"Apo On The Wall" By Bj Patino

 This poem shows how a little child keeps on loitering in his strict father’s room with a picture of his father’s boss hanging on the wall. He says that the picture of Apo looks snappy and keep staring at you as though it is real which means you can imagine how powerful this Apo is being put on a wall in a room of a child’s father.

The poem provides to look over what was in the past specifically in Martial law times. It gives also an idea of what kind of relationship the child and father had.The superior of a family is a father which is the child’s natural feeling is to fear as a sign of respect.This also connotes the Filipino who were afraid over the power and authority of Marcos.It is all about how power influence and public fear dominant during the time. One of the lines that really learn about this poem is about the phrase “His eyes are following me like he was that scary Jesus in the hallway saying I know, I know what you are doing” in which Ferdinand Marcos is like Jesus who knows everything we do because of his power.

Martial Law has a good and bad effect in many Filipinos who experienced it. This poem served as a living testimony for those Filipinos who come across this period, thus, the revelation of the dark side of what happened in the past during Marcos regime that it has a lot of secret untold stories and unheard voices of testimonies up until now weren’t given a chance to have justice. The poem is filled with fear,grief, and unheard lamentations from our past. The poem made us realize and taught the value of open-mindedness. With regards to the present, President Rodrigo Duterte as all we know, declared martial law in Mindanao and There is no problem to that unlike before during Marcos regime but what makes me feel sad is that what if President Duterte emulate the martial law during Marcos regime and we’ll taste the wrath just like before and I do not want it to be repeated.

The poem gave a reason to give value of what had occurred in the past. The poem is timely to us because of the burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the “Libingan ng mga Bayani”. There are Pro-Marcos supporters and Anti-Marcos supporters but for me we should really move on from the past. How can we progress if we have not moved on yet? We just look at the bad things and we take for granted on the good things that Marcos contributed. It is really not Marcos fault as my grandmother told me it was the fault of the abusive soldiers and cops that maltreated Filipinos. We should let go of the pain because if we won’t we would be stuck in this situation forever and the pain would not be erase it would just pass to the next generations and we would really not achieve peace.