Over 1,000 academics vow to protect Martial Law history from revision
MANILA, Philippines — More than 1,000 academics and scholars have signed a manifesto committing to fight attempts to revise history, especially attempts related to erasing the memories of plunder and human rights abuses during the Martial Law period.
Those who signed the manifesto — both based in the Philippines and abroad — added that they will preserve all records related to the dictatorship.
This comes around a week after likely vice president Sara Duterte-Carpio agreed to take over the education department, prompting concerns that lessons about the dictatorship and Martial Law will be further diluted. Davao City Mayor Duterte has not mentioned anything about changing the curriculum.
"We pledge to combat all attempts at historical revisionism that distort and falsify history to suit the dynastic interests of the Marcoses and their allies and to fortify their power," a manifesto written in defense of historical truth and academic freedom, read.
It explained that the presumptive electoral victory of Bongbong Marcos and his running mate Duterte signals "the erasure of traumatic personal and collective memories of plunder and human rights violations under Martial Law", and the rampant lies about the so-called "Golden Age" under the conjugal dictatorship of Bongbong's father Ferdinand and his mother Imelda.
The manifesto, which has been signed by 1,100 individuals, was shared to reporters on Thursday by teachers group Alliance for Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines.
They also declared that the signatories have vowed to oppose all forms of disinformation; and protect the integrity and independence of education, historical and cultural institutions, such as the Department of Education and state universities and colleges, among others.
They added that they will promote scholarly initiatives that protect Martial Law history "from the continued attempts of the Marcos family and their supporters to eradicate" it.
"We will undertake to preserve books, documents, records, artefacts, archives, and other source materials pertaining to the Martial Law period and other aspects of the Marcos era," they said in the manifesto.
In a statement, Ateneo De Manila University professor Oscar Campomanes, one of the nine initiators of the manifesto, said that they wanted to put out a strong statement in defense of historical truth against attempts to change what happened during Martial Law and the Marcos era.
Ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law through Proclamation 1081 on September 23, 1972. The actual proclamation is dated September 21, the commonly marked anniversary of that declaration.
During the nine years of military rule, around 72,000 were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured and 3,240 were killed, according to estimates from UK-based Amnesty International, which has an office in the Philippines.
RELATED: Asked about Martial Law abuse, Marcos questions Amnesty International data
Now, his son Marcos Jr. is on track to be the country's next president, after leading the polls by a wide margin of 31.10 million votes compared to his archrival Vice President Leni Robredo who has 14.82 million, based on the partial results reflected on the poll body's transparency media server.
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