Simple, Pure, and really, really cute - Lively Innocence: The long (and short) ends of the stick.

Been hell of a long while since i last updated this blog.

heck, I already have two blogs to update, not like anybody is reading them both though. Anyway, what I am about to discuss today is something different. Let's deviate from the personal life and gaming posts, let's be a bit more serious this time.

Today marks the 36th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law here in the Philippines. what does that mean? On this day, the "great and legendary" President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law and started his authoritarian rule that lasted over a decade. It was a time of complete fear; people get arrested for just speaking against the government, abductions and sudden serial killings on media men and leftist leaders and the like.

Unfortunately though, for a brief period, the Philippines was able to experience short term prosperity though thanks to some of Marcos' reforms. In fact, some his presidential decrees are still in effect, due to their usefulness. But regardless, the fact that democracy was sacrificed for prosperity and the numerous extrajudicial killing that happened at the time was uncalled for and very unjust.

To make matter worse, Marcos is the only one who benefits from all this; he used his power to make himself rich and used much of the funds of the government, the funds that came from the blood, sweat and tears of every Filipino Citizen, for his own personal agendas. What kind of a leader is that?

Thankfully, People Power happened. The people has heard enough and the damned dictator was disposed from his office. However, the justice that the victims of his regime has done was not given immediately, though. The dictator died in exile and even as we speak, the victims are still fighting against his old allies and family members for the sake of justice and truth.

Many lessons were learned from the experience of Martial Law. This is proof that the ambition of one man can lead to the downfall of a nation. And that all the citizens of this country should fight to preserve our freedom and human rights from those who will want to take it away. No person in this world is allowed to take away freedom and human rights from another person, and the Edsa Revolt that happened after Martial Law proved that a leader who takes away to rights of the people shall experience the wrath of the people.

To cut the story short, Martial Law is a time of fear and distrust,when corruption, selfishness and tyranny reigned. It was only when Ninoy Aquino was assasinated and when the Edsa People Power Revolt came when all this supposedly came to an end. But after so many years, we might be wondering... Have we truly achieved freedom? Are the lessons learned from Martial Law been applied? Are we still being exploited and bullied around by our leaders because they have the power? and more importantly, Is what we fighted for during Martial Law and the People Power Revolution worth it?

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The long (and short) ends of the stick.