BY GIZELLE AMOUR TAGABI and MARRON AERIELLE BONOTANO
ILOILO City – Lawyer-turned-director Vicente M. Tañada shed light on controversies surrounding his award-winning musical film, Katips, during a press conference prior to its recent block screening here.
The Martial Law-themed film was a means to educate through the arts, catering particularly to young people through its themes, Tañada clarified.
“This is [a] love story. This is not the story of the Aquinos, and it’s not the story of the Marcoses,” said Tañada. “This is the story of ordinary Filipinos like you and me na naipit doon sa dalawang pamilya (who were caught between those two families).”
MILITARY RULE
At 7:17 p.m. on Sept. 23, 1972, then President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. announced on television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. This marked the beginning of a 14-year period of one-man rule that would effectively last until Marcos was exiled from the country on Feb. 25, 1986.
Even though the formal document proclaiming martial law – Proclamation No. 1081, which was dated Sept. 21, 1972 – was formally lifted on Jan. 17, 1981, Marcos retained essentially all of his powers as dictator until he was ousted.
In declaring martial law, Marcos Sr. claimed it was the last defense against the rising disorder caused by increasingly violent student demonstrations, the alleged threats of communist insurgency by the new Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the Muslim separatist movement of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). One of his first actions was to arrest opposition politicians in Congress and the Constitutional Convention.
NO POLITICAL AGENDA
Katips director Tañada dismissed the idea of using the film for any personal political agenda, adding that he refused offers to use it for political campaigns in the past and continues to discourage such.
“I would never be the new face of the opposition because I don’t have any intention of running for public office,” Tañada added.
The press conference was also graced by Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards (FAMAS) Best Supporting Actor, Johnrey Rivas who played the role of Art, one of the victims tortured in the film.
“Naranasan ‘to ng mga martial law victims (Martial law victims experienced this),” added Rivas. “Sana naman, magsilbi itong warning sa lahat na sana, hindi na [ito] maranasan pa ng kahit sinumang indibidwal (Hopefully, this will serve as a warning to all that hopefully, no one will ever experience this again).”/PN