‘(Which) People, (What) Power?’: The youth’s role in sustaining freedom

The Philippines has been in a perpetual state of battle for independence; from the Spanish, to the American, and the Japanese colonizers, to the internal rift among its people. 

These domestic disputes remain debated until today, despite the documented and anecdotal evidence circulated throughout social media, which may be attributed to the countless and dense mis- and disinformation—a “golden age,” as many Filipinos would believe. 

To battle against the manipulation of historical events, Probe Productions Incorporated (PPI), along with TrueID Philippines, produced “(Which) People, (What) Power?” a documentary on the atrocities committed during Martial Law under the Marcos regime. 

Originally released in 2021 with six 12-minute episodes, the documentary was compiled and edited into one hour to be featured at a University of Santo Tomas event, titled “Revisiting People Power through Film, Archives, and Dialogue,” held on Thursday, Feb. 26, Thursday, at the UST Education Auditorium. 

The event was organized by the UST Journalism Society in partnership with PPI to commemorate the 1986 People Power Revolution, which also held a talk panel discussion with journalists and social media content creators. The historical documentary primarily focused on interviews and archival footage, intended to capture the brutal and chaotic circumstances at the time. 

AJ Castro served as the host and interviewer, who explored and strived to collect multiple perspectives from multiple people—victims, protestors, a former loyalist, and journalists, among others. The production led by Julie Nealega, an audio-visual archivist of PPI and overall supervisor of the film, served as an arsenal of historical evidence for the perusal of Filipinos; to be informed and exposed to realities of the past.

Youth holds power

The documentary highlighted the first-hand accounts of several victims of violations during the Marcos Sr. administration. 

“Nakakalula ang numero ng naitalang human rights violations noong Martial Law,” AJ Castro, the documentary host and interviewer, narrated. “Pero mas nakakapang lumang marinig ang mismong patutuon ng mga taong nakaranas nito.”

One was an account of Loretta Rosales, who was a teacher that read books, particularly on Marxism, and fought through an underground organization for the rights of farmers and workers. She was arrested twice, but the second instance was barbaric; Rosales was harassed, electrocuted, and harmed through inhumane ways.  

In an archival footage, Hilda Narciso, another human rights victim, recounted the molestations done by those that captured her, with all acts done “at the same time… for several hours.” 

Mila Sibayan also recollected similar experiences, “yun yung time na ma-to-torture ka… lalo doon sa mental and psychological torture.”

These are only some of the many, many victims during Martial Law.

One interview was with former Marcos Sr. loyalist, Ed Lingao, who was in college at the time of the EDSA revolution. Even when the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated at the national airport, Lingao said he remained unfazed. But the constant protests began to push Lingao out of the “loyalist” idealism, which was furthered following his shift to journalism when he observed the absence of a free press. 

The instances of Rosales, Narciso, Sibayan, and Lingao, along with the rest, provided a glimpse of different experiences into the hardships Filipinos had to overcome, and the resilience each had to establish to form a unifying brigade that soon overturned the dictatorship. The torment they faced provide sides that can only be told from those that were present at the time, which enable viewers to take a deeper look into Martial Law, and reflect on the freedoms easily acquired today as a result of the blood shed by those that sought for independence.

However, the freedom to express oneself, to have a free press, to criticize the government did not simply occur in a wave. Filipinos themselves faced challenges in their thinking, and still do, that is, they can unite to change and fight against the leaders, but still fall back into the same cycle of electing to power similar politicians. In other words, Filipinos find it difficult to change themselves. 

Executive director for the Center of Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) Melinda Quintos-De Jesus, one of the interviewees in the documentary, urged Fiipinos to follow a direction or a purpose that leads to a stable and independent country  as Filipinos have been in a constant struggle for liberty since Spanish colonization.

“We didn’t do enough after [the] EDSA [People Power],” she said. “We cannot be a democracy [kung] lululunin lang natin lahat ng sinasabi ng kung sino. Kailangan pag-iisipan mo, kailangan meron kang mga tanong, kailangan hahanapan mo ng kung ano’ng sagot.”

Keeping the history alive

The other main aspect of the documentary was its reliance on archival footage, which varied from scene to scene. “(Which) People, (What) Power?” used footage of protests that ended in bloodshed, which all contrasted from the parties in which Marcos Sr. had attended, jokes that all the guests laughed at, as well as Imelda Marcos’ infamous rows upon rows of shoes and jewelry that she collected. 

The black and white footage showed what seemed like moments after conflict; dirty and crowded roads, people jumping over a house deck, a man wearing a blood-stained shirt, and other men carrying a seemingly injured or dead man, accompanied by a narration from Lingao: “takot kaming lahat.”

The contrasts between war and violence against pleasure and comfort showed reality as it was back then: Marcos Sr. possessed political power and riches, and strived to drain what remained from the country’s people to bolster his regime.

Other ways that helped picture information were timelines. Albeit short, there were instances where the documentary followed with text that sequentially described the order of events.

The documentary’s sounds varied: some evoked mystery, others evoked thrill; the credits segment built up a sensation of revelation with the combination of the beat and “violin” soundtrack. 

But sometimes, there was no music. Only the voices of the interviewees, or even the Martial Law footage with subtle mellow tunes. And this musical placement, or lack thereof, delivered suspense throughout the documentary. 

An almost two-decade-long reign saw the torture and oppression of thousands, the war and violence, the corruption and greed; but the Filipino people fought back against those in power, and succeeded. But what follows the success? As the documentary implies, repetition, until the next generation learns and changes the cycle. 

With another Marcos in power, documentaries like “(Which) People, (What) Power?” keep alive the tumultuous history of the Filipino people during the Marcos regime.