Batas Militar

           

            Everything really came as a shock to me, and I bet it also was to the people who lived under Martial Law. The cruelty of Ferdinand Marcos was as horrible scene that ran for 20 long years. We all know that military men are people of hard fists and iron chests, and that’s what the Filipinos were handled with back in the reign of Marcos.  Everyone lived in darkness, in the darkness where there is fear, and innocent blood were shed.

It is not wrong to run a country with discipline, after all discipline is an essential tool for a developing country, but the leader also must show care and love to his subordinates. The least he can do for this, is value his people’s lives, which was not seen in Batas Militar. The military were killing spree drunk. Freedom was unavailable, except for Marcos and his friends. The governing of Marcos in a sadistic way, divided the country. The line was drawn between the Filipino citizens and the government. How on earth will this country grow, without the cooperation of its people?

However, there are also some things that credits to the Marcoses. Imelda had many medical establishments, foundations, and charities built and started. The MRT and LRTs were also began by the Marcoses. It may be, that the following presidents improved these projects, but it was the blueprint of Marcos that started it all. Marcos also had many projects built that people were not able to give credit to him, due to their blindness because of his cruelty. I just don’t know which outnumbers the other. Is it his good works or the lives he took?

One of the lives that was ended and blamed to Marcos, was the life of Sen. Ninoy Aquino. Ninoy Aquino, when he lived against Marcos, his blood was hot to fight against Marcos. Imagine, he went to prison because he went against Marcos and suffered with only two underwears that he daily washed just so he could wear something clean the next day. He wanted justice.

When he was sick in the cell, he requested to be treated in US and it was granted. There, he lived with his family for three years and decided to come back in the Philippines which Marcos did not want, where just after he was able to come out of the door of the plane, he was shot. One thing however, stuck in my mind.

Ferdinand asked Ninoy the date of his arrival in Manila. While he was inside the plane, he told the interviewers to tape everything that happens because this could be the last time he would be able to speak to them. Could he knew that someone was about to shoot him? And when he was coming out of the plane, someone inside the plane yelled, “Pusila! Pusila!” That word means, “Shoot him! Shoot him!” in Bisaya. Could it be that Ninoy Aquino knew that something would happen in his arrival? Maybe.