When Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed the Philippine presidency in 2022, many feared that he might use his office to erase the truths about the human rights abuses and widespread plunder committed during his father’s 14-year (1972 to 1986) one-man rule.
On Oct. 14, those fears came to a head when it was announced that
Marcos had dropped Feb. 25 — the anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. from power — from the list of 2024 national holidays. Indignant activists and survivors of his father’s martial rule accused Marcos Jr. of whitewashing his family’s bloody legacy.
The Malacanang Presidential Palace explained that Feb. 25 falls on a Sunday. Yet the same list of 2024 holidays includes Dec. 8, Sunday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
"This is but another attempt by the Marcos administration to push for the institutionalized 'forgetting' of his father's dictatorship," said martial law survivor Judy Taguiwalo, who leads a group of fellow survivors called the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses in Malacanang (Carmma).
The removal of the EDSA holiday, which marked the restoration of democracy in the country, is but the latest in a series of state policies undermining martial law’s place in Philippine history under the current Marcos regime.
In September, the Department of Education (DepEd) helmed by Marcos ally, Vice President Sara Duterte
signed a memorandum erasing "Marcos" from the "Diktaduryang Marcos" nomenclature in the social studies curriculum for Grade 6 students, thus downplaying the significance of teaching martial law in schools.
Another administration ally, Senator Robin Padilla, has filed a
bill proposing to declare
Sept. 21, the anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the country, as Unsung Heroes’ Day instead, purportedly to honor state forces and civilians who, he claimed, helped prevent the country from becoming a communist state.
Under martial law, armed forces were directed to
stifle any act of rebellion, resulting in massive human rights abuses, including torture, enforced disappearances, and killings.
Project Gunita, an organization dedicated to archiving martial law books and documents, expressed concern that the Marcos administration
could next strike off Aug. 21, the anniversary of the assassination of staunch Marcos critic and democracy icon Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.