The declaration of Martial Law changed the course of Philippine history forever as it marked the beginning of a new battle for freedom against a dictator who had a great obsession with power.
During this era, the whole nation was shrouded with fear and turmoil, human rights violations were rampant, communication and media companies were sequestered by the administration, and opposition
leaders were abducted.
Despite these injustices, the Filipinos’ clamor for freedom and liberation did not falter. Organizations opposing the martial rule were born. Human rights groups emerged and the flame of student activism ignited stronger than ever.
Evident to this cause were students from the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) who led the Thomasian community’s fight for freedom.
Fight for liberalism
After Martial Law was declared, student organizations opposing it were prohibited in colleges and universities. This condition forced the students to organize underground societies as their means to fight the
Marcos administration.
As stalwarts of liberalism, Artlets students were at the front line of Thomasian activism. They organized and led various anti-government propagandas. They formed underground societies and empowered student participation on the clamor for freedom. Symposia and lightning rallies were also conducted.
One of the underground societies formed was the Fraternal Organization of the University of Santo Tomas (FROUST) led by the UST Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity under Atty. Jay De Castro. The FROUST was one of the Thomasian groups who fought against and condemned the abuses of Martial Law.
“Since there was no Student Council, Tau Gamma united all the fraternities in UST into a single organization that we called FROUST,” De Castro, former UST Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity leader, told the Flame.
The activities started by. De Castro’s group against Martial Law eventually inspired other Thomasians to fight
for their rights as students. Others joined the lightning rallies around the campus and participated in Operation Pinta demonstrations.
Operation Pinta was the act of painting the University walls with graffiti bearing student grievances.
According to De Castro, being a student leader was never easy and safe during the military-ruled government
of Marcos. There were issues of human rights violations, assassinations were taking place everywhere, and abductions of student activists were out of control.
He was accused of mauling a student who happened to have relatives at the Philippine Air Force (PAF). No warrant of arrest was presented to him, yet the military insisted in bringing him to Camp Crame. Fortunately, members of FROUST saw the incident and stopped the military from taking him.
“There was a time when I almost got abducted by the military and PAF officials,” the Communication Arts alumnus said, noting the experience he had during the height of Martial Law in 1976.
“If not for the students who stopped the PAF officials, I could have been tortured,” he said, describing the tumultuous tug-ofwar emerging between the students and the military.
He was sentenced in court for 10 years and eventually got acquitted after successfully defending himself when he passed the bar examination.
“It was very painful to fight for something that you know you did not do,” he added.
Meanwhile, another student activist who also fought during the Marcos era was former Artlets Student Council (ABSC) president Cornelio “Jun” Carmona.
“In 1981, there was a specific memorandum that allowed the establishment of student councils in universities. On that note, the first Student Council election in Artlets was conducted in 1982,” Carmona told the Flame.
Prior to this election, Carmona said that a group of students drafted a constitution containing the by-laws and policies of the council election. It was later approved by the student body.
On the third ABSC election, Carmona ran as the council president and won. While on his senior year, he assumed the position in the Student Council and at the same time worked as the associate editor of The Flame. These positions played a crucial role on the liberal expression of his thoughts as a student leader.
During Carmona’s tenure, the Office for Student Affairs did not officially recognize political parties and other organizations with pronounced political agenda, but this did not stop him and his colleagues to fight against martial rule.
“As resistance to Martial Law, we [ABSC] held symposia about various political topics. It was open for everyone, but majority of the audience came from our Faculty. We coordinate such projects to the Central Student Council, who was very cooperative, but not as aggressive as Artlets students,” Carmona said.
According to him, one of the major issues during his time was the Filipinozation that pertained to the controversy arising from Spanish Dominicans who still hold administrative positions in the University. They also confronted concerns pertaining to uniform reform.
“The [administration] required us to wear black pants and polo shirt. We were demanding to wear maong pants. We organized big protests to the point that we even burned black pants in front of the building,” Carmona said.
Their protests and efforts finally paid off when the administration conceded and allowed male Artlets to wear maong pants as part of their uniform. Freshmen students were not covered by the directive. Carmona considered this incident as one of the council’s major accomplishments.
Carmona added that the Artlets Student Councils who served during the Martial Law era proved to be the most active and most vocal student government in the University.
“In fact, the Central Student Council (CSC) by then obtains support from the ABSC. We [ABSC] literally decide on things. ‘Pag sinabing boycott, lahat ng mga estudyante nagbababaan. ‘Pag sinabing magrarally, lahat sumasama,” he said.
Meanwhile, the assassination of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. coincided with Carmona’s term. As described by Carmona, Aquino’s death changed everything. “There was an outpouring of sentiments over the martyrdom of Ninoy. This triggered the whole Thomasian community to unite,” he said. For De Castro and Carmona, Martial Law had its way of changing people and transforming their lives.
