Karapatan stands in solidarity with the
Filipino people today in commemorating the 34th anniversary of the EDSA People
Power uprising. Today, we remember the thousands of victims of the brutal
Marcos dictatorship under martial law along with the long struggle of the
people’s martyrs for national democracy, genuine justice, and social change.
This momentous event in our history displayed the power of the unity of the
Filipino people that ultimately led to the ouster of the fascist dictator
Ferdinand Marcos.
Karapatan stands in solidarity with the
Filipino people today in commemorating the 34th anniversary of the EDSA People
Power uprising. Today, we remember the thousands of victims of the brutal
Marcos dictatorship under martial law along with the long struggle of the
people’s martyrs for national democracy, genuine justice, and social change.
This momentous event in our history displayed the power of the unity of the
Filipino people that ultimately led to the ouster of the fascist dictator
Ferdinand Marcos.
The victory of the EDSA People Power
uprising is not the victory of one family or specific personalities: the
toppling of the Marcos dictatorship is a victory of the Filipino people, of the
millions who marched to the streets in the four-day uprising and those who
courageously defied state repression and
fascism.
are again confronted with another despicable tyrannical regime — that of the fascist
Rodrigo Duterte.
supporting disinformation and historical revisionism, absolving their family
and cronies of their brazen attacks and crimes against the Filipino people, and
paving the way for the political rehabilitation of the Marcos and their return
to power using the money they stole from the country’s coffers, Duterte is
ripping pages directly from the playbook of Marcosian fascist dictatorship.
Amid a worsening economic crisis of the
nation brought about by Duterte’s own subservience to neoliberal policies and
anti-people interests, more and more people are taking the line of resistance
against the regime. In a desperate bid to consolidate power, Duterte is
unleashing in full the horrors of state fascism on anyone who stands in his way
— a déjà vu of the events that transpired during the Marcos
dictatorship.
The imposition of repressive executive
issuances like Executive Order No. 70 and its "whole-of-nation"
counterinsurgency campaign as well as Memorandum Order No. 32 has led to a de
facto martial law crisis in the country with the intensified militarization of
the entire civilian bureaucracy and the whole of society. The McCarthyite red scare
brought about by the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist
Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) reveals the organized efforts of the Duterte
regime’s campaign of state terror and crackdown on all forms of dissent.
The entire nation is now confronted with
worse forms of violations and harassment and a string of repressive laws that
curtail our basic rights and freedoms. Today, we are seeing an assault on
judicial independence as Duterte increasingly weaponizes the law and legal
processes for his political vendetta against critics and activists.
one from young human rights workers, elderly church people, and sick and ailing
peace consultants, to sedition charges against the political opposition.
Dubious search warrants are churned up in courts leading to Gestapo-like raids in
offices of progressive organizations and residences of mass leaders in Negros,
Manila, and Tacloban, with the planting of evidence such as guns and ammunition
used as pretext for their arrests. The government is likewise mounting its
machinery of lies and disinformation through the likes of frothing-in-the-mouth
sycophants Antonio Parlade Jr. and Lorraine Badoy, whose pathetic efforts to
red-tag critics and delegitimize them and their grievances have repeatedly
failed.
after three extensions, but the climate of militarization and impunity
continues with the threats against indigenous communities seeking refuge in
Haran, and with Mindanao being turned into a factory mill of trumped-up charges
against activists in the island and all over the country. Like Marcos before
him, Duterte is utilizing legal offensives to keep critics like Senator Leila
de Lima and hundreds of human rights defenders behind bars in an attempt to
silence their dissent against Duterte’s fascist pronouncements.
warranto petition against ABS-CBN’s franchise may be due to Duterte’s petty and
personal vendetta against the broadcast network, but it poses a serious
implication on the already-deteriorating state of press freedom and the rapid
narrowing of “democratic spaces” in the country. It sends a harrowing chilling
effect to anyone who dares to expose and criticize the Duterte regime fascist
underbelly. Thousands of workers are also set to lose their jobs with ABS-CBN’s
closure.
in the fascist Duterte regime’s assault on the press following the threats and
harassment of journalists by government and security officials. These blatant
attacks on Philippine media are notable revivals of Marcosian tactics that aimed
to turn the media as mere lapdogs for State propaganda, owned by Duterte’s own
cronies and loyalists.
and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año and National Security Adviser
Hermogenes Esperon Jr., to name a few, are also railroading the vague draconian
amendments to measures to the Human Security Act, the revival of the
Anti-Subversion Law and the militarization of schools through the restoration
of mandatory Reserve Officers Training Corps, as well as the reimposition of
death penalty. The police are heightening efforts in profiling individuals,
groups and communities at the expense of violating individuals’ civil
liberties. These policies aim to replicate the highly militarized atmosphere of
Marcosian martial law without its formal declaration. The Filipino people are
pushed further to the losing end, as we are all made to suffer attacks on our
civil, political, economic, cultural, and social rights.
uprising today is more relevant than ever. We now stand against a looming
dictatorship under a delusional Marcos fanboy Duterte.
then and now, and the Filipino people, continues to stand firmly in demanding
accountability for the plunder and atrocities of the Marcoses and in blocking
their political ambitions. Moreover, we are called to task once more to unite
in resisting another fascist and tyrannical regime, in frustrating its efforts
to consolidate authoritarian rule. Abraham Sarmiento Jr., a fierce critic of the
Marcos dictator posed this challenge then: ”Kung ‘di tayo kikibo, sino ang
kikibo? Kung ‘di tayo kikilos, sino ang kikilos? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?”
This challenge is resoundingly relevant today more than ever.
end to this fascist dictatorship is now, as we persevere in our struggle for
justice and accountability.