Updated 0212 GMT (1012 HKT) 17 July 2022
Hong Kong (CNN) Filipinos living abroad cut books about the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, not only to read about the story, but to preserve it.
The rush to buy books documenting Marcos’ devastating 21-year rule comes as his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., takes office after a landslide victory in May.
From Marcos Jr. has never publicly acknowledged or apologized for the human rights abuses, corruption and theft that historians say took place under the leadership of his father.
And there is fear that now that he is in power, he will try to rewrite history.
Journalist Raissa Robles, author of “Marcos Martial Law: Never Again,” said after Marcos Jr. her victory that she received emails from readers around the world with requests to print the detailed dive into the victims of the martial law.
“The book price was almost doubled and yet people bought the book through batches. They didn’t just buy one or two. They bought five or 10 at a time,” Robles said.
The main cause for concern came from the President himself.
Back in 2020, when Marcos Jr. preparing to run for president, he made clear a desire to review textbooks that documented his parents’ corrupt and brutal regime.
“We have been pushing for this for years,” said Marco Jr. in a forum hosted by the National Press Club as he blamed the power since his father’s death on “teaching children lies.”
Human rights groups say that during the Marcos regime from 1965 to 1986, tens of thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured or killed because of observed or real criticism of the government. Marcos Sr., who died in exile in 1989, and his wife, Imelda, 93, were also found guilty of widespread corruption, including stealing an estimated $ 10 billion in public money.
The family has repeatedly denied that they used state funds for their personal use – a claim that has been challenged in many court cases.
CNN contacted the new Marcos government for comment but received no response.
Demand surges for books on the Marcos regime
From Marcos Jr. However, during his inaugural address on 30 June, he praised his father, the late dictator, and said that he had achieved far more than the previous administrations since independence in 1946. On the same subject : Council Bluffs’ small library specializes in banned books.
“He did it. Sometimes with necessary support, sometimes without. So it will be with his son – you get no excuse from me,” he said.
In his speech, he also addressed the issue of the revision of teaching materials in schools, but said that he is not talking about history.
“What we learn in our schools, the materials used must be re-learned. I’m not talking about history, I’m talking about the basics, the sciences, sharpening theoretical skills and imparting professional skills.” , he said.
But these assurances seem hollow to people who have suffered under his father’s dictatorship, and others who are skeptical about the new Marcos leadership.
An indication of this is through book sales.
Almira Manduriao, head of marketing at the publishing press at Ateneo de Manila University, said the rush for Philippine history books began soon after Marcos Jr.
“People were suddenly afraid that literature would be critically opposed to the dictatorship,” Manduriao said. “Therefore, there is a need to buy the books and protect (if) they can still.”
At least 10 titles covering martial law and the dark past of Marcos’ dictatorship remain sold out in the university press, according to Manduriao.
Some of the bestsellers on campus library were in the reprint – namely “Some Are Smarter than Others: The History of Marcos’ Crony Capitalism” by Ricardo Manapat, “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos” by Primitivo Mijares and “Canal de” la Reina “by Liwayway Arceo Bautista.
On May 11, Adarna House, a publishing house founded by Filipino artist Virgilo Almario, offered a 20% discount on a #NeverAgain bundle of five book titles about the Marcos regime.
In the days that followed, sales went through the roof and the pre-order waiting list grew, and the company announced that it could take as long as eight weeks for orders to be delivered.
The offer was a hit with customers, but it also attracted the attention of the government.
Alex Paul Monteagudo, director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, accused Adarna House of “radicalizing Filipino children.”
“The Adarna Publishing House has published these books and they are now for sale to subtly radicalize the Filipino children against our government, now!” He posted on May 17 on his official Facebook page.
Monteagudo said in the post that if topics like martial law and the People Power Revolution – a national uprising that overthrew the Marcos regime in 1986 – were taught in schools, there would be “seeds of hatred and dissent in the heads of these plants. . Children. “
Adarna House denied CNN’s request for comment on the claims.
One of Adarna’s clients, Vanessa Louie Cabacungan-Samaniego, who lives and works in Hong Kong, has put together a group order for about a dozen Filipinos in the city for books about the Marcos dictatorship.
She told CNN she was concerned that the election would allow Marcos’ political clan to “work to clear her name and review history books or tell the media.”
“Buying books to educate ourselves and the next generation is just our little way to fight injustice,” she said as the first batch of orders was delivered in June.
Preserving the truth
In recent years, politicians and government officials have demonized publishers and journalists, condemning their credibility on social media and in public statements. On the same subject : Higher food prices affect the 4th of July holiday.
The day before Marcos Jr.
She said she has been repeatedly harassed over the past six years and has been targeted by legal actions over alleged defamation, tax evasion and violation of foreign media possession rules.
“This is intimidation. These are political tactics. We refuse to subdue them,” she said.
Michael Pante, a history professor at Ateneo de Manila University, said he feared that Marcos Jr., former president Rodrigo Duterte, would continue his campaign to delegitimize the work of historians, academics and journalists – and potentially rewrite history books.
Reporters Without Borders said that since Duterte’s election in 2016, the media had been subjected to verbal and judicial intimidation in order for work to be considered too critical by the government.
“The demonization of historians, academics (and journalists) will continue,” Pante said. “And the dismissive attitude (towards them) will be enough to generate fear to speak up and be arrested or censored.
Philippine archivist Carmelo Crisanto, who heads the Human Rights Violation Victims Memorial Commission, is in the race to digitize case files and testimonies of 11,103 survivors of the dictatorship, in time for the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in September.
He fears that if the history of martial law survivors is forgotten, people will once again be susceptible to political violence.
His team of about 30 people plus 1,500 college student volunteers – most of whom are half age and did not live by martial law themselves – were chosen to protect the truth for the next generation.
“I want to make part of this digital archive available to the public, in a way that is (can be) easily accessible, to be sent to colleges here in the country and also to some partner institutes abroad, so that the memory and the evidence will never be lost, “he said.
“If there is one lesson that the state authorities have learned from the fighting law era, it is that no one (must) go to jail, even if they commit major human rights violations,” he said.
Robles, the author, said people had told her they wanted copies of her books to family members, others wanted to remove a supply in case the new government banned the reprint.
“They said they wanted to hide it so they could take it out after the Marcos presidency and keep the memory alive,” she said.
Robles said she was determined to continue writing and criticizing the nation’s political landscape, despite fears of censorship – but she admitted: “I’m not only afraid of censorship, I’m afraid of being arrested. “