Class Lawsuit
After the Marcoses fled the country in 1986, human rights victims who suffered during the span of martial rule filed a class suit against the strongman. 25 years later, the suit favored the complainants and they began to receive their initial $1,000 (roughly P 43,000) compensation.
Winning the class lawsuit made history as it was the first in Asia to be pushed after two and a half decades of struggle. The distribution of checks began early this year and was established in 16 processing centers nationwide.
Lawyer Rod C. Domingo Jr., one of the legal counsels of the claimants, said that as of August 7, 2011, 97 percent of the 7,526 (originally 9,539) listed victims have already claimed their checks.
“We were able to recover $10 million from the corporations organized by Jose Y. Campos, once an ally of Marcos and the owner of United Laboratories (UniLab) in Texas and Colorado. The corporations settled for $10 million and were distributed among the victims,” Domingo told the Flame.
Despite the $10 million recovery, only $7.5 million went to the claimants as the remaining $2.5 million were used for litigation and other legal expenses
Amid the distribution of the $10 million among the victims, Domingo, with his counsel and petitioners, still strive for a separate $68-million claims in Singapore and New York.
“Pending today are two separate cases, one in New York and another in Singapore. If we win in any of the cases, we will make another distribution depending on the amount we will recover,” Domingo said.
According to him, they are still pursuing more cases so they can provide the claimants additional compensation.
“We are trying to file all cases. Until now, we are still looking for any ill-gotten wealth hidden abroad. We are still pursuing more. Kapag may nabalitaan kami hanggang ngayon, hahabulin namin iyon nang walang tigil,” Domingo said.
Domingo explained he is hopeful that even if the government becomes hesitant to forgo its claim on the recovery cases, it is still amenable to a deal that would be favorable to the human rights victims.
“We are working hard to win these cases that are being opposed vigorously by the Presidential Commission on Good Government on the belief that since it is a form of ill-gotten wealth, it should go to them [PCGG],” Domingo said. F
During this era, the whole nation was shrouded with fear and turmoil, human rights violations were rampant, communication and media companies were sequestered by the administration, and opposition
leaders were abducted.
Despite these injustices, the Filipinos’ clamor for freedom and liberation did not falter. Organizations opposing the martial rule were born. Human rights groups emerged and the flame of student activism ignited stronger than ever.
Evident to this cause were students from the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) who led the Thomasian community’s fight for freedom.
Fight for liberalism
After Martial Law was declared, student organizations opposing it were prohibited in colleges and universities. This condition forced the students to organize underground societies as their means to fight the
Marcos administration.
As stalwarts of liberalism, Artlets students were at the front line of Thomasian activism. They organized and led various anti-government propagandas. They formed underground societies and empowered student participation on the clamor for freedom. Symposia and lightning rallies were also conducted.
One of the underground societies formed was the Fraternal Organization of the University of Santo Tomas (FROUST) led by the UST Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity under Atty. Jay De Castro. The FROUST was one of the Thomasian groups who fought against and condemned the abuses of Martial Law.
“Since there was no Student Council, Tau Gamma united all the fraternities in UST into a single organization that we called FROUST,” De Castro, former UST Tau Gamma Phi Fraternity leader, told the Flame.
The activities started by. De Castro’s group against Martial Law eventually inspired other Thomasians to fight
for their rights as students. Others joined the lightning rallies around the campus and participated in Operation Pinta demonstrations.
Operation Pinta was the act of painting the University walls with graffiti bearing student grievances.
According to De Castro, being a student leader was never easy and safe during the military-ruled government
of Marcos. There were issues of human rights violations, assassinations were taking place everywhere, and abductions of student activists were out of control.
He was accused of mauling a student who happened to have relatives at the Philippine Air Force (PAF). No warrant of arrest was presented to him, yet the military insisted in bringing him to Camp Crame. Fortunately, members of FROUST saw the incident and stopped the military from taking him.
“There was a time when I almost got abducted by the military and PAF officials,” the Communication Arts alumnus said, noting the experience he had during the height of Martial Law in 1976.
“If not for the students who stopped the PAF officials, I could have been tortured,” he said, describing the tumultuous tug-ofwar emerging between the students and the military.
He was sentenced in court for 10 years and eventually got acquitted after successfully defending himself when he passed the bar examination.
“It was very painful to fight for something that you know you did not do,” he added.
Meanwhile, another student activist who also fought during the Marcos era was former Artlets Student Council (ABSC) president Cornelio “Jun” Carmona.
“In 1981, there was a specific memorandum that allowed the establishment of student councils in universities. On that note, the first Student Council election in Artlets was conducted in 1982,” Carmona told the Flame.
Prior to this election, Carmona said that a group of students drafted a constitution containing the by-laws and policies of the council election. It was later approved by the student body.
On the third ABSC election, Carmona ran as the council president and won. While on his senior year, he assumed the position in the Student Council and at the same time worked as the associate editor of The Flame. These positions played a crucial role on the liberal expression of his thoughts as a student leader.
