Martial Law and Batch 81 essays

Martial Law and Batch '81 essays Martial Law was a time of hardship for most of our people. Maybe I could say that I was lucky not to have grown up in that era. After hearing all the stories that have been related to me by my parents and relatives when I was young, I became afraid of that time. Imagine, curfews? Military haircuts? Those were the stuff nightmares are made of. When I grew up though, I was exposed to the more gruesome details of Ferdinand Marcos rule. The unexplained disappearances and salvages became evident to me. It was really a terrifying time to be politically active, especially if you were against the regime. Although I learned that Marcos could have been the best leader our country has had, all his achievements were negated because of his tyranny and despotism. If I were alive in that time, I would have been agreeable to Marcos dictatorship if only he had practiced a more benevolent type of rule. He was a great ruler, and he did our country a whole lot of good. There was almost no cri me and he established the Philippines as the top exporter of rice in the world. Its too bad that he had to become power-hungry and steal from the country like he did. As a result of his martial law era, the Filipinos have become inherently afraid of the possibility of another declaration of military rule. It has created a fear in changing our constitution even if it is in dire need of revision. In the film Batch 81, I saw the horrors of martial law, albeit inconspicuous and obscured, portrayed graphically in front of my eyes. The film was about fraternities, and the ordeals that neophytes go through to be a part of this group. In the film, the fraternity was shown by the director to portray martial law in all its brutality and savagery. The neophytes were we, the citizens of the country. It showed the authority and rule that the fraternity has over the neophytes, like martial law had over the people. The frater ...