DepEd not in business of erasing Martial Law facts, says VP Sara

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on Tuesday refuted rebranding claims of Martial Law historical records in schools, saying the Department of Education (DepEd) "is not in the business of erasing these facts."

In a statement, Duterte stressed that she knows the importance of Martial Law and the EDSA Revolution in the country’s history, recalling that she used to cut yellow pages in the phone directory to make confetti for the Yellow Friday Movement demonstrations led by her late grandmother, Soledad Duterte, in Davao City.

She said that the terms New Society or Bagong Lipunan and Martial Law are both historical facts, and have been used in DepEd textbooks since 2000 “within their proper context.”

“[The] DepEd is not in the business of erasing these facts and replacing them with something else,” Duterte said.

“Bilang Education Secretary, wala po sa aking mandato ang pagsira sa integridad ng ating kasaysayan,” she added.

(As Education Secretary, it is not in my mandate to destroy the integrity of our history.)

“[A]ng Department of Education — na kasalukuyang abala sa mga programang naglalayong maiangat ang kalidad ng basic education sa Pilipinas — ay walang panahon para sa historical revisionism na pilit na iginigiit ng ilang mga anti-Marcos groups,” she added.

(The Department of Education — which is currently busy with programs aimed at raising the quality of basic education in the Philippines — has no time for historical revisionism that some anti-Marcos groups insist on.)

Duterte further called on the public to be vigilant against malicious acts aimed at raising disputes about Martial Law using the DepEd.

The daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte made the statement after a group of teachers criticized a DepEd module for allegedly trying to rebrand the Martial Law years as “period of the new society.”

In a statement on Monday, opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said “one-sidedly” framing the Martial Law period as a “new society” is a “blatant failure of our education authority to ensure the truthful, factual and complete historical narration of the Marcos dictatorship, and instead enables its propaganda.”

She said it is the duty of DepEd — and also of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) — to teach the truth, no matter the topic.

"Lies are not education; they are propaganda. Lies are already undoing our society," Hontiveros said.

According to global human rights watchdog Amnesty International, 70,000 people were incarcerated, 34,000 tortured and 3,240 murdered during the reign of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who declared Martial Law in September 1972 and is the father of incumbent President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. —Giselle Ombay/KBK, GMA News