The poem entitled Apo On the Wall is one of the fascinating literature that I have read. It is all about how frightful, powerful, and influential Ferdinand Marcos was in his time. There's a young boy whose father is a General, and on the wall you can see a picture hanging that they called "Apo", or the one who symbolizes Ferdinand Marcos himself. The General is actuated by the Apo to work hard, just like what the young boy feels when he sneaked at his father's office. There are two perspectives shown in the poem as you criticize the lines, the one whose pro Martial Law, which is the Father who is a General and the con Martial Law which is the innocent young boy. As you read a book about Martial Law, it states that Marcos also gave his soldiers a power in order to protect him that's why the Father was on the side of the Apo or Marcos rather. The innocent young boy symbolizes the people whose against Marcos who tried to fought for their freedom but in the end, they experience the darkness of Martial Law in which they are being punished by abusing them physically, mentally and sexually. Through the entire poem, you can notice how truly powerful Marcos was that time.
The thing I really like about the poem is that it states the facts. It made me remember what the time Marcos was. The things happened during Martial Law. It's like riding a time machine going from the past. Seeing how Marcos ruled in his time. And I think all Filipinos also wanted to find out what is the real essence of Martial Law. HOW? WHY? WHAT? There's still a lot of questions that needs such reasonable answers.
While reading the poem itself, I could feel my heart shaking and beating as fast as it could be. It feels like I was really right there exactly in Marcos time, and I saw what really happened that time. I also used my wide imagination all throughout the poem. It's kinda feel like I witnessed everything during Martial Law and I find it so cool. But on the other side, seeing those people who experienced the darkness of Martial Law was terrible. How the soldiers abused and punished like animals.
As I came back from the past, I realized one thing,
“Often the thing that brings you the most pain is the very thing that will lead you to the most gain and your breakthrough.” ― Jeanette Coron
The quote simply explains how life really was. According to the poem, the father works hard so the Apo would saw him snappy and all. It tells us that If you wanted to achieve something like the father who gains rewards, plaques and etc., you should be able to work hard and try your best to reach it no matter how difficult it was.
In the end, how matter how hard it was back then, it would just simply remembered as a history from the past. It would serve as a lesson because I know no one would ever wanted to experience the darkness of Martial Law and how Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines. And I think we should be all thankful of the freedom that we were experiencing right now .
