Resist tyranny, end killings
Calls to stop rights violation, imposition of martial law ring out around PH on day of protest
Calls to resist tyranny and a demand to stop the spate of extrajudicial killings borne out of the government’s war on illegal drugs rang out in the provinces on Thursday, the 45th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
Protest marches and forums discussing human rights violations and other atrocities during Marcos’ martial rule were held in cities and urban centers from Northern Luzon to Mindanao.
Thousands of protesters belonging to militant and labor groups, indigenous peoples, student- and church-affiliated organizations, and other nongovernment and civil society organizations joined these activities. Police reported no untoward incidents during the protests.
Northern, Central Luzon
In Baguio City, leaders of civic groups, teachers and students tackled martial law in a forum at the Saint Louis University.
Students from the University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio also held a rally on Session Road in the downtown area.
In Central Luzon, more than 12,000 policemen were placed on full alert to “thwart any hostile action that may be launched by terror groups,” according to Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, regional police director.
Members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Thursday left Angeles and Tarlac cities in 54 jeepneys to join protest rallies in Metro Manila.
The Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD) called for opposition to what it called President Duterte’s “tyrannical regime.”
“The Filipino people are victims of the regime’s brazen antidemocratic acts. Since he became president, Mr. Duterte had trodden the road similar to that of [Marcos], his idol. Even before becoming a full-fledged dictator, he has let the people endure his brutality, apparently, the change he promised the people,” KPD said in a statement.
Southern Luzon
Around 1,400 people joined the protest held in Albay province. They started marching from the Ninoy Park in Daraga town, briefly stopped at Camp Simeon Ola, Bicol regional police headquarters, before proceeding to Peñaranda Park in front of the provincial capitol in Legazpi City.
Members of Bayan, Piston, Gabriela, Karapatan and Anakpawis carried white crucifixes and placards calling for the end to extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses linked to the government’s drug war.
In Naga City, Akbayan Bicol held a forum onmartial law at the Naga City Hall followed by a march to the Quince Martires monument.
Chief Insp. Arthur Gomez, Albay police spokesperson, said the protest had been peaceful.
Vince Casilihan of Bayan Bicol described the Duterte administration as the shadow of Marcos’ martial law.
“Now that Mr. Duterte wants to imitate Marcos’ martial law, we must really join hands to fight for our rights. We are the government,” he said.
On the eve of the nationwide protests, some 200 churchgoers in Legazpi City lit candles and recited prayers for victims of human rights violations during martial law.
Lawyer Henry Briguera, who was among the Bicol journalists detained during martial law, said it was unfortunate that he could not join the protests.
“I am already paralyzed … I wish I could still join, especially in these trying times when civil liberties are in peril,” Briguera said.
For Merlita Lorena Tariman, 69, remembering martial law is a real nightmare.
Tariman was securing a Philippine Constabulary clearance for her to enroll at the Bicol University (BU) graduate school in July 1973 when a group of constabulary men picked her up from their house in Daraga and interrogated her at the Regan Barracks, now Camp Simeon Ola.
Tariman, who was 22 when martial law was declared, was writing a column for Bicol Chronicle, a weekly tabloid in Albay, and was an employee of BU. She was also involved with the Kabataang Makabayan.
“My name was number 87 on the list of 4,000 names of activists [in the] military’s order of battle,” she said.
She was detained for four months in Camp Vicente Lim in Laguna province before she was allowed to return to Daraga, where she was placed under house arrest from 1973 to 1977.
In Romblon province, the municipal government of Odiongan led the lighting of candles at the Children’s Park and Playground in front of the town hall to remember those who died during the Marcos dictatorship.
But Odiongan Mayor Trina Firmalo said the activity was not in any way meant to oppose Mr. Duterte’s programs, particularly his campaign against illegal drugs which critics blamed for the thousands of deaths during police operations.
The local government, she said, was calling on law enforcers to observe due process and respect life.
Visayas
More than 7,000 people took to the streets in Western, Central and Eastern Visayas chanting “Never again!” as they marched to protest extrajudicial killings and human rights violations under the Duterte administration.
