series of articles written by the publication’s former staffers during the Martial Law period. The Flame, being one of the student publications who continued its fearless reportage during those tumultuous times, believes that we—both the young and the old—should never turn a blind eye and forget the atrocities and plunders during Martial Law. It is our duty as members of the press to enlighten the Filipinos about that dark period in the country’s history. (This poem was originally published in The Flame Vol. 13, No. 1 issue) Ang bulok na lipunan ay saan nga ba nanggaling, Ano ba ang naging sanhi’t tayo ngayo’y nasa dilim? Ni anino ng buhay

Sep232016 No Comments

An Echo from the Past: the Remains of Martial Law

Culture

ON SEPT. 21, 1972, then president Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 and rendered the state under armed control. This declaration resulted to around 107,240 human rights violations, which left a horrendous mark on the nation. Stories of the horrors of the period are retold every year. But millennials—who were too young to have experienced or remember the bloody era—continue to show apathy, while the preceding generation appears to have forgotten. The Sound of Silence: Remembering Martial Law is an eye-opening exhibit featuring the works of Edgar “Egai" Talusan Fernandez. Here are some of the pieces which invoke the various dimensions of the oppressive period: Pandora ng Karunungan, a black and white painting, presents a head whose temple has a flicked off switch, a

Sep212016 No Comments

The Language of Protest

Perspectives

Editor's Note: In line with the 44th anniversary of the declaration of Proclamation 1081 as the law of the land, the Flame will post a series of articles written by the publication's former staffers during the Martial Law period. The Flame, being one of the student publications who continued its fearless reportage during those tumultuous times, believes that we—both the young and the old—should never turn a blind eye and forget the atrocities and plunders during Martial Law. It is our duty as members of the press to enlighten the Filipinos about that dark period in the country's history. (This editorial was originally published in The Flame Vol. 11, No. 1 issue) RECENT TRENDS show that the populace has finally been jolted into realizing the harsh realities that beset them.