Pinoys urged to stay vigilant

MANILA, Philippines – Amid issues involving human rights and the burial of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the heroes’ cemetery, Vice President Leni Robredo enjoined Filipinos yesterday to remain vigilant against the possible return of martial law “or any of its elements,” as she called on government leaders to continue to be “instruments of truth and justice.”

“Not in this lifetime, never again,” the Vice President said on the 44th anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas also stressed the martial law episode in the country’s history would always be relevant, as the present and future generations should learn “vigilance, self-sacrifice, forgetting oneself and standing up for what is right” from it.

Villegas is the protegé of the late Manila archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, who played a significant role in the historic 1986 EDSA People Power revolution that toppled Marcos from power.

Robredo, the Catholic Church and militant groups said the people must not forget the experiences and lessons from martial law.

The Vice President urged Filipinos to keep being “safeguards of freedoms of life, liberty, speech and due process.”

Robredo also asked everyone to remember the 70,000 Filipinos who were imprisoned, 34,000 tortured, 3,240 killed and 390 who disappeared during what she said was one of the darkest periods in Philippine history.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that their stories are neither forgotten nor twisted for political purposes and ambitions,” she stressed.

CBCP-Permanent Committee on Public Affairs (PCPA) executive secretary Fr. Jerome Secillano supported Villegas’ statement, saying “our government is duty-bound to protect human rights and human dignity at all cost.”

“Its instrumentalities shouldn’t be used to repress or oppress its citizens. It should rather ensure the effective functioning of our democratic processes,” he stressed.

On to the streets

Members of various militant groups marched to Liwasang Bonifacio where they lighted candles for the victims of martial law and extrajudicial killings.

Wilson Fortaleza, spokesman for  the militant workers’ group Partido ng Manggagawa, said just like martial rule, the government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs also claimed the lives of so many people and led to violations of human rights and civil liberties.

The group said those who died in the course of the drug war must be remembered along with the human rights victims during martial law declared 44 years ago on Sept. 21. The group alleged even human rights defenders and activists were being killed, citing the cases of Orlando Abangan and Gloria Capitan recently.

“The prevailing climate of impunity that has resulted in wanton killings of alleged drug pushers and addicts has also provided fertile ground for politically motivated slayings,” Fortaleza said.

Philippine rights group Karapatan, for its part, believes imprints of martial law are still existing, citing the existence of political prisoners as example. There are 525 political prisoners as of June 30, languishing in jails all over the country on trumped up charges, Karapatan deputy secretary general Jigs Clamor said.

“The Filipino people will not let it happen once more,” Clamor said, challenging President Duterte “to remove the imprints of martial law by addressing the long-standing and deeply rooted concerns of the Filipino people” like corruption and poverty.

Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo also said in a rally in Mendiola in Manila that the Duterte administration should avoid atrocities committed during martial law like the militarization of communities, killing of leader-activists and extrajudicial killings.

Crisostomo called on the youth to fight for real change by studying history and current events.

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines-Mindanao also called for justice for all the victims of martial law and what it claimed was continuing state fascism.

The group likewise expressed strong opposition to the planned burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Those opposing the burial of Marcos at the heroes’ cemetery said a dictator who caused suffering to many Filipinos should not be glorified to avoid sending the wrong message to the younger generation. - With Edu Punay, Mayen Jaymalin, Artemio Dumlao, Ghio Ong