NOTABLE BOOKS IN MARTIAL LAW

1. Days of disquiet, nights of rage: The First Quarter Storm & related events - Jose D.
Lacaha
A compilation of on-the-spot reports on the First Quarter Storm first published in the Philippine
Free Press and the Asia-Philippines Leader, Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage is a useful
manual for mass media students and practitioners working in the so-called New Journalism or
literary journalism. "Of our journalists, one of the most able in the new style is Jose F. Lacaba.
As TV and newsreel do, he puts you right on the scene...
2. Killing Time in a War Place - Joey Y. Dalisay Jr.
A novel of growing up in the Philippines during the Marcos years. Told in the voice of its
protagonist, Noel Ilustre Bulaong, the narrative travels through familiar social and literary
territory: the coconut groves of Bulaong's childhood, Manila's hovels, the Diliman Commune,
"UG" safehouse, martial law prisons, and the homes and offices of the petty-bourgeoisie. It is a
story of false horizons, of betrayal, compromise, and guilt, and not incidentally of the
contemporary middle-class Filipino's migration from the village to the metropolis to the outside
world.
The novel tells the story of every man, woman and child who lived during the time of martial law
under Marcos’ orders. The internal conflict of every Filipino during these times, whose blood
boils at being under the martial rule: voices suppressed, souls enchained and spirits crushed;
and the human desire to stay alive, thus; silencing the inner cries that long to be heard and
simply learning to survive.
The story starts with the protagonist, Noel Bulaong, reminiscing about his childhood days in his
native land in Kangleong, somewhere in the Visayas region. He is on a flight going home from
the US to bury his father. He reminisces about how he and his friends would pick up coconuts
that fell from the tree and take these to a neighbor who would turn these into coconut candies:
bucayo.
Fast-forward to college life in Manila where Noel decided to study. By his 2nd year in school,
Noel was already among the students staging protests against the Marcos government and his
martial law. This was introduced in the book via a protest being dispersed by the military,
“In my second year of college, I ran across that field in a blind panic, hurried along by gunfire.
The university was under siege by the military; we had set up barricades of commandeered
tables, benches and chairs near the spot from where I had admired the study horses. We
camped behind this makeshift wall, students and professors alike, listening to speeches and
singing revolutionary songs. Our bones were cold, but our breath was warm. People talked of
France and China and Vietnam. On the other side of the barricades stood Marcos’ assembled
legions: truncheon-wielding riot police in khakis and cobalt-blue helmets, the army in fatigues,
riding armored jeeps. All through the morning emissaries had crossed over from one side to the
other.”
Having survived this attack, Noel and his comrades settled in an apartment where they talked
about the movement while in hiding. Noel by this time has decided to quit school. Talk of
childhood days in their respective homes, family anecdotes and planning for counter-attacks
took up most of Noel’s days, hidden in this apartment.
Fast-forward again to the future where Noel now serves as assistant to the Deputy Minister and
writes his speeches, among other things. He has decided to leave the movement after being
released from prison. He has lost contact with his other comrades.
Laurie, a former comrade in their apartment-hidden days ran into Noel one day and she has
likewise decided to leave the movement. Perhaps both feeling misplaced, and disoriented,
wanting to connect with each other in a way that would touch the persons that they used to be,
Noel and Laurie made love.
But nothing came of this. They both decided it was too much too handle… too overwhelming an
emotion that they wouldn’t be able to cope. They once again lost touch and last Noel heard,
Laurie had gone back to the movement and is hiding in the mountains.
Their leader during their student-activist days, Benny, was also imprisoned and after pulling
some strings, Noel managed to have Benny released. A few days later, Benny was found dead,
floating in the river, eyes gouged out and signs of torture were evident. He was killed for being
a traitor.
As the novel nears its end, Noel is depicted as a somewhat still misplaced soul, crying to be free
from the restraints that society has enchained him with; and yet torn inside because he wants to
remain alive. Alone, orphaned with the death of his father, orphaned with the burial of his
beliefs and true self in order to survive, Noel ends his story on this note: “Bless me, Father, for I
have sinned.”
Killing Time in a Warm Place won the 1993 National Book Award for Fiction and was Co-Winner
of the 1993 Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel, and Winner of the 1993 UP President’s Award
for Most Outstanding Publications.
3. UG, An Underground Tale: The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First Quarter Storm
Generation - Benjamin Pimentel, Jovito R. Salonga
At 22, Edgar Jopson, or Edjop, had everything: money, education, national recognition. But he
gave up his life of privilege to join the underground movement—the U.G. This book traces the
unique, drmatic odyssey of the most intriguing figure of the First Quarter Storm and of the
generation of young Filipinos who helped shape Philippine history.
Author Benjie Pimentel, 42, has gone public with Edjop's story a total of four times – first as
anarticle for National Midweek magazine in 1986, the fourth anniversary of his death in 1982.
