(We yield this space to the statement of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform due to its timeliness. – Ed.}
YESTERDAY, Sept. 21, 2022, the world marked the annual International Day of Peace. Forty-one years ago, in 1981, the United Nations issued the “declaration on the right to peace” which affirmed peace as a sacred right of all people and a primary prerequisite for the material wellbeing, development and the progress of countries. The UN also emphasized that the preservation of the right of peoples to peace and the promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each state.
While this year’s theme, “End racism. Build peace” is not directly related to the internal armed conflict in our country, UN’s message of ending discrimination and intolerance resonates in our context in terms of the rampant red-tagging and vilification often directed towards critics of the immediate past administration and even under the current dispensation. Many government officials especially those involved in the National Task Force To End Local Communist Armed Conflict have resorted to demonizing human rights and peace advocates as “communist terrorists” instead of nurturing a culture of dialogue and principled negotiations.
In the Philippines, Sept. 21, 2022 is also the 50th anniversary of the imposition of Martial Law by the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. In those dark years, many fell victim to human rights violations. Many others also died defending our democratic rights. Marcos Sr. imposed Martial Law to “nip the communist insurgency in the bud,” however, it only fanned the flames of the armed conflict between the government and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.
Now, 50 years later, and after succeeding administrations intensified their respective counter-insurgency programs aimed at defeating the communist rebellion, the armed conflict has continued to rage particularly in the countryside causing internal displacement in the most vulnerable communities. This long- running conflict only mirrors how deeply embedded are its roots in social and structural injustice.
Let us mark the International Day of Peace and the 50th year of Martial Law with the call for the resumption of peace talks. Peace is a continuing aspiration of our people. Calling for the ways of peace through principled negotiations is to reject a militarist solution, of martial rule in any guise.
