“The Duterte goverment’s black propaganda junket in Europe and at the United Nations was a desperate move to deodorize its notorious human rights record and to evade accountability for its crimes and tyrannical acts. It has repeatedly rejected calls for independent investigations by human rights experts and has barely responded substantially to communications sent by UN offices regarding cases of rights violations. Through a national task force composed of militarists and mercenary hacks, it is promoting a most unbelievable lie – that government is correct and everyone else is wrong. What is however apparent is its ellaborative effort to hide the injustices apparent in the country,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay.
In this episode, Bulatlat remembers the execution of the three Filipino priests who fought the Spanish colonization. Today, church people remain under attack for standing in solidarity with the Filipino people in their struggles and aspirations.
Messages of solidarity came from Hongkong, Brussels, Vancouver, and Chicago.
By JOMARI ALEJANDRO HERRERA III bulatlat.com
MANILA — Labor and rights groups around the globe called for the immediate release of Filipino trade union organizer and Kilusang Mayo Uno staff Maolen Maojo B. Maga this February, a year after his questionable arrest.
Messages of solidarity came from Hongkong, Brussels, Vancouver, and Chicago.
Maga’s wife and fellow activist Lengua de Guzman said international support for Maga has been there ever since, but the Free Maoj Maga Campaign gained international audience during the International People’s Tribunal held July last year.
De Guzman testified before the IPT regarding the trumped up charges against her father, peace consultant Rafael Baylosis.
“Through Maoj’s case, the international community became aware of the plight of unionists in the Philippines. They found it very alarming,” De Guzman said in Filipino.
In the Philippines, groups recently stormed Camp Crame in Quezon City to condemn the continuing persecution of trade union and community organizers under President Rodrigo Duterte.
Maga was the first unionist arrested in 2018 after Duterte’s cancellation of the peace talks, quickly followed by a series of abduction and trump-up charges of other trade unionist and activists.
Among those who expressed their solidarity and support are fellow unionists from Hongkong, the Philippine Australia Union Link, the Viva Salud and ACV from Belgium, and from their network of friends and youth activists.
Maga, 39, was a member of the League of Filipino Students during his college days at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
He was a trade unionist for Kilusang Mayo Uno, where he organized workers in the port area, in factory belts in Valenzuela (among them were Kentex workers), and in Central Luzon.
On Feb. 22, 2018, Maga was abducted by police officers in plainclothes while playing basketball in their village in San Mateo Rizal. He was later surfaced in a police camp in Quezon City, facing trumped-up charges. (bulatlat.com)
“Our diligent study of history and our present experiences have proven that martial law has done no good to the youth or to the Filipino people in general.”
MANILA – The recent statement of National Youth Commission chairperson Ronald Gian Cardema has gained wide criticisms, online and offline. Even Cabinet secretaries do not agree with Cardema’s proposal to revoke “government scholarships of all anti-government scholars” specifying those who he alleged as “allied with the leftist CPP-NPA-NDFP” or the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
In response to this statement, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Sarah Elago expressed concern, “NYC Chair Cardema’s dangerous mindset brings the whole student sector and schools, expressing dissent and position on various issues, under general suspicion and vulnerable to political persecution, threats, and other attacks,” she said in her Facebook account.
But the youth and students remain undeterred. On Feb. 23, as the people commemorated the 33rd year of Edsa People Power 1, the youth came out in force and showed Cardema and President Duterte that they will stand with the people against dictatorship and tyranny.
“For so long, we have been told that we are too young to understand what Martial Law was. That we have no right to speak against martial law or against the Marcos dictatorship. Yet this is not so. Our diligent study of history and our present experiences have proven that Martial Law has done no good to the youth or to the Filipino people in general. The narrative of time has told us that Ferdinand Marcos was a mad man hell-bent on establishing his power at the expense of the Filipino people– and Rodrigo Duterte is no different,” Elago said.
“We do not just celebrate the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship years ago, but we continue to raise the calls against the Duterte dictatorship at present,” Elago said on what it means to mobilize at the historic Edsa shrine.
Education is a right, and so is expressing dissent
For students in state universities and colleges, participating in mobilizations is a right.
Anj De Vera and Mikaela San Ramon, both students of University of the Philippines-Manila during the Edsa People Power 1 commemoration, Feb. 23. (Photo by A.M. Umil/Bulatlat)
Mikaela San Ramon, 20, a Public Health student at University of the Philippines-Manila said such statement of Cardema deprive the youth and students of their fundamental rights.
