September 23 marks the real anniversary of Martial Law, while September 21 is the fake one. John Nery mentioned in his column that “the Marcos dictatorship was built on a structure of falsehoods.” Former president Ferdinand Marcos chose September 21 to remember the day Proclamation 1081 took effect for numerology purposes: 21 was a multiple of 7, his favorite number.

The falsehoods started with his fake persona — a bemedalled hero of World War 2, then his fake legal record — the highest grade in the Philippine Bar. Marcos even constructed a fake rationale for the imposition of martial rule: the communist scare.

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