By Astarte Abraham | Contributor
THE horrors of the Marcos dictatorship were the focus of a forum and several films on martial law shown at the Cine Adarna in University of the Philippines-Diliman from February 23 to 25.
Dubbed “A Martial Law Special in Observance of the Edsa People Power Anniversary”, the event—presented by University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) and the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication Interdependent Student-Centered Activism (UP CMC ISA)—was intended to be the first of a series of screenings dedicated to films about memories, issues and questions concerning the Marcos dictatorship.
Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon (From What is Before), a 2014 film written and directed by Lav Diaz, won the top prize (the Golden Leopard or Pardo de Oro) at the 67th Locarno International Film Festival. It tackles the mysterious events in a remote Philippine barrio before the formal declaration of martial law in 1972 and what transpires after the Armed Forces of the Philippines decides to camp in the barrio.
Sigwa (Storm), directed by Joel Lamangan and written by Bonifacio Ilagan, was first featured in the sixth Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival Directors Showcase category. This 2010 film showed social unrest in the Philippines as experienced by six student activists during the First Quarter Storm of 1970.
Mga Anino ng Kahapon (Shadows of the Past), written and directed by Alvin Yapan, was one of the finalists in the 2013 Metro Manila Film Festival’s New Wave Category. The film explores mental illness as experienced by Irene, a wife, mother and nurse whose schizophrenia takes her back to her traumatic experiences during the turbulent years of martial law and leaves her in a psychotic disposition, vulnerable and paranoid.
The Guerilla is a Poet is a 2013 work directed by Kiri Dalena and Sari Dalena and written by Ericson Acosta, Kiri Dalena, Keith Sicat and Kerima Tariman. The film deals with the life and times of the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, José María Canlás Sison, a.k.a. Joma Sison, his days as an activist in the 1960s through the martial-law years, his personal struggles, his capture and nine-year imprisonment, and his becoming a poet.
Ang Halaga ng Hustisya, directed by Milo Alto Paz, is a documentary on martial-law survivors, their life now and their efforts in seeking justice.
Barber’s Tales (Mga Kuwentong Barbero), written and directed by Jun Robles Lana, is a 2013 drama set during the end of the Marcos dictatorship. It tells the story of newly widowed Marilou, who reluctantly takes on the job of her late husband as town barber to make ends meet.
Nonoy L. Lauzon, UPFI’s cinema programmer, said the UPFI has already been showing individual films on martial law, but after the presidential elections of 2016, it has been planning to come up with a continuing series of screenings—hopefully featuring a set of films each month. The UPFI has partnered with the UP CMC ISA, an organization based in the College of Mass Communication in UP Diliman, for this event and it will continue to tap partnerships in the future to maximize audience turnout.
The films, initially chosen by Lauzon, were confirmed by the faculty of the UPFI. They were shown through the generosity of the films’ producers.
Lauzon said, “Certain films didn’t make the cut [due to] logistical reasons…. The producers were asked if the UPFI could show the films free of charge.”
He said the screenings are a means for young people to know the truth and to refute distortions, especially on social media. The UPFI has been responding to filmmakers’ clamor to screen films about martial law. Films produced at the height of Ferdinand Marcos’s authoritarian regime could also be screened in the future, even those stories not directly about martial law (i.e., “Batch 81” and “Kisapmata”).
“They’re martial-law films because they were produced in the period and they became an artifact and document of the period,” he said. “Each time we commemorate a date that’s crucial to Philippine nationhood, we could look for a film in the right context so that we could expound and deepen our knowledge of that era.”
He said the declaration of martial law meant “the loss of our democracy and freedom. We were subjected to authoritarianism, to a dictatorship. There were humanitarian, social and political costs. Many were victimized. That’s what they want people to remember. That’s what they want people who didn’t experience that period to know.”
Four speakers recounted their experiences during the forum on Saturday, February 25.
Ester Isberto is currently a board member of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, an organization, comprised of activists who aim to both honor and preserve the memory of the People Power Revolution as well as those affected by the martial-law regime.
Imprisoned twice in 1974 and in 1977, Isberto related in detail how it was to be a detainee at the Bicutan Rehabilitation Center in 1977. Amid feelings of depression and the uncertainty of release, the detainees staged a hunger strike and continued the fight. Isberto said the resistance was a concerted effort of many, not just of a specific social sector (i.e., students, farmers, workers).
“People risked their lives to regain our freedom. The fight wasn’t about two families, the Aquinos and the Marcoses. People Power was the fight of the Filipino people against a corrupt dictator.” She said her generation paid for the democracy Filipinos enjoy today. The current generation shall now decide on what to do if democracy is threatened again. She advised the audience to be careful of what they read on social media because “it’s being flooded by trolls. Do research, make critical thinking a habit.”
She said “moving on is recognizing the past. Learning from the mistakes of the past…and telling the young [that] this should not happen again.”
Teresita Camacho, currently a volunteer of the Banatayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, went underground during the Marcos regime. She unerscored the importance of democracy, collective action, protest and the need to be vigilant with one’s rights, especially when threatened. She also expressed her concerns regarding the current government. “Ito na ang nangyari. Kumilos na tayo at magsalita tayo [This is what’s happening. Let’s move and speak up].”
Sari Raissa Dalena is the current director of the UPFI and one of the directors of The Guerilla is a Poet. Influenced by her activist parents, she was able to meet people in the underground when she was a child during martial law.
She said “the brightest and the brilliant writers, activists, students…they wanted to aspire for something bigger than…what they can do or what they can write, something bigger than themselves…. So doon ko nakita ang mga sacrifices ng mga taong ito, mga iskolar noon [that’s where I saw the sacrifices of those people, the scholars then].” Dalena hopes for the rise of the millennials who have become activists.
“Hope is in the young people,” she said.
Joel Lamangan is a film, television and theater director and actor. He was the director of Sigwa. He described the years 1975 to the early 1980s as the “golden harvest” of Philippine theater for there was a proliferation of plays that depicted the realities of the Marcos regime. The prevalent theme: It is necessary for the oppressed to band together against an oppressor. Lamangan said, “Kung hindi tayo kikilos, sino ang kikilos? ’Pag nakikita mo na merong hindi magandang nangyayari at ika’y tumahimik lang…kapag hindi ka man lang kumibo o umalma, bahagi ka na rin ng mga nang-aapi [If we don’t make a stand, who will? If you remain silent or if you don’t object to wrongdoing, you are also an oppressor].”
Lamangan said art is the soul of a nation. It should serve the interest of the majority and reflect the truth at a particular period of time.
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Astarte Demetillo Abraham, a graduate of the College of Mass Communication in UP Diliman, is a music, dance and theater artist, voiceover actor/dubber and events host/presenter.