“Statement like Cardema’s goes against the Constitution that provides that people have the right to express their grievances and out right to education. It’s like taking away the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution,” she said in an interview with Bulatlat.
Jim Bagano, 19, Geology student at UP-Diliman meanwhile said Cardema’s statement, if Duterte will adhere to it, has effects on their education especially in courses that require field work in communities.
“It takes away the holistic and scientific approach of conducting studies. How can we know the concrete solutions to the country’s perennial problems if such programs like going to the communities are being vilified,” Bagano told Bulatlat.
Jim Bagano, Geology major in UP-Diliman. (Photo by A.M. Umil/Bulatlat)
Anj De Vera, 20, Development Studies student at UP-Manila also said that vilification of UP students, such as being radicals, has already affected their community work.
She said people in communities are cautious of UP students. “We explain to them carefully the purpose of our visit and somehow they understand,” De Vera said.
“We hope that the government stops these statements especially if they cannot prove it,” she added.
For these three students, there is no reason to be terrified of statements such as Cardema’s. They reiterated that they owe their education to the Filipino people that is why it is necessary to make a stand for the vast majority who are affected of anti-people policies of the government.
“Students are part of the basic sectors of society thus, we have take a stand with them,” Bagano said in Filipino.
Organized by the United People’s Action, along with the One Faith, One Nation, One Voice and other groups, the #UnitedPeoplePower aimed to emulate the unity and collective aspiration of the people 33 years ago in hopes that justice prevail once more amidst the current political climate.
Thousands of protesters, composed of various civic, religious, and progressive groups convened across the EDSA Shrine on Saturday, February 23 to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the EDSA People Power uprising.
Organized by the United People’s Action, along with the One Faith, One Nation, One Voice and other groups, the #UnitedPeoplePower aimed to emulate the unity and collective aspiration of the people 33 years ago in hopes that justice prevail once more amidst the current political climate.
‘Tayo ang EDSA, Tayo ang Pag-asa’
Various leaders from different groups highlighted the worsening attacks experienced by the people under the current Duterte administration. Issues concerning repression, poverty, escalating killings, attacks on the youth, and the martial law in Mindanao were discussed, inciting the resolve to strengthen the people’s resistance against such policies.
A chunk of the contingent was composed of various youth organizations. The youth assailed the recent attacks on their self-expression, as well as the slew of policies concerning them that they deem as anti-youth and repressive.
Raoul Manuel, the convener of Youth Act Now Against Tyranny, also highlighted the youth’s response to recent pronouncements made by the current National Youth Commission chair Ronald Cardema.
“The youth here today are unafraid of such threats! We will continue to fight the tyrannical rule,” Manuel said.
Meanwhile, religious leaders also gathered to stand against the attacks on the Church and the killings in the country.
Mother Mary John Mananzan, OSB, a convener of Movement Against Tyranny urged the people to unite against the continuing tyranny.
Also present in the protest is former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. In her speech, she also passed a message to the current government.
“Lahat ng kapangyarihan ay matatapos din. When this all ends, how will you face your conscience? Our struggle will succeed because it is based on God, Justice, and the People,” Sereno said.
The former Chief Justice also called on to the Filipino people to continue to fight and stand united.
Activists, not terrorists
Following the culmination of the #UnitedPeoplePower, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), the umbrella organization of various national democratic mass organizations, continued the commemoration protest to Camp Aguinaldo, the national headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
In the short program, progressives also hit the continuing impunity and rampant poverty.
Edith Burgos, mother of Jonas Burgos, a desaparecido from the Arroyo administration, stood against AFP’s move to delist the desaparecido cases.
The groups also assailed the continuing attacks against ordinary people, especially with the slew of red-tagging and malicious pronouncements made against dissenters.
“Duterte and his Armed Forces are the ones who sowed fear and terror especially in the countryside,” said Paco Perez, spokesperson of Anakbayan Metro Manila.
Former Department of Agrarian Reform secretary Rafael Mariano closed the program by urging the people to unite and fight in spoiling another looming tyrannical rule.
MANILA — The EDSA Shrine has once again been filled with battle cries of the Filipino people as a broad array of human rights defenders, workers, the urban poor, youth and students, and church people gathered for the 33th year since the EDSA uprising to call out the government for the “shadows of tyranny” under this administration.
People from all walks of life flocked to the gathering. Emotions seethe as they shouted chants against the return of an open dictatorial rule in the country, and sang songs of the people’s struggles and aspirations for peace, unity, and genuine democracy.
