The signing of Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 by President Aquino is a welcome relic for the 27th commemoration of the fascist dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ ouster from power. This legislation is a piece for jubilation though not necessarily a gust of fresh air.
The statute will not compensate for the sacrifices of the several hundreds of martyrs who fought the dictatorship, most of them through systematic patterns of torture, in the process losing their lives or the use of their limbs.
It does not, will not and can never pay for the peace of mind that escapes them as they close their eyes in sleep or remembrance, and for the families dismembered for a cause they believed in and lived out. What they can see and recall, several long years later—though till now more of the same—are the anguish and the pain they had to endure at the hands of the vilest and most cruel persecutors of their time.
Article continues after this advertisement
The Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 is very important, even if belated, because it is a three-step process toward transforming an otherwise moribund society.