“The people do not have to enter BS Aquino’s martial law experiential museum at Camp Aquinaldo in Quezon City to relive the terror of the Marcos’ martial law regime,” said Marie Hilao-Enrquez, Karapatan Chairperson, citing the several layers of police barricades that tried to block the rallyists from going to the EDSA Shrine. Karapatan and the contingent of CARMMA (Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang) joined the rally led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) in the afternoon of February 25.
“The people do not have to enter BS Aquino’s martial law experiential museum at Camp Aquinaldo in Quezon City to relive the terror of the Marcos’ martial law regime,” said Marie Hilao-Enrquez, Karapatan Chairperson, citing the several layers of police barricades that tried to block the rallyists from going to the EDSA Shrine. Karapatan and the contingent of CARMMA (Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang) joined the rally led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) in the afternoon of February 25.
Hilao-Enriquez said that while it is important for today’s youth to learn from the lessons of the past, they can also see the vestiges of martial law at present.
She said the police barricades that prevent the protesters from holding peaceful assemblies is one of the marks of martial law. She also mentioned the burning of the evacuation camp in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Haran in Davao City on February 24, where five Lumad were wounded.
The UCCP-Haran has served as a temporary shelter of the Lumad from the Davao and Bukidnon provinces for one year now. The Lumad left their communities because of the encampment of soldiers and paramilitary groups in their villages, resulting in a series of human rights violations. “Military and paramilitary terror that the people in the countryside suffer is a martial law imprint that did not end with martial law. All the succeeding regimes had implemented their own versions of counterinsurgency programs that violated human rights.”
“The existence of political prisoners, those who are jailed because they chose to accompany the people in the pursuit of social justice and genuine development, reminds us that there is no real democracy in this country 30 years after EDSA.”
All these, Hilao-Enriquez said, “is reminiscent of martial law and is meant to silence and curb a people who seeth in discontent. This shows how the post-EDSA regimes only continued and built on what Marcos Sr. had started. The need for genuine change is necessary.” ###