Human rights lawyer and senatorial candidate Jose Manuel "Chel" Diokno said Wednesday, Oct. 27, that the historical revisionism on martial law happening today is a "deliberate plan" created about two decades ago.
"Alam ninyo nung pinag-aralan namin itong issue, na-realize namin na (You know what, when we were studying this issue, we realized that) this was a very deliberate plan that started about 20 years ago," Diokno said during a forum organized by the Rotary International District 3810.
"In the years of 2000s, 2005, to 2010, we began witnessing this phenomenon of really slick, well-produced videos coming out on YouTube, portraying the Marcos times as the golden years. And even if there were some voices in the wilderness, who started talking about it, we were really drowned out," Diokno stressed.
In the coming election season, the senatorial aspirant admitted that it will be a challenge to balance the effort of preventing the historical revisionism without "alienating voters who are in favor of the Marcoses."
"It will really be a challenge but at the same time I can never compromise or sacrifice the truth and what really happened during that time," the human rights lawyer said.
Diokno further shared that he and his colleagues observed that the so-called phenomenon of historical revisionism was intended for the millenials, who now belong to the voting population.
"And sad to say, they were successful in pushing that kind of historical revisionism. By the time the majority of us, who have experienced martial law, woke up, we were already behind the line," he said.
One of the approaches, he said, that can be used to end this is to "double time in pushing back against fake news and historical revisionism" as he urged the people to focus on their shared values.
"I do believe, however, that it is a doable thing and I think we are able to do this even without having to alienate voters simply by first focusing on the shared values that we have, which include the virtue of truth and honesty," he said.
"At palagay ko wala namang may gustong bumoto sa isang kandidato na sinungaling, lalong lalo na kung siya ay magiging professional liar (And I believe no one wants to vote for a liar candidate, especially if he will be a professional liar)," he added.
Diokno is the chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), which provides free legal assistance to poor and abused Filipinos.