THE SANGGUNIAN Department of External Affairs (DEA) launched a weeklong democracy exhibit entitled “For Democracy and Human Rights: Rekindling the Lessons of Martial Law and People Power Revolt” at the MVP Roof Deck last November 20.
Through the joint efforts of DEA, Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung-Philippines, the exhibit was brought to the Ateneo after being previously sponsored by other universities.
It was first held in De La Salle University last July before being brought to the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman during the Martial Law commemoration last September. The Ateneo was the third school to host the exhibit.
The project also laid out a list of events that coincided with the exhibit all throughout the week.
The film Dekada ‘70 was shown at the Rizal Library Multimedia Room last November 20, followed by a democracy workshop held last November 21 and a debate hosted by the Ateneo Debate Society last November 23 to culminate the event.
Encouraging awareness
DEA Chairperson Moses Albiento said that the exhibit served as a medium to relive and rekindle the events that happened during Martial Law.
“An exhibit was held in order to bridge the youth’s detachment from our country’s history,” he said.
“[Ateneo] produced student leaders such as Edgar Jopson and Evelio Javier—mga lumaban sa Marcos cronies at lumaban mismo kay Marcos (people who fought against Marcos’ cronies and Marcos himself). They were [part of] stories retold by old people and our professors. But who are they in the time that we have now?”
CYAN Project Manager Alvin Quintans shared that the exhibit was conceptualized following the Lower House resolution that urged the administration to allow the remains of former President Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The said resolution received 190 signatures out of 283 members of Congress.
He explained that this might be rooted in the people’s lack of awareness about the repressions and atrocities that transpired during Martial Law.
Francine Bharwani, the event’s project head, said that the entire event urged the students to have a deeper understanding of democracy.
“While standing amongst the huge images [in the exhibit] that depict the effects of the Martial Law… it shows us not how disconnected we are from our pasts, but rather it depicts how much our voices mattered and still matter in the constant struggle to understand and shape our democracy,” she added.
Related endeavors
In view of the 40th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, House Resolution 2608 was filed by Representatives Walden Bello and Kaka Bag-ao of Akbayan party-list last September.
The resolution sought the support of different national government agencies to mandate the teaching of Martial Law atrocities in all levels of education.
With CYAN part of the body composed of many other youth groups that crafted the resolution, Quintans urged students and the youth to extend their support to the effort.
“From that project, [the youth] will have a wider and deeper appreciation of what happened during the dark times of our history,” he said.
Albiento also talked about DEA’s upcoming projects, particularly mentioning a talk regarding Coca-Cola Philippines’ labor issues during the Marcos regime, a gender sensitivity talk touching on issues relevant to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and an exhibit together with social enterprise Human Nature.
The exhibit will head to UP Baguio next. It will open its doors to students from schools and universities around the area.
