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Starting tomorrow, National Book Store will carry our book, Marcos Martial Law: Never Again

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By Raïssa Robles

Good news, guys.

National Bookstore has informed me that tomorrow afternoon, the Student edition of our book Marcos Martial Law: Never Again will be available in their Metro Manila outlets.

The books will appear in the store’s key branches nationwide by next week.

They’ve priced the softcover at at P395. The publisher, Alan (the Book Editor) and I made a conscious decision to keep the price at a level that college students can afford. The Introductory Price before was P300. But we wanted to bring it all across the country. And we realized that the cost of transporting the book outside Manila had to be covered. So we came to an agreement with National Book Store to price the book at P395.

Below is the initial list of National Book Store outlets that will carry our book:

National Book Store, Quezon Avenue
National Book Store, Cubao Superbranch
National Book Store, Robinsons Ortigas
National Book Store, SM Megamall
Powerbooks, Megamall
National Book Store, Glorietta 1
National Book Store, Greenbelt
National Book Store, Ayala Fairview
National Book Store, SM City Fairview
National Book Store, Katipunan
National Book Store, UP Town Center
National Book Store, Alaban Acc
Powerbooks , Alabang
National Book Store, SM Mall of Asia
National Book Store, Rockwell

Outside Manila the book will appear in “selected cities”, National informs me. If you are interested in your area being covered, pls. holler here.

We are also arranging for the Collectors Edition to be available in certain National Book Store outlets. Those who are too far from NBS outlets can always order online. Just follow the directions here.

I wish to thank very, very much all those who have been buying our book. One bought it as a wedding present. A tech company bought it as part of their Voter Education program. Others are buying it for their pro-Bongbong friends. We have some inquiries from people who are stocking up for their Christmas giveaways. Many parents have bought it for their children.

When I wrote this, I didn’t know how many people would read it. I only wanted to dig out the truth about the Marcos dictatorship. All I hoped for was that these would not be forgotten. And who knows, generations from now, maybe a copy or two will survive and become a silent testament to the horror of Martial Law and the courage of a section of the unarmed population who resisted the brutality.

Comments

  1. Political tidbits:

    1. Du30 to allow da’Apo to be buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani soonest – “payback time for the votes he got from the solid north?

    2. GMA will likely be at house arrest soon – some relief for the public who pays her hospital detention

    3. Trillanes facing treason for his role in Scarborough Shoal sell-off to china

    4. Most corrupt agencies like BOC, BIR etc to be abolished – and replace with new nomenclatures and personnel

    5. VP race canvassing would be noisy and BBM will be likened to Don Quixote – the Man of La Mancha – madly charging the wind mills

  2. At posting time my courier is at NBS in Lipa, Batangas to pick up some copies of MMLNA. The bad news is that the book is not yet available at NBS in Lipa City. The good news is that NBS told him the inquiry level for the book is very strong.

    • I asked my courier to pick up some copies in QC for shipping to CA. Let’see if he he would have any luck.

  3. More fighting to come. Pres.-elect Duterte and the R.C. clergy.

    Attack and counter-attack will be the game. Both camps have faith for attacks.

    Kung sa salitang Tagalog. . . Matira Ang Matibay!

    Like this attack scenario will be Attack For Revelations [in the NT there is the Book of Revelation].

    Is this an omen? Who will cease? As I believe ‘Politics and Religion cannot mix.’

    The Clergy says It will be open in dialogues and vigilant collaboration. Was It during the Marcos Martial Law 20 years? I believe It did finally in the final end years.

    Go. . . click the links on ‘revelations’. What’s happening to our country?

    1. http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/226430/news/nation/bishop-who-got-pcso-funds-was-a-top-ayala-stockholder

        • Very similar to Godfather 3 due to too much money of the Vatican

          All religious sects are having grand time amassing untold wealth and always awash with cash

          I’ll probably join the new “Iglesia ni Duterte”

        • sa iglesia ni duterte, expect joma and jalandoni to be made preachers, preaching communist manifesto.

          sara duterte will be made goddess, imelda marcos her priestess.

        • R.C. Church and OTHER churches have billions in PESOS! Stocks and investments, businesses atbpa.

          All wealth came from WHERE? ‘Da poor people! In a real sense religion is a lucrative business.

          Exempt from TAX pa! In case federalism is adopted, I believe everybody who are obligated to pay taxes from certain EARNINGS here should be taxed.

