Robredo urges Filipinos to keep pushing for the truth about Martial Law

Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday urged Filipinos to keep pushing for the truth regarding the dark days of Martial Law under the Marcos regime.

In a message for the 49th anniversary of the Martial Law declaration, Robredo said silence would open the narrative to other versions.

"Kapag nanahimik tayo — kapag hindi natin pinadaloy ang naratibo sa sari-sarili nating mga espasyo, pera at kapangyarihan ang magdidikta ng kasaysayan [If we stay silent, only the powerful will be able to write our history]," she said.

Robredo did not mince words when she said that the people "suffered" under the rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

"Kailangan nating ulit-ulitin, sa bawat pagkakataon, ang katotohanan: Sa ilalim ng rehimeng Marcos, nagdusa ang Pilipino [We need to stress the truth that under the Marcos regime, the Filipino suffered]," she said, adding that those years were characterized by torture and plunder.

Over 3,000 people were killed and some 33,000 others were sent to jail without arrest warrant during the Martial Law years that started in 1972.

Robredo said Marcos has yet to fully pay for his crimes since his family continues to enjoy the spoils of illegal wealth.

Robredo defeated Marcos' son, former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., in the 2016 vice presidential race. Though Marcos protested, the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, ruled in favor of Robredo.

'Poisoned' justice system

For his part, human rights lawyer Chel Diokno said more attention should be given on how the Marcos dictatorship "poisoned" the country's justice system.

"One of the things not much discussed during the Martial Law years was how it poisoned the justice system. As soon as Marcos declared Martial law, just around a week after, he issued Letter of Instruction that captured the judiciary by requiring everyone to submit resignation letters that he could accept anytime," said Diokno -- whose father, Senator Jose Diokno, was sent to prison by Marcos -- in an ANC interview.

He added that four months after the Martial Law declaration, Marcos "changed the Constitution and put in the 1973 Constitution which requires that all justices and judges must remain in office until they reach the age of retirement unless he would declare otherwise."

"He removed the independence of judiciary, that has affected our legal system ever since," Diokno said.

Marcos was ousted from power on February 25, 1986 after three days of bloodless People Power Revolution. He and his family were forced to leave the country.

Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989 where he and his family lived in exile. His surviving family members, however, were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991 by then-President Corazon Aquino.

In 2012, then-President Benigno Aquino III, Aquino's son, signed the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act into law.

The law mandates the Philippine government to compensate the victims of human rights violations during the Martial Law years — among them summary executions, enforced disappearances and torture — using the P10-billion ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family retrieved by the Philippine government from a Swiss bank. —KBK, GMA News