Today, on the 52nd anniversary of Marcos Sr.’s martial law, the people are faced with the gruesome prospect of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. outstripping the bloody record of the man who handed him the reins of tyranny.
To a great extent, the intensifying human rights violations being perpetrated under Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have been made possible through the laws, orders and proclamations issued by former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.
It is Duterte who provided the wherewithal for Marcos Jr.’s current march towards authoritarian rule.
Under Duterte, “martial law” ceased to be a term exclusively associated with Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of emergency nationwide as early as September 2016 and imposed martial law in the whole island of Mindanao in May 2017.
Duterte also issued Executive Order No. 70 that created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and led to an indiscriminate frenzy of red-tagging that targeted all perceived enemies of his regime. Red-tagging rendered them vulnerable to graver human rights violations such as arbitrary arrest and detention on trumped-up charges, enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killing.
Duterte’s Memorandum Order No. 32 stepped up police and military operations in Samar, Bicol and Negros, which have seen of some of the worst violations of human rights to date. MO 32 became the precursor for brutal military operations in other areas of the Philippines.
It was also Rodrigo Duterte who paved the way for rehabilitating the Marcoses and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s capture of Malacañang.
Handed the groundwork for strongman rule by Duterte, Marcos Jr. has deliberately chosen not to make any fundamental changes to what his fascist predecessor has bequeathed him. He perpetuates the same counter-insurgency war waged by Duterte, but one made even more ruthless because of a self-imposed deadline to crush the insurgency by year’s end.
The son has been following in the footsteps of his dictator-father, who is believed to have been responsible for 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 737 enforced disappearances and 70,000 incarcerations during 14 years of martial rule, according to Amnesty International. Arrests and detention of dissenters were widespread, with victims arbitrarily charged with rebellion, subversion, and connection with the New People’s Army. Among those arrested and detained were church workers, human rights activists and lawyers, labor leaders and journalists who were often held for prolonged periods without charges.
The Marcos scion, using a law passed by Duterte, has surpassed the elder Marcos by legalizing the arbitrary arrest and detention of dissenters through the Anti-Terrorism Act. The current regime’s two-year record of human rights violations is already a stark reflection of Marcos Sr.’s fascist legacy: 105 extrajudicial killings, 75 frustrated extrajudicial killings and 15 enforced disappearances, 42,426 victims of forced evacuation, 63,379 victims of indiscriminate firing and 44,065 victims of bombing.
These figures are rapidly growing. In the month of August alone, three more activists have gone missing, bringing the current number to 15, or 70% of Duterte’s record of 21 forcibly disappeared throughout his six-year term.
The Filipino people say NO! to the grim prospect of resurrecting tyrannical rule through Marcos Jr. Neither is there a choice between Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who are both abominations. We demand accountability from Marcos Jr. and Duterte and justice for their countless victims. And we will not rest until both of these fascist tyrants are held to account for their numerous crimes against the people.