PROGRESSIVE students from various schools slammed the House of Representatives for approving on final reading the bill declaring September 11 of every year as a special non-working holiday in the entire Ilocos Norte province.

House Bill No. 7137 or the bill declaring September 11 as the “President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Day” gained 197 affirmative votes and 9 negative with one abstention.

The news about the bill’s passing has spread like wildfire and was quickly criticized sharply by multi-sectoral groups which issued a public reminder that the late dictator is “not a hero.”

Though the University of Santo Tomas has been restrictive of its students, an artist collective within the university posted a statement calling the said bill a “disgrace” to victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime.

“May we be reminded that the ‘President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Day’ serves as nothing else but pure disgrace to the lives of the Martial Law victims— those violated, tortured and murdered under the late fascist’s regime,” Panday Sining UST SHS said on its Facebook post.

An agrarian reform advocate group from the University of the Philippines also lambasted the bill as they call it an “instrument” of historical revisionism.

“Mariing kinokondena ng National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates – Youth (NNARA-Youth) UP Diliman ang kasuklam-suklam na pagiging instrumento ng rebisyunismo ng kasaysayan ng mga kongresista,” the group said.

A political organization from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines also joined the fray and called for the junking of the said bill as a move to “protect history.”

“Ninanais ng Laban PUP na ibasura ang naturang pagsasabatas at protektahan ang ating kasaysayan. Hindi magiging isang bayani kailanman ang isang diktador at pasista. Patuloy ang ating pagtindig laban sa kahit anong porma ng rebisyunistang pangkasaysayan,” the Laban PUP said.

If enacted into law, Marcos day will supersede President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation in 2017 making September 11 a special non-working holiday in the province.

This developed as militant groups are planning to assemble this coming September 21, not only to criticize the declaration of Martial Law 48 years ago, but also to condemn the passage of such bill in Congress.