Delving into the details of such death at the hands of the Philippine military, with the usual
unspeakable traces of extra-judicial style, creates a painful resonance with a present under
Gloria Arroyo.
Next came the book "Edjop: The Unusual Journey of Edgar Jopson" written with the help of his
widow Joy, who put Pimentel in touch with the deep communist underground. After two years of
clandestine interviews, mostly in Mindanao where Edjop last operated as head of the NDF's
Mindanao Commission, the book was launched in 1989. That was the moment of breakthrough
for many untold tales, in the season of shock over the first discovery of the mass graves of
many young comrades tortured and killed in the internal CPP purge of suspected military deep
penetration agents in 1987.
In 1991, perhaps in response to the backlash that gravely eroded CPP/NPA/NDF credibility, the
book was republished with a new title, "Rebolusyon : A Generation of Struggle in the
Philippines," part of the "Voices of Resistance" series published by the Monthly Review Press in
New York. This time it had a foreword by the late Ramsey Clark, the passionately activist former
U.S. Attorney General much loved by the Philippine Left, and an afterword by the NDF worthy
Edicio de la Torre.
Like the second and third, the fourth version in "U.G." adds new layers to the epic of the
Philippines' new communist movement that was born in the politically tectonic sixties and cut its
teeth in the martial law 70s, enjoyed a phenomenal growth spurt in the marching 80s – only to
end the decade in a fateful political misreading of the times that led to absence at EDSA I and a
new era of People Power "revolution."
Pimentel touches upon its consequences, but the focus remains on Edjop, in whose story we
find all the elements of classic tragedy. Avoiding hagiography, the author does justice to its
unfolding – from the humble birth of a future hero, his molding under Jesuit influence, a Catholic
campus leader's first major street encounter with the rabidly Red Kabataang Makabayan
(Nationalist Youth), on to the crisis of conscience that eventually made Edgar Jopson join them
all the way to the "u.g." where he eventually, poignantly lost his life 19 days after his 34th
birthday.
Underground sources, absence of sentimentality or overstatement, grace notes on
interconnections in the lives of young student leaders meeting again on opposite sides of the
Cold War's lethal ideological divide – all these are woven together in clipped journalistic style.
There are many ways to skin a cat – or recount its drowning. Reading of Edjop's capture and
killing by Nelson Estares, a fellow student leader in the National Union of Students back in the
60s, needs little literary embellishment to provoke horror and pity as deeply as any Greek
drama.
There's much more of the untold for the general audience to discover in "U.G.". That's not a
plug as much as it's a lifeline. What we suffer today in this country and elsewhere in the world is
really partly due to ignorance of what really happened other than what the media said, or didn't,
back then."
4. Tibak Rising: Activism in the days of Martial Law - Ferdinand L. Llanes
TIBAK RISING was conceived in 2004 and by October 7th that year, the T’bak group
announced its commitment to bring the T’bak Book Project into being and called for
submissions from its network by April 1, 2005.
Seven years later the book was launched on July 21, 2012 in the University of the Philippines,
Diliman — timed to complement the events commemorating the generation of anti-martial law
activists who offered their lives in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship.
Dr. Michael L. Tan, dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, U.P., a Tibak
himself in the Progresibong Kilusang Medikal in the 70s, has the first word in the book’s
Foreword: “The etymology of the term Tibak — the syllables of the word “actibista” transposed
in the style of slang popular among young people at that time — speaks of a rebellious time.”
And speak they do. The Tibak stories spanning 14 years from the declaration of Martial Law in
1972 through to the EDSA revolt of 1986 (which became known as the Peoples Power
Revolution), narrate the experiences of the generation of actibistas who “bridged the movement
of the ‘flower generation’/First Quarter Storm with that of EDSA’s ‘Yellow forces’. …It was this
generation that bore the brunt of the killings, detention, torture and forced disappearances
instigated by the State’s military and police forces. And then, in a twist of deep irony, it was also
the generation that had to suffer death and suffering in the hands of its own leadership, an
ideological mindset ossified in a schema of dogma and adventurism.”
The book’s editor, Ferdinand C. Llanes, professor of history at U.P. and commissioner of the
National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the editorial team of T’bak Inc. have
achieved the collection of a slice of history that could so easily have been forgotten. Ferdie
explains in his introduction “Memory of a Generation”, that the clandestine way of life under a
fascist dictatorship necessitates a self-censoring personality. “Identities were concealed,
organizational activities were kept secret, recording or documentation was coded. The secretive
nature of activism during Martial Law naturally limited public access to the nuances of day-to-
day activist life.”
In the photo albums of many Tibaks you will find no pictures of those very personal events like
weddings, children’s birthdays, and family gatherings, because to keep a record of those
moments would expose the images of one’s relatives and friends and might put them at risk of
interrogation and torture. And yet, close relationships had to form because individual survival is
dependent upon the trust of comradeship and collective responsibility.
From the perspective of Marcos’ so called New Society, protest and dissent was presented in
the government controlled media as threats to “peace and order”. Then, for security concerns
and political reasons, many Tibaks did not want to write about their lives. Consequently, the life
and times of the Tibak have been little known. “Thus,” writes Llanes, “the participants must
intervene in the retrieval of the past and the recreation of collective public memory.”
Tibak Rising are factual stories that reflect the many-sided dimensions of Tibak experience and
highlight the essentials of everyday life rooted in the time and place of martial law and the EDSA
uprising. About three-quarters of the text is in English.
In this collection we are treated to more than 40 individual contributors of personal recollections
and photos. They are first-person accounts, intimate, rich in detail and drama. Each chapter
begins with a collage of photographs and an introduction, arranged under eight themes:
Transitions
The First Quarter Storm of the early 70s that challenged the status quo was not exactly
unexpected. Social unrest and activism of the late 60s had built up, and continued to flow,
unabated and expansive into the new decade. …But the days of Marcos fascism were a whole
new world… This section tells of these transitions, of becoming Tibak, of reckoning with the self
and then moving on to play a part in the whole enterprise of revolutionary activism in one
uncommon historic time.
Prison & Beyond
The first act of Martial Law was to suspend civil and political rights and imprison all perceived
enemies of the fascist state, before it resorted to killings when imprisonment failed or when
resistance was emboldened or heightened… The experience thus required a mentality and a
psyche of sterner stuff, or of a deeper spirituality, to endure the viciousness and the pain. But
then there are limits to what a human being can endure.
Friendships
Activism cultivated new friendships — the kind that was deeper, nurtured by comradely
solidarity in the face of fascism, in the arduous fight for freedom and democracy… At the height
of the struggle, these friendships grew and greater bonds of unity were forged, making the
Movement stronger.
Picket Lines
It was at workers’ picket lines that the Tibak was many a time tested. Coming from the youth-
and-student sector. He or she had to start from scratch in terms of experience in worker
organizing. Martial law and trade union repression awakened more workers to mobilize for
political action.
Icons & Symbols
In journalism, lampooning was found to be an effective newspaper style. In prison, meaningful
pendants were crafted; these conveyed messages that sought the support of the world and at
the same time inspired other activists in their struggle. Among the youth, a song came to
express a generation’s awakening. Certain places turned into second homes.
Brave Moments
The period of Martial Law was a time of living dangerously. Many went underground or joined
the armed struggle. Many others carried on with resistance in open and legal forms. But
whatever the path one chose to follow, the dangers remained the same. Every anecdote told in
many circles highlights the courage of those who resisted and inspires others. And so others
carry on; and we never run out of brave moments.
Turning Points
Any such moment could be historic as it is transformative of terrains of struggle on a scale
greater, or perhaps grander, than before… such moments defined new ground for moving
forward or created new spaces of freedom, turning points, indeed, to exalt — a new
revolutionary paper, a new worker center. Within the movement, part of the Tibak experience
was the divergent opinions on the democratic practices of the organization. For both contending
sides, it was also a turning point, one reaffirming traditions of centralism and the other moving
on in another direction in postfascist “democratic space”.
One’s Life for the People
Often in the line of work, the Tibak does not think of death until he/she is actually threatened by
it. Most of the time the Tibak is simply focussed on the tasks of activism — organizing, teaching,
mobilizing, writing, meeting to plan or assess activities — to serve the people. And many took
their place in the line of fire.
5. Subversive Lives: A family memoir of the Marcos year - Susan F. Quirapo
From the 1960s to the 1990s, seven members of the Quimpo family dedicated themselves to
the anti-Marcos resistance in the Philippines, sometimes at profound personal cost. In this
unprecedented memoir, eight siblings (plus one by marriage) tell their remarkable stories in
individually authored chapters that comprise a family saga of revolution, persistence, and,
ultimately, vindication, even as easy resolution eluded their struggles.

Subversive Lives tells of attempts to smuggle weapons for the New People’s Army (the armed
branch of the Communist Party of the Philippines); of heady times organizing uprisings and
strikes; of the cruel discovery of one brother’s death and the inexplicable disappearance of
another (now believed to be dead); and of imprisonment and torture by the military. These
stories show the sacrifices and daily heroism of those in the movement. But they also reveal its
messy legacies: sons alienated from their father; daughters abused by the military; friends
betrayed; and revolutionary affection soured by intractable ideological differences.

The rich and distinctive contributions span the martial law years of Ferdinand Marcos’s rule.
Subversive Lives is a riveting and accessible primer for those unfamiliar with the era, and a
resonant history for those with a personal connection to what it meant to be Filipino at that time,
or for anyone who has fought political repression.