(We yield this space to the statement of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
FORTY-SIX years ago, the nation woke up to a dark day that unleashed a brutal and fascist dictatorship. Thousands were killed, incarcerated, and fell victim to dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ Martial Law, whose iron fist smashed, plundered, and killed.
Today, our nation is reliving the nightmare. The Marcoses have conned, maneuvered and schemed their way back into power, and into an alliance with the Duterte administration. The programs and policies being implemented by the Duterte regime are the same as that of the Marcos dictatorship.
Policies that favor foreign intervention have wreaked havoc in our communities, destroyed our natural resources and eroded our nation’s sovereignty over our fishing areas.
Oplans that favor the silencing of dissent are executing militarization in the countrysides, and forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the cities. This abuse of power is dismembering the gains of democracy that hundreds have given their lives for.
Our present and our past are merging and we are witness once more to salvaging of thousands via a relentless “war against drugs”, massacres of the scale of Marawi, rising inflation that forces people to line-up for hours to get cheaper National Food Authority rice, stifling the resistance of dissenters and political rivals with threats of incarceration – the memories of Martial Law are vivid and strong. Our wounds remain.
We have been there. We can still remember. We will never forget.
Our nation is in crisis. But the answer is not, and never will be Martial Law. The answer to hunger and inflation is not, and never will be iron rule. The answer to joblessness and unjust wages is not, and never will be a dictatorship.
We have been there. We can still remember. We will never forget.
We will remember with our feet – as we march with fellow Filipinos. We will remember with our fists – as we raise our arms in unity. We will remember with our voices – as we cry out with one voice.
Never again to Martial Law. Labanan ang diktadura, noon at ngayon!