          Government employees who are not engage for PROFIT are taxed based on their incomes from salaries.

          CHURCHES’ incomes and assets, real and personal, enjoy exemptions from many taxes. Why?

          Yet, by Constitutional provision it says ‘Taxes shall be uniform.’ Is it? No.

          Compare huge or big edifices of all churches with the shanties of the poor. INC Churches are MANSION-like. Worth how much each?

          There is really a continuing ANOMALY with our lives on this and it seems we cannot bite the bullet to stop this. Why?

          Would it help to delete the doctrine/principle of ‘Separation of the State and the Church’ in our fundamental and other laws?

          When too much wealth is concentrated in one or the few, surely poverty will always flourish. And so also ideologies, political or otherwise, due to that.

          Maybe, the holy words are worth remembering. . . ‘I came to cause divisions among you.’

          Armaggedon? Preaching commie manifestos?

          Money root of many evils.

          God [Jesus Christ] paid His tax. Churches do not pay taxes.

          How do ‘you’ deal with this?

          I dunno.

        • Those Catholic priests and bishops did study many years, don’t know if their main course is accounting? :-)
          The fake pastors without education are not even hiding it, they just simply buy planes, choppers and Ferrari’s .:-)
          Hallelujah!!! Praise the Lord !!!!!
          :-)

        • You are right Leona . I teach history and I know the history of the RCC. Yes they buy stocks and earnings are deposited in the Vatican Bank in Rome. In return, the RCC in diff countries gets regular subsidy. The Vatican bank is a world powerful money cartel. It is saddening , but the RCC is like an opium that has intoxicated tge mind and spirit of many Filipinos.

  4. Every home should have one!

    Raissa, please tell them to put stocks at NBS in SM Marikina, Robinsons Metroeast, Sta Lucia East mall. A lot of students from Ateneo, La Salle , Miriam, UP live with their families (vs dorms) in the big subdivisions near these malls (Filinvest, Town & Country, Vista Verde, etc)

  6. It’s nice to know na nasa shelves na ng major book store ang book ni Raissa. Mapapagtuunan ito ng mas malaking attention.

  8. Please also write a book about Benigno Aquino Sr. and how he committed treason against the Filipino people. Filipinos deserve to know the truth on how the Cojuangcos and Aquinos amassed their wealth as well as their refusal to follow several court orders to return Hacienda Luisita. History is not and should never be one-sided.

      • Hacienda Luisita is a 6,443 hectare parcel of land originally owned by the Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas (Tabacalera).[1] In 1957, the Spanish owners of Tabacalera decided to sell this land and its sugar mill, Central Azucarera de Tarlac. Jose Cojuangco, Sr. took interest and requested assistance from the Philippine government in raising the necessary funds through: (a) the Central Bank, to obtain a dollar loan from the Manufacturers Trust Company (MTC) in New York for the purchase of the sugar mill; and (b) the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), to obtain a peso loan for the purchase of the Hacienda. The Central Bank used a portion of the countrys dollar reserves as security for Cojuangcos loan with the MTC on the condition that Cojuangco would acquire Hacienda Luisita for distribution to farmers within 10 years from its acquisition.[2] The GSIS also approved Jose Cojuangco, Sr.s loan for P5.9 million under Resolution No. 3203 (November 25, 1957) which stated in part:

        12. That the lots comprising the Hacienda Luisita shall be subdivided by the applicant-corporation among the tenants who shall pay the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions;[3]

        At the urging of Jose Cojuangco, Sr., GSIS issued Resolution No. 356 (February 5, 1958), amending Resolution No. 3203 in the following manner:

        That the lots comprising the Hacienda Luisita shall be subdivided by the applicant-corporation and sold at cost to the tenants, should there be any, and whenever conditions should exist warranting such action under the provisions of the Land Tenure Act;[4]

        Thus, on April 8, 1958, Jose Cojuangco, Sr., through Tadeco, acquired Hacienda Luisita and Central Azucarera de Tarlac.[5]

        Ten (10) years after the acquisition of Hacienda Luisita, the land remained undistributed, contrary to the conditions stated in the loan/security agreements. Citing GSIS Resolution No. 356, the Cojuangcos reasoned out that there were no tenants in the Hacienda; thus, there was no one to distribute the land to.[6]

        Source: http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2011/july2011/171101_brion.htm

        So if there were no farmers in Hacienda Luisita to distribute the land to, who were the farm workers who flooded the funeral Mass of Jose Cojuangco during his death?

