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BY RHICK LARS VLADIMER ALBAY
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Protest and poetry in the time of martial law
ON WEDNESDAYevening, on the 44th anniversary of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s declaration of martial law, we at the College Editors Guild of the Philippines – Western Visayas held a poetry and open mic night at Cinematheque Iloilo to remember the lives lost during the regime and as our own form of protest against oppression of free speech.
Most often, what comes to mind when you say protests against martial law are fists raised in the air, roaring voices chanting subversive slogans, and placards strewn on the ground after a violent dispersal.
Rarely do you imagine a solitary writer typing away stanzas or letting his pen bleed verses of poetry.
Unfamiliar to most is the rich literature written during the two-decadereign of Marcos — protest poetry and revolutionary prose condemning the regime built on lies, showing dissent to the lavish lives and corruption of the First Family and their cronies while the rest of the country remained in squalor, and narrating the people’s war against tyranny.
To “revisit martial law,” we read, during the event, poems by notable figures, including Jose Maria Sison, then a young professor; warrior-poet Eman Lacaba; and University of the Philippines lecturer-turned-rebel and political prisoner Clarito Roja, among others, while also welcoming, during the open mic, young Ilonggo authors who shared their own works and reflections about freedom and oppression.
It was eye-opening to listen to the poetry of the late Romulo Sandoval denouncing the edifice mentality of Imelda Marcos in “Tumatayog, lumalawak, ang mga bilding at resort.”
The piece related in vivid imagery how façades sprouted all over Manila, while people in the outskirts of the city wallow in poverty.
Roja’s “Pigeons for my son,” written while she was detained and away from her family — “I gave the boy a pair of pigeons, born and bred in my harsh prison” —easily tugs at anyone’s heartstrings.
Most of all, it was inspiring to see people my age, who were fortunate enough not to have lived through martial law, share poetry of their own, inspired by the fight against oppression.
“The guerrilla is like a poet, keen to the rustle of leave, the break of twigs, the ripples of the river, the smell of fire, and the ashes of departure,” it has been written.
Poetry — and any form of art for that matter — can be a form of protest.
After all, our freedom was built from the ground by writers and poets who dared to dream of freedom – Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Graciano Lopez Jaena – and their tradition is remembered and honored to this day./PN
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