A MASS for the victims of martial law will be held at the Shrine of Mary, Queen Of Peace (EDSA Shrine) in Quezon City today on the 51st anniversary of the declaration of martial rule by the late Ferdinand Marcos.
The anniversary comes amid a move at the Department of Education to drop the name “Marcos” from “Diktadurang Marcos” (Marcos Dictatorship) in the Araling Panlipunan curriculum of Grade 6 students.
The planned change is being criticized the several sectors which said it is an “insult” to the victims of human right abuses during martial that was imposed in 1972 by the father of current President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
The teachers group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) has said altering a “historical terminology is not only distortion but also undermines the truth about one of the darkest periods in Philippine history.”
The EDSA Shrine, in a social media post, invited the faithful to attend the Mass for martial law victims scheduled at 12:15 p.m.
The mass will be led by retired bishops Deogracias Iñiguez and Antonio Tobias.
“Never again! We remember in our prayers the victims of martial law. We also pray that this darkest period in our history may never be repeated!” said EDSA Shrine.
“Join us in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Together we pray, never again!” it added.
The martial law era under lasted for 14 years and was marked by at least 3,200 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented cases of torture, 77 cases of forced disappearance, and 70,000 incarcerations.
It ended during the 1986 EDSA “People Power Revolution” which led to the toppling of the Marcos administration.
The EDSA Shrine was subsequently established as a commemoration of the historic bloodless revolution against the Marcos dictatorship.
