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BY RANIE AZUE
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Friday. September 22, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Progressive and church-based organizations in Negros Occidental marked yesterday the 45th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos with protests.
They criticized what they claimed as the “de facto martial law” under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Negros set up rally centers in Kabankalan City in the south and Escalante City in the north where its allied groups may gather.
Duterte was following the path of the late dictator, whom he acknowledged as his idol, said Mike Concepcion, newly elected secretary-general of Bayan-Negros.
All Filipinos must “resist and reject” the martial law in Mindanao and the “de facto” martial law in several regions across the country, added Concepcion.
Duterte must end extrajudicial killings, especially those attributed to his administration’s “war on drugs,” the Bayan official said.
The intensified antidrug crackdown that resulted in the deaths of thousands of suspects was only victimizing the poor, he stressed.
Winnie Sancho, secretary-general of the General Alliance of Workers Association, said Filipinos have the right to oppose and refuse allegiance to a destructive government.
Sept. 21, 1972 was “the day freedom died,” Sancho said.
“We should not forget the atrocities committed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and be vigilant of attempts by the current administration to return the country to the dark age of martial law,” Sancho added.
In southern Negros Occidental, the September 21 Movement and the North Negros Human Rights Advocates led a two-day rally that ended with the commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the Escalante Massacre.
On Sept. 20, 1985, paramilitary forces of the government gunned down civilians in Escalante City engaged in a protest-rally in commemoration of the 13th anniversary of the declaration of martial law.
At the Fountain of Justice in this city, human rights group Karapatan-Negros and the Movement Against Tyranny held an indignation rally and later joined a prayer rally led by the Diocese of Bacolod at the public plaza.
While the Marcos administration was marred by corruption and rights abuses, Duterte still considers the dictator the country’s best president.
Earlier this month, Duterte said Marcos was a “hero” as far as the natives of the latter’s home province of Ilocos Norte are concerned.
The President declared Marcos’ birthday on Sept. 11 a holiday in Ilocos Norte, where the Marcos family still wields political power.
According to Amnesty International, the killings in the drug war – in which more than 6,500 people have died in seven months – may amount to crimes against humanity.
But Duterte and his allies have bucked such criticisms from local and international human rights bodies and advocates.
In his recent State of the Nation Address, the President vowed that the war on drugs will be unrelenting. (With Agence France-Presse/PN)
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