On EDSA People Power anniversary, protesters hit ‘resemblance’ of Duterte to Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — Several activist groups based in Southern Tagalog on Tuesday hit President Rodrigo Duterte for the supposed resemblance of his administration to that of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in time for the commemoration of the 34th anniversary of EDSA People Power Revolution.

The groups held a protest in front of the Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace, more commonly known as the EDSA Shrine in Quezon City, to remember the 1986 revolt, which toppled the 20-year-presidency of Marcos that has been infamously marred by accusations on human rights violations.

Among those who joined the demonstration were members of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kabataan, Anakpawis, Kadamay, and Gabriela.

Specifically, the groups criticized the alleged human rights violations in the “Oplan Tokhang,” the flagship program of the Duterte administration in the so-called war on drugs, and alleged state-sponsored killings of farmers tagged as communist New People’s Army (NPA) fighters.

Government data showed that from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019, the “drug war” had claimed the lives of 5,526 suspects. Human rights groups, however, peg the death toll to be at around 27,000, including victims of vigilante-style killings. Another 193,086 individuals were arrested during the period.

Protesters also denounced the red-tagging by the government, or associating militant groups to the Communist Party of the Philippines, and said through their hand-held placards that “activists are not terrorists.”

They likewise called for the scrapping of the anti-insurgency Executive Order No. 70 signed by Duterte in 2018, which institutionalized a whole-of-nation approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, and created a national task force to end local communist armed conflict.