        • I meant, which farmers should get a piece of Luisita? What year would be your cut-off point? How do you determine which farmers are eligible?

      • Did the Aquinos sell Sabah to Malaysia?

        Cory Aquino amended the first article of the 1973 Constitution in the 1987 Constitution and removed the phrase, “and all other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title.”

        The 1987 Constitution revised the definition of Philippine territory and “deleted Sabah as a historic claim backed up by the legal title pertaining to the sultanate of Sulu.”

        ——————————————————————————————————————————
        Benigno S. Aquino, the grandfather of current president PNoy Aquino, was a 6th Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and the 1st Speaker of the National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic in September 25, 1943 – February 2, 1944 during the Japaense puppet government of then President José P. Laurel. He was also a Member of the National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic from Tarlac. He also served as a Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce of the Philippines and as Majority leader of the Philippine Senate.

        He married his second wife and his third cousin, Aurora Aquino with whom he had the following children—Maria Aurora (Maur), Benigno Simeon Jr. (Ninoy), Maria Gerarda (Ditas), Maria Guadalupe (Lupita), Agapito (Butz), Paul, and Maria Teresa (Tessie).

        In December 1944, as the combined Filipino and American forces continued their advance to liberate the Philippines from Japanese forces, the government of the Second Philippine Republic was moved to Baguio which included Aquino before they flew to Japan where together with other officials they were arrested and imprisoned at the Sugamo Prison when the Japanese surrendered. On August 25, 1946, Aquino was flown back to the Philippines for his trial on treason charges by the People’s Court; a few weeks later he was released on bail.

        Sources: Wikipedia, living Filipino World War 2 veterans, Supreme Court G.R. No. L-1243, Criminal cases Nos. 3527 and 3531, People of the Philippines vs. Benigno S. Aquino, and People of the Philippines vs. Antonio de las Alas

        • http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1947/apr1947/gr_l-1243_1947.html

          Republic of the Philippines
          SUPREME COURT
          Manila

          EN BANC

          G.R. No. L-1243 April 14, 1947

          THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner,
          vs.
          EUSEBIO LOPEZ, Associate Judge of Second Division of People’s Court, BENIGNO S. AQUINO, and ANTONIO DE LAS ALAS, respondents.

          Office of the Solicitor General Lorenzo M. Tañada, Special Prosecutors Juan R. Liwag and Pedro C. Quinto for petitioner.
          Associate Judge Eusebio M. Lopez in his own behalf.
          Mariano A. Albert for respondent Aquino.
          Enrique M. Fernando for respondent De las Alas.
          Claro M. Recto as amicus curiae.

          Not many of you know, or many have seem to have forgotten, that Benigno Aquino Sr. was openly pro-Japanese during WW2.

        • Why are you posting that here? It’s irrelevant to the discussion. Besides, if it were true that the 1987 Constitution had dropped the Sabah claim, why is Malaysia still trying to get the Philippines to drop it?

    • History is really one sided. Media did not report that many claimant tenants of hacienda Luisita were illegal settlers, setting on the hacienda only after being declared for land reform. Most of these illegal tenants were relative of a few legal tenants. Illegal tenants outnumbered the legal.

      Any landowner would refuse to give away part of its land to land grabbers pretending to be farmers.
      Duterte said that criminals are using their poverty as an excuse to crime activities, thereby deserving to be killed if they refuse to stop their crime spree.

      These illegal farmers deserved to be cut into pieces actually for they deceived authorities by pretending to be tenants when in fact they were landgrabbers. They claimed also they were poor living only from farming land. According to Duterte principle they deserve to be killed because they demonstrated upon eviction.
      One sided history has 2 storytellers too!

      He he he

      • Parang may nabasa nga akong marami sa claimant tenants sa hacienda Luisita ay mga illegal settlers. Kung illegal settlers nga sila, maituturing nga silang mga landgrabbers. Tulad din ang kasong ito sa maraming squatters at informal settlers kuno. Alam nila na hindi kanila ang tinitirahan nila, tapos pag paaalisin na, sila pa ang nanggugulo. Kung minsan nga kawawa pa ang may ari ng lupa.

    • Still hallucinating from the spike drinks you got at the Close up Rave Party! That is really a bad one, Now you don’t even realize the Damage it has on you! gunggong Walking Dead supporter! Let the Marcoses themselves write the book if they can! With their falsified diploma and school records, I DOUBT they can!

