Sham ad nauseam

The delay in the construction of the so-called Martial Law Museum on the University of the Philippines (UP) campus is being sliced and diced as ammunition for detractors of the Marcos administration.

The spin is that the administration has something to do with the hold-up in the construction of the planned museum in honor of the victims of martial law atrocities that was originally scheduled to start in June last year.

At a House Committee on Appropriations hearing, Executive Director Carmelo Victor Crisanto of the Human Rights Violations Victims Memorial Commission (HRVVMC) blamed the UP administration for sitting on a turnover document.

The HRVVMC funded a new P80-million building where the UP Diliman Campus Maintenance Office will be transferred after it vacates the site where the museum, also known as the Freedom Memorial Museum, will rise.

The construction of the memorial was provided under Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.

The law identified rights violations committed from 21 September 1972 to 25 February 1986 as the period covered by the Martial Law Museum which is a misnomer of the period since military rule was lifted on 17 January 1981.

The relocation sites for the affected UP offices were completed in October 2022 and the turnover of documents to the university was done in June 2023.

The University of the Philippines clarified today that a necessary deed of transfer and possession has not yet been signed with the HRVVMC, thereby causing the delay in the start of construction of the Martial Law Museum.

UP Vice President for Planning and Development Dan Peckley said the main cause of the delay has nothing to do with the fantastic claims in the conspiracy theory being floated. The main culprit is the absence of the deed of transfer document (for the building) “that is still with HRVVMC for approval.”

UP needs the deed of transfer signed by both parties to be able to fully implement the transfer of the building and clear the area where HRVVMC will construct the museum.

The university’s legal office approved a draft of the deed which was forwarded to HRVVMC last 18 April, according to Peckley.

UP followed up on the document’s status with HRVVMC in May, June, August, and more recently last Tuesday, according to Peckley.

“Previously, HRVVMC informed the university that the draft was still being reviewed by the Office of the Solicitor General and the Commission on Human Rights,” Peckley added.

UP president Angelo Jimenez said the State University has called an emergency meeting this week to tackle the matter and reaffirm the university’s commitment to building the museum.

“We take criticisms, even harsh ones, positively as part of the difficult challenges we face but we know that at its core, it is an expression of our shared commitment to human rights,” Jimenez said.

“This project is a go so let’s finish it,” came his assurance.

The setting up of the museum is encountering delays as a result of the tedious processes in government and the recriminations that happened afterward.

Blaming President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the gaffe has no other purpose than to conveniently employ fake news to generate a misplaced outrage to benefit those with a partisan ax to grind.