Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

12-2022

Abstract

How do Filipinos remember their history? To date this question still has no systematic answer. This article provides quantitative, descriptive results from two nationally representative surveys that show how Filipinos view three of the country's major historical events: the Spanish colonization of the Philippines; martial law under President Ferdinand Marcos; and the 1986 People Power Revolution. The descriptive results include several takeaways, including: first, the modal response towards all three events was indifference (versus positive or negative feelings); second, positive feelings towards martial law were highest among those who were alive at that time; third, the distribution of feelings towards these historical events was similar across individuals with different educational achievement; and finally, a surprising proportion of respondents expressed positive feelings towards both martial law and People Power. We discuss the potential limitations of our study and conclude by considering the implications of these results for the Philippines' contemporary politics.

Keywords

colonization, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., historical memory, martial law, People Power, Philippines

Discipline

Asian Studies | Political History | Political Science

Publication

Contemporary Southeast Asia

Volume

44

Issue

3

First Page

482

Last Page

514

ISSN

0129-797X

Identifier

10.1355/cs44-3k

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1355/cs44-3k

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