Bantayog official fine with simply using 'Diktadura,' asserts there's only one dictatorship in PH history

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 22) — Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation official Maria Cristina Rodriguez said she's okay with the Department of Education's (DepEd) proposal to drop «Marcos» and simply use «Diktadura» on textbooks, citing there's only one dictatorship period in Philippine history.

«I myself am fine with 'dictatorship' but teachers should know how to handle that there's only one single, notable, notorious dictatorship in our history and that's Marcos dictatorship,» Rodriguez told CNN Philippines' The Final Word on Thursday.

«It cannot be denied. The Marcos period was a dictatorship period,» added Rodriguez, who is also a martial law survivor.

Rodriguez also shared that she was surprised to know there were textbooks in the country that called the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. regime as a «dictatorship.»

«I was in fact surprised… We are fighting very hard to have that acknowledged,» she said.

DepEd released a memorandum on Sept. 6 that would change the term «Diktadurang Marcos» to «Diktadura» in the Araling Panlipunan subject of the new MATATAG curriculum.

It gained a lot of criticisms from educators and groups, saying the move was a blatant example of historical revisionism.

READ: Educators condemn DepEd's plan to change the term 'Diktadurang Marcos' in curriculum

«The alteration of historical terminology is not only distortion but also undermines the truth about one of the darkest periods in Philippine history,» the Alliance of Concerned Teachers said.

«To reduce his oppressive rule to a mere 'Diktadura' is a disservice to the countless victims of his dictatorship and an affront to the pursuit of historical accuracy and truth,» Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy added.

Dep