Post 1: Post Martial Law Filipino

The Filipino people have an identity that seems to be stuck in an age long past.  It is in this regard that the Filipinos have not fully identified who they are in this current age.  Though one might argue that the Filipinos are an identity in itself that have long been different from the Filipinos who lived during the Martial Law Era, it is still evident that the Filipino people have been living and are still living an age right after the events of when the Martial Law ended.  An age where the Philippines as a nation have been controlled by the media, where though at a technologically advanced age are still blind to the true current events that plague the country.

In the article Da Pinoy Chronicle: 40 Years After Martial Law and The Philippines is Still A Failure by dachronicler, the Philippines was described as a country that have not fully evolved away from the years during Marcos' regime and the years following.  dachronicler presented the events on the government that happened during these times towards the recent future.  The events during the Martial Law did not end after the People Power EDSA Revolution, it merely cascaded towards the future which would then hurt our way of thinking and our country as a whole. 

"Majority of the Filipino teenagers have almost no rationality. We begin to accept ignorance and conformity as a norm. Our society is turning almost like 1984." says dachronicler

The Filipino people have yet to understand their actions, it is without a doubt that we are somewhat free from the military powers that oppressed the daily routines of the Martial Law Era, it is however clear that the Filipino people have been blind and have taken for granted the freedom given to us.  Due to ignorance and the idea that the Filipino people are free, the media has taken this as a distinct advantage to brainwash the people into thinking about other things.  If at first, during the Martial Law Era, the Filipinos thought of the government issues that was plaguing the country, now, they are merely thinking about their actors and their stars.  They talk about unimportant people and ignore the crimes and corruption that is rampant in the government.  They seek to blame people who the media have presented as people with fault without even digging deep enough to realize who the true enemy is.  In essence, the Filipino people have not moved from the identity that was prevalent right after the Martial Law.  The Philippines has been stagnant, technology evolved but the people did not evolve with it.

The ghosts of martial law  by Nathan Gilbert Quimpo further explores the events that happened after Martial Law and how our government evolved during the years.  The plagues and the people who follow in the footsteps of President Ferdinand Marcos and have run the country in a way that allowed corruption to flourish.

"Like the Marcos', many other ghosts of martial law come and go, or have come back and stayed. Outside of their apparently 'natural' habitat, they have adjusted, sometimes assumed new forms, and become as ghoulish, loathsome and destructive as before." says Nathan Gilbert Quimpo.



It is unfair to leave the blame to the Marcos' family for even though they have some faults, they have brought prosperity to the country.  Also the Filipino identity have not strayed far from the Martial Law Era.  Though we are more liberated today, there are still some instances wherein due to corruption a subversive Martial Law is being implemented on the Filipino people.  For one, there are many laws which oppress the people and yet the people are powerless to change it.  Even though Martial Law has ended, it seems that the people are still bound by the Martial Law in a subconscious level or in a way where the illusion of free will is presented by the media.