By Priam Nepomuceno
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said his department and the military establishment are working overtime to undo the ill effects of martial law.
The emergency was imposed on Sept. 21, 1972 by then President Marcos, who lifted it on Jan. 17, 1981, a few months before the summer elections that year.
Marcos, on national television on Sept. 23, 1972, said he imposed martial law to enable him to check what he said was a state of rebellion and enable him to institute national reforms.
Gazmin, erstwhile commander of the Presidential Security Guards during the Cory Aquino administration, said it was only fitting as both the DND and the Armed Forces were the two institutions deeply scarred by martial law.
"As enforcers of martial law, ostensibly in response to twin insurgencies, both the DND and AFP had to rehabilitate their value systems and to restore professionalism in their ranks following the end of the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986," Gazmin stressed.
In line with these efforts, Gazmin said it is only fitting that the defense establishment be the one to refurbish the Aquino-Diokno Memorial in Fort Magsaysay, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija.
"This modest museum pays tribute to two great patriots, Sen. Benigno Aguino, Jr. and Sen. Jose Diokno, and thereby depicts the triumph of the human spirit against the abuses spawned by absolute power -- a lesson which should never be lost on the defense establishment," he pointed out.
In their 30 days of detention in Fort Magsayay, Gazmin said Aquino and Diokno personified the indomitability of the human spirit and left a lesson in the limits of power.
"The huge injustice inflicted on these two great Filipinos can never be undone, but the memorial in their honor in Fort Magsaysay, first built by the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in 2003, has been a significant step toward healing the wounds that estranged the Armed Forces from freedom-loving Filipinos," he added.
Beyond rehabilitating the Aquino-Diokno Memorial, the DND has expanded the facility to include a new structure that houses the AFP Center for Human Rights Dialogue.
Gazmin said the facility is envisioned as a catalyst for deepening the appreciation of human rights among Armed Forces personnel -- from cadets in the Philippine Military Academy to commissioned officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP’s major branches -- by creating venues for regular interaction with other sectors.
"The Aquino-Diokno Memorial and the AFP Center for Human Rights Dialogue underscore the transformation of the AFP as one of the concrete gains from the EDSA revolution that ousted the dictatorship," he added.
Gazmin said the center is also a facility that human rights advocates and stakeholders can use for their multi-sector gatherings and events.
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