Martial law anniversary: Rights violations, impunity persist

MANILA, Philippines —  Fifty-one years since the declaration of martial law, Filipinos continue to face the same forms of repression under the second Marcos administration, according to activists.

Progressive groups held a protest at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila yesterday to mark the anniversary of the declaration of martial law in 1972, saying the climate of impunity that existed during the martial law era under the elder Ferdinand Marcos persists under the present administration.

Malacañang had nothing to say about the commemoration.

“It was a period of unmitigated tyranny and corruption in our history that we must never forget and, more importantly, must never allow to happen again,” said rights group Karapatan secretary-general Cristina Palabay.

“We find ourselves facing the same forms of repression with the enforcement of the counterterrorism laws that are essentially martial law instruments. These laws, much like the repressive Marcosian presidential decrees of the past, are being used to silence dissent and stifle protest,” she added.

Palabay cited the recent case of environmentalists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, who accused the military of abduction and coercion.

Castro and Tamano would have been the ninth and 10th desaparecidos under the second Marcos administration had they not spoken in opposition to the police and military’s narrative during a press conference organized by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), she noted.

Desaparecidos refer to missing persons presumed to have been abducted or killed by the military or law enforcement.

Palabay said the NTF-ELCAC, created by the previous Duterte administration, is being used by the current administration to hunt activists, rights defenders and other dissenters.

She mentioned the abduction of peasant organizer Bea Lopez and tricycle driver Peter Agravante in Negros Occidental this month. Agravante was later found dead, while Lopez remains missing.

“Several political activists and human rights defenders have already been unjustly and arbitrarily labeled as terrorists, criminally charged and their personal and organizations’ assets and properties subjected to civil forfeiture proceedings,” Palabay said.

Karapatan reiterated its call to abolish the NTF-ELCAC, repeal the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Anti-Terrorism Financing Law and junk the confidential and intelligence funds in the national budget.

“We must stand against Marcos Jr.’s repressive measures, just as we stood against the Marcos Sr. dictatorship of the past. From the regime of the dictator-father to that of the son, we have endured and fought against tyranny,” she added.

Meanwhile, more than 70 police personnel have been deployed at the burial site of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.

“We are just anticipating in such cases that someone will go there, we are prepared,” Taguig police chief Col. Robert Baesa told The STAR.

This year’s commemoration will be the second under President Marcos, namesake and son of the late dictator.

The elder Marcos announced the declaration of martial law on Sept. 23, 1972, although the official document, Proclamation No. 1081, s. 1972, was dated two days earlier. It was nominally lifted on Jan. 17, 1981.

He was ousted in February 1986 during the people power or EDSA revolution.

The martial law era reportedly led to 3,257 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 forced disappearances and 70,000 incarcerations.

Through the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board, the government recognized 11,103 victims during the martial law period and granted them reparations.

Threatened

More than five decades after the declaration of martial law, labor group Partido ng Manggagawa said human rights are again under serious threat.

“With these illegal activities being tolerated by the higher-ups in the chain of command, including the commander-in-chief, we all must be reminded that our human rights are seriously threatened under another Marcos and another Duterte, thus the need to fight back,” the group’s secretary general Judy Ann Miranda said yesterday.

“Not only did we experience abuse under the dictatorship. There was also a rice crisis during that time,” she added, as the country is currently facing a rice crisis.

The cost-of-living crisis under the present administration has worsened while public officials display their wealth and power, she noted.

Other groups

At least 6,000 members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Karapatan, Bayan Muna, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Migrante, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Movement Against Tyrany and other groups first held a program at the Liwasang Bonifacio before marching to Mendiola yesterday.

Similar activities were also held in Cebu, Iloilo, Kalibo, Naga, Legazpi, Davao and Cotabato.

For Bayan president Renato Reyes, President Marcos’ attempt to revise history and forget the atrocities his father committed was not successful.

“Quite the opposite, we are being reminded of many aspects of the past Marcos dictatorship by the current Marcos occupant in Malacañang,” he said in a statement.

For the Movement Against Tyranny, the recent abduction, detention and coercion of Castro and Tamano should serve as a reminder of the “evil legacy” of the Marcos dictatorship.

“Just like the fake golden age of the late dictator, people’s taxes are being channeled to corruption-laden infrastructure projects,” the group said. – Mayen Jaymalin, Emmanuel Tupas, Evelyn Macairan, Alexis Romero, Nillicent Bautista, Marc Jayson Cayabyab