In celebration of the 35th anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution, The Human Rights Violations Victims Memorial Commision (HRVVMC) held its first-ever People Power Wikipedia Editathon. This event served as a collaborative effort of various aspiring and experienced writers and columnists, who with their shared expertise, took part in a three-day asynchronous Wikipedia article editing session from February 22 to 25, 2021. Here, participants edited numerous Wikipedia articles relating to the topics of the reign of Ferdinand Marcos’ rule in the Philippines, the Martial law period that occurred during this rule, as well as the aforementioned EDSA People Power Revolution.

1. Add to the existing body of knowledge on Wikipedia relating to the Marcos period.
2. Encourage the Filipino general public to take an active role in learning and disseminating facts about this period in Philippine history.
3. Promote a culture of critical thinking and internet fact-checking.
4. Expose aspiring online writers and columnists to the experience of online article editing on Wikipedia with help from experienced Wikipedia editors.
5. Disseminate essential truths about the Marcos era with the aid of period experts on the topic

In line with the many human rights violations that occurred during the Marcos Regime from 1972 to 1986, Republic Act No. 10368 was established to provide reparation, recognition, documentation, and appropriate funds for the victims of these violations. As part of this republic act, the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission (HRVVMC) was created to help fulfill the obligations set forth by establishing a memorial, collecting relevant sources, and ensuring learnings of these human rights violations so as to honor the aforementioned victims.

The vision of this organization is to disseminate knowledge relating to the human rights abuses that occurred during the Marcos era so as to further promote “good governance towards [a] just, humane and democratic society”^[1]. Essentially, HRVVMC serves as the culmination of efforts to commemorate and publicize the narratives of those who suffered during the previously mentioned era, for the purposes of national learning and development. Included in its efforts to commit to this endeavor is its recently held People Power Wikipedia Editathon.

Prior to the actual People Power Editathon, the HRVVMC also held a series of preparatory workshops via zoom for interested participants of the event. THese workshops were conducted to further inform interested Editathon participants of the importance of Wikipedia as well as of how to properly and effectively make use of the platform for information sharing.

February 11, 2021[edit]

The first Editathon Workshop took place on February 11, 2021. Here, veteran Wikipedia article editor Mr. Remi Estrada de Leon presented an introduction to Wikipedia and its advocacy. Mr. Estrada is a Communication Officer for Research at the UA&P Center for Research and Communication. He has made over 16,000 edits and authored over 200 articles on a wide range of topics on Wikipedia. Among the points discussed in Mr. Estrada’s workshop were the importance of Wikipedia, the reach of the platform, Wikipedia in relation to information regarding the Marcos Era, and more.

February 17, 2021[edit]

With Mr. Remi Estrada de Leon once again serving as the event speaker, another Editathon Preparatory Workshop took place via Zoom on February 17, 2021. This talk featured a crash course on wikipedia article writing that included a presentation on the rules and principles to consider when editing on the platform. Of the rules and principles tackled, Mr. de Leon  included insights regarding academic writing, neutrality, source verifiability, original research in Wikipedia, and more.

February 19, 2021[edit]

The final Editathon Preparatory Workshop took place on February 19, 2021. For this talk, veteran Wikipedia article editor Mr. Eugene Alvin Villar presided as the event’s speaker. Mr. Villar is a founding member of Wikimedia Philippines as well as a former Chairman of the Wikimedia Philippines Board of Trustees. The points presented by Mr. Villar related to “data visualization in Wikimedia and Wikidata”. In particular, Mr. Villar noted technical aspects with respect to adding tables and images on Wikipedia as well as to utilizing Wikidata tools to further incorporate media into Wikipedia articles.

In addition to the preparatory workshops held prior to the editathon, the HRVVMC also conducted a series of educational lectures on the Marcos Period and related topics. Several guest period experts from various organizations presided as the speakers for these lectures.

February 22, 2021[edit]

From 10am to 12nn, guest speaker Dr. Neil Martial R. Santillan held a discussion entitled “Essential Truths on the Marcos Dictatorship, 1972-1986”. As of writing, Dr. Santillan is the Chairperson of the department of History in the University of Philippines Diliman as well as the Vice-Chair of the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. His discussion focused on a variety of topics such as: the contextualization of the Marcos period, Proclamation No. 1081, the declaration of martial law, mechanisms of authoritarian rule, and more.

Following the talk of Dr. Santillan, a lecture from 2 to 4pm by Ms. Katrina Stuart Santiago and Ms. Angela Stuart-Santiago discussed several key insights regarding the 1986 People Power Revolution. Ms. Katrina Stuart Santiago is the co-founder of the People for Accountable Governance and Sustainable Action (PAGASAph) civil society organization and Ms. Angela Stuart-Santiago has written three books on the 1986 Revolution. Their lecture prompted discourse regarding the narrative of the said revolution and how this narrative is framed through various contexts, facts, and truths.

February 23, 2021[edit]

The second day of the People Power Editathon event also featured discussions by guest speakers regarding topics associated with the Marcos Period. From 10am to 12nn, Mr. John Ray Ramos presented a talk entitled “EDSA in Different Sectors: Church and Military”. Mr. Ramos was formerly a researcher for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and is currently an advocate for public history as well as a professor of history at the Ateneo de Manila University. His presentation mainly focused on the 1986 People Power and the factors that brought it to fruition through taking into consideration the role of the military during this period.

The final lecture that took place for the Editathon event was given by Dr. Ferdinand C. Llanes. Dr. Llanes was previously the former Chair of the Department of History from 2006 to 2009. He also served as the Commissioner of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines from 2010 to 2014. His lecture discussed "EDSA in Different Sectors: Labor and Youth".