Two representatives from the Akbayan party-list want all school curriculums to include a course on the abuses committed when former President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in the country 40 years ago.
 

In House Resolution 2608, Akbayan Reps. Walden Bello and Arlene Bag-ao asked the government’s educational agencies to immediately convene to draft guidelines for teaching the Martial Law years in all levels of education.

 

“There is a need to educate the youth of the democratic values and practices the nation adheres to and experiences today in contrast to the oppressive social order installed by Marcos 40 years ago,” the party-list representatives said in the resolution.

 

The camp of the late dictator’s wife, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, did not respond to text messages when asked for comment on the resolution.

 

Then-President Marcos placed the entire country under Martial Law on September 21, 1972. Even though he lifted the decree in 1981, media and political repression continued until Marcos was ousted from power through the 1986 EDSA Revolution.

 

Bello and Bag-ao likewise said in the resolution that failure to educate the youth on the facts about the Martial Law years “constitutes grave injustice to the victims of the Martial Law regime who have fought the late dictator valiantly.”

 

Last year, the Akbayan representatives also filed a House resolution seeking to declare ex-President Marcos an “enemy of democracy.” 

 

These resolutions must be approved by a majority of House members for them to be adopted by the lower chamber. — DVM, GMA News