Winning the prestigious National Book Awards is something I hope will lay to rest all the fake news that is being wildly propagated online about my book Marcos Martial Law: Never Again. For instance, that my book is banned in the US and 17 other countries by court orders. That it has no academic rigor. And that it contains lies.
The massive online propaganda shows my book is making an impact on the hearts and minds of Filipinos.
I would now like to thank the following personalities for endorsing my book:
Dr. Alfred McCoy
Harrington Professor of History
Department of History
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Just at the moment when the collective memory of Marcos’s brutality was fading and his partisans were recasting his Martial Law regime as a bold developmental initiative, Raissa Robles has delivered a powerful corrective. After years of rigorous research, she carefully documents the regime’s orgy of corruption and recovers persuasive eye-witness testimony to its tortures from both the perpetrators and their victims. More than any other work published in the thirty years since the dictator’s downfall, this book inscribes all this evidence of the regime’s excesses in the historical record for future generations of Filipinos.
Professor Ambeth R. Ocampo
Department of History, Ateneo de Manila University, Author of 14 books
Moving on means liberation from the past, but it does not mean forgetting. We cannot turn back the clock and undo the dark days of Martial Law, but we in the present should always remember and be vigilant so we do not repeat history. This book is an important step in the right direction.
Prof. Michael Charleston “Xiao” Chua
Historian and Author; De la Salle University
Using a lot of primary sources and interviews, Robles wrote an account of the atrocities that happened during the Marcos Years that is different from what was written before. She not only documented the experiences of the victims, rather, she also sought the perspective from the other side—those of the punishers and executioners. She produced an account of an aspect of the regime which is truthful, comprehensive, readable, at times touching, but engaged—which is the most important thing—making a stand after seeing the facts. If this is not scholarship, I don’t know what is.
Bonifacio P. Ilagan
Lead Convenor — Campaign Against the Return of Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA); Playwright
The struggle against fraud is a continuing war; we have one enduring arsenal for truth. This book is it.
Vergel Santos
Chairman-of-the-Board, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility; Author and former BusinessWorld Publisher
Raissa Robles’ Never Again is nothing less than anything expected of her ─ first-class reporting. It is also critically timely, which makes it and her potential targets for people intent on desecrating the truth for themselves and certain of their comrades and idols. But as solid as it is, Never Again should be able to withstand any of that.
Roland Simbulan, Professor of Development Studies and Public Management, University of the Philippines Department of Social Sciences, University of the Philippines on Philippines–US relations; Author of eight books
This book is essential reading for all Filipinos—young and old—who love their country and reject dictatorship, plunder, and the abuse of power. For this was what the despised Marcos dictatorship was all about, and why we dismantled it through peoples’ power in 1986. Fortunately, court decisions in other countries, and legislation and Supreme Court decisions in our country have officially documented that dark era, where its victims – the Filipino people – still await justice to be rendered.
Ninotchka Rosca
New York-based Author
It is a pleasure to find a book that looks at the Dictatorship partly through the eyes of those whose only power came from a commitment to oppose it. Gerda Lerner noted how, “to those in power, history has always mattered;” and consequently, the writing of it has also been struggled over by those striving for dominance over society. In this era of historical revisionism and digital realities, of artificial consensus and political faddism, making room for the voices of the often silenced and unheard is itself an act of heroism. Read the book.
Candy Quimpo-Gourlay
UK-based Author
Marcos Martial Law: Never Again is a story of a nation betrayed – how the shiny New Society created by the Marcos dictatorship concealed a shocking theatre of terror and torture. Victims are interviewed their alleged torturers questioned, allegations cross-checked, footnoted, appended. Raissa Robles stays away from the spotlight and yet her inquiring voice is always there, at great personal cost, asking the difficult questions, verifying facts, leaving no obfuscation unexamined. It could not have been an easy task. The accounts are harrowing, many perpetrators are at large, and the martial law story clearly remains unfinished. This is an important book, not just for the victims whose voices deserve to be heard, but for the generations who deserve to know the truth. A stoic refusal to forget and a singular act of courage.
Niña Calleja in ‘Never Again’: Marcos victim recounts torture, Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 25, 2016
Using official records, Marcos’ own books, reports of local and foreign human rights lawyers, and nongovernment organizations as well as eyewitness accounts and interviews with survivors and military officers, Robles provides a brief historical narrative relating to how and why the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972. In her book, she also reveals how Cory Aquino was strip-searched several times when she visited her imprisoned husband, opposition Sen. Ninoy Aquino.
Jose K. Tirol, PhD
Assistant Professor, History Department, Ateneo de Manila University
The power and relevance of Never Again lies not just in the narrative of Martial Law’s origins and graphic, uncensored description of the horrors of that era inflicted on ordinary Filipinos. The book goes one step further by discussing the aftermath, through a study of national memory, unresolved issues, and the continuing struggle for justice and accountability.
Robert J.A. Basilio Jr. in “Never Forget, Never Again”,
BusinessWorld, Weekender, February 26, 2016
…the book may very well be one of the most easily readable but thoroughly researched books about a sombre subject that always begs to be remembered: the atrocities of the Marcos dictatorship with 3,257 murdered, 40,000 tortured, and over 60,000 illegally detained.