More than 2,000 people joined the protest action in Roxas City in Capiz province; 1,700 in Iloilo City in Iloilo province; 1,600 in Tacloban City in Leyte province; 1,000 in the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan province; 500 in Cebu City; and 800 in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental province.
In Iloilo City, protesters held a program led by the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) and Bayan in front of the provincial capitol before marching along the city’s main streets.
Therese Arianne Samson, chair of the UP Visayas University Student Council, said hundreds of students joined the protest because abuses committed during the Marcos dictatorship were happening again under the Duterte administration.
Hundreds of high school students from the Ateneo de Iloilo in Iloilo City also joined a forum on the horrors of martial law and the need to protect basic civil and political rights.
In Roxas City, protesters led by MAT and Bayan threw rotten tomatoes at a mural of President Duterte and Marcos.
In Aklan, protesters gathered at Crossing Banga-New Washington before proceeding to the Pastrana Park, the public plaza of Kalibo.
In Tacloban City, protesters called on Mr. Duterte not to commit the mistakes of Marcos.
Larry Pascua of Sanlakas called on Filipinos not to allow another martial law to be imposed in the country.
Protesters wearing black shirts marched along the main streets of downtown Cebu City before converging at the Plaza Independencia.
Human rights lawyer Democrito Barcenas, who survived detention under the martial law, called on Filipinos to learn from past mistakes to avoid repeating these. “(Unfortunately), signs of martial law have reemerged,” he said. Barcenas denounced the series of killings that attended the administration’s crackdown on illegal drugs. He said people should remain vigilant and resist all forms of tyranny.
“In the time of Marcos, people were killed because they were suspected as communists. Now, people are killed because they are suspected as drug personalities. All of them are persecuted and killed without due process. People must be vigilant and unite against the looming dictatorship,” he said.
They also offered flowers and lit candles around the martial law marker at Plaza Independencia to remember victims of human rights violations.
In Negros Occidental, 800 members of militant groups joined separate rallies in the cities of Bacolod and Kabankalan.
“We are saying never again to martial law over and over again to preempt any plan of President Duterte to bring us back to those dark days,” Clarizza Dagatan, Karapatan Negros secretary general, said.
Mindanao
In Davao City, at least 3,000 people took to the streets to join the nationwide protest against tyranny but no one burned an effigy of President Duterte in his home city.
For the first time, however, protesters were barred from Rizal Park, a usual venue for protest actions, because of its “proximity to the City Hall,” the city government said.
Organizers initially planned to assemble at the park, located in between the city hall and city council building here, but the city government declared the area off limits to protesters and had mounted steel barriers there.
The city government also covered the Rizal Park stage with streamers calling for support for Mr. Duterte against alleged destabilization plots.
Protesters displayed streamers and banners with slogans denouncing the administration’s war on drugs and the killings of farmers, activists and “lumad” youth in his home region.
“This is first time in our history that we are commemorating the 45th year of martial law declaration of dictator Ferdinand Marcos [while] there is an [ongoing] imposition of martial law in Mindanao,” Jay Apiag, spokesperson of the rights group Karapatan in Southern Mindanao, told protesters at the Freedom Park.
“Marcos’ martial law was no different from President Duterte’s declaration because killings, arrests, harassment and detention of activists have continued,” Apiag said.
He said Southern Mindanao, Mr. Duterte’s bailiwick, documented the killing of 47 political activists, just a little over a year after he took power.
“(Martial law) is a rule of terror and tyranny,” said Toto Bulcan, a community leader in Agdao district in Davao, who was detained during Marcos’ martial law.
“We urge [Mr. Duterte] to stop this (martial law in Mindanao) and to fulfill his promises. Those promises won him the election,” said Bulcan, who admitted to being a supporter of the President.
Mags Maglana, a convenor of the Konsensya Dabaw, said Thursday’s protest was not part of any destabilization plot against Mr. Duterte but a way for the people to express their demands.
Lumad from the communities of Kapalong and Talaingod in Davao del Norte province also called on the President to stop the ongoing attacks against them by government forces.
In Cagayan de Oro City, some 300 protesters from the provinces of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon gathered at Magsaysay Park.