#NeverForget: Ms. Hilda Narciso’s Martial Law Talk

Written by Samantha Carpio

She asked us to come closer. After all, her words can only be better heard by open and willing ears close enough to listen. She knew what it was like to fight, especially during the time when fear ruled over many people’s actions.

Ms. Hilda Narciso, a Martial Law activist, opened her talk last February 22, 2018 in front of 9-Beryllium, with a series of questions regarding the knowledge we have about the positive changes that happened during Ferdinand Marcos’s 21-year regime. The students listed down Marcos’s achievements: an abundance of infrastructure, especially that of the cultural centers, hospitals, powerplants, schools, major highways and bridges, and the claim over the obedient and disciplined state of the nation’s people.

She then revealed the truth behind these “positive” claims. Marcos’s major achievements in infrastructure were all situated in Ilocos and the National Capital Region. Little to no infrastructure were built in Mindanao. Majority of the funds used to build said infrastructure were loaned from the World Bank, which ultimately led to a debt so huge, that even our generation has to pay for it. The people were disciplined, but this was because they were silent. Fear of being scrutinized, detained, tortured and killed fueled a perpetual act of lying low and hiding from the government.

Ms. Narciso then followed up with a quote: “If injustice becomes a law, resistance becomes a duty.” She said that the beautiful saying came from Pisay, but she no longer elaborated as to who originally said the statement, and that it was proven true when the EDSA People Power Revolution came to be.

After Marcos’s regime, a new term was established under Corazon Aquino. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) were in charge of taking action and fixing all the damage Marcos had done, psychological and financial.

Of the 10, 000 Martial Law victims who filed a human rights case, only 7, 539 were approved. Marcos was found guilty of human rights violations, yet none of the Marcoses have paid their dues. They do not recognize or honor any court or form of justice here in the Philippines.

The horrors do not end there.

Ms. Narciso talked about the grounds for detainment and the methods of torture during the time. Talking in public with around three to five people are grounds for illegal assembly. There was a media blackout and full censorship. The government controlled the news being released to the public. Putting the government at a pedestal became possible. After all, the information that was available was under the discretion of authority only. No news about arrests, torture or killing was ever reported during this time.

Ms. Narciso talked about her personal experience. She shared her story of sexual abuse under the hands of the military. No words could suffice in describing the amount of emotion she portrayed as she shared her painful past. “When they asked me if I were ashamed, I told them that the soldiers who did that to me should be the ones who are ashamed,” she said.

She closed her talk by calling us students to action. She said that healing is important: physical, mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual healing. If we can heal ourselves, we can heal others, and ultimately, we’ll be able to heal the land. She appealed to us students to continue to enrich our minds through education. As a scholar, she reminded us to have a questioning mind, to learn how to think not only for ourselves but for our country, to commit through our own research and prevent history from repeating itself.

I am grateful for Ms. Hilda Narciso’s strength and bravery in sharing her personal experience and insights. After all, hearing an account firsthand is different from reading articles in newspapers or books by making the horrors we’ve only been studying about more real.

We are lucky to have heard her talk openly and entertain our questions. There had been a deep emotional connection made with every word exchanged, feeding our minds and opening our hearts. She is part of history, and her story is something the youth should heed.

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#NeverForget
#VoxPopuli