Jellineck E. Cataylo AB-3

Martial Law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency

basis.

Martial law is usually imposed on a temporary basis when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively when there are extensive riots

and protests, or when the disobedience of the law becomes widespread. Fundamentally it is a requirement

put on civilian government when they fail to function correctly.

The declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972 stifled the creativity of most writers.

Many writers preferred to

write on trivial matters.

MARTIAL LAW ERA

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

The Contemporary Period is seeing a “renaissance” in publishing which some publishers have

attributed to two factors – reinstitution of democratic processes and a strong economy.

The dismantling of martial law and its repressive measures has made the writers feel free again to write on all sorts of topics according to their mood and mold

FILIPINO POETRY DURING THE PERIOD OF 1972-1980

THEMES

Themes of most poems dealt with patience, regard for native culture, customs and the beauties of nature and surroundings.

WRITERS

• Ponciano Pineda• Aniceto Silvestre, • Jose Garcia Revelo,• Bienvenido Ramos, • Vicente Dimasalang, • Cir Lopez Francisco,• Pelagio Sulit Cruz.

Sister home for the weekend by Patria Rivera

When she came home she did not say a word

for a very long time.The hours went by the tick of the lizards.The holes in her eyes wouldn't leave us.Barricades, poor wages, backbreaking

work,the women in the garment factory hurling

their lunch pailsat phalanxes of soldiers on the picket line,

the men beaten up, fired at like woodpigeons in a carnival.

Now when she jerks her hand to reach out to us,

her scarred knuckles coil, gray as her argument, marked

where cigarette buttshad tattooed targets on a mesh of veins.Under her skirt, they stuck a live cord,

ran current enough to light the bulb in her cell,

the blurred plot of her coded life,her questioners getting edgier with each

turn.

Searchingby Doris N. Baffrey

you look into our windows for lighthoping for the right answers

to question those answersserve only

to give birth to more questions

confusion brings you backto our dingy halls

to layers of musty screenswhich

though meant to divide us instead bring us closer

bond usas brothers and sistersof a distraught nationwe were born to serve

you ask usdon't you ever cry

the answer my brother

is nofor what right do we have

to shed tearsover a few iron bars

while others have spilled their bloodfor a sacred cause

no brotherthere is no reason to cry

for as long asyou search for the truth

your thirst for knowledgeremains unquenched

as long as you keep coming backto take with you

the little that we have to offerthen you are reason enough

for making prison worth its while

A Decemberin Prisonby Isagani R. Serrano

We waited all day longOn the twenty-fourth

Unable to figure how our patienceHad carried us through to this day

From the painful countdownThat began on the second

When our bellies went empty.

In our lonely cellsWe fancied our little blessings

Imagining how it's likeBeyond the guarded gates

To be in the midst of near and dear ones

Singing the same songs of hopeAnd marching against the winds of

doom.

Through the layers of wire meshThat divide us

Our children would ask questionsNone of us wanted to hear

They would press for answersThat were best understood in silence

Or in white lies that must be said.

We won't be home this ChristmasThe message is written clear

On the wallThe high and mighty wall

That would heed no protest carolsNo tears from eyes that hunger

For salvation.

But somedayWe shall be with you on a Christmas

To share the many untold storiesLong buried within walls and cages

That by then we shall haveSmashed to pieces.

Books during Martial Law

Tibak Rising: Activism in the Days of Martial Law” edited by Ferdinand C. Llanes (Anvil Publishing, Inc.): The

very origin of the word “tibak” (from the word “aktibista”) says it all. This

book delivers a most intimate collection of individual stories about

the struggle against martial law, boasting of contributors ranging from Gilda Cordero-Fernando and Edicio de

la Torre to Joel Saracho and Joel Rocamora. The book is about a way

of life that found its greatest purpose as well as its more challenging

incarnation during the dark period from 1972 to 1986. Here is a fantastic gathering of those recollections, full of change,

friendship and ultimately struggle on all levels.

“Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years” by Susan F.

Quimpo, Nathan Gilbert Quimpo and others (Anvil Publishing, Inc.): Many people can truthfully say that their family was affected by martial law,

but few have as involved and as harrowing a family experience as that

of the Quimpos. This oral history retells how nine Quimpo siblings did their part to further the resistance against martial law, leading to loss

and betrayal as the fight went on. By telling their family’s tale, the

Quimpos also tell the story of the Communist Party of the Philippines

and the inner conflicts that divided its own members. A book about struggle big and small and families of different

sorts, told from the viewpoint of a family that paid a terrible price for what the book calls an unfinished

revolution.

“U.G. An Underground Tale: The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First

Quarter Storm Generation” by Benjamin Pimentel, Jr. (Anvil

Publishing, Inc.): One of the most fascinating and, in turn, tragic

personalities connected with martial law was Edgar “Edjop” Jopson. The

Ateneo student council leader devoted himself to the nascent

student activist movement just in time to face off (at one point

literally) with Ferdinand Marcos. But Jopson was serious about his

struggle, relocating with his cadre constantly to escape military pursuit.

His later death at the hands of the military makes this story of heroism bright and sharp at the same time,

delivered with efficient and measured prose by columnist Pimentel. It’s a true story of

inspiration and sacrifice you won’t forget. •

“Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage: The First Quarter Storm & Related Events” by Jose F. Lacaba (Anvil

Publishing, Inc.): Originally published in 1982, before the actual end of the Marcos era, this gripping, first-person account of the political awakening of the Filipino youth is

considered by most to be the definitive chronicle of latent student and labor activism in the Philippine setting. It is also the best place to begin reading up about martial law

as the wave of protests, so poetically and powerfully reported by Lacaba, eventually runs into the stormy shoals of what would later become the Marcos dictatorship. Here are the seeds that bloomed into steely demonstrations on the

street for some, and total revolutionary resistance by others. Read this book to see where all the courage came from and why it all

began.

“Killing Time in a Warm Place” by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. (Anvil Publishing, Inc.): This textured, award-winning roman a clef is a lovely fictionalization of Dalisay’s own

experiences as a student activist and writer during the martial law years. At

the beginning, Noel Ilustre Bulaong could be any of us, until his quiet life in bucolic Kangleong,is both transformed and shattered by the all-encompassing presence of Ferdinand Marcos. Bulaong becomes an activist and witnesses first hand, through arrest and detention, the

shadowy hold of the Marcos era. Perhaps the most haunting part of

“Killing Time” is how everyone ended up, and the deaths-both interior and exterior-that they experience. A vivid tale of those dangerous years, this is

Dalisay at his best.

REFERRENCE

http://johnray-estrellado.weebly.com/uploads/4/2/1/2/4212180/background_on_philippine_literature.pdf

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/64248/the-books-of-martial-law

http://www.oovrag.com/poems/poems2007b-baffrey1.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law

http://diaryjade.wordpress.com/