Martial law no more!

The ex-president Ferdinand Marcos (rotting) and his wife Imelda Romualdez (should rot)

Funny... no not funny... hilarious it is, that not so many people know about martial law...
I guess our generation is not being taught about those dark times of the country.

My observation is not so much as the un-remembering of it, it is just too many wounds would be opened and too many questions would come out.

It is not so much a question of its legitimacy nor the need to call for it or the order it once established by fear and murder.

It is not so much a question of counting the number of dead bodies and casualties of war between the muslims and the communists against a common enemy.

It is perhaps the successful campaign against remembering martial law that triggers such denseness in our generation.

Another funny thing is, I knew about martial law not from books or newspapers, I knew it from my family.

My family are pure ilocanos who were short of worshipping Ferdinand Marcos.

In fact my grandmother used to sing in the choir in Malakanyang.

They always tell me then how good Marcos was how well he handles the country until them activists destroyed everything.

Up to this day they still blame our losses to the activists rallying in the streets.

I can't blame them.

My ancestors are hacienderos and came from rich families, some are even holding positions of power in our province.

I asked my relatives what happened to all our wealth.

They can't give me a straight answer, perhaps they don't even know themselves.

But anyway going back to their generation, and given their social status, they have close ties with the church and the elders are the ones to be followed being from a portuguese family.

Yes I found out that we are of portuguese decent, that my grandmother attributes our temperament to that bloodline.

They are used to just bowing down and following orders and thats the end of it even from the church.

What the church says is the law.

Sometimes I get the idea that because of my ancestors' crimes to the country in their time my generation is paying the price.

But anyway yes they loved Marcos and they believe that nobody can match up to his kind of government.

Yet that is how they also survived martial law.

You see by that time I can hear them debate about the affairs of the state my grandfather has a love hate relationship between Marcos and martial law.

But then I was too young to remember all of it anyway.

So what about the celebration of Martial law?

I wasn't able to celebrate it I was in the office... haay... sayang... but ang weird lang is why the hell do we call it celebration? duh??

0_0