Vice President Leni Robredo reminded Filipinos that atrocities were committed under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and the country must strive to “push back” against any lie that says otherwise.

The Philippine opposition leader made the call against historical revisionism on the 48th anniversary of Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law on Monday, September 21.

“Our task is to push back against these lies at every instant. To tell the stories of Martial Law and dictatorship over and over so that this generation, and the ones that come after, may be bound tighter through remembering,” Robredo said in a statement. 

“To hold firm to the truth of this painful chapter of our history, and through this, forge the determination to never again let our people fall into such despair. We must do this because, ultimately, our national aspirations can only be as strong as our national memory,” she said. 

The 48th anniversary of Martial Law comes as critics of President Rodrigo Duterte, including Robredo, fear a repeat of Marcos’ abuses under the incumbent leader.

Marcos’ 21-year regime is said to be the darkest chapter in post-colonial Philippines, his dictatorship notorious for widespread corruption, killings, torture, disappearances, and oppression of the media. 

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Amnesty International estimates that about 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 tortured, and 3,240 killed when the strongman was in power.

The Marcoses also stole billions from Filipino taxpayers, with various estimates pegging the amount between $5 billion and $10 billion.

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Robredo said these are the undebatable facts about Martial Law.

But the Marcos clan has long been attempting to revise history in a bid to erase the crimes they committed during the dictatorship. (READ: Networked propaganda: How the Marcoses are using social media to reclaim Malacañang)

The best way to fight their lies, Robredo said, is to never forget the abuses of Marcoses.

“These truths know no political color, but come starkly in the black and white of our lived experience as a nation. Walang debate dito; nangyari ito (There’s nothing to debate here; these things happened),” the Vice President said. 

“And those who attempt to tell us otherwise are not only merely telling a supposed version of the story: They are lying to our faces, stealing our truths from us, stealing our stories. Because without these truths and stories, we will be further divided, at mas madaling magtatagumpay ang mga pagtatangkang abusuhin muli tayo (and it is easier to triumph in attempts to abuse us again),” she added. 

After over two decades of suffering under the Marcos regime, Filipinos toppled the dictator during the 1986 People Power Revolution. Marcos and his family fled in exile to Hawaii, where the strongman died in 1989.

But years later, the Marcos clan has successfully returned to Philippine politics, holding key posts both in the national government as well as Ilocos Norte and the so-called Solid North provinces that remain loyal to the family.

The late dictator’s daughter Imee Marcos is currently senator, while his wife Imelda Marcos was formerly congresswoman of Ilocos Norte’s 2nd District. Imee’s son Matthew Marcos Manotoc is currently Ilocos Norte governor. 

Marcos’ only son and namesake Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr was a senator before he ran but failed to win as vice president in 2016. Robredo had defeated the younger Marcos by just 263,473 votes.

Robredo’s hairline victory over Bongbong prompted him to file an electoral protest against the Vice President. But the initial recounting votes last year showed Robredo had even widened her lead over Bongbong by around 15,000 votes. – Rappler.com