According to a news article by CNN Philippines (2022), people fear the possible historical revisionism that may occur due to the reign of president Bongbong Marcos. Ambeth Ocampo then corrects that the term that should be used is ‘historical distortion or denialism’, not historical revisionism. Due to this, I believe that we should all be aware of the differences between historical revisionism and historical distortion due to this allowing us to avoid miscommunication and to know if a decision to change a specific part of history should be accepted or rejected.

According to Krasner (2019), historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of historical events through newly found facts. It is a very common occurrence and is mostly not controversial, for the revisions are fully supported by real life facts. As Ocampo (2022) states, historical revisionism is when “we revise, we reflect—we correct”. In contrast to historical revisionism, historical distortion would be the distortion, alteration, or changing of information or history using lies and misinformation. I believe that this is the most controversial as it manipulates the audience into believing something that is false. A well known example of historical distortion in the Philippines would be the historical distortion done by the current president, Bongbong Marcos, as they denied the human rights violations done by Ferdinand Marcos during one of his 2018 interviews with the past Secretary of Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile (Estanislao, 2020).

Now that we know the differences between the two terms, we should keep these differences in mind since this can help us avoid miscommunication. As we know, historical revisionism is an essential part of keeping our history close to the truth. That is why, if we use this term instead of historical distortion, people may think that the type of change being done to history is good, while, in reality, it is actually done for a manipulative and bad reason. An example of this is when people call the historical distortion regarding Ferdinand Marcos a type of historical revisionism, even though historical revisionism uses newly found facts, compared to this situation where history is being changed using misinformation (Catienza, 2022).

From my perspective, being aware of the differences of the purposes of historical revision and historical distortion can also help us know if a decision to change a specific part of history should be accepted or rejected. While historical revision aims to enhance the understanding of human history positively (Krasner, 2019), historical distortion aims to use misinformation to change or distort history (Cristobal, 2019). Knowing the different aims of historical revision and historical distortion can help us know which action to take, as we would be able to know when we should accept the new information from revisionism and reject the false information brought upon by distortion.

In conclusion, although they sound similar, historical revisionism uses real newly found facts to enhance our understanding of history, while historical distortion uses misinformation to change history. In my opinion, It is very important to know the differences between these terms as it helps us all to avoid miscommunication and to let us know whether to accept the changes in history or to reject them. As citizens of our country, we should always be aware of the terms that we use in our everyday lives for the betterment of our community’s knowledge and future decisions.

“Perception is real, the truth is not.” -Imelda Marcos

On the evening of September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. formally announced that the Philippines was under martial law. And as historians know, it was one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history. According to Amnesty International, between 1972 and 1981, over 70,000 individuals were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured, and 3,240 were killed. Furthermore, the country's debt increased from $8.2 billion to $24.4 billion in just five years. In addition, the Marcoses stole an accumulated wealth of $5–10 billion from the country’s coffers.

By the time the Marcoses were exiled in 1986, the country was in ruins. So, as the subsequent administrations were left to rebuild the nation, the people vowed never to forget the atrocities the Marcoses had committed against them.

Yet, on June 30, 2022, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was inaugurated as the 17th president of the Philippines. And despite his family’s legal and ethical controversies, he remains a popular figure among the public, with over 31 million votes cast in favor of his presidency. What could have possibly caused this resurgence of power despite the Marcos family’s crimes?

One likely reason that could have fueled this resurgence is the presence of "historical distortion."

According to Jose Alain Austria, a history professor from Benilde, historical distortion is the purposeful alteration of a narrative to perpetuate a lie that would benefit a person, government, administration, or dictatorship. And in the case of the Marcoses, this helped fuel their political resurgence because it allowed them to garner support from the public by presenting themselves in a much more benevolent light. But how did they do it?

To first contextualize, it’s important to note that the K-12 basic education curriculum and the local textbooks used under it are widely considered inadequate because of their skewed positive portrayals of martial law history. For example, in the textbook, "Isang Bansa, Isang Lahi," 18 pages were dedicated to listing the "positive" effects of martial law, such as "peace" and "order." In contrast, only two pages were dedicated to its negative aspects. Because textbooks like these are being used to teach martial law history, the public, especially the younger generations, has a shaky understanding of what truly happened during that time.

