The session’s common theme is the Marcos Sr.’s Martial Law. While Prof. Archill Capistrano’s focus is the present age of disinformation and post-truth, her presentation deals with online content-creations about the Marcoses and the Martial law and how fraud, fake news, outright data manipulation and historical revisionism enabled Marcos Jr. to win the 2022 elections. Prof. Vallejo’s paper on the other hand, also choose to re-examine the science policy of Marcos Sr., specifically, the technocracy, and why it is bad for the country. He said that the nation is lagging behind in terms of science and he questioned why the succeeding administrations sustain the policy when it is clear that the policy did not bring the nation in a better position.

“Gadgetized consumerism” or the market-driven huge consumption of gadgets (i.e. cellphones) and the use of social media (i.e.facebook) has only enriched the economic and political elites- making huge profits out of the industry. While this economically benefitted capitalists and their cohorts, the industry is at the same time beneficial to political elites as it is being used and abused as a platform for political agenda like promoting historical revisionism, sanitizing political images and getting elected, and reclaiming political power. This phenomenon has caused the nation crises of learning and the Filipinos became vulnerable to consumption of disinformation; negative historical revisionism, distortion and denialism; data manipulation and data thievery. The era of disinformation and post-truth cultivates poverty of critical mindedness and manipulation of public discourse.

On the otherhand, technocracy as a policy of the Marcos Administration failed in the war on poverty, and only brought us continued underdevelopment, and ushered us to the status of becoming “the sick man of Asia.” Ironically, succeeding administrations did not learn from their predecessor and continued the policy even if it brought us to the status of sick person of Asia and third world. Science, which is expected to drive the nation to progress, lagged behind the neighboring countries. It did not give our country genuine industrialization, and the overall impoverished socio-economic conditions of the people remain unsolved. We need to study now our path to genuine development. UP should also re-examine its role and criticize self if necessary because technical advisers and technical experts are also coming from our ranks.