Alaala: A Martial Law Special

Submitted to:

Prof. Jerome Christian A. Fajardo

Submitted to:

De Guzman, Renzel E.

BSN 2-7
 RERFLECTION PAPER

The documentary was all about the story of Bony Ilagan who was portrayed by Alden
Richards during the reign of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. It was shown how they get
tortured and how they hid themselves from the government. It was also shown in the documentary
some justifications about the corruption during martial law from different people.

At first, when I haven’t watched the documentary, I have this one sided feeling, the feeling
of “not so happy” towards the decisions of those who join activism. But then, I realized, we have
different perspectives. We have different priorities in life that we want to fight for. If I want to
fight for my dreams, then so be it and if they want to fight for our country, then let them be. We
should not judge those who chose to be an activist because it is not their fault if their eyes were
opened with the truth about our government. I guess, those activists should not also forget who
raised them because from what I read from the social media, they look down on their family after
they join “anakbayan”.

I saw in the documentary how Mr. Bony Ilagan was tortured along with his group and for
me it was not really humanitarian. Everything happened during the time of the martial law
seemed to be not righteous. I heard that the late President Marcos implemented it because
everything gets out of hand but there are rumors that the justifications why he implemented
martial law was all his plan. For me, if a leader really wants to modify everything for his country
and for his people, martial law will be his last resort because he should have thought that it will
just bring chaos. I believe that a wise leader knows how to handle his people just by using his mind
with peace. Because of the documentary, I saw and realized that it was not easy to be awaken from
the fault or wrongdoings in the government because once your eyes were opened from the truth,
it is either, you will just shut up or you will fight against the government. I saw the sacrifices of
Mr. Ilagan and most especially the sacrifices of his family. It hurt me seeing his mother supporting
him and his sister and at the same time protecting them, whatever it costs. I think, even if we
really wanted to fight for our rights, we should also consider those who will be affected because of
what we will do. When the sister of Mr. Ilagan got lost, I saw how his mother grieved and even I,
felt that. I think, if I were in that situation, I will also blame myself because I know the possibilities
and yet, I did not stop it from happening.

Memories from martial law were never happy for those who experienced it. The only time
that can be said right during martial law was when 1 peso= 1 dollar but after I heard and watched
the documentary, I became more curious, did our country really became rich that time or not?
Did late President Marcos planned the bombings, the news about Juan Ponce Enrile being
ambushed, etc.? Did they really take the money of the Philippines during his reign as the
president? Why did he really implement martial law? Why are there “desaparecidos” and where
are they? Everything seemed so unreal, there are times that I do not want to know that martial
law really happened just like what Mr. Ilagan said. It is so painful for those who experienced
martial law, but it is more painful for those who got tortured that time but it is most painful for
those who lost their love ones while fighting for their rights.