Memories of Martial Law


If you go out to buy something at that time, people will always insist that your money: "Dapat may tatak ng Bagong Lipunan." Imagine that, the Marcos ideology, his envisioned new society seen in the most widely circulated object, nothing else but banknotes. The battle to win the minds of the people cleverly executed?



Once in an afternoon, there was a commotion in the outskirt of our barrio; young people were shouting, "Nariyan na ang PC!" True enough, elements of the constabulary started rounding up young males with long hair. Ginupitan lahat ng long hair.

The word curfew became a dreaded term because once caught in the forbidden hour of the night, you'll inevitably spend the rest of it in the precinto. And in the morning when you wake up behind bars, you'll probably hear the morning radio or even TV with the "Bagong Lipunan March." It was so monotonous and repetitive that up to now, the lyrics are still in my head.

Law and government became so imposing that even jaywalkers were apprehended. Billboards carrying the message of the so-called New Society were everywhere. "Sa Ikauunlad ng bayan disiplina ang kailangan"... etcetera.


Media outfits were controlled. I recall that TV ads about a father going home late and the police with a flashlight reminding him of curfew, such a life under the NMPC- National Media Production Center

The arts and cultural preferences were solely at the hands of the regime. The First Lady became the symbol of Filipino artistic renaissance, and the soul of the Filipino said to be nestled in the Marcos created CCP.

And the two peso bill? After years of the so-called New Society, it could not even guarantee you a week of rice. (The measurement changing from salop to kilo) You suddenly find your school bag filled with old nutri buns..minsan nilalanggam na... The bomba films made a comeback after a decade, the center was not anymore in the Recto--Quiapo area but in the CCP complex itself- so much for the Filipino soul.

  And the so-called "disiplina"? One popular actor-host (if he really said it) was entirely right, "Bisicleta ang kailangan!" For we became a nation of jaywalkers.

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