ON EXHIBIT this week at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Memorial Center are posters of the martial law era expressing protest and defiance against a cruel dictatorship. Just to remind, this week marks the 38th anniversary of the declaration of martial law which lasted 14 years (1972-1986).
We are not celebrating that ignominious chapter in our history. What we are celebrating is the courage of those who fought and fell in the night, and of those who survived and continue to keep watch over our freedoms.
If I may humbly say it, many of the posters on exhibit came from my collection which I donated to Bantayog last year. I donated 75 posters most of which date back to the late 1970s and 1980s. I kept them all these years and waited until I could find a place where they could be shared and preserved for posterity. They’re of no use if they are just tightly rolled and kept in some corner at home. Bantayog’s archives-museum is indeed the place for them.
But I am still holding on to a few more, one of which is the poster version of a huge human rights mural on canvas (tarps weren’t in use then) which shows a freedom fighter struggling to rise in defiance despite being trampled upon by military might. I remember that mural occupying the whole backdrop of the stage at the Pope Pius XII auditorium where we held a conference sometime in the early 1980s. Former Sen. Jose W. Diokno was one of the speakers at the time. I still have the photos.
But where is that mural? Was it hastily destroyed after the conference? Was it too big to keep? That painting was rendered in a somewhat cubist style and was very dramatic. On display at the Bantayog exhibit are several smaller murals but that huge one is not there.
If many of the posters on exhibit bear the words “from Ceres” written in bold, it’s because I wanted to be sure that, if for some reason they got into the wrong hands, I would be able to claim them back. But I am pleased to say now that the Bantayog museum is properly managed and there is no reason to fear that archival materials would suffer neglect.
As I said, I still have a few more pieces of memorabilia and stuff for the archives. Among them are cassette tapes of prison and protest songs. I have a set (Ibong Malaya I and II) recorded in a music studio, but I also have the set that was recorded in the bathroom of the Bicutan detention with a guitar gently weeping. (In my player now… “Masdan mo ang piitan, Alambreng tinik…Ito ang kasangkapan ng mga manlulupig…”
Being a member of a human rights group during the martial law years, I was among those who often visited Bicutan detainees who would regale us with songs and amaze us with their exquisite art works and dainty cards. And so one day I dared ask the detainees if they could record the songs for me. Voila, when I visited again the two cassette tapes were there waiting for me. The songs were sung by several male detainees with the accompaniment of a trusty guitar and recorded in the prison bathroom.
I had given a duplicate set to the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) in 1999 according to my notes. I hope they have digitalized them. I was happy to learn that a good friend in the human rights movement (a former detainee who was tortured) and a writer, too, has bought an audio machine that could digitalize vinyl records and cassette recordings. She has offered to digitalize some of my stuff.
Bold, defiant, daring posters began appearing in the protest movement of the early 1980 and more came out after the assassination of Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983. This was a sign that more and more Filipinos from many sectors had begun to find courage to denounce the Marcos regime.
During the early years of martial law, it was deemed too dangerous to put up posters and carry streamers. “Subversive” messages were mostly conveyed through underground means. But as the repression worsened, more and more citizens joined the ranks of those actively opposing the dictatorship. They found courage and began to create posters that gave expression to their desire for freedom.
Many protest posters came from church and human rights groups such as TFDP and the National Secretariat for Social Action and their regional counterparts. Labor groups, women’s groups, students’ organizations and indigenous communities also came out with their own specific demands and concerns. Many posters, leaflets, flyers and publications cried out for the release of political detainees and to condemn illegal arrests and summary executions. ASSO, PCA, PCO—abbreviations for dreaded arrest orders—were denounced.
“Free all political detainees!” was the constant cry of the families and friends of those behind bars. Children of the detainees would hold posters and banners to air their plea. They even succeeded in getting Pope John Paul II’s representative to visit their parents in detention. That was during the Pope’s 1981 visit when Marcos announced that he had “lifted” martial rule. I remember there was a detainee’s child named Free-all.
At the Bantayog gathering last Monday emceed by Ed and Girlie de la Torre, human rights advocates took turns sharing their experiences through songs, readings, dance and floral offerings. I had goose bumps while listening to old songs, among them, Jess Santiago’s “Halina” and “Martsa ng Bayan.” And then there was the heart-rending song about a militarized mountain village “Wala nang tao sa Santa Filomena” (written by Joey Ayala I was told) with that haunting line about the langaylangayan (Asiatic swallow).
Ah, memories.
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