I was a victim of martial law

By Herbert Vego

THE passing of the years has not erased my memories of the martial law years under President Ferdinand Marcos. In view of the 49 anniversary of its declaration tomorrow, September 21, may the young ones of today learn a little from my personal experience.

There was actually nothing unusual on the date Sept. 21, 1972. We in the media were beating our deadlines as usual.  The political columns, however, were hinting of a possible declaration of martial law.

A day later, Sept. 22. it was still business as usual, although radio/TV commentators and newspaper columnists were already hitting the “intention” of Marcos to declare martial law.  In other words, not even we in the media knew had intercepted the event of the previous day.

I recall the dawn of Sept. 23, 1972 when I turned on the radio and TV but could not hear or see anything. Soon enough, my neighbors were complaining of similar “damage” to their radio sets. There were no newspapers, too.

Marcos had by then signed Proclamation 1081 declaring martial law but kept it secret while rounding up and jailing politicians and activists critical of his regime on Sept. 21, 1972.

I had no inkling that such declaration would determine my destiny. I was only 22, newly-married, and was working as freelance entertainment journalist and ghost writer for a columnist of the Philippine Sun and Evening News (now both defunct).

The evening of Sept. 23 saw me attending a birthday party of a friend in Quezon City. Nobody was smiling. All the birthday guests were apprehensive while viewing TV that had just gone back on the air for the first time that day. On the screen was a video recording of a stern President Marcos belatedly confirming that he had declared martial law “to build a New Society.”

Marcos eventually allowed radio, TV, magazines and newspapers to resume operation on condition that every bit of information would adhere to “developmental journalism.” Media practitioners criticizing the government would be arrested.

Rabid anti-Marcos journalists and politicians were already behind bars, victims of ASSO — no dog but acronym for “Arrest, Search and Seizure Order” issued by Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos’ martial law administrator and defense minister.

I thought I had no problem because I was then pounding the entertainment beat for the Marcos-controlled Daily Express.

One day, Pete Vael – the editor of the then famous Hiligaynon magazine, where I was also writing an entertainment column – talked to me. He would give up Hiligaynon in favor of a “juicy” government job at the Ministry of Information, which was headed by Information Minister Francisco “Kit” Tatad.  Would I like to join him there?

I initially resisted, having criticized President Marcos while still a columnist of the Quezonian, the school paper of MLQ University, but yielded while pondering the future of my pregnant wife and our upcoming child.

Unfortunately, I had to be interviewed by a certain Col. Vicente Tigas, who was in charge of screening job applicants to Tatad’s office.

To my horror, Tigas pulled a sheaf of clippings of my anti-Marcos, pre-martial law columns in the Quezonian.

“Don’t worry,” Tigas said. “Just go to Camp Aguinaldo for your clearance.”

I did as told, only to be escorted to the office of a Philippine Army official who asked me to sign a promissory note to never again criticize Marcos. Feeling unusual fear, I signed.

But I was so guilt-stricken that I did not anymore return to Tatad’s office. I must have lost a “good future” for that change of heart but regained my dignity as a journalist.

Since then, I have refrained from seeking a government job. No regrets.  At 71, I still enjoy my life as an unretiring journalist here in Iloilo City.

—0—

MORE POWER’S LINE WORKS

MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) is leaving no stone unturned in its self-imposed mission of upgrading all its power lines in Iloilo City. It’s in line with its modernization program which, according to company president Roel Z. Castro, involves a capital expenditure of P1.9 billion.

In fact, it wastes no time even during power outages caused by another utility  group. For instance, when the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), did maintenance work on its 69KV transmission line from Sta. Barbara to Ingore, Lapaz, MORE Power’s linemen did a parallel job to ensure that its power lines were on tip-top condition.

Among the important jobs that “line warriors” recently performed were: replacement of dilapidated wooden primary poles with 40-foot concrete pole; replacement of dilapidated crossarms with steel crossarms; and correction of pole grounding.

As a way of easing the  inconvenience suffered by customers affected by brownouts, a team of MORE Power ladies led by PR woman Joy Facinal Fantilaga II occasionally go house-to-house to distribute rice and coffee mugs to prompt-paying customers.

The team encourages customers to report cases of pilferage, since the reduction of power cost   to only P7.99/kWh is partly a result of their aggressive campaign against pilferage.  Stolen electricity falls under system’s loss, chargeable to both paying customers and the distribution utility.

MORE spokesman Jonathan Cabrera, on the other hand, is always on the alert to air or post important company announcements on Facebook. The page also gives valuable tips on safety use of electricity and billing instructions, among others.

There are now ways of paying MORE Power bills without personally going to the office or payment centers. One of them is to use a GCash app. Select “MORE Power” under “Pay bills” and follow additional instructions. You can do it anytime, anywhere.