      • the martial law years, while the country was under curfew with less food to go around that people stayed in long lines just to buy rice, and children were fed nutribun at school to stop them from being totally malnourished, imelda was partying like there was no tomorrow. barely affected by curfew, she was often out the country, attending lavish functions and events the country can ill afford, showing off her jewels and tiaras, pera ng gobyerno used to charter planes to carry her and her entourage around. the happier imelda was and the more parties she attended, the poorer the country became.

        in the 70s and 80s while the people were starving and disappearing, imelda was out in the world, partying hard and gatecrashing, spending money, shopping and visiting dignitaries, some don’t want to see her. imelda invited hordes of celebrities, again at government expense. they came, they saw, they left, making us poorer.

        if marcos crony wrote about the martial law years, it would have to be two sided: the suffering of the people versus the excesses of the woman who was supposed to be the mother of the nation, but bled the nation dry instead.

        • And now, no food is being passed around and children are being pushed to take drugs at a young age.

  9. In Raissa’s BOOK, it says of Mr. PRIMITIVO MIJARES:

    . . . ‘I was “an unwitting tool” for Mr. Marcos.” [Primitivo Mijares, Marcos’ Propagandist and Chief Censor]

    . . . ”Until it dawned on me that “I was helping” nothing but an infamous design dedicated shamelessly to the establishment by the law of the gun of an imperial dynasty in the Philippines.”

    According to Mijares’ wife, (Priscilla) this is the The BEST BOOK about Martial Law.

    (pp. 14-15. Marcos Martial Law NEVER AGAIN)

    Get your copy of this BOOK. Don’t wait until it is out of print. For heaven’s sake!

    My advice: Get the Collector’s Issue also. You will love it and won’t regret it.

    • Btw, this BOOK of Raissa Robles is 221 Pages and with photos too!. . . with End Notes and Index to Page 268.

      Call it a very valuable treasure.

  11. @raissa
    Pledge- Sign, sealed, delivered

    Left with male owner of Popular bookstore- 5 paid student edition of books for your distribution to public high school of your choice.
    Invoice # 16585.

    Spread the bad lessons of the atrocities of MARCOS Martial Law!
    Never Again to any MARCOS heir!

    Bongbong- like father like son! Making up stories for personal interest.
    Father Ferdinand Sr- made up stories about the need to declare Martial Law- enabled by a lawyer- Johnny Ponce Enrile

    Son Bongbong – delaying VP proclamation of Leni Robredo by making up stories that there were anomalies in Comelec Smartmatic machines in counting election votes which he lost by convincing margin. – enabled by a lawyer Sixto Brillantes

    Bongbong pinalaki sa masamang ugali at pinakain galing sa pagnanakaw ng tatay
    Hindi nakakapagtataka na yung nakakadiring ugaling kinagisnan ay dadalhin sa katandaan
    Mga apo ni MARCOS, sana ay magpakumbaba!

    • Ninoy Aquino’s father was a traitor during WWII yet his son became a hero. It goes to show that some people would kill their countrymen and let themselves be killed for power. Filipinos are worth dying for? That’s bullsh*t…more like Hacienda Luisita is worth dying for. Kill all the farmers so that nobody else can lay claim to it.

      • Trivia: Whose father was executed by Filipino guerrillas during WW2 for being a traitor?

        • @Adrian, I believe your “Clue: 2 carabaos” means that Mariano Marcos (Ferdinand Marcos’ father) was executed for being a traitor by being tied to 2 carabaos. I think I have read in Sterling Seagrave’s book “The Marcos Dunasty” that Mariano Marcos was “quartered”, meaning his two hands and feet were tied to one carabao each and the carabaos were made to pull him apart until he died.

      • Many farmers deserve to be killed, in fact tortured before slaughtering them because many of them are land grabbers pretending to be tenants upon learning that an hacienda is for land reform. Many families are victims of these illegal farmers.

        Hooray for Aquinos for justice!

        He he he

        • @Johnny Lin, “Many farmers deserve to be killed, in fact tortured before slaughtering them because many of them are land grabbers pretending to be tenants upon learning that an hacienda is for land reform.”

          These fake land tenants is just one head of the devil that defeats the true spirit and intent of CARP. The other head are the greedy, conscienceless landowners who subdivide their property among members of their own family who are as rich as themselves.

