Ed dela Torre recalls culture of fear during martial law: ‘Ang hirap magtiwala sa isa’t-isa’

Former priest and activist Ed dela Torre recalled the culture of fear created by the martial law imposed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In an exclusive interview on “The Howie Severino Podcast,” Ed said the culture was so deeply rooted that people began to suspect each other.

“Ang hirap magtiwala sa isa’t isa,” he said.

[It was hard to trust each other.]

He said the culture of fear and repression made it hard for people to “have a sense of solidarity and community” and “building sense of nation” and there were only “a few that you (could) trust.”

“For all his rhetoric, (that’s what he destroyed),” he said, adding, “(it’s like) nation-building, nationality, (like) it can only be done in authoritarian way.”

Asked about his reaction to those who were saying Marcos’ years were the “golden age,” Ed said that for every building built during the two decades he was in power, there was a price to be paid.

“From ’65 presidente ka tapos nag-martial law ng ’72 tapos ’86 ka lang napawala ... may ilang nagawang matino. Ang tanong lang, e, magkano? Baka sobra-sobra ang bayad,” he said.

[You were president from ’65, declared martial law in ’72, overthrown only in ’86 ... there were a few decent projects. But the question is, at what cost? The payment must be too much.]

“Lagi ang tanong nga, e, ‘okay. Anong kapalit? Anong kapalit?’ Isa ’yun. Bayad. Deaths. Pero more important, paano naman ’yung ibang ginawang …? Iba na ’yun. Hindi na ’yun mabuti. May pinatay, kinulong.”

[The question always is, “okay. In exchange for what?” That’s one. The cost. Deaths. More importantly, what about the other things he had done? That’s a whole different story. That’s not good. People were killed, jailed.]

Ed said fear was one of the worst things Marcos brought about because it was contagious.

He recalled a New York Times editorial that said “the Philippines is a country ruled by one bastard and millions of cowards.”

Amid that mentality, however, Ed also remembered then Sen. Pepe Diokno, who said if fear was contagious, courage could also be contagious.

“Parang virus ito (it’s like virus). Do you want to be the one infecting or do you wait to be infected?” he said.

“I think either way, (if) you have in your heart and mind to be courageous, infect others. (If not), allow yourself to be infected by others and you can choose which one,” he added.

“Even during Martial Law, there are spaces (that were) relatively safe. And then, from there you can expand, then it becomes the resistance.”

Marcos enforced martial law on Sept. 21, 1972.

In April 1986, he officially set a Guinness World Record for the “greatest robbery of a government.” According to Guinness, Marcos and his wife Imelda took away £569.5 million (over $860.8 million), while the total national loss from November 1965 was believed to be $5–$10 billion.

During his regime, government officials and civilians perceived to be enemies were imprisoned, including late Senators Ninoy Aquino, Pepe Diokno, Francisco Rodrigo, and several businesspersons, lawyers, journalists and teachers.

The book “Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime” by Alfred McCoy and reports by Amnesty International recorded 3,200 victims of extrajudicial killings, 77,000 political detainees, 3,500 torture victims, and more than 700 disappearances from 1975 to 1985.

Seventy-seven percent of the victims of extrajudicial killings were summarily executed.

The “Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013” was signed to recognize victims of abuse during martial law. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News