Martial Law in Bikol Lecture and Book Launch on Oct 15 at ADNU

BOOK LAUNCH: Mga Dasô – Stories of Martial Law in Bikol

The Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission warmly invites the public to the Naga launch of Mga Dasô: Stories of Martial Law in Bikol on 15 October 2025 (Wednesday), from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., at the Richie Fernando Hall, Ateneo de Naga University. (starting with a lecture on “Historical Revisionism and Social Memory of Martial Law” by ADNU Social Sciences Dept. Chair and Prof. Leo I. Imperial for the 9th Annual Fr. James J. O’brien, S.J. Memorial Lecture Series).

Published by the University of the Philippines (UP) Press, the book gathers thirty-three personal accounts—many never before published—of life, loss, and resistance under the Marcos dictatorship across the six provinces of the Bicol region from 1972 to 1986. Edited by Soliman M. Santos Jr., Paz Verdades M. Santos, and Greg S. Castilla, Mga Dasô takes its name from the native Bikol torch whose flame guided processions and village gatherings; its stories now guide new generations through the darkness of Martial Law memory. Among the voices readers will meet are a six-year-old who recalls corpses beside the railroad tracks, a radio broadcaster chronicling his months in a military “Stalag,” peasants who carried an ailing comrade in a hammock across Albay’s hills, and the children of martyrs who piece together how their parents lived and died. As the editors write, “Each story is a small light in the darkness; together they illuminate the path so that we do not walk backwards into a future of repeated violence.”

All book-sale royalties—whether from launch-day copies or future orders—will be donated to the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, Inc. Launch copies will be offered at a discounted price (P560 instead of the regular price P700) so that every guest may bring home a piece of this living memory while directly supporting the Bantayog’s work of honoring the victims of martial law and heroes in the fight against dictatorship.

Admission is free. Note the ATTACHED pub mats, inc. the first with a QR code for registration.

Banwaan asin Kabanwa: Nation and Compatriot

Dasô: fire and light from the native Bikol torch. And the body holding it up to illuminate the dark. This is the essence of these personal memories about martial law. Bikolnon of all ages and from diverse places and pursuits remember how it was and how it should never be again. We who were there, or not, are taken to that time in history.

So, let us be there! Be enlightened and moved, anguished and inspired, and ever conscious of these stories about living and dying. Marvel at the courage and enduring commitment to justice, truth, and love. Because in the struggle for holding up the light and keeping it burning for country, there is always love.

Dasô: noun. But it has to become more than noun, as it was with those that lit up then. It has to be an action verb. Magdasô, makidasô kita—let us light, let us join in this lighting and relighting. It is the only way to see. It is the only way to restore vision amidst the darkness of misinformation and disinformation. The only way to reignite the true and fiery love for nation and compatriot—ang tunay asin naglalaad-laad na pagpadaba sa banwaan asin kabanwa.

Merlinda Bobis

—Filipino-Australian writer originally from Albay