The rush to buy books documenting Marcos’ destructive 21-year reign comes as his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., takes office after a landslide election victory in May.
Marcos Jr. never publicly acknowledged or apologized for the human rights abuses, corruption and theft that historians say took place under his father’s leadership.
And it is feared that now that he is in power, he will try to rewrite history.
Journalist Raissa Robles, author of “Marcos Martial Law: Never Again,” said that after Marcos Jr.’s victory, she received emails from readers around the world with requests to reprint the detailed analysis of martial law victims.
“The price of the book had almost doubled, and yet people were buying the book in batches. They weren’t buying just one or two. They were buying five or 10 at a time,” Robles said.
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The main cause for concern came from the president himself.
In 2020, as Marcos Jr. was preparing to run for president, he made clear his desire to review the textbooks documenting his parents’ corrupt and brutal regime.
“We’ve been asking for that for years,” Marco Jr. said at a forum organized by the National Press Club, accusing those in power since his father’s death of “teaching children lies.”
Human rights groups say that during the Marcos regime, from 1965 to 1986, tens of thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured or killed for real or perceived criticism of the government. Marcos Sr., who died in exile in 1989, and his 93-year-old wife, Imelda, were also convicted of widespread corruption, including stealing an estimated $10 billion of public money.
The family has repeatedly denied using state funds for their personal use, a claim contested in multiple court cases.
CNN has contacted the new Marcos government for comment, but has not received a response.
Increased demand for books on the Marcos regime
Marcos Jr. has previously called for “the world” to judge him for his actions, not his family’s past. But during his inaugural address on June 30, he praised his father, the late dictator, and said that he had achieved much more than previous administrations since he gained independence in 1946.
“He did it. Sometimes with the necessary support, sometimes without it. So it will be with his son, they will not get excuses from me », he said.
During his speech, he also touched on the issue of revising teaching materials in schools, but said he was not referring to history.
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“What we teach in our schools, the materials used, must be re-taught. I’m not talking about history, I’m talking about basics, science, honing theoretical aptitude and imparting vocational skills,” he said.
But those assurances ring hollow to people who suffered under his father’s dictatorship and others who are skeptical of Marcos’ new leadership.
One indication of that is through book sales.
Almira Manduriao, head of marketing for the Ateneo de Manila University Press, said the rush for Philippine history books began shortly after Marcos Jr. won the May 9 election.
“Suddenly, people feared that literature critical of the dictatorship would be banned,” Manduriao said. “Hence the need to buy and safeguard the books (when) it is still possible.”
At least 10 titles covering martial law and the dark past of the Marcos dictatorship remain out of print in the university press, according to Manduriao.
Some of the best-selling books at the campus bookstore were in reprint, namely “Some Are Smarter Than Others: Marcos’s History of Crony Capitalism” by Ricardo Manapat, “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Fernando and Imelda Marcos” by Primitivo Mijares and «Canal de la Reina» by Liwayway Arceo Bautista.
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On May 11, Adarna House, a publishing house founded by Filipino artist Virgilo Almario, offered a 20% discount on a #NeverAgain bundle of five book titles about the Marcos regime.
In the days that followed, sales soared and the waiting list for pre-orders grew, with the company announcing that delivery of orders could take up to eight weeks.
The offer was a hit with customers, but it also attracted the attention of the government.
Alex Paul Monteagudo, director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, accused Adarna House of “radicalizing Filipino children.”
“The Adarna publishing house published these books and they are now for sale to subtly radicalize Filipino children against our government, now!” he wrote on his official Facebook page on May 17.
Monteagudo said in the post that when issues like martial law and the power of the people revolution, a national uprising that toppled the Marcos regime in 1986, are taught in schools, “will plant seeds of hatred and dissent in the minds of these children.”
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Adarna House declined CNN’s request for comment on the claims.
One of Adarna’s clients, Vanessa Louie Cabacungan-Samaniego, who lives and works in Hong Kong, placed a group order of about a dozen Filipinos in the city for books about the Marcos dictatorship.
She told CNN that she worries that the election will allow the Marcos political clan to “work to clear their name and check the history books or target the media.”
“Buying books to educate ourselves and the next generation is just our small way of fighting injustices,” he said, when the first batch of orders were delivered in June.
preserving the truth
In recent years, politicians and government officials have demonized editors and journalists, denouncing their credibility on social media and in public statements.
The day before Marcos Jr. took office, Nobel laureate Maria Ressa said the government had ordered the closure of her news organization, Rappler.
She said she had been repeatedly harassed over the past six years and had been the target of legal action for alleged defamation, tax evasion and violation of foreign media ownership rules.
“This is bullying. These are political tactics. We refuse to succumb to them,” she said.
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Michael Pante, a history professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, said he feared Marcos Jr. would continue former President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign to delegitimize the work of historians, academics and journalists, and potentially go on to rewrite the history books.
Reporters Without Borders said that since Duterte’s election in 2016, the media have been subject to verbal and judicial intimidation for work deemed too critical of the government.
“The demonization of historians, academics (and journalists) will continue,” Pante said. “And the dismissive attitude (towards them) will be enough to create fear of speaking out and being arrested or censored.
Filipino archivist Carmelo Crisanto, who heads the Commemorative Commission for Victims of Human Rights Violations, is rushing to digitize the files and testimonies of 11,103 survivors of the dictatorship, in time for the 50th anniversary of the law’s declaration martial in September.
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He fears that if the stories of martial law survivors are forgotten, people will become susceptible to political violence again.
His team of about 30 people plus 1,500 college student volunteers (most of them half his age and have not lived through martial law) were chosen to protect the truth for the next generation.
“I want to make part of this digital archive available to the public, so that (it can be) easily accessible, to be sent to universities here in the country and also to some allied institutions abroad, so that memory and evidence will never be lost,” he said.
“If there is one lesson that state authorities learned from the period of martial law, it is that no one (needs) to go to jail, even if they commit serious human rights violations,” he said.
Robles, the author, said people had told her they wanted to give copies of their books to relatives, while others wanted to save a supply in case the new government banned reprints.
“They said they want to hide it so that after the Marcos presidency they can get it out and keep the memory alive,” he said.
Robles said she is determined to continue writing and criticizing the nation’s political landscape, despite fears of censorship, but admits, “I’m not just afraid of censorship, I’m afraid of being arrested.”
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