Lagman rues zero funding for Martial Law museum

MANILA, Philippines – Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman has called out the government for failing to allocate funds for the Martial Law Museum.

Lagman expressed his concerns on Wednesday, following the plenary debates on the proposed 2024 budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) – stressing the need to focus on past incidents to commemorate a day before the anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

Lagman said it is ironic that the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Museum, Library and Compendium – which is mandated by Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 – has no money in the 2024 National Expenditures Program (NEP) when it is intended to remind people of the excessive money spent during the said period.

“Although there was an abundance of resources, including the proceeds of mission loans, for the prosecution of the repressive and plundering programs and policies of the martial law regime, there is now no appropriation in the 2024 budget as proposed in the NEP for the construction and completion of the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Museum, Library and Compendium,” Lagman said in a statement.

“This memorial museum will continually remind Filipinos of the atrocities of Marcos Sr.’s regime. of siege and the heroism of its victims and survivors. The purpose is also to remind Filipinos not to allow national amnesia to flourish lest we forget the oppression and greed during the darkest era in Philippine history,” he added.

Then on September 21, 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. declared martial law to supposedly quell lawlessness in the country.

The Marcos patriarch was accused of using his power to amass ill-gotten wealth and persecute political enemies.

His son, incumbent President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., claimed it is wrong to portray his father as a dictator.

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