In a press briefing held last August 21, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos posed this question, referring to the Martial Law period and the supposed feud between her family and the Aquinos. [1] In the face of attempts to introduce ambiguity to this dark period in our country’s history, UP Law Karapatan ng Komunidad sa Loob ng Selda (KAKOSA) rejects all calls to simplistically move on from Martial Law. We take up the duty to remember the Marcos regime as one rife with human rights violations. The Martial Law period was a time when rule of law and due process were so callously disregarded, instead spotlighting caprice and arbitrariness in enforcing political control. Fear was the authoritarian regime’s weapon of choice, forcing people into acquiescence to the rule. Threats of enforced disappearances, imprisonments, torture, and extrajudicial killing -- all sanctioned by the State -- hounded the nation. We remember those who had to bear its atrocities. We remember Archimedes Trajano, found dead days after daring to question the appointment of Imee Marcos to the Kabataang Barangay. We remember Lilliosa Hilao, tortured by Constabulary soldiers, the first student-activist to die in detention. We remember Martial Law survivors — writers Pete Lacaba, Butch Dalisay, and Jo Ann Maglipon, whose stories detail the barbaric treatment they endured as political prisoners.[2] UP Law KAKOSA is committed to upholding every person’s right to live with dignity, particularly of the prisoners. This advocacy can never be detached from the history of the struggle for equal dignity and respect. As we commemorate the anniversary of the Martial Law declaration, we will never forget the unjust and inhumane treatment of detainees and prisoners during the course of Marcos’ tyranny. We also take up the duty to bear witness. It has been more than forty years since Marcos was overthrown, yet we are still fighting to undo the damage Martial Law has left in its wake. We will continue to contend with impunity and historical revisionism. The legacy of Martial Law is chilling -- in its aftermath, power is still being bandied about as a license to silence rights and freedoms. We thus urge government to hold accountable those complicit in past and present human rights abuses yet remain under a cloud of impunity. We empathize with the families of those who remain political prisoners and of the desaparecidos, and continue to advocate for their release and for full reparation. Finally, we call on the government to act swiftly in institutionalizing prison reform — eliminating the abuses that our prisoners suffer each day, demanding accountability from those who continue to perpetuate such abuses, and most importantly, valiantly safeguarding the fundamental rights of our prisoners. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------- Cover Photo from: http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/01/06/Marcos-martial- law-victims-2-B-claim-court.html [1] Robert Vergara, Imee Marcos draws ire for 'move on' remark,http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/22/imee-marcos-move-on- draws-ire.html, 23 August 2018 [2] Lourdes Gordolan, Butch Dalisay, Ricky Lee, and other writers remember prison life in Martial Law era, http://rogue.ph/butch-dalisay-ricky-lee-writers- remember…/