Pardiñas, Clarence C.

POLSC 11 THV
2013-02355 Mr. Ranjit Rye

Reflection on Martial Law

Almost half a century has passed after the Martial Law, and the common social problems
that our countrymen were facing back then are still the same problems that our generation is
facing and trying to resolve today. We could even observe that some aspects of society have
worsened due to the inefficiencies and selfish motives of our government. It makes me think and
wonder sometimes of my purpose, especially as a UP student. I can assume that the activists of
yesterday thought that they could change the country through the different ways that they have
demonstrated civic engagement. Then why is the country still the same as it was before, if not
worse? Does this mean that the youth can only do so much? Does it mean that however good we
strive to be for our countrymen, the ruling elite still has the final say? What is the sense of my
generation’s activism in UP when the ones who are drowning in power and ill-gotten wealth
today are also from UP? These are some thought that wander in my mind sometimes whenever I
think about the future of our country. It can really be disturbing and demotivating sometimes
trying to serve the people once you realize that the ones who are supposed to be on your side, are
even the ones who are currently exploiting your social causes. In other words, ​ang kakapal ng
mukha​.

If you tell an activist from the 70s that we can easily voice out our concerns and gather to
organize just through a number of taps using our phones and social media accounts, he would be
out of his mind. He would think that we are living in the golden age of communication. But I
guess that the society is much more complicated than we think it is. It has become more complex
and layered compared to what it was before. Even with all the technology that the youth of today
has, we still fall short in fighting for our democratic causes. With all the recent fast-paced
changes in our society, one aspect of it still has not changed​—​those with money and power are
still the ones in control. And I guess that is why those who graduate from UP eventually forget
about what they are fighting for and become just like everybody else, because the faulty system
continues to propagate and being rich can feel so damn good. They are unable to escape the
system, and eventually they become normalized and the remaining nationalistic morality from
them is drained, drop by drop.

The most dangerous thing I learned from the Martial Law is that those geniuses without
morals are the most threatening to our democracy. Intelligent corruptible people can do the worst
of the worst because they can explain everything and rationalize to themselves what they are
doing. The epitome of that is Ferdinand Edralin Marcos​—bar topnotcher and dictator.