STATEMENT ON THE 52ND ANNIVERSARY OF MARTIAL LAW
On the 52nd Anniversary of Martial Law, the call to “Never forget” rings loudly as desperate attempts to erase and rewrite the bloody legacy of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. continue under his son Marcos Jr. The systematic attempts to distort history will always be refuted, since the so-called “golden era” of the Philippines is one stained with brutality and corruptions. During martial law, over 70,000 Filipinos were imprisoned, 34,000 tortured, and more than 3,240 extrajudicially killed. Moreover, 6 out of 10 Filipinos were poor while the wages of agricultural workers plunged 30% by the end of Marcos Sr.’s reign. In 1965, when Marcos took office, the Philippines’ external debt was approximately $599 million. By the time he was ousted in 1986, the external debt had multiplied more than 4 times to around $28.3 billion, equivalent to about 80% of the country’s GDP.
Fifty-two years later, Marcos Jr. builds upon his father’s legacy of violence, plunder, and subservience to the interests of foreign powers like the United States. His claims to improve the infrastructure of the country are thinly veiled opportunities for him to capitalize off of the profit of selling out the Philippines and its sovereignty. Repression and persecution of human rights activists persist where most recently two youth peasant activists, Andy Magno and Vladimir Maro, have disappeared in Cagayan Valley. The unity between him and VP Sara Duterte quickly revealed itself as a short lived tactic to secure power as it has quickly deteriorated. Marcos Jr’s aspirations for a so-called Bagong Pilipinas (a recycling of his father's “New Society”) is one that is clearly meant for him and his cronies.
The violence of martial law continues today in the current regime’s brutal two-year record: 105 extrajudicial killings, 75 frustrated extrajudicial killings and 15 enforced disappearances, 42,426 victims of forced evacuation, 63,379 victims of indiscriminate firing and 44,065 victims of bombing. These figures are rapidly growing. In the month of August alone, three more activists have gone missing, bringing the current number to 15, or 70% of Duterte’s record of 21 forcibly disappeared throughout his six-year term.
Exacerbating these human rights violations, Marcos Jr.’s Secretaries agreed to increase funding for foreign military financing while U.S. senators across the political spectrum push for bills like the Philippine Enhanced Resilience Act (PERA) and the U.S. Philippine Partnership Act, which will only bring further violence upon the Filipino people clamoring for change. Filipinos continue to suffer from increasing costs, low wages and joblessness, ongoing typhoons without genuine aid, and rampant human rights violations. Meanwhile, Marcos Jr. invited Duran Duran to play for a private birthday party just eight days before the anniversary of Martial Law.
As a movement dedicated to human rights, sovereignty, and democracy in the Philippines, we remain determined to honor the people’s history of martial law. We take up the legacy of the EDSA People Power Uprising that ousted late dictator Marcos and continue the fight against dictatorship. With the upcoming presidential elections in the U.S. and the midterm elections in the Philippines, we must learn the lessons of the past and commit to building the broadest movement that can dismantle fascism and create a more just future for all Filipinos!
Never again to martial law!
Sahod itaas, presyo ibaba!
End US-backed war crimes under the Marcos regime!
Reject the PERA Act!
Pass the PHRA!
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