The Martial Law Human Rights Violations in Numbers
PHILIPPINES -- It is just safe to conclude that martial law in the Philippines during then-President Ferdinand Marcos’ reign was one of the darkest years of the Filipinos. Given the numbers of human rights violations alone during these years show how the use of power was abused by the ruling administration of this time. This article will show various data given by sources who were involved in the Martial Law period in the Philippines.
According to the statistical data given by the Amnesty International, 1977 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and respected activist organization on global human rights, there were 70, 000 who were imprisoned, 34, 000 were tortured and 3, 240 were killed during martial law.
An article entitled “TORTYUR: Human Rights Violations during the Marcos Regime” by M. Chua, says that the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines gives numbers to more specific incidences. A record from 1965-1986 shows that there were 2,668 incidents of arrests, 306 total number of arrested individuals, 398 disappearances, 1,338 salvagings, 128 frustrated salvagings, 1,499 killed or wounded in massacres (Magsaysay 1999).
Another statistical data given by Danilo Vizmanos, a West Point-trained Navy Captain turned activist, has an estimate number of legal claimants of human rights violations totaling to 9,000 which is divided to: an estimate of 7,000 victims of torture, 2,000 salvaged or summarily executed, 1,000 people disappeared (Malanes 1999, 16).
An article by Rappler entitled “Worse than Death: Torture Methods during Martial Law” provided details of the torture methods used during this dark years in the Philippines. It includes electric shock, Russian roulette, water cure, animal abuse, san juanico bridge, pepper torture, pistol-whipping and many more.
According to M. Chua, the numbers vary and it would be impossible to account for everything since some victims and their families chose not to pursue it for fear for their lives. Despite the differences in statistics, these are not just numbers. Here are thousands of lives lost, and thousands of families destroyed.--The Quintessence