Teachers group asks DepEd: If there’s no pressure, why change 'Diktadurang Marcos?’

The Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC) on Tuesday questioned why the Department of Education (DepEd) would still recommend changing the term “Diktadurang Marcos” to just “Diktadura” in the revised basic education curriculum if there was indeed no political pressure from the current administration.

This came after DepEd Bureau of Curriculum and Teaching director Joyce Andaya said Monday that the proposal was “purely an academic discussion” and no pressure came from the current administration to push for the removal of the name “Marcos” from the “Diktadurang Marcos” phrase found in the Grade 6 Araling Panlipunan curriculum.

“Ang paliwanag naman nila daw, wala namang pressure coming from the government or whoever hinggil dito. Eh kung wala naman pala, bakit kailangan niyo pang gawin?” TDC chairperson Benjo Basas said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(Their explanation was that there was no pressure coming from the government or whoever regarding this. If there was really nothing, why do you need to do it?)

“In fact kahit meron, hindi naman natin dapat gawin eh. Dapat pa po, kung wala.”

(In fact, even if there is, they shouldn't do it. Moreso if there’s none.)

GMA News Online contacted DepEd to get its side, but it has yet to respond as of posting.

DepEd earlier confirmed the existence of a circulating letter in social media which directed the change of term. It was proposed by several specialists from the agency’s Bureau of Curriculum Development (BCD) sent to DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Gina Gonong.

Andaya, however, clarified that the recommendation will still undergo the vetting process during the pilot implementation of the revised K-10 curriculum this year. She said that DepEd has yet to come up with a consensus on what should appear in the final curriculum document which will be uploaded in its official website.

Basas, expressing his disapproval of the move to revise the nomenclature, stressed that teachers only want to impart knowledge based on facts and historical records. He said it was the consensus of the academic community.

“Kung titingin tayo sa purely science and history, verifiable records, evidences, eh magkakasundo ang buong bansa, ang academic community, ang mga subject matter experts na ang naganap noong mga panahon na ‘yan especially in the 1970s ay diktadura at ang bansa ay nasa ilalim ng pangulo na ang pangalan ay Marcos. It was a Marcos dictatorship,” he said.

(If we look at purely science and history, verifiable records, and evidence, the whole country, the academic community, the subject matter experts will all agree that what happened during those times especially in the 1970s was a dictatorship and the country was under the president whose name is Marcos. It was a Marcos dictatorship.)

Other teachers groups like the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) have also denounced such a move to remove Marcos’ name from the term “Diktadurang Marcos.”

Andaya had refuted claims that there was an intention for historical revisionism or whitewashing the truth that happened during the Martial Law era.

She also said that the new curriculum would still touch topics regarding the Martial Law period, particularly the dictatorship of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. —KG, GMA Integrated News