Martial Law political detainee, son share experiences to Ateneans

By John Benney Albito and Raeka Caroline Bagaforo

FORMER Martial Law political detainee Ma. Cecilia “Ka Liway” Flores-Oebanda and her son, now film director Kip Oebanda, relived their life stories with the Atenean audience when they were held in Camp Delgado, Iloilo during the “dark years” of the Marcos dictatorship.

The mother-and-son talk, live-streamed via the school’s Zoom and Facebook accounts, was held September 22 as Filipinos commemorated the 49th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.

The sharing highlighted the Batas Militar eyewitness accounts of the duo as they tried to relate these with the present context through their reflections and insights. It culminated with the chain of questions raised by the students and teachers.

“Tens of thousands of people were silenced and tortured due to their political beliefs which include their noble desire to free the Filipinos from the shackles of abject poverty, plunder, and injustice,” said award-winning director Kip Oebanda, adding, “we need to remember the atrocities and harsh truths in those dark years so we would be able to be more socially aware and are not fooled by Martial Law apologists.”

Former Ten Outstanding Student of the Philippines (TOSP) awardee Oebanda said, “many social media trolls and influencers today are trying to revise history through their passive, irresponsible, uncritical, and untruthful interviews; they shrewdly mislead their audience by letting Marcos relatives and enablers evade accountability through downright lies, smears, and fallacies.”

For her part, former youth leader now social entrepreneur Ka Liway said, “always seek for the truth and the just, and value your God-given (human) rights—learn to actively uphold and defend them.” She also advised everyone to continue to seek for and retell the “essential truths” of Martial Law.

Voice of the Free NGO founder Ms. Flores-Oebanda also shared her concern regarding the “seemingly-organized” distortion of the Martial Law narrative nowadays. She stressed the value of democracy “where everyone’s dignity and rights are respected and protected; where power resides with the will of the people and not with the few or through force.”

“Love your country, love your hard-earned freedom,” the teary-eyed Ka Liway advised Ateneans in vernacular. “It is now your time to carve your own future. So I challenge you to never forget the lessons and horrors of Martial Law, and make sure that it will not happen again.”

The yearly ML activity, to note, was organized by the social studies, CLE, and HIL subject areas. It was the highlight of the series of related activities that hoped to cultivate social awareness and engaged citizenship among the members of the Ateneo de Iloilo community. (Ripples)