2,100 in Western Visayas join actions marking Marcos’ Martial law declaration anniversary

Protesters in Iloilo City including hundreds of students mark the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos decrying continued extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses under the Duterte administration (Photo by Nestor P. Burgos Jr./INQUIRER VISAYAS)

ILOILO CITY –– Around 2,100 people joined protest actions marking the 47th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The protest actions led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) in Panay included those in Iloilo City (1,500), Roxas City in Capiz (500) and the capital town of Kalibo in Aklan (100).

The protesters decried the return to power and growing political influence of the Marcos family under the Duterte administration.

They also carried placards and streamers decrying the continued killings of activists and political dissenters, suspected drug personalities and the harassment and attacks against the media.

“Duterte is worse in many ways than Marcos. He is blood-thirsty and cruel in encouraging and ordering attacks against political dissenters,” said Siegfred Deduro, convener of the MAT in Panay, a former political detainee and a student leader in UP Los Banos before Marcos declared Martial Law on September 21, 1972.

In Iloilo City, students from the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) assembled at the city campus and marched along the city’s streets before converging with other protesters at the Sunburst Park.

Former political detainees also spoke at a forum at the UPV city campus recalling the arrest and torture of activists.

In Roxas City, protesters held a rally at the Roxas City Bandstand.

A similar protest was held at the Crossing Banga-New Washington in Kalibo./lzb