Fe Mangahas was a professor at the Far Eastern University when she was arrested by security forces of the martial law regime. She was tortured so badly she suffered a miscarriage, but she was lucky to survive and tell her tale. Others met a worse fate; decades after dictator Ferdinand Marcos turned the military into a tool for perpetuating himself in power, victims of “disappearances” during martial law remain missing. Their loved ones, many of whom have not given up their search, were with Mangahas last Monday, recounting their ordeal in the days of the dictatorship.
The human rights victims gathered for a ceremony formally kicking off the distribution of compensation from a $10-million fund. The initial batch of 12, like the rest of the 7,600 deemed entitled to compensation, received $1,000 each. No amount can ever compensate for the suffering of victims like Mangahas, but the award of compensation is victory enough for those who want to make sure the nation will never again return to the dark days of authoritarian rule.
In this land of short memories, the award should also serve as a reminder of the atrocities committed by the forces of a man who cloaked himself with absolute power. Mangahas’ story is not unique; thousands of others were dragged to state detention centers, where they were stripped naked, repeatedly beaten, subjected to the water cure and electric shocks to their genitals, burned with cigarettes and raped. Many, like the son and namesake of retired Air Force Col. Nilo Olegario Sr., were never seen again.
These stories raise the question: if the compensation formally establishes the human rights violations, how come no perpetrator has been sent to prison for the atrocities? This is just one of the many failures of the country’s justice system. That failure has surely contributed to the culture of impunity that has led to the killings and disappearances of hundreds of left-wing activists as well as journalists even after democracy was restored in 1986, with the worst atrocity perpetrated in Maguindanao in 2009. Most of the human rights victims may never get justice, but the nation must never forget.