Sotto says info on martial law should be boosted in Philippine education curriculum

BATANGAS CITY, Batangas —  History, including facts about martial law, should be given utmost importance in the Philippine educational curriculum, vice presidential candidate and Senate President Vicente Sotto III said as he emphasized that there is no such thing as historical revisionism, only disinformation.

“We should look at the curriculum. Ang history malakas pa ba sa educational system natin? Dapat palakasin pa rin,” Sotto said in a chance interview here when asked if he believes there is a need to expound the events that happened during the martial law era in the basic educational system.

(We should look at the curriculum. Is history still prioritized in our educational system? We should make sure that it is still prioritized.)

“‘Yun ang isang tingnan natin. Dapat asikasuhin ng [Department of Education],” he added.

(That is one thing that we should look at. That should be checked by the Department of Education.)

1986 EDSA revolution

Sotto made the remark two days before the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos.

Sotto said no one could revise what happened in 1986.

“The flame of EDSA should remain. Hindi natin mababago ang history. Nangyari yon. ‘Di ba kaya inaalala ng karamihan,” he said.

(We cannot change history. It has happened that’s why it is being commemorated.)

“Mayroong mga iba gustong kalimutan ‘yon pero nangyari is nangyari. You can never revise history. You can only start disinforming people, yes, but that’s not revising history. History happened and it is there,” he said.

(Some people wanted to forget that, but it has happened. You can never revise history. You can only start disinforming people, yes, but that’s not revising history. History happened and it is there.)

In a press conference last week, Sotto’s running-mate, presidential candidate Panfilo Lacson said there’s no way for Filipinos to forget the martial law era as Central Bank during that time was ransacked.

“Paano mo makalimutan ‘yung na-ransack ‘yung treasury ng bansa. Pati yung Central Bank, walang kamalay-malay, wala na palang laman, wala na pala ‘yung reserves natin, wala na palang pera kung saan napunta. Paano natin makakalimutan ‘yon?” Lacson earlier said.

(How can we forget about our national treasury being ransacked? Even the Central Bank did not have an inkling that it was raided, our reserves were gone, there was no money to be found. Where did it go? How can we forget that?)

“Gusto ba natin mag-undergo uli ng ganoon na dahil sa abuse ay nagkaloko-loko ‘yung bansa natin? Pati ‘yung moral values nawala e kasi sipsipan ang nangyari. Ito ‘yung masamang parang idinulot din,” the presidential aspirant noted.

(Do we really want to go through the same experience again where because of abuses our nation went into a state of chaos? Even our moral values were swept under the rug because everyone was just sucking up to the one in power. That was one of the worst things that happened.)

Earlier, Lacson vowed that there will be no martial law under his administration should he win in the May 9 polls.

He assured the public that the Constitution has enough safeguards to prevent giving “absolute” power to a ruler.

“Never again ang martial law… I think, martial law is a very good lesson for all Filipinos to learn from. Kaya nga mabuti ‘yung framers ng ’87 [Constitution],  kinonsider (consider) nila never again na bibigyan mo ng absolute power ang isang ruler kasi ‘yung tendency mag-abuso hindi mawawa,” Lacson previously said.

(Never again to martial law. I think martial law is a very good lesson for all Filipinos to learn from. That’s why it is good that the framers of the 1987 Constitution made sure not to give a ruler absolute power because there is always the tendency to abuse that power.)

The Lacson and Sotto tandem wooed voters in Batangas City, San Juan, and Padre Garcia on Wednesday.

For the 2022 national and local elections, there are 1,819,071 registered voters from the province of Batangas, according to the data provided by the Commission on Elections.

Of the said number, 220,199 are from Batangas City, 72,482 are from San Juan, and 32,319 from Padre Garcia. — RSJ, GMA News