Floyd Whaley in “30 years after revolution, some Filipinos yearn for ‘Golden Age’ of Marcos”, The New York Times, February 23, 2016
For others in the Philippines, the idea of a Marcos “golden age” is not supported by the facts. In her recent book, “Marcos Martial Law: Never Again,” the journalist Raissa Robles estimated that more than 3,200 people were murdered by the government during the Marcos years, and about 40,000 were tortured.
leona says
Per NEWS REPORTS [Philstar news paper]
: – ‘Voting unanimously in session yesterday,
Sereno’s fellow magistrates decided to allow
members of the judiciary invited by the House
justice committee to testify in hearings on issues
raised in an impeachment complaint filed
by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon.’
UNANIMOUS voting!
CJ Sereno was absent…on official leave.
The reverse GEAR is on and
moving forward! Now, it will be
The FAST AND FURIOUS 9!
Tutuli evidence will
be admissible this time also.
Hmmm…exciting impeachment
proceedings indeed for probable
cause issues.
Our Impeachment process is
patterned from US rule but
subject to explicit Constitutional
guidelines and proscriptions.
Nebolous! ‘Malabo’ sa
Wikang Filipino.
Will the CJ ask for a reconsideration
of the unanimous vote of the SC?
Hmmm. . . again.
Why is the ‘vehicle’ moving forward
in a REVERSE GEAR situation?
I cannot guess to know what
happens next.
ABANGAN!
leona says
Philstar
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/11/29/1763485/sc-allows-justices-testify-vs-sereno
leona says
Philippine pattern of
Impeachment
https://bataspinoy.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/history-and-nature-of-impeachment-and-judicial-review/
sam says
other out of topic
Duterte slams De Lima for ‘bragging’ about rosary from Pope
————————————————————————
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/28/17/duterte-slams-de-lima-for-bragging-about-rosary-from-pope
Its either ingit to the max or takot to the max itong si old crazy man kaya niya sinabi yan.
Joke or no Joke … its so low to make such kind of a joke. Only a dirty mind would come out with such a joke.
sam says
kahapon sa congress they agree that gadon has no personal knowledge … and according them, they can based it on authenticated documents. Nasaan ang mga authenticated documents? Kahit si Gadon did admit he has not receive them.
Trabaho ba ng congress mag supply ng evidence or yon mga authenticated documents? He initially said that CJ took business class and not 1st class… he was asked .. if he has documents to prove this claim? sagot wala daw.. it was Midas who told him daw… then asked again.. did he know that business class if totally different from first class? sagot niya .. hindi daw.
is this fair nasinasabi ni Umali?
arc says
aba, baka they’re waiting for de castro to submit ‘authenticated docu’. de casto and two others are supposedly thinking of attending and maybe, seeing to it that sereno is impeached and the job of chief justice is made vacant. somebody wants sereno’s job very badly! he, he, he.
arc says
this midas, isnt he tauhan ni dating chief justice renato corona na yumao na? if so, I can understand po ang hinanakit ni midas, mahal niya si corona, halos padrino. and if midas is still passionate and pining for corona, he can pray for corona and spent time in his grave. he should not feel bad if he failed to become sereno’s new bosom buddy. I heard sereno has no bosom buddy, she is for justice first and foremost.
arc says
sina midas at gadon, kung parehong abogado sila, they should have made affidavit or kaya sworn statement, dated and signed to the effect. hwag lang yong sobrang reliant sa tsismis, unfounded or others. malay mo, yong primary source nila ay lasing and not of sound mind! gaya ko paminsan, he, he, he.
bad, kung yong primary source was high on drugs na kahit ano-ano ang pinagsasabi maybe just to get name out of – drug list? worse, if primary source was paid to spread tsismis or name will be included in drug list. take your picky, pick pick! cant be too choosy!
arc says
pasensya ka na sam, I’m feeling talkative today!
‘is this fair, sabi ni umali,’ if umali wants to be fair, he should move that sereno’s impeachment be junked! junked! junked!
sam says
Its ok eh maybe pag he moved that the complain is lack in substance (which even non-lawyers like me see it) baka siya naman ang kasohan or baka mailagay sa Drug list. Hmmm kaya siguro binalik sa PNP (pinatay ng pulis) … ay nakakatakot yan diba?
oo nga pala .. i remember during the late Corona’s trial .. ang sabi yata, not sure yon SALN is already a form of waiver
sam says
Just Curious .. Justice committee has invited the real witness today… but why the need for an executive season to hear what they will reveal? Baka ba may masabi silang that will be conflicting with what Gardon’s claims?
Just asking lang …
raissa says
possibly
sam says
well lumabas din na conflicting ang mga statement and when the purchase of the SUV was found to be legal naman … bigla nag bago ang takbo…. it was not in the complain on the manner of bidding ni Gadon but bigla na bago.
it may seems that the Justice Committee is helping Gadon tsk tsk …
arc says
maybe po, it’s not only gadon being helped, justice com is also helping digong and distracting people, veering them away from insisting digong sign bank waiver or step down from office. demanda dito, demanda duon, impeachment ni sereno, then impeachment ni carpio-morales, all because digong refused to sign bank waiver, sobrang takot na-ilantad ang tagong yaman. ayaw ni digong ang kurapsyon, but practices it. and justice com is allying with him, aiding and abetting, nakinabang yata ng husto mga pamilya’t kaibigan. hala, sipsip! and sipsip ma more!