Philippines: Military releases secret martial law records

The Philippine military will make public the records of its actions during the martial rule of Ferdinand Marcos from 1972-1981, according to a report by Agence France Presse.

Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said he hoped the declassification of the secret documents would bring closure to a troubled period in which tens of thousands people allegedly suffered human rights abuses.

Commission on Human Rights chief Loretta Ann Rosales, whose office will take custody of the documents, said she hoped they would shed light on the torture, extrajudicial killings and other abuses allegedly committed at the time.

Many victims are still missing to this day.

"We have 10,000 recorded [human rights] victims but I believe there were many more ... many of them were nameless and those who were thrown in jail alone number more than 30,000,” she said.

Rosales herself, as well as the politician father and namesake of incumbent President Benigno Aquino, were among those detained by Marcos.

Rosales said these documents would help to “reconcile and develop the healing process” between civil society groups and the military, adding that they will be made public so they can be studied by schools, legislators and survivors of the martial law era.

Secretary Gazmin said: "We admit there were abuses during that time but we'll have to check the documents to see if these were recorded."

Marcos, who was toppled in a bloodless popular revolt in 1986 and died in exile in Hawaii three years later, had said martial rule was needed to save the country from a communist insurgency.

Date: 21 September 2011