Introduction Series: What is the Memorial Commission?

Published on February 8, 2023

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Image 1 of the article introducing the HRVVMC. Content: Introduction Series, What is the Memorial Commission? It details the primary reason for the creation of the HRVVMC which is to establish, restore, preserve and conserve a Memorial Museum, Library, Archive and Compendium in honor of the human rights violation victims (HRVVs) during the Marcos regime
Image 2, Introducing the HRVVMC Content: It details the board of trustees of the commission. With the CHR Chairperson acting as Board chairperson. NHCP Chair as Board vice-chairperson. And the heads of the DepEd, NCCA, CHED and UP Diliman Library

Section 27 of R.A. No. 10368 states that “The powers and functions of the Commission shall be assumed by the Board of Trustees….”. Further, the Commission shall be attached to the CHR for budgetary and administrative purposes. The operating budget of the Commission shall be appropriated from the General Appropriations Act.

Introducing the HRVVMC Image 3 Content: Our logo is the flower of remembrance offered to the martyrs of the martial law regime from 1972 – 1986. At its center is the ancient Baybayin letter “A” which stands for Ala-ala which is the core of our mission. It is set against a blue background that is reminiscent of the colors of the United Nations which declared the universality of human rights. The eight branches that radiate are inspired by the rays of the sun of our flag where the petals attached are shaped like droplets of tears and blood to remind us of the price paid during the struggle for freedom and democracy.

Some elements in this logo also pay tribute to other symbols. The blue background is reminiscent of the color of the United Nations, which declared the universality of human rights in 1948. The eight branches radiating within the flower draw inspiration from the rays of the sun in the Philippine flag.

Introducing the HRVVMC image 4, content: details that the deped and ched are to coordinate with the HRVVMC to help teach the atrocities of the martial law period and to tell the stories of the human rights violation victims

Photo: From “Republic Act No. 10766,” Senate of the Philippines, April 19, 2016, accessed, July 22, 2022,
Link to Page

Introducing the HRVVMC image 5: content: The HRVVMC is allocated 500 Billion pesos from the Marcos ill-gotten wealth to build a museum to honor the lives of human rights violation victims of martial law

The Five hundred million pesos (₱500,000,000.00) comes from the accrued interest of the Ten billion-peso (₱10,000,000,000.00) fund appropriated for R.A. No. 10368. This fund forms part of the amount transferred to the Philippine Government by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, and adjudged by the Supreme Court of the Philippines in Republic vs. Sandiganbayan on July 15, 2003 (G.R. No. 152154) as Marcos ill-gotten wealth.

The Museum will be modeled in brutal architecture, a common style among government structures built during the Marcos dictatorship. Originally planned to be built in Bonifacio Global City, later Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, the Museum grounds found its home within the UP Diliman campus. The late CHR Chairperson Chito Gascon believed this to be “the most logical site… a stone’s throw away from where the barricades of UP activists of the Diliman Commune were set up.”

Photo: Members of the organization SELDA calling for an extension of the availability of funds for the compensation of victims. Image taken by Boy Santos. From the Philippine Star, Link to Page

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