As the country commemorated the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power I uprising which toppled the 21-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., human rights alliance Karapatan called on Filipinos to reject the presidential bid of the late dictator’s son and namesake Marcos Jr.
As the country commemorated the 36th anniversary of the EDSA People Power I uprising which toppled the 21-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., human rights alliance Karapatan called on Filipinos to reject the presidential bid of the late dictator’s son and namesake Marcos Jr. and his tandem with Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte, in the upcoming elections — warning that “this tandem between the children of two despots represents the unity of no less than the most rotten, undemocratic, and anti-people forces in the country.”
“36 years ago, the Filipino people bravely stood to overthrow the fascist Marcos dictatorship — yet, for the past six years, the Duterte administration has bastardized the legacy of the EDSA People Power I uprising with his de facto martial rule and brazen assault on people’s rights. Our hard-won rights and freedoms are now under even greater threat amid the efforts for a Marcos restoration and a Duterte extension in the upcoming elections. Today, we are called to continue the struggle for justice and democracy, and to resist the despotic Marcos-Duterte tandem,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay stated.
Karapatan joined the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, the Movement Against Tyranny, the Akademiya at Bayan Kontra Disimpormasyon at Dayaan, and other human rights advocates and people’s organizations in a “Grand Teach-in” at the People Power Monument along EDSA to remember the rampant human rights violations, corruption, and poverty under the Marcos dictatorship as well as Marcoses’ crimes against the Filipino people “which Marcos Jr. has shamelessly whitewashed in his bid to stage the comeback of his family in Malacañang,” according to Palabay.
“Despite the enactment of a law recognizing the atrocities during the Marcos dictatorship, the Hawaii class suit filed by the victims against the late dictator, and various convictions on the Marcoses’ corruption and ill-gotten wealth, the Marcoses have churned out lies after lies. They depict the martial law era as ‘golden years’ of so-called ‘prosperity’ and ‘peace and order’ in their massive machinery of disinformation and historical distortions — especially in Marcos Jr.’s campaign for the presidency. We are here to say we have not forgotten, and we will stand against their lies,” she continued.
The Karapatan official further said that Marcos Jr.’s pledge to continue Duterte’s “murderous” programs and campaigns such as the drug war, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, and his opposition to the International Criminal Court’s investigation “only means that the victory of the Marcos-Duterte tandem will be a continuity of impunity, extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, red-tagging, militarization, and more attacks on people’s rights and repression of political dissent. Without a doubt, Marcos Jr. is already showing that he will continue his and Duterte’s bloody legacies.”
“For decades, the Filipino people fought the Marcos dictatorship — and the EDSA People Power uprising 36 years ago showed us how a people united can overthrow dictators. The fight continues, and it is more urgent now more than ever. We vow to fight tooth and nail not only on the ballots to be cast in May but in the people’s continuing resistance to tyranny and fascism. Today, we are compelled to stand against all efforts for a Marcos restoration and Duterte extension as we say: “never again!” Ang pinatalsik sa EDSA, huwag nang pabalikin pa! No to Marcos-Duterte in 2022!” she ended.