Cordillera activists rue anti-terror law on 52nd martial law anniversary
Progressive groups in Baguio City mark the 52nd anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the country on Sept. 21, 2024, with a protest action as they lamented the continued repression faced by Cordilleran activists and human rights defenders. (Photo by Jethro Bryan Andrada)
BAGUIO CITY — Rights and youth groups in this city marked the 52nd anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the country with a protest action and various cultural performances on Saturday, Sept. 21, highlighting cases of continued repression faced by Cordilleran activists and human rights defenders under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Martial law under former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. is widely touted as a “dark chapter” in Philippine history, with data from the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission showing that around 11,000 were victims of human rights violations during this period.
Cordilleran activist Joanna Cariño, who was a student when arrested during martial rule, said not much has changed 52 years since.
“I have a feeling of deja vu (of martial law) with Duterte and with Marcos Jr.,” she said during the mobilization, bringing up the cases of disappeared activists Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” De Jesus.
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Article continues after this advertisementCapuyan and De Jesus have been missing for more than a year. Amid suspicions from activist groups, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Philippine National Police had denied involvement in the matter last year.
Article continues after this advertisementCariño said it was important to recall the spirit of “indigenous people power” and to continue remembering the atrocities of martial law because this period was “an important part of our history that is not always taught in schools.”
Representatives from youth and legal groups also called for the immediate junking of the anti-terror law, which they deemed was being weaponized to target progressive individuals.
Rey Cortez, a lawyer from the National Union of People’s Lawyers, claimed that “despite the former dictator being gone, repression of all government critics was continuing” under the term of Marcos Jr.
Representatives from the United Nations in January raised alarm about the government’s implementation of the “broad and unchecked” anti-terror law in a report published in October 2023.
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In the Cordillera, members of the indigenous peoples’ group, the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), had been named as terrorists by the Anti-Terror Council in June 2023.
The terror-tagged CPA members, in turn, filed a petition in November challenging the claim and the constitutionality of the anti-terror law.
“In the time of Marcos Jr., the anti-terror law can be used to illegally detain someone, arrest them without a warrant, freeze their bank accounts, and [subject them to surveillance],” Cortez concluded.
“Even without a formal declaration, it still seems as though we are living under martial law,” he added.
The mobilization ended with the defacing of an effigy of Marcos Sr., Marcos Jr., Duterte, and Sara Duterte-Carpio by martial law survivors and youth members to represent the “rejection of old and new dictators,” according to the protest organizers. INQ
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