Few versus many

When President Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law, the first ones to oppose it were his usual critics and political enemies. They were joined by a few who could not forget their personal experiences with martial law under Marcos. That came as no surprise. His critics and enemies will oppose to the death anything he does. And the few who could not live with the Marcos horror will take that horror to the grave.

Take note that I used the word few to describe those with actual martial law experience. That is because not everyone who suffered under Marcos thinks this is going to be a similar martial law. Not every bark of the dog is made in aggression and some survivors are actually open-minded enough to know the difference. And so, while some reacted out of reflex, many others opted to keep quiet and play wait and see.

But here is where things really get interesting. Almost to a man, the people of Mindanao accepted the declaration with a seeming sigh of relief. And that is because, away from the seat of power in Metro Manila, where aside from the traffic everything is all hunky-dory, there is a simmering state of lawlessness in Mindanao that, unaddressed for too long, has become a de facto way of life.

Just as interestingly, people in the Visayas, despite being subject to a possible expansion of martial law coverage, also seemed to welcome martial law even if there is no simmering state of lawlessness in the central islands. Perhaps they, too, are willing to give the president a chance. They are not as closed-minded as the greedy hypocrites who think only of their own interests.

So here is the situation. How come the people in the Visayas and Mindanao seem quite ready to embrace martial law than their counterparts in Luzon, especially in Metro Manila? Perhaps it is because life is simply not the same throughout the archipelago. Metro Manila, except for its urban blight which is normal for every city its size, simply has it so good while the rest of the country has it mostly so bad.

Martial law, and the threat it conjures, is a great leveler. That it is used to go after the enemies of the state is just the bonus, despite what most people think, that it is the other way around. It is the unintended result of disciplining people and making them behave that is the real benefit from martial law, as it was in the time of Marcos, as it has now.

There is really only one big difference between the two martial laws -Marcos imposed it to perpetuate himself in power and to go after his enemies; Duterte imposed his to address a real threat to the nation. In both instances, though, not everyone suffers, contrary to what others want others to believe. During Marcos, only his enemies and the highly-politicized suffered. The rest went on with their lives. With Duterte, only the enemies of the state will suffer. Period.

So maybe it is time this country stops taking the word of a few as the gospel truth. Except for God, there is no absolute truth among people. Each person has his own truths which may not be the same as those of the rest. On the subject of martial law, the few who are contesting it are free to do so. The only wish here is for them to stop regarding those who go along with martial law as people who are beneath their "superior" intelligence and feelings of "genuine" concern.

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