Teachers denounce martial law extension

T(2nd of 3 parts)

he Alliance of Concerned Teachers strongly denounces the Congress’ approval to extend Martial Law in Mindanao for another year. The declaration of martial law has created conditions that are inimical to the interests of the education sector and has proven to be disastrous for the students, teachers and community members.

The imposition of Martial Law in Mindanao was declared on the pretext of ‘restoring peace and order’ in the light of the supposed terrorist threat coming from ISIS and other affiliated groups reportedly operating in the region. What it did create was a condition of intensified militarization in the countryside, characterized by massive human rights violations, displacement of communities, closure of indigenous people’s schools, and the harassment and persecution of teachers and students, among others. Martial law provided the impetus for the military to step up its counter insurgency campaigns and bring back the Cold War-era anti-communist hysteria to a higher level at the expense of the people. The persecution of progressive groups and individuals - teachers and students included became the primary feature of the human costs of Martial Law in Mindanao.

The extension of Martial Law for another year comes at the time of Malacañang’s release of Executive Order 70 that institutionalized a ‘whole-of-nation approach’ in counter insurgency operations and anti-communist campaigns of the government. This would mean the extension of intensified campaigns led by the military to silence the progressive groups and critics of the administration even outside of Mindanao. The executive order also provided the mobilization of resources and government institutions in the campaigns. The extension of Martial Law and the release of the Executive Order will exacerbate the deteriorating human rights situation in the country and further concentrate political and military power to the emboldened authoritarian rule of the Duterte administration.

Democracy in the country has already been in its lowest ebb since the ascendancy of Duterte and his minions in the government. The war on drugs that resulted in the victimization of the country’s poor; the control of the judiciary and the legislature thru executive influence; the threats to the institutional safeguards against abuse; the support of the regime for the return to power of politicians tainted with corruption and abuse of power; and the administration’s support to control the minds of the people by manipulating public opinion thru the employment of fake news providers - strike at the very core of democratic values and institutions. The extension of martial law and the ‘whole-ofnation’ approach of the administration in its anti communist drive would further aggravate the situation. In the end, it will be the people who will bear the brunt of such consolidation of the authoritarian character in the Duterte regime.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers