Déjà vu

A play was performed in the rooftop of the Vinzons Hall, UP Diliman last September 30, 2011. I thought at first why when we were about to enter the room, there were some who wear military uniforms. They were shouting and scolding us in order to fix the line entering the venue, as if they had all the authority. They asked all those sitting on the floor to compress, however not in the proper manner. It looked like they were forcing the audience, although some of us laughed because we knew it was part of the play. It was then that I realized that the "Poldet" was something about martial law, and the authority were doing the same thing when martial law was declared decades ago.

There was a part of the play, when someone was narrating about déjà vu. Some events in the present, also happened in the time of Marcos. During his administration, there were many cases of people being abducted, tortured and even killed. Many media men had been killed for their dedication to reveal the truth. And there were numerous political detainees, which were denied by Marcos himself. The same things happened in the time of Arroyo, as well as Noynoy's.

In simple terms, nothing changed significantly from Marcos administration to the present. But I think there are a few like those unwanted incidents in the time of martial law that are secretly being executed in the present.

But probably we can find the origin of all of these back in the Spanish occupation. The Spanish government and friars held the Filipinos in their throat. It was like that one little move against them, then you will end up wounded or dead – the same in the time of martial law. Though I haven't heard about them speaking about the Spanish in the play, the Filipinos were probably more hurt with their fellow countrymen giving them pain and suffering than with the foreigners enslaving the country.

The play just showed how history repeated itself. When worse comes to worst, there will be an event that will trigger again a change. However, people will return to their usual lives before the event and just forget about what lessons they have learned. When people feel like there is something wrong, that is when they will try to make a change again but will return back like nothing happened after some time  The same things kept on happening ever since then. I think this has always been like this for the Filipinos; "Dito lang sa Pilipinas (Only in the Philippines)."