The Marcos Dictatorship that
Silenced Filipino Life
She was a frail lump underneath a warm woolen blanket, nervously nibbling on
some wafers. Flora Bereal, seventy-one, lived most of her years in the
Philippines. Her grandchildren enjoy listening to bedtime stories of her
cheerful memories “back home, back in the day.” However, this loving
grandmother has hidden her darkest experiences from people, afraid of
consequences. Flora Bereal was the wife of Eddie Basilio, a known activist
during the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines, from 1965 to 1986. Having to
live through such authoritarian rule as the spouse of a rebel petrified her to
silence. Now, after twenty years of fighting to keep this occurrence in the back
of her mind, Flora Bereal opens up about what really happened within the
Filipino borders when Ferdinand Marcos had control.
Marcos was president of the Philippines for about twenty years. He became
president in 1965. From the very beginning, the people were already suffering.
There were already a lot of things he was doing that were really against the
will of the people; that weren’t for the good of the people. They didn’t
want to obey him anymore. So you can tell he wasn’t gonna be re-elected after
his term ends. He can see too.
So on September 21, 1972, Martial Law was declared. In those days, my husband was a commentator in the radio. Now, um of course they were getting mad at my husband because he says the wrongs and faults of the government. One day, he was on his way home when the soldiers went after him. He talked to the taxi driver to just drive around in circles for some time, so they won’t be able to know where he lived. When they were able to lose the soldiers, he got home safely, but he made all of us lie on the floor, flat on our stomachs. He turned off all the lights so they won’t be able to trace where my husband lived. He wasn’t caught.
The following day, he went to Davao with my cousin. They went far away from Manila. Then, he lived there with my sibling. He became a commentator again, maybe for about two months, three months only, because many people were pleading him to stop, warning him about our government. After that, he remained in Davao for maybe around one year. He was “lying low” there, hiding for the meantime.
When there was no Martial Law yet, there were people that already escaped to the mountains, because they didn’t like Marcos’ rules and ways. When Martial Law was declared, even more people joined in, like the MPA, the rebels. Even in the city, there were still rebels that were fighting against the government. They would burn the houses, offices, like arson. There was more crime and looting because of the difficult life.
Most of the wealthy people had connections with Marcos, and the poor became even poorer. The propaganda machine of Marcos was excellent. Every time foreigners came to visit the Philippines, they would immediately take them to nice, well-off places where the rich were, but in the squatter areas, they would just cover them up and hide them.
There were a lot of judges that became rich during that time of Marcos. Marcos appointed many judges in court. Obviously, all the people that he would appoint became loyal to him. So they wouldn’t lose their jobs, they just obeyed Marcos, whatever he wanted.
We suffered greatly because you already know, my husband wasn’t there. He was far away. Even our food supply was affected a lot. We didn’t have rice to cook. There was a truck that came, maybe that was only once a week, and then we would line up. The rule was three kilos only for each person. So I would make everyone line up, even our house helpers. Then, the rice that they would give us was mixed with corn, because the normal rice supply wasn’t enough with all the people living in poverty and suffering. So yeah, they mix it with corn. That’s the only food we ate.
We had house helpers, like maids, but that didn’t mean we were rich. What happened was in the rural provinces, people were very poor, they became desperate. There was a lot of suffering. They didn’t have a home and they didn’t have food. So then, young people would go to cities, or even sent by their parents, to work in other people’s houses. At least they got shelter, food, and clothes, guaranteed. A little better living was provided for them and they did household chores as payback. There were many young people like that, even as young as fifteen.
We had a curfew. By twelve o’clock midnight you needed to be home already. If you were caught and you were still at the streets, there were many soldiers that roamed around there. They would capture you. They would imprison you.
Radio in those days was limited, and television. Only topics about the government were talked about and sometimes there were a few shows. But if you spoke badly about the government, they would capture you immediately.
I can even remember then, there was one popular announcer in television who was only joking. Marcos’ slogan then during Martial Law said, “For the development of the country, discipline is what’s needed.” What he said though, the uh announcer, was “For the development of the country, a bicycle is what’s needed.” So he was immediately captured. He was imprisoned, and then, most likely punished and tortured there for several days because he was gone from television for a long time. When he returned, he was very repentant about what he said, apologizing again and again to the government.
The writers didn’t have freedom to write the truth. They were forced to write only about the government, so the newspapers were limited during those days. You could only write on the newspaper if you were going to write about the government, making their management appear nice. You couldn’t write about what you wanted anymore, to show that the government was really awful, because you would be captured.
That’s what they want to happen. It was really hard because if Marcos said it, you just obeyed. That’s their thing in the Philippines, their guiding policy: don’t violate the laws of Marcos.
That’s why the quality of life in the Philippines became poorer. The good, talented, professional people that had knowledge and understanding of what’s really going on were already leaving the Philippines, going to different countries. They didn’t like the way the government was running the country. If they continued to force their right, they would either be imprisoned or killed. They couldn’t openly express their opinions.
The intelligent students during that time, when they had rallies, the police would beat them with their batons. The reason they were rallying was because they knew about the rights they were suppose to have in the government.
A family friend told the story that her uncle would rally. He was from UP. He was killed. There’s probably more that he ordered to be killed, because if there’s someone against him, he gets even more frustrated. He orders men to capture them and orders them to be killed.
Marcos and his cronies took away other people’s businesses, like Meralco. The owner of that company was Lopez, but Marcos took the business from Lopez. He only paid him one peso; he insulted him, because the electric company obviously cost way more than just one peso. There was nothing Lopez could do. The business was already under the possession of Marcos.
That’s the evil in him. He became greedy, became a bad president. He had total power. And he abused it.
Marcos stopped Martial Law in 1981, but he still practiced dictatorship. There was no difference. Filipinos just couldn’t take it anymore; just fed up. Their suffering was great.
There was the EDSA Revolution, the people power. It was peaceful, and it worked. He [Marcos] was exiled here in the States. This was where he died; in America.