Given this context, the Marcoses capitalized on the public's shaky understanding to gain popularity and power through social media. Being the "social media capital of the world," it’s easy in the Philippines to produce and spread historical accounts and narratives to millions of people, regardless of your level of expertise. Knowing this, the Marcoses used a systematic campaign of disinformation through social media to rebuild their image.

According to Gemma B. Mendoza, this campaign employed a broad number of websites, including Facebook, Youtube, and social media influencers, to invalidate the documented reports of the atrocities that happened under martial law. For example, Sangkay Janjan TV, a popular Youtube content creator, garnered over two million views in his most popular video about the Philippines being a global superpower had the Marcoses stayed in power. And unfortunately, many Filipinos fell victim to this ploy to rewrite history.

In conclusion, it can be said that due to the inadequacies of the K-12 basic education curriculum in addressing martial law history and the effective weaponization of social media by the Marcoses, many people developed a sense of nostalgia for a "golden era" that never happened. And as a result, the Marcos family was able to reclaim that coveted seat of presidential power.

As Dr. Jose Rizal once said, "He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination." These words illustrate the significance of history to us, Filipinos. It teaches us not only about ourselves and how we came to be but also how to forge better paths for our societies toward triumph. Because of this, everyone has access to examine the past and form their own conclusions. With this privilege, we as citizens have an abundance of "destructive power." This manifests itself in many ways, the most prominent of which is the distortion of historical facts.

According to Dr. Jose Victor Torres (2021), a professor of History from DLSU, historical distortion is the "deliberate changing of the narrative in order to perpetuate a lie that would serve the interest of a person with the intent of erasing a portion of history”. This deceptive practice poses a risk to society that may lead to the destruction of the “saysay” of our “Kasaysayan'' by establishing a false sense of legitimacy, feeding on what people want to hear about their history, and reshaping public opinion.

Historical distortions harm society by instilling a false sense of legitimacy in the appeal of such distortions to manipulate the knowledge gaps of the population. For example, the Martial Law era, arguably one of the darkest periods in Philippine history, remains a contentious issue in the public because "not everyone was aware of the atrocities at the time due to censorship" (Chua, 2020). The Philippines is also known as the "social media capital of the world" (Statista, 2022), making it easy for non-historians to spread accounts of history for whatever reason. As a result, distorted narratives are consumed and pitted against carefully researched works, generating a societal anti-intellectual tilt.

These historical distortions also frequently feed on what people want to hear about their history. During the Marcos period, some desired to believe that the Philippines was the "richest country in Asia." However, based on data, our country never became the "richest country in Asia" during the 1970s (Rappler, 2019). Furthermore, while some data-based statements may be true, one must also learn how to properly interpret the data because simply accepting it will result in something that is also a lie. It's possible that the Marcoses returned because people thought they were good.

Another hazard that this poses is their power to change public opinion and encourage groups of individuals to do dangerous actions. Other than the Philippines, an example of this was in Rwanda, where historical distortions through propaganda were used for sowing hatred among ethnic groups. This caused what is now known as the Rwandan genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered in 1994. (Estes, 2010).

Overall, history is a demonstration of power. By erasing the blemishes, injustices, and crimes in our history by creating and believing in historical distortions, we will never be triumphant as a nation. With all of this, combating historical distortion is an urgent matter, not just for historians, but for every responsible citizen. It is critical to fact-check and guide who may share and believe in this type of distortion. Halina at sama-sama nating ingatan at pahalagahan ang saysay ng ating kasaysayan.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

A brilliant quote that comes from George Santayana perfectly encapsulates the true importance of not only knowing, but comprehending our history. History is an important part of our development as a society and its integrity must be protected.

Let us first define what historical distortion is, so that we may have a better understanding of how it affects history as a whole. Historical distortion is defined as the changing of historical events or narratives to better suit one’s personal agenda (Guardian, 2020). An example of this is when court historians alter historical records in such a way that benefits their monarchs to gain favor (Who Distorts History?, n.d.).

