bantayog.foundation

The following is part of an article at a 1988 issue of PHRU about the life and death of human rights lawyer Vicente Mirabueno.

On August 21, 2015 2PM Bantayog ng mga Bayani had its 29th Annual Membership Meeting and a soft launch of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani and National Historical Commission of the Philippines' book project.



https://www.facebook.com/bantayogngmgabayani/posts/994806647206472

On August 21, 2015 5PM right after the 29th Annual Membership Meeting of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, we'll be having the soft launch of Ang Mamatay ng Dahil Sa 'Yo: Heroes and martyrs  of the Filipino people in the struggle against dictatorship Vol. 1, a book project in cooperation with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

(Here's a Facebook post from Ruben Felipe. Photo by Mike M. Garcia taken at the Bantayog Museum.)

"We are the nameless and all names are ours" -Eman Lacaba

A commemorative photo on the 43rd anniversary of Martial Law. #NeverAgain to Dictatorship #NeverForget Repression #Remember Courage and Heroism in the Philippines!

L-R: Robert Francis Garcia, Eileen Matute, Ruben Felipe, Faith Bacon with Lean Alejandro and countless people who fought for freedom and democracy.

Photo by Mike M. Garcia taken at the Museum of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153122857365893&set=a.436947440892.211946.599080892&type=3&permPage=1

(On Aug. 26, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was asked during an interview with ANC's Headstart whether, as a potential candidate for the country's top positions, he would apologize for the corruption and abuses perpetrated by his father's brutal regime. The meat of his response was, "What am I to say sorry about?” This is a response to Senator Marcos’ question. For clarifications, please contact Bantayog.)

Dear Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,

The extent of your parents’ crimes during the Marcos dictatorship is so extensive its accounting has yet to be completed.

Ferdinand Marcos wrecked Congress, the courts and the bureaucracy. He prostituted the military. He shackled the country with debts. Your parents stole billions of the people’s money and from their political opponents. He had a nuclear plant built that never operated but which the country has to pay for in loans.

He had thousands jailed, abducted, tortured or killed. Many activists are still missing to this day.A law was enacted by Congress in 2012 offering reparation to these victims. As of the latest, seventy-five thousand individuals have applied (and thousands more did not, or failed to, file) for claims. Compensation would be taken from assets recovered from Swiss banks, described by the Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Burkhalter as “looted from the state” by a “corrupt dictator.” The law was an effort by the Philippine and Swiss governments to “right the wrongs committed by the Marcos regime,” said the Swiss ambassador.

We who are writing this letter represent a foundation that launched a book just last month, containing over 100 accounts of the lives of those heroic individuals who fought your father’s regime because they saw it as undemocratic, cruel, and corrupt. We have accounts of unarmed activists shot dead in San Rafael, Bulacan; or who were abducted and later found barely alive or dead in Angeles City, Pampanga, or who were mowed down with gunfire while joining rallies in Escalante in Negros Occidental and in Daet in Camarines Norte. The book was published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

It is time for honesty, Mr. Senator. You owe it to the country that let you go free unharmed when in February 1986, the Filipino people finally drove your family out. It was through a democratic uprising called in song “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo,” a gift to the world, because Filipinos managed to cut the Marcos stranglehold with very little violence in the society. It was a gift to you also -- a gift of your second lives.

You owe it to the victims of your parents’ regime, but you also owe it to your own sons. How do you teach them the selflessness of true public service and the value of honesty and of righting of wrongs if you lack the courage to admit the truth? How do you spare your sons the scorn that certainly faces them if your family continues to feel no remorse or regret over the years of dictatorship?

You are nearing your 60s, a senator, and possessed of normal intelligence. You know what it is exactly that you and your family have to be sorry for. History will judge, you say? That is why you must now stop the lies – because precisely, history, and the people you have aggrieved, will judge.

TRUSTEES
Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation



Download Bantayog's Open Letter to Sen Marcos Jr (PDF)

The following is the full version of the open letter to Sen. Ferdinand 'Bong Bong' Marcos, Jr.

On March 14, 1985, Lean Alejandro wrote a letter to Psychology Department Professor Dr. Rita Estrada. He was still detained at the Camp Ipil Reception Center, Fort Bonifacio at that time.

Rappler recently published Bantayog's open letter at their site. Read the open letter and the numerous comments and reaction from social media at Rappler. Photo from the Rappler post.

You owe it to the victims of your parents’ regime, but you also owe it to your own sons. How do you teach them the selflessness of true public service and the value of honesty and of righting of wrongs if you lack the courage to admit the truth? How do you spare your sons the scorn that certainly faces them if your family continues to feel no remorse or regret over the years of dictatorship?

You are nearing your 60s, a senator, and possessed of normal intelligence. You know what it is exactly that you and your family have to be sorry for. History will judge, you say? That is why you must now stop the lies – because precisely, history, and the people you have aggrieved, will judge.

The Great Lean Run honors the life of iconic UP student leader Lean Alejandro and commemorates the 43rd anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. Read the entire feature at Rappler.

Organizers of the great lean run emphasize the importance of educating younger generation of Filipinos about the abuses done during the Martial Law period. As the Philippines commemorates the 43rd anniversary of one of the worst events in Philippine history, human rights advocates say we need to remember martyrs like Lean Alejandro to never let another dictatorship come into power.

During Martial Law in the 70s, Dulphing Ogan, 50, a Blaan, recalled that he was barely 10 years old when his family and neighbours hurriedly left their homes to seek refuge in the woods in Sarangani province. It was his earliest memory of evacuation, by his own community caught between armed clashes of the Moro Black Shirts and the Ilonggo Land Grabbers Association (Ilaga).

“I remembered the Ilaga were said to be grabbing Moro lands in Mindanao,” Ogan said. The Ilagas operated alongside government troops, and fought the Black Shirt Moros, also known as Bangsamoro Army (Bama).

“Another time, we evacuated because we heard gunshots from nearby villages, some two hours away. There were fightings between Moros and soldiers of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) then. We left our home at midnight, and spent the night in the woods,” Ogan said.

(Read the rest of this article by Dee Ayroso at Bulatlat.com)

“We can trace the origin of the killings with impunity to the Marcos dictatorship’s having abetted the brutal ways by which paramilitary groups freely carried out political killings and other human rights violations.” -Satur Ocampo, political detainee during Martial Law

Read the Inquirer feature here. Photo from the Inquirer.