Volume 4, Issue No. 17
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .
Our latest as of Wednesday, September 21, 2022
~ Time and again we've heard, seen, and witnessed how martial law affected many lives in the Philippines when Ferdinand Edralin Marcos imposed it fifty years ago, on September 21, 1972. There were a thousand and one reasons that led to its declaration, among them the communist insurgency which remains unresolved to this day, and the Muslim separatist movement in Mindanao. Looking back, one-man rule forced open the country's doors to the foreign press to which the dictator acquiesced to show the world a "smiling martial law". On a personal and professional level, the press corps' coming presaged a new way of life.
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THE PHILIPPINES ON SEPTEMBER 21, 1972
The Other Side of Marcos' One-Man Rule
His Martial Law Edict Opened Doors to the Foreign Press
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - The echoes of that date 50 years ago today will not be forgotten, for on that very day, September 21, 1972, my personal and professional life fell prey to life-altering changes.
The memories don't fade; they are a reminder of what or who we once were, of how we were. Life ebbed and flowed. Five decades have gone by since Ferdinand Edralin Marcos imposed a one-man rule on the Philippines with his declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972.
I was a young witness in the unfolding of that sad chapter in the country's history as a staff reporter for The Manila Chronicle, the acidulous publication owned by Don Eugenio Lopez Sr. whose brother, Fernando Lopez, was Marcos' vice president.
Like many of us in the free-wheeling press of that time, I also lost my job following the shutdown of all media entities and the arrest of some of the most notable journalists ever to report on social and political events, including the growing communist insurgency and the separatist movement in Mindanao.
There is no question that martial law caused untold suffering to many people. It upended Philippine society as a whole and created a new structure that favored the military and people close to the dictator. Historical accounts abound so I do not wish to dwell on this.
Mine is a first-hand reminiscence, a recollection of the good and bad things that happened in 1972 and the years thereafter. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrIFXOV-7mU).
All this time I've been trying to analyze the impact of that declaration on my life as a journalist. Save for personal and professional impingement, martial law was quite a boon to my career. It's not a facetious remark to say that. And I don't mean to diminish its adverse consequences on others either.
The closure of the Manila newspapers gave birth to new publications, among them, the Times Journal (TJ). From there emerged the Journal Group of Companies (JGC) which published The People's Journal and the Women's Journal.
Marcos' brother-in-law, Ambassador Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, owned JGC and took over the spanking new building and printing facilities of the Chronicle in Pasig. TJ absorbed most of the Chronicle employees, including myself. I reported for the Business Section of the paper for a couple of years before joining the foreign press corps.
The imposition of martial law paved the way for foreign news agencies to set up bureaus in Manila. Some moved from Bangkok, Hongkong, and Singapore. Many of these news organizations hired stringers to cover events for them. I was one of them, writing for wire agencies without necessarily being employed by them to augment my income.
Then the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun recruited me to join in after it had established an outlet in Manila months before Senator Benigno Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983, at the Manila International Airport.
Our office was located in San Lorenzo Village, a few streets away from the homes of the parents of basketball coach Tommy Manotoc and Senator, then Foreign Secretary, Raul Manglapus whose wife is a sister of Manotoc's mother. The proximity afforded us to scoop the competition during the time when Marcos's eldest daughter Imee had figured in a love story with the coach.
My reporting for the paper was my first firm job as a foreign correspondent. I wrote and filed my stories in English and the Tokyo office translated them into Japanese. Some of my stories found their way into the English edition of Asahi Shimbun.
Before Aquino's first death anniversary, the German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) had offered me the position of chief correspondent of the soon-to-be-established Manila bureau. And to sweeten the bid, my principals asked me to train in wire reporting at the English desk in Hamburg and afterward tour West Germany, including Berlin, the East German capital. (Related video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0AXXyPXaE).
Of course, I accepted. Once the contracts had been formalized and signed, I boarded a Lufthansa plane for Germany in October 1984. I was not prepared for the trip. I had to borrow cheap luggage for clothes unsuitable for the German weather. And when I arrived at Cologne Bonn airport, the luggage broke and spilled its contents, much to my embarrassment.
After a few days of touring Cologne and Bonn, the capital, it was time for the flight to Hamburg to begin my on-the-job training at the DPA head office. I had barely recovered from the airsickness due to the prolonged flight from Manila and here I was ready to start a new chapter in my journalism career.
Reporting for a world audience was so different from what I had been accustomed to while in the Chronicle. For readers to understand, every single story had to be contextualized and explained in general terms easily understood by the audience not quite familiar with say, Marcos, Aquino, and the Philippines.
The experience had brought untold rewards, financially and professionally. I never dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent; my position as a staff reporter at the Chronicle was good enough for me. Had Marcos not declared martial law, what did the future look like for me with the Chronicle?
Whatever it was, the Chronicle gave me the break. I earned my spurs there early on. Through his strongman rule, Marcos, however much some people despised him, had opened doors that allowed me to expand my journalistic outlook and enabled me to be a foreign correspondent.
As such, I got to see the world, literally and figuratively, through the skeptical eyes of a journalist. (Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved).
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