The Culture of Resistance: A Study of Protest Songs from 1972-1980

Abstract

Under the imposition of Martial Law, certain affects in the field of culture have occurred such as full control of the media by the government and the neutralization of naturalist ideas. Because of this, a culture of resistance developed, with song at the forefront, for raising issues suppressed by government-controlled media, for being the forum for dissent and counter-consciousness, and for embodying the historical document of the times. Famous poets, such as Heber Bartolome and Jess Santiago understood the effectiveness of song as a messenger of resistance, and even though theill pending with the Regional Trial Courts, one of the two first-level courts in the country, accounting for the most number of cases at around 343,875. In total 815,431 cases are pending before the Philippine judiciary from the Supreme Court down to the Shari’ah Circuit Courts as of July last year.