To better understand why history is important in the first place. We first need to understand that history plays a pivotal role in the decision making of important governing bodies in the present time. The results of historical methods of governing, management of economy and military forces are applied in the status quo. Regardless of if these are failed methods that will be avoided, satisfactory methods that need revisions or effective methods that are adapted, our history will still matter in the way our society runs. Besides this, history is an important part of education. Numerous morals, lessons, ideologies, etc. can be learned and analyzed through the study of history. For this education to be accurate and effective, the information these students are consuming must follow suit. History is a well of documents that contain information of how humanity progressed and by poisoning a small part of this well, we poison the whole thing.

Now we have established the importance of history, why then is historical distortion harmful? First, the distortion of history makes it difficult to distinguish true and false records which causes; skepticism in regard to all history or a large chunk of history in which proof of distortion is found; misinterpretation of historical events; damage to credibility of innocent people and vice versa. The second important point to consider is justice. When history is distorted to tailor to better the narratives of certain individuals, it is unfair to both the people who consume this information and to other historical figures who work to better their own narratives truthfully (Ramos & Admin, 2022). When we have politicians (who are proven to have engaged in malicious practice) distort history to better their own image in future generations, is that not unfair to these generations who are being lied to and to other historical figures who worked toward the greater good and are being regarded in the same light as malicious individuals.

Integrity, honesty and accuracy, those are the values that are needed in order to keep our history reliable. Through the numerous harms of historical distortion, our society becomes vulnerable to the mistakes of our ancestors. As a society and as a population we have a choice, the choice of whether or not we dignify and tolerate the altering of historical records for individuals’ benefits. What kind of society would you like your childrens’ children to live in? The choice is yours.

Ever since the start of the digital age, the capability and effectiveness of communication has increased exponentially. More and more people sign up and go through the vast realm of the internet, hoping to absorb and obtain more knowledge on both past and ongoing events. In the case of acquiring history however, some people may not realize that the knowledge they absorb is possibly inaccurate and twisted into a different narrative. Historical distortion is slowly entering our society, therefore it is essential that we understand why it is important to identify historical distortion and find ways to combat it.

Jose Alain Austria, a history professor from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, states that one of the many dangers of historical distortion is that it has the ability to reshape public opinion and also cause groups of people to take dangerous actions. He further examples how in Rwanda, historical distortions were used in propaganda to bring about hatred among ethnic groups, which eventually led to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. If left unchecked, historical distortion could possibly become a substantial factor in catastrophes such as this.

Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate says that “Philippine society has been sentenced to death by a thousand cuts, where false information and history manipulate people and their realities. The steady rise of “fake news” through social media, particularly through orchestrated disinformation campaigns, should also be recognized as another prime challenge to history. Our society has been in numerous situations where historical distortion has caused disruption and quarrel in the media.

These dangers of historical distortion oppose a serious threat to our culture and society, therefore it is important to recognize that its prolonged presence brings harmful and negative effects.

Spreading unverified information, especially exaggerated claims, causes unnecessary panic that can harm lives. As such, methods and practices must be made in order to counter this issue and discern between the truth and lies in history. Rappler suggests reporting any abuse and dubious claims. To be cautious of any attempts of manipulation, verifying or cross-checking details such as names, dates, incidents, addresses, locations,...photos, videos etc. Another essential reminder when handling historical distortion is to help spread awareness to this issue and point out any misinformation regarding the topic at hand. By implementing these practices whenever using the internet or finding any sources of information about our history, we negate the effects of historical distortion and slowly progress to become honest and well-educated in handling this issue.

As the world of media and information grows everyday, so will the amount of problems and its users. The fact that numerous people, especially historians, have given solutions to this problem shows that a significant step has been made in order to protect our history from the harmful effects that comes along with distorting it. As for now, the biggest advice for all of us is to listen to the suggestions and experiences from historians and experts about the proper handling of history in order to avoid falling victim to this issue.