NEVER AGAIN. Susan Quimpo, co-author of “Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years,” narrates her family's experience during the Martial Law. Behind her are photographs of the young heroes and martyrs who fought against the dictatorship.
The Office of Mission and Ministry invited journalist and author Susan F Quimpo for a talk on “The Truth About Martial Law: Real People, Real Stories” at the Little Theater on April 25.
“There is an attempt to re-write history,” said Xavier President Rev Fr Bobby Yap SJ, explaining the significance of the event. “Even worse, we are asked to forget the past,” he said.
This attempt to re-write history and make people forget about the atrocities committed during the Martial Law is worrying for us as a people, said Fr Bobby.
He quoted what national hero Jose Rizal said, “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.”
“We have forgotten the first part of what our national hero said,” Fr Bobby bemoaned. “If we forget our past, I don’t think any of those promises of a bright future will happen.”
Quimpo was at Xavier to share her family’s heartrending experience under the Marcos dictatorship to a room packed full of young students, who were mostly first-time voters.
She noted that in the years leading to the declaration of Martial Law, there were already protest rallies against then President Ferdinand Marcos for cheating in the 1969 presidential elections. There was also a noticeable deterioration in the quality of life of the people leading to a general dissatisfaction with his administration, and fears that he might change the constitution to remain in power.
Quimpo showed photographs of rallies in Plaza Miranda and the Battle of Mendiola, which resulted in the injury and arrest of many college students and labor activists who had led and participated in the demonstrations out of anger.
“Parang binagyo ang ka-Maynilaan dahil araw-araw may mga rallies,” described Quimpo, “and the rallies were violent.” This time of unrest is now referred to as the First Quarter Storm.
She related that student leaders, especially student writers and student council officers, were “picked up by the military for questioning, at the minimum, and, most likely, torture.”
One of those picked up by the military was his brother Ronald Jan because “he looked Chinese, wore glasses and had a UP ID."
“Ronald Jan was the first activist in the family,” related Quimpo who is the youngest of ten siblings.
Her brother was stripped naked, his head repeatedly plunged in a commode with urine, and his feet doused with water then shocked by live wire.
Although he was released from detention, he would eventually vanish without a trace, never to be seen again. He was only 23 years old.
Ronald Jan was not the only Quimpo sibling to be arrested and tortured. In fact, five of them were imprisoned, including another brother Ishmael (Jun), who would lose his life in the underground movement, and sister Lilian who was fortunate enough to survive torture and detention.
PACKED. Students fill the XU Little Theater eager to listen to the discussion and sharing of Quimpo.
The stories of the Quimpo siblings are captured in a book titled, “Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years,” which Quimpo co-authored with her brother Nathan and published in 2012.
“When I was writing the book, I had to go through the experience again, and find peace and closure,” imparted Quimpo.
During her talk, she also shared the stories of some of the other martyrs of Martial Law, such as 23-year-old Liliosa Hilao who was the first student activist to die inside a military compound.
“They were very young people, like you,” Quimpo told the students. “Yet, they had to fight a dictator and give up their lives.”
More than 40 years after the declaration of Martial Law and despite having shared the tumultuous experience of her family many times, there are still instances when Quimpo gets emotional.
“I lived in fear for 14 years,” she said. “Ayaw ko ng bumalik doon, and I don’t want [what I experienced] to happen to you.”
Quimpo has been going around schools since 2012 imparting the painful lessons of the Martial Law.
She also distributed bracelets with the words “never again,” which she asked students to wear up to Election Day on May 9.
“If you vote for a dictator, huhubaran po kayo ng inyong pagkatao,” she told the young crowd. “If you give a man the freedom to discipline people, he will abuse that freedom,” she added.
Quimpo hopes that this young generation will remember the young people who gave up their lives for this country’s freedom and democracy.
“When you pick the next leader, never again should you pick a dictator,” she said. “Never again should you give up the freedom that people long ago fought so valiantly for.”