During Carmona’s tenure, the Office for Student Affairs did not officially recognize political parties and other organizations with pronounced political agenda, but this did not stop him and his colleagues to fight against martial rule.
“As resistance to Martial Law, we [ABSC] held symposia about various political topics. It was open for everyone, but majority of the audience came from our Faculty. We coordinate such projects to the Central Student Council, who was very cooperative, but not as aggressive as Artlets students,” Carmona said.
According to him, one of the major issues during his time was the Filipinozation that pertained to the controversy arising from Spanish Dominicans who still hold administrative positions in the University. They also confronted concerns pertaining to uniform reform.
“The [administration] required us to wear black pants and polo shirt. We were demanding to wear maong pants. We organized big protests to the point that we even burned black pants in front of the building,” Carmona said.
Their protests and efforts finally paid off when the administration conceded and allowed male Artlets to wear maong pants as part of their uniform. Freshmen students were not covered by the directive. Carmona considered this incident as one of the council’s major accomplishments.
Carmona added that the Artlets Student Councils who served during the Martial Law era proved to be the most active and most vocal student government in the University.
“In fact, the Central Student Council (CSC) by then obtains support from the ABSC. We [ABSC] literally decide on things. ‘Pag sinabing boycott, lahat ng mga estudyante nagbababaan. ‘Pag sinabing magrarally, lahat sumasama,” he said.
Meanwhile, the assassination of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. coincided with Carmona’s term. As described by Carmona, Aquino’s death changed everything. “There was an outpouring of sentiments over the martyrdom of Ninoy. This triggered the whole Thomasian community to unite,” he said. For De Castro and Carmona, Martial Law had its way of changing people and transforming their lives.
Class Lawsuit
After the Marcoses fled the country in 1986, human rights victims who suffered during the span of martial rule filed a class suit against the strongman. 25 years later, the suit favored the complainants and they began to receive their initial $1,000 (roughly P 43,000) compensation.
Winning the class lawsuit made history as it was the first in Asia to be pushed after two and a half decades of struggle. The distribution of checks began early this year and was established in 16 processing centers nationwide.
Lawyer Rod C. Domingo Jr., one of the legal counsels of the claimants, said that as of August 7, 2011, 97 percent of the 7,526 (originally 9,539) listed victims have already claimed their checks.
“We were able to recover $10 million from the corporations organized by Jose Y. Campos, once an ally of Marcos and the owner of United Laboratories (UniLab) in Texas and Colorado. The corporations settled for $10 million and were distributed among the victims,” Domingo told the Flame.
Despite the $10 million recovery, only $7.5 million went to the claimants as the remaining $2.5 million were used for litigation and other legal expenses
Amid the distribution of the $10 million among the victims, Domingo, with his counsel and petitioners, still strive for a separate $68-million claims in Singapore and New York.
“Pending today are two separate cases, one in New York and another in Singapore. If we win in any of the cases, we will make another distribution depending on the amount we will recover,” Domingo said.
According to him, they are still pursuing more cases so they can provide the claimants additional compensation.
“We are trying to file all cases. Until now, we are still looking for any ill-gotten wealth hidden abroad. We are still pursuing more. Kapag may nabalitaan kami hanggang ngayon, hahabulin namin iyon nang walang tigil,” Domingo said.
Domingo explained he is hopeful that even if the government becomes hesitant to forgo its claim on the recovery cases, it is still amenable to a deal that would be favorable to the human rights victims.
“We are working hard to win these cases that are being opposed vigorously by the Presidential Commission on Good Government on the belief that since it is a form of ill-gotten wealth, it should go to them [PCGG],” Domingo said. F
YR 47 Issue 1 2011
Issues
The years of martial rule have been deemed by some as the darkest age in the country’s history. It was marked by unjust killings, human rights violations, and unceasing abduction of opposition members, all feigning to curb rebellion. Despite the threats given to those who are opposing the martial rule, the Artlets community remained true to its liberal thinking by leading Thomasians in voicing out their clamor for change and reform in the country.
THE ISSUANCE of Proclamation No. 1081 by the late president Ferdinand Marcos on September 21, 1972 was supposed to suppress the rising surge of violence and to wipe out the roots of rebellion in the country allegedly caused by communists. At some point, Martial Law served
its true purpose, but as authorities abused their power, it became a nightmare for some Filipinos whose human rights were violated.
THE ISSUANCE of Proclamation No. 1081 by the late president Ferdinand Marcos on September 21, 1972 was supposed to suppress the rising surge of violence and to wipe out the roots of rebellion in the country allegedly caused by communists. At some point, Martial Law served
its true purpose, but as authorities abused their power, it became a nightmare for some Filipinos whose human rights were violated.
Artlets’ pivotal role in opposing the dictatorial rule
By CHRISTINE DIANE R.ALMANZOR AND DENISE ANGELA E. SALAZAR
By CHRISTINE DIANE R.ALMANZOR AND DENISE ANGELA E. SALAZAR
Remembering Martial Law
Year 47 | Issue 3 | 2011
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