MANILA, Philippines – A series of animated videos aimed at reminding Filipinos about the value of freedom will be released until December to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Martial Law.

The first video was uploaded on Friday, September 21, exactly 40 years since then President Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081, which proclaimed Martial Law in the Philippines.

The animated video by Arnold Arre first showed a group of people gathered at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman’s famous Sunken Garden in 1973. One is playing a guitar, with the others relaxing on the ground.

The next scene showed the same group being handcuffed and arrested by authorities.

“The first part is showing what 1973 is like,” said Gang Badoy of Rock Ed Philippines, one of the groups behind the series of videos which is part of a campaign called “Tandaan. Kalayaan. Alagaan.”

The other group is the National Youth Commission (NYC).

Badoy then explained the idea behind the succeeding scenes.

“Now it shows the exact same spot, Sunken Garden UP Diliman, and there is a gathering that is a hundred times larger than the original. And nothing happened, they’re free to finish it, assemble if they want to. And for the younger ones, this wasn’t usual before,” she said.

Asked why they chose an animated video to send their message across, Badoy told ANC: “We did not want a reenactment. We didn’t want any bias of the artista to distract them from the subject.”

“It’s not ‘tandaan’ Martial Law. It’s ‘remember we have freedom, therefore we should take care of it.’”

NYC commissioner Gio Tingson, for his part, said: “A generation has passed so the experiences are very different, how we make the decisions are very different. We’re enjoying a lot of things such as social media.

“It’s not just paggunita or remembering. It’s to understand, institutionalize the learning and that it should never happen again,” he added.

The rest of the videos commemorating the 40th anniversary of Martial Law will be released until December 10.

Badoy said the clips will also serve as tribute to the people who worked hard to give the Philippines the freedom it is experiencing today.

“These are freedoms we’re enjoying because there are many people who sacrificed… The freedom right now to express what they’re thinking, to ask the government about anything what we want to ask them,” she explained.

“It’s also a thank you to people who passed away, remembering them and their sacrifices.”

Below is the first animated video under Rock Ed and NYC’s “Tandaan. Kalayaan. Alagaan” campaign.