Isko Margal English

“What you see, what you feel, what you hear; when you leave, leave it here.”

For many people who have participated in Reserve Officer Training Corps, this phrase is familiar, almost intimate. It is an oath to secrecy, as much as an oath can be rendered under duress. This golden rule, as it is called, is used to justify or at least defend abuse of power by those in power themselves. It is one thing to be security-minded, to protect the interests and safety of the group from those who seek to malign it. It is quite another to set aside their lived experiences and senses of morality, only to replace them with memories that are left behind in the designated office of the corps, or in the minds of those who have to deal with the consequences for time to come.

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Percival Mabasa, known popularly as Percy Lapid is among the first media workers to be killed under the Marcos II administration.

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Whenever libertarians and anarchists such as I discuss our complex interaction engaging in electoralism, such as the situation now in the Philippines, we always face the criticisms that we are “disconnected to the masses,” “unaware of the material conditions that people face” or even worse “politically illiterate” as a part of our society.

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