Statement of Senator Risa Hontiveros on DepEd rebranding of Martial Law to 'New Society'

Let's take it straight from the horse's mouth. In issuing Presidential Decree 1081, then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. placed "the country under a state of Martial Law." Not a New Society. Not anything else. Martial Law.

DepEd should not be an enabler of Martial Law rebranding.

The continued existence of school material that one-sidedly frames 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.

The State, through RA 10368, already acknowledged the suffering, deprivation, damage and gross human rights violations inflicted during the Marcos dictatorship.

Tungkulin ng DepEd, pati ng CHED, na ituro ang katotohanan, anuman ang paksa. Lies are not education; they are propaganda. Lies are already undoing our society.

Obligasyon nating maging mapagmatyag laban sa dahan dahan at paunti-unting pagbaluktot sa ating kasaysayan sa alaala ng mga nanguna sa pagtutol sa diktadurya, gaya ng lola ng ating DepEd Secretary sa Davao, at lalo't higit sa mga nagbuwis ng buhay para ibalik ang demokrasya sa bansa.