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by Reah M. Bunsoy

Batas Militar was a comprehensive documentary on Martial Law. It clearly showed how the former President Marcos moved his way up to presidency and later on to dictatorship. I came to understand more how he did it. I was actually impressed by his intelligence and how he managed to deceive the Filipinos and even the Americans. Impressed I may be, I could not help but hate him for he brought a lot of misery and problem to the country. No class was spared from his iron hands. Those who leaned onto him benefited from his deeds, but still there were only a handful of them.

The implementation of Martial Law brought much struggle to the media practitioners at that time. His cronies and relatives' taking over the media companies was prevalent. The Marcos government never really wanted to let the public to know what his actions were. Everything that was laid before the public's eyes were just a front. That was why he allowed his cronies and relatives to seize these media companies so that no one could put out negative publicity about him.

It was really a tough and trying time for the press. Press freedom was not the norm. As it was presented in the film, many press people were captured,tortured, and even many were killed. Many feared for their lives. They no longer tried to oppose the Marcos regime . However, there were some journalists who were brave enough to put out whatever they knew about Marcos. These people became Marcos' enemies. Even in their going underground, they never forgot their responsibilities and duties to the country. They wrote about what the public needed to know even if with fear that their lives could soon be put to an end. What they did was actually an eye-opener for most of the Filipinos. The Philippines came to understand and realize that Marcos wasn't what he seemed to be. Because of these brave media people in exposing the true colors of the regime, democracy was again attained.

The documentary tells that the press could make a big difference in the lives of the people. One brave journalist could spark a change in the society, and a group , a revolution. Media practitioners nowadays should learn from the past that they should never be afraid to face even the insurmountable pressures that would come their way. Come rain or shine, typhoon or earthquakes, dictators or distracters, media people should never be afraid to tell the truth, because it is only through them, that this nation could know about it's real being.

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