We must never forget.

Millete Caparas, 44, former KM member and editor, remembers what it was like:

"Many of my friends were no longer found, some of them disappeared, some were murdered, and everybody was silent.''

"Several days after martial law was declared, we were arrested. The word used then was 'invited.' All the student leaders and campus writers were detained. I stayed inside the provincial PC (Philippine Constabulary) command for five days. We found out that some of our classmates and peers were from the military. They were Deep Penetration Agents. We called them pigs.

''I belonged to the Kabataang Makabayan then and we had various socio-political organizations. We were surprised that some of the people who were outspoken were military DPAs.

''Many of my friends were no longer found, some of them disappeared, some were murdered, and everybody was silent.

''Pero kung ngayon mangyayari yon, hindi na ako bata, willing na ako to sacrifice and fight for that na hindi na dapat mangyari ang martial law. It's something you would not want to happen anymore.''

More memories here.

Breaking News.

SINGAPORE - Flush from Newater's successful launch, the Singaporean government has announced plans to introduce the second of what is seen to be a long line of recycled foodstuffs. "Newburger" is expected to be launched by mid-June.

"Newburger should challenge the way we think about food," says Tae Wee Wee, the new Chief Executive of Singapore's NewFoods Initiative. Tae declined to reveal Newburger's exact ingredients, only to say that "Once Singaporeans learned how to drink Newater, other food sources couldn't be far behind."

"We expect Newburger to be a rearguard success," says Mr. Tae. "We're launching with two exciting new flavours - chocolate and corn - and there's more to come out." According to Mr. Tae, Newater's success prompted the Initiative to consider products using the same revolutionary processes Newater utilizes. "Newater is number one right now, but in a few weeks, we expect Newburger to become a solid number two."

"Pro-choice"?

This could merely be laziness on the Inquirer reporter's part, or some cynical wordslinging on the part of the speechwriters working for La Gloria, but somehow, I don't think her slavishly obedient stance on birth control provides us much of any "choice".

In the rest of her statement, Gloria declares that her energies will go to "enlarging the economic pie"... We shall continue to fight for investments, jobs and better tools for people to succeed. We have to change the economy and the political system to fight poverty."

Ahem, but if I'm not mistaken, we need a leader of some courage to implement them all, yes? Believe the bishops when they claim they can inflict a backlash on politicians who don't toe the Church's line; proclaim your loyalty to a foreign government that we Filipinos didn't even elect (for that's what it really amounts to -- Gloria's obedience to the Vatican is no less than cultural colonialism by a foreign power). But don't ever, ever expect us to agree that in that petite body of yours, Ms. Gloria, you have any measure of courage, if you believe the future prosperity of our country has been weighed and found wanting against your present popularity with the bishops.