The rush to buy books documenting Marcos’ shattering 21-year reign comes when his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., takes office after a landslide election victory in May.
Marcos Jr. has never publicly acknowledged or apologized for the human rights abuses, corruption and theft that historians say took place under the leadership of his father.
And it is feared that now that he is in power, he will try to rewrite history.
Journalist Raissa Robles, the author of “Marcos Martial Law: Never Again,” said after Marcos Jr.’s victory. that she received emails from readers around the world requesting to reprint the detailed dive on the victims of martial law.
“The book price had almost doubled, and yet people bought the book in batches. They didn’t buy one or two. They bought five or ten at a time,” Robles said.
The biggest concern came from the president himself.
“We’ve been calling for that for years,” said Marco Jr. at a forum hosted by the National Press Club, accusing those in power of “teaching children lies” since his father’s death.
The family has repeatedly denied using state funds for personal use – a claim that has been challenged in multiple lawsuits.
DailyExpertNews has contacted the new Marcos administration for comment, but has not received a response.
Demand rises for books about the Marcos regime
“He made it happen. Sometimes with the necessary support, sometimes without. That’s how it will be with his son – you won’t get an apology from me,” he said.
“What we teach in our schools, the materials used, needs to be re-learned. I’m not talking about history, I’m talking about the basics, the sciences, honing theoretical competence and teaching vocational skills,” he said.
But those assurances sound hollow to those who suffered under his father’s dictatorship, and others who are skeptical of Marcos’s new leadership.
One indication of this is book sales.
“People were suddenly afraid that literature that criticized the dictatorship would be banned,” Manduriao said. “Hence the need to buy the books and protect them (when) they still can.”
According to Manduriao, at least ten titles on martial law and the dark past of the Marcos dictatorship remain out of print in the university press.
Some of the bestsellers in the campus bookstore were in reprint, namely “Some Are Smarter than Others: The History of Marcos’ Crony Capitalism” by Ricardo Manapat, “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos” by Primitivo Mijares and “Canal de la Reina ” by Liwayway Arceo Bautista.
In the days that followed, sales skyrocketed and the pre-order waiting list grew, and the company announced it could take up to eight weeks for orders to be delivered.
The offer was appreciated by customers, but also attracted the attention of the government.
Alex Paul Monteagudo, director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, accused Adarna House of “radicalizing Philippine children.”
“The Adarna Publishing House has published these books and they are on sale now to subtly radicalize the Filipino children against our government, now!” he wrote on his official Facebook page on May 17.
Monteagudo said in the post that when topics like martial law and the people power revolution — a nationwide uprising that overthrew the Marcos regime in 1986 — taught in schools will “plant seeds of hatred and dissent in the minds of these children.”
Adarna House rejected DailyExpertNews’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 for a dozen Filipinos in the city for books about the Marcos dictatorship.
She told DailyExpertNews she is concerned the election will allow Marcos’ political clan to “clear their name and revise history books or target the media”.
“Buying books to educate ourselves and the next generation is just our little way of fighting injustice,” she said, when the first batch of orders was delivered in June.
Keep the truth
In recent years, politicians and government officials have demonized publishers and journalists, denouncing their credibility on social media and in public statements.
“This is harassment. These are political tactics. We refuse to succumb to them,” she said.
Michael Pante, a history professor at Ateneo de Manila University, said he feared Marcos Jr. Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign would continue to delegitimize the work of historians, academics and journalists – and possibly turn to rewriting history books.
Reporters Without Borders said that since Duterte’s election in 2016, the media has suffered verbal and judicial harassment for work deemed overly 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.
He fears that if the stories of the martial law survivors are forgotten, people will again become susceptible to political violence.
His team of about 30 people plus 1,500 college student volunteers — most of them half their age and not experiencing martial law themselves — were chosen to protect the truth for the next generation.
“I want some of this digital archive to be available to the public, in a way that (can be) easily accessible, to be sent to colleges here in the country and also to some partner institutions abroad so that the memory and the evidence will never be lost,” he said.
“If there is one lesson that state authorities have learned from martial law, it is that no one should go to jail, even if they commit gross human rights violations,” he said.
Robles, the author, said people had told her they wanted to give copies of her books to relatives, while others wanted to stash a stash in case the new government bans reprints.
“They said they wanted to hide it so they can bring it out after Marcos’ presidency and keep the memory alive,” she said.
Robles said she is determined to continue writing and criticizing the country’s political landscape, despite fears of censorship, but admits, “I’m not just afraid of censorship, I’m afraid of being arrested.”