          Here is one classic example which happens in Concepcion, Tarlac:

          In Tarlac, CARP gives land to the wealthy
          http://pcij.org/stories/2004/carp.html

          “When she outlined a 10-point program of government in her inaugural speech on Wednesday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made no mention of land reform or rural poverty. No one has made note of the omission, itself a sign that 16 years after the signing of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, the issue of land redistribution is no longer considered a matter of urgent concern.

          Our latest series focuses on the thorny issue of concentrated land ownership and its link to rural poverty. By telling the story of one hacienda, our report also tells the story of land, wealth, and power in the Philippines.

          This report focuses on the 220-hectare Hacienda Tinang in Tarlac, once owned by Benigno Aquino Sr. and sold to the wealthy de Leon family of Pampanga. It narrates how the de Leon heirs circumvented land reform by faking a voluntary offer of sale where the land was supposedly sold, in smaller parcels, to “farmer-beneficiaries.” These beneficiaries, however, were actually members of the clan, which includes some of the country’s wealthiest bankers, businesspeople, and socialites.

          The story is much more than that of the circumvention of the law or the loopholes in the land reform program. It is really a story of power and wealth in the country, and how the families that own land and wield power are able to protect their interests. After all, among those who ended up as “farmer-beneficiaries” are Ernest Escaler, a controversial investment banker who was linked to the IMPSA scandal; Michael Escaler, a sugar miller and director of National Life Insurance Corp.; Luis Jalandoni, a real estate magnate; Gabriel de Leon, one of the top shareholders of BPI; and Alfredo de Leon Panicucci, who owns the Linea Italia stores.”

        • @fed up

          Owner giving land to members of his family is legal in any nation under “Estate or Inheritance or Taxation Laws”. It’s the right of the owner to whom it will give as gift it’s properties.

          On the other hand an illegal person WITHOUT any right at all suddenly occupied a land and demand part ownership by taking advantage of a newly enacted land reform law is thievery or robbery in every sense anywhere in the world.

          Difference is protected by laws!

        • The rightful owner of Haciena Luisita are the farmers as that was one of the conditions of the Central Bank and GSIS loans which Cojuangco obtained at that time to acquire the lots.

        • why do you single out the Aquinos?

          how about the Peping Cojuangco side? You know, the one now siding with Duterte?

          They now have more at stake in Hacienda Luisita. I think if you look at the incorporation papers you would see the Aquinos no longer or have very minimal stakes.

      • All I can say is that you can acknowledge the errors of both the Marcoses and Aquinos. You can be anti-Aquino and anti-Marcos at the same time. It makes no sense to bring up Ninoy and his dad just to attack the point that human rights violations were committed against Filipinos during Martial Law.

        [But to bring up the fact that there are violations even today, although to a much lesser degree, that we must do.]

        • human rights violations, sa batanggas, may flores de pusher na. 11 drug suspects were paraded sa walk of shame, apparently may kasaling tatlong mga menor de edad.

          I really think, they should have undergone blood test or urine test to ascertain if they have drugs in their system rather than just saying na drug users o pushers sila.

        • may nag text, kapag may na abswelto sa mga ipinarada, ang mayor naman daw ang dapat iparada ng naka gown at high heels.

          sa mga sang ayon… taas ang kamay

        • There were more human rights abuses committed by PNoy’s grandfather, Benigno Aquino Sr., during his time than Marcos did in his lifetime yet these are not written in our history books. GMA had the highest # of journalist killings during her term. PNoy Aquino massacred the farmers in Hacienda Luisita, the 44 uniformed men in Mamasapano and the farmers in Kidapawan. Our current set of leaders have robbed and continue to rob us dry. Our government and the essence of democracy was created for the majority and not for the self-serving oligarchs like the Aquinos and the Arroyos.

  12. Congratulations, Raissa! Along with the expanded retail distribution, I hope HS and colleges pick this up (or any ML book) to educate the shocking number of youth who are pro-BBM.

  13. Thank you very much Raissa for this noble book. As do called Martial babies, I could very well relate to this book. it would be easier for me to continue telling the stories to my kids. Mabuhay ka #neveragain.

  15. Excellent job Ms R Robles … Suggest to have it in comics for easy reading …update and revise Philippine history books so that it can be discussed and taught officially in the classroom
    Regarding the Martial Law and the Marcosses …after all this is part of Philippine history that can’t be changed …more power to you