Several streamers calling for the end of martial law, and resist tyranny were hung at the footbridge along EDSA and Ortigas
Among those who joined the #TayoAngEDSA protest are former Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Serreno, Bro. Armin Luistro, actress Mae Paner, former Agrarian Reform secretary Rafael Mariano, and progressive lawmakers such as Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, Kabataan Rep. Sarah Elago and ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio.
“Tayo ang EDSA, tayo ang pag-asa. Tayo ang EDSA, labanan ang diktadura,” they chanted.
After the program, protesters marched along the stretch of the major thoroughfare and continued their protest action in front of Camp Aguinaldo’s Gate 2.
Sr. Mary John Mananzan of the Movement Against Tyranny said, “All tyrants believe in forever. But history, especially People Power, shows that we, the people, eventually triumph.”
Gross human rights violations
Protesters decried the continuing and intensifying human rights violations under the Duterte administration.
“Is there a good person who orders the killing of those who dare to dissent?” Pastor Irma Balaba of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines asked during the protest action.
In a statement, Bayan said that 33 years after the EDSA uprising, the country is still being “confronted with gross human rights violations reminscent of the Marcos years.”
For one, rampant killings and widespread red-tagging greeted Filipinos in 2019. Among the most recent is the military hitlist that named human rights defenders, church leaders, human rights lawyers and a journalist as so-called “terrorist” members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed the New People’s Army.
This administration has at least 13 cases of massacres of farmers and human rights defenders. No perpetrators has ever been brought before the bar of justice.
In her speech in front of Camp Aguinaldo, Edith Burgos, mother of disappeared activist Jonas Burgos, belied claims that there are no human rights violations under the present administration – from drug-related killings to concerted attacks against those critical of the Duterte administration.
“You can commit graver crimes if you are a liar,” she pointed out.
Misogyny
(Photo by J. Ellao / Bulatlat.com)
One Billion Rising global director and #BabaeAko member Monique Wilson said the struggle against tyranny must be coupled with the fight against tyranny.
President Rodrigo Duterte has been widely criticized over his misogynistic statements. One of his infamous pronouncements is his order to have female armed guerilla fighters shot in their vaginas “to render them useless.”
Whenever in hot water, presidential spokespersons are quick to dismiss these as mere jokes. Wilson, who is also a theater actress, said it is not normal to resort to rape jokes. She added that misogyny is a tactic that the likes of Duterte and US president Donal Trump use to spread fascism and tyranny.
She called on not just women but also good men not to be silent over Duterte’s misogyny.
Various women’s groups joined today’s protest action. In a statement, the Center for Women’s Resources said, “three decades have passed yet the shadows of tyranny continue to haunt us. Despite the charges filed against them, the Marcoses continue to consolidate power, wealth and influence both in local and national governments.”
Press freedom under attack
Journalists covering today’s protest action. (Photo by J. Ellao / Bulatlat.com)
Blogger Tonyo Cruz of the Let’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity urged the Filipino people not to allow anyone to trample on the people’s right to freedom of expression and of the press, following the politically-motivated cyber-libel cases filed against news site Rappler and the cyber-attacks being launched against alternative news websites such as Bulatlat.
A repeat of glorious days
Survivors of the martial law years who joined the protest action today reminisced the “glorious days” that led to the downfall of the conjugal Marcos dictatorship.
Lawyer Aleta Tolentino of People Power Volunteers for Reform pointed out that senators implicated in the infamous pork barrel scam are now free from charges.
She said, “ibalik ang ninakaw. Hindi ang magnanakaw.”
Meanwhile, as the election fast approaches, Bayan said there are various indications that the Duterte administration “is intent on using the vast machinery and resources of the state to push for the victory of its candidates in the 2019 polls.”
The group said, “the people will not allow and will resist a repeat of the Marcos dictatorship under the signboard of ‘Duterte.’ Our mass actions today are a demonstration of unity by various groups and democratic forces who have not forgotten the lessons of EDSA and are determined to fulfill the people’s aspirations for genuine freedom and democracy.”
A tribute for Randy Malayao, an NDFP peace consultant killed while sleeping on a bus on January 30 in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya, was held on February 19 at the Institute of Biology Auditorium in UP Diliman by Beta Sigma Fraternity, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Selda, Taripnong Cagayan Valley, College Editors Guild of the Philippines and Concerned Artists of the Philippines.
