Inquirer·Philippines·

PNP on alert as protests commemorate martial law

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Andrea Gregorio, Dexter Cabalza

MANILA, Philippines — More than 17,000 police officers were deployed since Saturday night for the 54th commemoration of martial law on Monday, as multisectoral groups plan to march on the streets to mark an episode more than half a century ago that still continues to influence the country’s political life.

The Philippine National Police on Sunday said additional personnel will be “on standby,” with policemen wearing body cameras to document incidents during the assemblies.

Meanwhile, the country’s capital suspended all classes on Monday, in line with the commemoration of martial law.

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Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said on Sunday the class suspension was based on the recommendation of the Manila Police District.

‘Gen Z will never forget’

Ahead of today’s protests, around 1,000 youth and students marched from La Salle Greenhills to Edsa Shrine on Sunday, calling for continued efforts to address corruption, impunity and political dynasties.

“Arresting a few people and filing cases [are] not enough. We need to see this fight through, hold all corrupt individuals accountable, recover every peso stolen from the people, and dismantle the system that enriches a few while making life harder for the majority,” said Khylla Meneses, Akbayan Youth national chair and lead convener of Youth Against Kurakot.

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Akbayan added: “Gen Z will never forget. We will continue to organize. And we will come back again and again to this place to finish the fight.”

Today’s protests also serve to commemorate the anniversary of the declaration of martial law in 1972, as activists relate the conditions then to the continuing corruption and abuse by government officials today, as well as last year’s Trillion Peso March against alleged misuse of infrastructure funds.

“As our people suffer from perennial flooding despite billions supposedly spent on flood control, we are once more witnesses to wholesale graft and corruption at the highest levels of government,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a statement.

“The government should be addressing corruption, poverty, human rights violations, and threats to national sovereignty, not manufacturing fear around legitimate protests,” it added.

Nationwide protests

A “Mass of Hope” will be presided by San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza in San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila, at 1 p.m. organized by the interfaith group, “One Faith, One Nation, One Voice.”

Although the service is led by a Catholic prelate, the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, one of the largest mainline Protestant Christian denominations in the country, urged its members to join the Mass.

The group will also march to Liwasang Bonifacio to join the multisectoral rally organized by Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot, composed of inter-religious groups, laborers, farmers, members of the academe, students and youth groups.

Bayan-led rallies will also be held in Baguio City, Abra, Legazpi City in Albay, Calamba and Santa Rosa in Laguna, Bacoor in Cavite, and Lucena in Quezon province in Luzon.

Protests will also take place in Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban, Roxas and Kalibo cities in the Visayas, and in Davao City in Mindanao.

‘Midwife of high crimes’

A candle-lighting ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. at Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Quezon City, led by the Buhay ang People Power Campaign Network, with civil society group August Twenty-One Movement (Atom) participating.

“Martial law is definitely the midwife of all Philippine high crimes and other social cancers like extreme poverty, foreign debt, extrajudicial killings, which was called “salvaging” then, and political dynasty,” Atom said in a statement on Sunday.

Under martial law, an estimated 70,000 people were illegally arrested, 34,000 were tortured, and 3,240 were killed, as then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. suspended civil liberties and established authoritarian rule, thereby extending seven years in power at that point to another 14 years.

Martial law was actually enforced on the night of Sept. 22, announced by Marcos the next day, and antedated to Sept. 21, his preferred commemoration date which activists have also acknowledged since.

He cited as the basis for martial rule the corruption and other abuses of the oligarchy and the resulting threat of the communist rebellion.

Atom, however, noted that “The Marcoses and their cronies built one of the 20th century’s most brazen kleptocracies, an estimated $10 billion stolen from a nation that went without hospitals, classrooms, and decent wages.”

It called for the reopening or retrial of Imelda Marcos’ graft cases where legally possible, as well as greater transparency in their handling and a full accounting of Marcos-era ill-gotten wealth.

“Martial law did not just terrorize a generation. It taught every strongman that after that, cruelty works, plunder is survivable, and power outlasts the courts,” it added.

Malacañang, meanwhile, urged organizers and participants to keep demonstrations peaceful.

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“The President is not preventing or restricting our fellow Filipinos from expressing their sentiments at these assemblies,” said Palace press officer Claire Castro. “But there is no need for violence, physical harm, or for any of our fellow citizens to lose their lives because our President listens to every concern raised by our people.” —With reports from Sheridan Delfino and Dianne Sampang

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