There are forgotten heroes who died during the tyrannical Martial Law regime of Ferdinand Marcos. Among them are Edgar Jopson (Edjop), Abraham Sarmiento, Jr. (Ditto), and Artemio Celestial, Jr. (Jun). I had the honor of being in school with them – Ditto was my classmate in high school, Edjop was ahead by one year in high school and college, and I was ahead of Jun by a year.
For those of us who came into adulthood during Martial Law, it was a tumultuous, traumatic, and uncertain time. We lost a lot during martial law. We lost our political innocence. We lost our sense of security and certainty about the future. We lost our naivety. We lost 25 years of economic growth. We lost friends.