EDITORIAL - Martial law, 39 years after

A generation has grown up with no memory of the days when long hair, mini skirts and rock music were banned, and a curfew was imposed ostensibly in the name of peace and order. That generation has no memory of a “new society” where the press was muzzled, protest rallies were prohibited, and enemies of those in power disappeared, never to be seen again.

For those who dared criticize the Marcos regime, those were days of living in fear: of the knock on the door in the dead of night, of state forces armed with ASSOs or arrest, search and seizure orders that allowed the dictatorship to detain anyone indefinitely without formal charges, of being stripped naked and subjected to electric shocks to the genitals.

Such atrocities, if forgotten, can be repeated and martial law again imposed. As leaked cables from the US embassy in Manila show, martial law continued to be an option for suppressing political dissent, nearly two decades after the people power revolt toppled the Marcos dictatorship.

That martial law plan did not push through. Today it is unlikely to be imposed by the administration headed by the only son of the most prominent victim of the Marcos regime. But the human rights abuses that were used to enforce military rule have not been completely eradicated. Many cases of unexplained killings and disappearances of militants and journalists since 1986, a number of them believed to have been perpetrated by state forces, are still waiting to be solved. In recent months, police and military personnel were seen on video engaging in torture.

Former senator Benigno Aquino Jr., gave his life in the struggle for freedom. His widow Corazon nurtured the fragile democracy after its restoration. Putting an end to continued violations of human rights now falls on the son of Ninoy and Cory. This is the challenge facing President Aquino, 39 years after martial law was imposed.