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I WAS A MARCOS APOLOGIST. Here's what changed my mind.
A thread (1)
A thread (1)
Like most Filipinos, I grew up under the false binary that anti-Marcos is pro-Aquino (now I'm pro-neither). What aggravated this was the fact that I was half-Ilocano and heard all the people around me saying that the Marcos Era was the Golden Age of the Philippines. (2)
So even if I studied Marcos in grade school ("studied" is an overstatement--we breezed through the subject in History class), I thought that the death toll was just limited to communists and criminals and that if you were a good person, you were safe. (3)
Two things started making me question the lies I grew up with:
1. I worked for the university paper and had to research for the EDSA special
2. An article introduced me to the story of Liliosa Hilao.
The latter is particularly important and deserves its own thread. (4)
1. I worked for the university paper and had to research for the EDSA special
2. An article introduced me to the story of Liliosa Hilao.
The latter is particularly important and deserves its own thread. (4)
Liliosa Hilao was the first knowm Martial Law activist to die in detention. I strongly identified with her then and still do today. She inspired me to the point that my whole identity as a writer practically shifted. I wanted my stories to lift and commemorate the forgotten. (5)
It took me one story to change my mind. Just one. Liliosa put a human face to all the false figures and grand edifices of the Marcos regime. I saw beyond the lies and realized what we had to pay for an illusion. (6)
If you want to change an apologist's mind, give them a martyr that they can identify with. Give a face to nameless and forgotten thousands. Awaken their humanity. All is not lost.
Then welcome them to the good fight. (End of thread)
Then welcome them to the good fight. (End of thread)
