SOME sectors are maligning President Duterte, but so smart enough, can play with words and in many instances he can get away with it. Just like today, September 21, he declared it a national protest day and work and classes in schools were suspended. And he said today is not a holiday.
And it is an obvious irony. And for the millennials, this is the day in 1971 when then President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law. And later Marcos declared it as a National Thanksgiving Day while he was still in power. And it was scratched when the Aquinos assumed power.
I will never forget September 21, 1972. I was driving on my way home to Angeles from a two-week works in Olongapo City where earlier my boss lawyer Rogelio Bangsil and my late cousin Ceferino "Nonong" Lumanlan opened our third casino, the Big C on the top floor of a hotel owned by a certain Conrad Tiu.
Alone in the car and wanted to have soft music, I switched on my radio but can't get any. All of the stations are garbled, except for one and hear repeatedly the voice of then Press Secretary Francisco "Kit" Tatad. He was reading the martial law proclamation.
And the next day, I went to the Tea House Hotel along the Jake Gonzales Boulevard in Angeles City and met fellow reporters. There I learned that many members of the opposition, businessmen and media persons were locked up and detained in Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. His main political rival Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was sought by then constabulary General Romeo Gatan and placed him in jail. Marcos was on top of the situation.
There were both bad and good things brought about by martial law. Many were saying that in those first years of martial law where discipline among Filipinos was observed.
Corruption even on most known corrupt agencies like the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue had grinded to a halt. Where some BOC officials used having lunch at the Manila Hotel, brought home cooked baon instead. Similar abuses where curbed. Criminality went down because curfew was enforced.
Government infrastructures were finished on time and First Lady Imelda Marcos took charge. The Philippine Heart Center, Kidney Center, Folk Arts Center, and Cultural Center of the Philippines etc. were built.
The bill of rights was suspended. People locked up jail without warrants. Congress was abolished, and put in place was the Interim Batasan Pambansa with only Marcos minions getting membership.
Opposition in the invented congress never played an independent role. It was more of a rubber stamp. Subservience to Marcos was so evident. Legislation was mostly done in MalacaƱang by way of issuance of proclamations.
In those years of martial law, bad things far outweigh the good things. It can even be summarized as a failure of democracy is a total failure for country. So the cry today, for those who suffered during those years and the millennials who study and have deep sense of history, "Never again to martial law."
TWEETS:
+I am proud of my friend Jess Nicdao, a former colleague at CDC, CIAC and CEDC for his passion in serving people. He donated the first human milk bank which cost him more than P4.5 million.
+ Congratulation is in order for the Angeles City Police Office. It was adjudged as the best performing police office in central Luzon.
+Do congressmen drive their own vehicles? Are they seeking immunity for their drivers?