“Hindi lahat ng kwento nagtatapos sa happily ever after, isulat mo ang katotohanan!”
-Sarah, Princess Lilli

Everything I know about Martial Law is what I learned from school, from stories passed on from friends and families, from what they show on TV, from what I read online. The book by Lualhati Bautista, Dekada ’70 (and its film) sums everything that I know.

I knew it was bad. Really really bad.

Some would say that the Philippines was more disciplined, rich and civilized during the Marcos Regime. Maybe it was, but not the whole 20 years. It was sick, greedy and too much pain was afflicted to our countrymen.

I thought I knew a lot from school about Martial Law, but I don’t and I realized it when I watched “Never Again: Voices of Martial Law (Set B)”. Wish I could have watched Set A & C as well, maybe next time.

Disco 1081
Student activists meet at a disco to celebrate their friend’s 18th birthday. As they reach a turning point, are they there to bring her back into the fold? Or are they there to say goodbye?

When I think of student activists, its always about these people with placards, shouting and chanting about what they are fighting for. I always relate it also to UP students. Anyway, I thought that’s just what they were doing when they were fighting for our freedom. I didn’t know that there’s more to it than that. Me mga mayayaman din palang kasali dito. I didn’t know that they also had to run away, mamundok. Madaming nawala for these student activists, their love, their education, their future and their life.

Princess Lilli
“Do not live in the past, act according to the present, so they say, but can you really separate the past from the present, the present from the future?” –Lilliosa Hilao.
A ten-year-old girl and several versions of the truth. Some versions are less painful than others, but which version is worth telling? Which version will she believe?

This has the heaviest story among the 3. Juggling the fairy tale story that Sarah paints her life to cover the real happenings of her family while the “prince” encourages her, Lilli pushing her to draw and write the truth by revealing the real story and Sarah reading the real story of Lilli. All happening simultaneously with one another. I was also catching my breath as the cast were catching there own. Until finally, Sarah decides to tell the truth, to write and draw about the truth, so that we may never forget.

Bulong-Bulongan sa Sangandaan
What does it take to build the largest film center in Asia? Tons of cement or hundreds of souls? Or both?

My mom was quick enough to whisper to me, what center the three construction workers were talking about. I knew that this happened to the Film Center of the Philippines before. It was so cruel. These construction workers were away from their family for a living but the family that they left were left with nothing, not only with no “padala” but even with the body of their loved one. Hopes and dreams for their future were shattered. Imagine that, I can’t even.

Never Again: Voices of Martial Law is a 9 one-act play divided in 3 parts. So, I was able to catch Set B. It was created with only one goal in mind, to not make us forget about everything that had happened. Never. Forget. Never. Repeated. Never. Again.

Catch the last few shows of NAVoML at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani. Check the Facebook Page of NAVoML for show schedules.

Synopsis from Never Again Voices of Martial Law FB Page.
Pictures Also came from the said page, as well as those that are tagged to my sister’s account.

Congrats to my sister, Rissey Reyes, who played Sarah in Princess Lilli. You were intense and awesome!