MANILA (SE): Student Christian Movement of the Philippines [SCMP], an ecumenical youth group, called on the Department of Education [DepEd] of the Philippines to ensure the accurate portrayal of the historical facts on the Martial Law years, CBCP News reported on September 18.
“The truth sets us free, and teaching that the Marcos dictatorship caused massive human rights violations and economic exploitation urges us to stand up and say never again to fascist dictatorship,” the group said.
The group was responding to a DepEd proposal to exclude the identity of the Marcos family from grade school lessons about Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship and insisted that the directive is not final and must still undergo a vetting process.
“SCMP ends by challenging everyone to become beacons of truth, especially in a time of widespread systematic disinformation and historical distortion,” the youth group said.
Pushing through with the plan, the group added, is like disrespecting the heroes and martyrs of the Martial Law years, CBCP News reported.
The truth sets us free, and teaching that the Marcos dictatorship caused massive human rights violations and economic exploitation urges us to stand up and say never again to fascist dictatorship
The Department of Education confirmed on September 11 that there is a proposal to remove Marcos from “Diktadurang Marcos” [Marcos Dictatorship] in Grade 6 textbooks, Inquirer.net reported.
DepEd is spitting on the graves of numerous martyrs and heroes, who fought the dictatorship, including Church people, who have been inspired by faith in seeking justice from the horrors of martial law
The education department’s curriculum director, Jocelyn Andaya, insiststed during an online press conference, “There is no pressure on us whatsoever to review the curriculum. This is a process that we implement here in our curriculum or teaching strand; it is an academic discourse that we always observe and follow as we review and revise the curriculum.”
However, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers condemned the move. Philstar.com reported the organisation as saying that removing the Marcos family’s identity from the grade school lessons on Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship is distortion and sabotage of truth about one of the darkest periods in Philippine history.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
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“Ferdinand Marcos Sr. ruled the Philippines with an iron fist, suspending civil liberties, suppressing dissent and committing numerous human rights violations during his regime,” ACT chairperson, Vladimer Quetua, said in a September 10 statement.
“To reduce his oppressive rule to a mere “Diktadura” is a disservice to the countless victims of his dictatorship and an affront to the pursuit of historical accuracy and truth,” he added.
Marcos Sr. was ousted by the popular mass uprising known as the People Power Movement in 1986. He and his family fled the country and he died in exile in Hawaii, United States in 1989. His family then returned to the Philippines and made inroads into politics.
In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that over 25 billion pesos worth of Marcos’ assets were considered ill-gotten wealth.
