Filipinos buy books to preserve truth about dictator Marcos’ regime

Filipinos living abroad are buying books about the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, not just to read about the history, but to preserve it.

The rush to buy books documenting Marcos’ destructive 21-year reign comes as his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., takes office after a landslide election victory in May.

Mark Jr. he never publicly acknowledged or apologized for the human rights abuses, corruption and theft that historians say took place under his father’s leadership.

And there are fears that, now that he is in power, he will try to rewrite history.

Journalist Raissa Robles, author of “Marcos Martial Law: Never Again,” said that after Marcos Jr. she received emails from readers around the world with requests to reprint the detailed dive on victims of martial law.

“The price of the book almost doubled and yet people were buying the book in batches. They weren’t just buying one or two. They were buying five or 10 at a time,” Robles said.

The main cause for concern came from the president himself.

In 2020, when Marcos Jr. was preparing to run for president, he made clear a desire to review textbooks documenting his parents’ corrupt and brutal regime.

“We’ve been asking for this for years,” said Marco Jr. in a forum organized by the National Press Club, accusing those in power since the death of his father of “teaching children lies”.

Human rights groups say that during the Marcos regime, from 1965 to 1986, tens of thousands of people were arrested, tortured or killed for alleged or actual criticism of the government. Marcos Sr., who died in exile in 1989, and his wife, Imelda, 93, were also found guilty of widespread corruption, including the theft of around $10 billion in public money.

The family has repeatedly denied using state funds for personal use – a claim contested in several court cases.

THE CNN contacted the new Marcos government for comment, but did not receive a response.

The demand for books about the Marcos regime grows

Mark Jr. he had already asked the “world” to judge him for his actions, not his family’s past. But during his inaugural address on June 30, he praised his father, the late dictator, saying he had achieved far more than previous governments since independence in 1946.

“He managed. Sometimes with the necessary support, sometimes without. So it will be with your son – you will have no excuses from me,” he said.

During his speech, he also addressed the issue of reviewing teaching materials in schools, but said he was not talking about history.

“What we teach in our schools, the materials used, must be re-taught. I’m not talking about history, I’m talking about the basics, the sciences, sharpening theoretical aptitude and imparting professional skills,” he said.

But those reassurances ring hollow for people who suffered under his father’s dictatorship and others who are skeptical of Marcos’s new leadership.

One indication of this is through book sales.

Almira Manduriao, head of marketing for the publishing house Ateneo de Manila University, said the race for Philippine history books began shortly after Marcos Jr. won the May 9 election.

“People were suddenly afraid that literature critical of the dictatorship would be banned,” said Almira. “Hence the need to buy and safeguard the books (when) they still can”.

At least ten titles covering martial law and the dark past of the Marcos dictatorship remain out of print in the university press, according to Almira.

Some of the bestsellers from the campus bookstore have been reprinted—namely, “Some Are Smarter Than Others: The History of Marcos’ crony capitalism” by Ricardo Manapat, “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Fernando and Imelda Marcos” by Primitivo Mijares and “Canal de la Reina” by Liwayway Arceo Bautista.

On May 11, Adarna House, the publishing house founded by Filipino artist Virgilo Almario, offered a 20% discount on a #NeverAgain package of five book titles about the Marcos regime.

In the days that followed, sales soared and the pre-order waiting list grew, and the company announced that it could take up to eight weeks for orders to be delivered.

The offer was a hit with customers, but it also attracted government attention.

Alex Paul Monteagudo, director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, accused Adarna House of “radicalizing Filipino children”.

“Publisher Adarna published these books and they are now for sale to subtly radicalize Filipino children against our government, now!” he wrote on his official Facebook page on May 17.

In the publication, Monteagudo said that when topics such as martial law and the People’s Power revolution – a national uprising that toppled the Marcos regime in 1986 – are taught in schools, it will “plant seeds of hatred and dissent in the minds of these children”.

Adarna House refused the request of the CNN to comment on the allegations.

One of Adarna’s clients, Vanessa Louie Cabacungan-Samaniego, who lives and works in Hong Kong, has placed a collective order for books about Marcos’ dictatorship to about a dozen Filipinos in the city.

She told the CNN who fears that the election will allow Marcos’ political clan to “work to clear its name and review history books or reach the media.”

“Buying books to educate ourselves and the next generation is just our little way to fight injustice,” she said, when the first batch of orders was delivered in June.

preserving the truth

In recent years, politicians and government officials have demonized editors and journalists, denouncing their credibility on social media and in public statements.

The day before Marcos Jr. taking office, Nobel laureate Maria Ressa said the government had ordered her news organization, Rappler, to be shut down.

She said she has been harassed repeatedly over the past six years and the subject of legal action for alleged defamation, tax evasion and violation of foreign media ownership rules.

“That’s intimidation. These are political tactics. We refuse to succumb to them,” she said.

Michael Pante, a history professor at the Ateneo University of Manila, said he feared that Marcos Jr. continue former president Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign to delegitimize the work of historians, academics and journalists – and potentially rewrite history books.

Reporters Without Borders said that since Duterte’s election in 2016, the media has been subjected to verbal and judicial intimidation for work deemed overly critical of the government.

“The demonization of historians, academics (and journalists) will continue,” Pante said. “And the contemptuous attitude (towards them) will be enough to generate fear of speaking up and being arrested or censured.

Filipino archivist Carmelo Crisanto, who heads the Commission to Commemorate Victims of Human Rights Violations, is racing to digitize case files and testimonies of 11,103 survivors of the dictatorship, in time for the 50th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in September.

He fears that if the stories of martial law survivors are forgotten, people will again be susceptible to political violence.

His team of around 30 plus 1,500 volunteer college students – most of whom are half his age and have not lived through martial law – were chosen to protect the truth for the next generation.

“I want to have part of this digital file available to the public, so that (it can be) easily accessible, to be sent to colleges here in the country and also to some partner institutions abroad, so that memory and evidence is never lost”, said.

“If there’s one lesson state officials have learned from the martial law period, it’s that no one (has) to go to jail, even if they commit serious human rights violations,” he said.

Raissa, the author, said people told her they wanted to give copies of her books to relatives, while others wanted to keep a stash in case the new government banned reprints.

“They said they want to hide it so that, after Marcos’ presidency, they can bring it up and keep the memory alive,” she said.

Raissa said she is determined to continue writing and criticizing the country’s political landscape despite fears of censorship — but she admits, “I’m not just afraid of censorship, I’m afraid of being arrested.”