APURA, ALYSSA KARLA N.

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Theater State of Terror

President Ferdinand Marcos insatiability for absolute power during his presidency paved
his decisions in enacting a dictatorship government that will give him total supremacy, thus,
imposing a state of martial law as a foundation of his administration. During President Marcos
martial-law regime, the Philippine government was referred to as a theater state of terror.

Under Marcos martial-law dictatorship, the Philippine army created a regiment of armed
forces. Through the orders and regulations propagated by Marcos, the armed forces were no
longer under the power of the government but an upholder of the presidents martial-law regime.
During Marcos military rule, the armed forces were mentally manipulated to gain a sense of the
societys malleability, hence, adopting a misapprehension that they could break and recreate the
social order of the society at their own will. Those with willed immorality and who embraced
brutality became blinded by power. Instead of using an apparatus that will conquest all
opposition, the Marcos administration used the manifestation of violence for civil oppression,
becoming a virtual state of terror.

Torture became a medium of state power throughout Marcos martial-law administration.

They referred torture to as an enhanced interrogation and a form of punishment by the
government but not an act of violence that is against the law. Torture became the torturers
environment of enacting violence. It became a theater where there is an inversion and illusion of
reality with a plot that was relentlessly planned from the beginning to destroy the victim. The
torturers became the actors of their own play and the victims became the audience of their own
drama of self-degradation. To make the performance induce an impression of fear, the torture
chamber itself often has the atmosphere of a theater with all the special effects (lighting, sound,
props, and backdrop) that was faultlessly designed for that purpose.

During President Ferdinand Marcos regime, the term safe house was used to call the
torture chamber that was used during the interrogation process. This safe house was
technically not safe. Victims was put inside these safe houses to undergo a series of questions
by the interrogators and when they dont find satisfaction to their answer they use physical
violence to oppress the person that is being interrogated. Psychological violence is also being
used to lure the mind of the victim. The effect of physical and psychological harm to the victim
does not only instill pain and trauma but it also alters the mind of the victim, whether they were
influenced or not.

Thousands of Filipino victims have suffered a shared pain, a prevalent violence, and a
deep-rooted significant habit of torture all throughout Marcos reign of terror. Impunity or to put it
simply as the failure to punish an unjustly action, was seemingly achieved by the Philippine
armed forces for its many corruptions and rebellions. The military leaders, hooked on their self-
confident, lead them to failure for attempting coup. Without reflecting or having remorse at their
wrongdoings, their mentality has served them well in their struggle for freedom after admitting
defeat.

The Philippine government has been battling justice and impunity since the first republic.
Several reforms in the state has been carried out and still the government lack morality in
serving its people. Because of the self-indulgence in power, the sense of social responsibility
and good governance were forgotten and a new form of control was made known.