“History doesn’t repeat itself but rhymes…”

In today’s time, technologies are highly-promoted and utilized. These technologies became the foundation of most innovations as well as developments. On the contrary, during the earliest times of history, technology isn’t as updated as what state it is on the present time. Therefore, one won’t be able to tell whether history is true or not unless it is from the words of the mouth from a living witness.  In this context, I can say that it is not strongly-civilized back then. Aside from the rumors about the mass media’s anti-freedom of speech, there are also abusers that is why history is tainted as well as that’s what makes people hard to believe in history. Moreover, the people of the Philippines were reminded of the nation’s most fragile piece of the history last 21st of September 2021. It is due to the fact that it has been 49 years since the Martial Law is declared by his excellency late President Ferdinand E. Marcos. In an opinionated article by Ms. Ambeth Ocampo on the Philippine Inquirer, she took the readers to a history ride with regards to the root cause of the controversial Martial Law.

Martial Law has been one of the most intriguing subject of discourse in the Philippine History. According to Ms. Ocampo, Pres. Marcos has already outlined everything before the incident of Sec. Ponce Enrile’s ambuscade. Truth be told, the Martial Law was put into life to secure the nation and the safety of its people. Hence, it has been a dilemma since people assumed that the Sec. Enrile incident was a bit suspicious. There are a lot insinuations as to the incident is intentional since they woke up with the proclamation. In other words, there are people who assumed that the late president is only waiting for a go-signal to go on with his plans then everything will just follow.  Thus, the circumstances depict that the late president has been a logic even to his people. Furthermore, the Filipino people were alarmed upon hearing President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation of the Mindanao Martial Law which is caused by the Marawi siege. A repetition of the history as they say. As a result, the people are threatened assuming that the declaration was because of the president’s self-interest and hidden agenda.  According to Benjamin Barretto (2017), a political science teacher in the Ateneo De Manila University, it is instilling fear to themselves (the people) without profound basis. To establish the connection, the two Presidents namely Marcos and Duterte were put into comparison and evaluation.  Basing on Ms. Etta Rosales (2021) statements on a virtual interview, the two president mirrors each other. She even elaborated three reasons as to why she stated that. Ms. Etta Rosales was a Martial Law ‘victim’ way back on the time of Marcos.

To bridge the gap, some of the mass media were prohibited during Marcos’ time because they have been waging a propaganda campaign that distorts and twists the facts that may weaken the support of the government.  In conclusion to this, my idea of history is not the same like most of the people but otherwise. History do not repeat itself but it just rhymes. It is a famous quotation by Mark Twain which I’ve been living quite some time now. After all, there will always be arguments or contradictions on the decisions as well as the governance of the president even on the present time. Worst case scenario, the government is perceived as the bad guy in the picture even when it is only doing what is just based on the power the people has given them. Indeed, the Philippines is a democratic country because the people will always have a say on the current situation when in fact they are only seeing the facade but not what lies within it. Lastly, historians do not exist for nothing. They play a great role in the society. Hence, history is a complex topic on which one has to dig deep and explore critically in order to arrive on an appropriate outcome.