Former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno highlighted the need to apply the underused Republic Act (RA) 10368 to protect Filipinos' Freedom of Speech against historical denialism regardless of the results of the 2022 elections last May 3, 2022.
According to Sereno, this is one way to continue the fight for democracy, justice, and historical denialism during the online discussion on World Press Freedom day hosted by the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA).
"It's a very unique set of legislation that remedies the situation," said Sereno.
During the talk, she shared that one of the key features of RA 10386 is recognizing every Filipino who suffered human rights violations during the regime of late President Ferdinand Marcos as heroes.
She also said that Marcos should not be buried besides Martial Law victims at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he was not declared a hero.
“Kailangan talaga merong roll of heroes. Kasi ang tawag sakanila heroes eh. Heroes who sacrificed, who suffered during the Martial Law. President Marcos was never declared a hero, yet he was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani," said the former Chief Justice.
During one hearing at the Supreme Court (SC), Sereno condemned the other camp's argument that Marcos deserves to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani because he served in the military and was the former President of the Philippines, regardless of whether he's a hero or not.
She argued that it was not a technical question because the core issue was Marcos was not worthy of being called a hero. As said by the former Chief Justice, he was responsible for the thousands of injustices committed during the Martial Law, like human rights abuses.
"It's not a technical question. Kung ang mga regulation on how the libingan ng mga bayani is to be disposed off, hindi ’yun ang isyu. Ang core issue is hero ba siya? You can't have a hero responsible for human rights atrocities," she said.
Sereno also shared that during the hearing, the SC asked Martial Law victims to testify for the Filipino nation about their experiences during Marcos' dictatorship.
"We need to memorialize, recognize, affirm the heroism and sacrifice of Martial Law victims, and we need to restore their honor and dignity," said Sereno.
According to her, it is through recognizing and memorializing the past that we can build up a just and humane society.
"We must continually fight this, and we have the law on our side," she said.
She concluded her talk with a challenge that Filipinos must continuously communicate the truth to fight historical denialism. And that existing laws, like the RA 10368, would protect them in doing so.
Araling Panlipunan (AP) class is where this can be primarily applied in school. However, seasoned educators of AP are on the wrong side of history! Even some educational institutions (in the north) are nesting place of denialists! Worse. there are educators who join a swarm of non-thinkers who yell "move on."