#NeverAgainToMartialLaw: Resisting the Erasure of Memory

"Past is past," they say. "Move on." But this is the greatest deception of all. The past is never truly past. It lingers in the present, shaping our reality in ways both visible and unseen.

In astrophysics, we measure distances in light-years—the time it takes for light to travel from one place to another. The sun is eight light-minutes away from Earth, meaning we see it as it was eight minutes ago. We never see the present in real-time; we see only the past.

The same holds true for history. We do not experience the world in an isolated present; we are always living in the echoes of what came before. The wreckage of history does not disappear simply because we choose to ignore it. And yet, for nearly four decades, Filipinos have been told to move on from the horrors of Martial Law, as if memory itself is an inconvenience.

But we cannot, and we must not, because we are still trapped in the shadow of that past.

The Marcos dictatorship was a time of unparalleled brutality, corruption, and repression. Thousands of activists were tortured, disappeared, or killed. Billions were stolen from the people’s coffers. Freedom of speech was crushed, and the country was plunged into debt that generations continue to pay. These are facts, not opinions.

Yet today, history is being rewritten before our very eyes. The Marcos family has returned to power, not despite their crimes, but because those crimes were never fully confronted. Aided by historical revisionism, social media disinformation, and the systemic failure of our institutions, they have successfully rebranded themselves—not as perpetrators of oppression, but as saviours of the nation.

How did this happen? Because we were told to move on. Because we were told that time alone would correct the course of history. Because we believed in the illusion of linear progress—that just because the dictatorship ended in 1986, justice would follow. But history does not correct itself. And time does not erase injustice—unless we fight to ensure that it does.

The philosopher Walter Benjamin once wrote of an Angel of History—a being who looks at the past and sees not a clean and orderly timeline, but a pile of wreckage that grows higher and higher with each catastrophe. The angel wants to stop and make things right, but a storm from paradise—the false promise of progress—pushes him ever forward.

This is the storm we live in. This is the deception we have been sold: that simply moving forward will bring justice. That time will heal wounds without action. That progress happens naturally. 

But look where we are now. The same political dynasties that ruled under the dictatorship still dominate our government. The stolen wealth of the Marcoses has never been fully recovered, and those responsible have never truly been punished. Human rights abuses continue, under new names and faces. History is being rewritten in textbooks and social media, painting the dictatorship as a "golden age." Those who fought for democracy are being branded as enemies, while the perpetrators of Martial Law are hailed as heroes.

The past is not behind us. It is here, shaping the present. The wreckage of history has not been cleared—it has simply been ignored.

The idea that time is linear—that history moves in a straight line from past to present to future—is a dangerous lie. If we think of time this way, we become passive spectators, assuming that progress is inevitable. But time is not linear; history is not a smooth road. It is a battlefield where the past constantly struggles against the forces that seek to erase it.

And right now, we are at a critical moment: the farther we move from 1986, the easier it becomes for the Marcoses to rewrite history.

We must resist.

We must reject the illusion of progress and recognize that history is not something that happens to us—it is something we actively shape. The fight against dictatorship did not end with People Power. It is an ongoing struggle, one that demands constant vigilance.

We must:

• Protect historical truth: Education must not be neutral when it comes to history. The atrocities of Martial Law must be taught as fact, not as debate.
• Resist historical revisionism: Disinformation spreads faster than truth. We must challenge lies in our communities, on social media, and in mainstream discourse.
• Hold the powerful accountable: The Marcoses and their enablers have thrived because impunity has been allowed to fester. Justice delayed is justice denied—but justice is still worth pursuing.
• Strengthen democratic institutions: Authoritarianism thrives where institutions are weak. We must defend press freedom, the judiciary, and civil society from those who seek to control them.
• Make memory political: Commemorating Martial Law is not just about remembering the past—it is about ensuring that its horrors never happen again.

"Past is past." No. The past is present. The past is in our policies, in our politics, in our everyday lives. It is in the wealth of the Marcoses, in the fear of activists, in the continued killings of those who dare to resist. It is in the lies being spread to an entire generation who never knew Martial Law but are being taught to worship its architects.

We do not say #NeverAgainToMartialLaw as a slogan of nostalgia. We say it because the conditions that made Martial Law possible—the culture of impunity, the erosion of truth, the complacency of the public—are alive and well.

We are standing at a dangerous moment: the farther we move from 1986, the easier it becomes for history to be rewritten. The question is: will we finally confront it, or allow the storm of history to carry us further into another cycle of tyranny?

History will not remember us for simply existing. It will remember us for what we chose to do.

#NeverAgainToMartialLaw
#NeverForget
#EDSA@39