10 December 2022
References:
Bonifacio Ilagan, CARMMA convenor, (0908) 812 4781
Judy Taguiwalo, CARMMA convenor
CARMMA Secretariat, (0918) 9790580
Today, International Human Rights Day, the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) joins the protests as martial law survivors and freedom fighters – and as Filipinos who are dismayed by the continuing misery of our people.
Nearly six months into his administration, we behold the son of the dictator treading the ruinous path of both his tyrant father and the equally tyrant Rodrigo Duterte. His caprices have overtaken his campaign promises to lower prices of goods, provide services to the masses, and manage the crisis in the economy.
Human rights encompass economic, civil and political rights. With high inflation rates, soaring prices of basic commodities while wages and salaries remain low, the people’s economic rights are violated everyday.
The predisposition of this government to lure foreign investments to the country and revive the showcase projects of the martial law regime – all discredit schemes – merely covers up the real solutions that should be priorities in the country’s current situation, and only exposes the bankruptcy of the second coming of the Marcoses.
It is brazenly fast-tracking ambitious proposals that serve only the interests of the Marcos family and cronies, as illustrated by the so-called Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF). It has only whipped up unprecedented public condemnation over the plot to misuse people’s money in the SSS and GSIS coffers, allowing Marcos and his cronies access to and control of people’s money under the guise of investments.
No amount of repackaging the MWF will not change it for what it is: a private Marcos moneymaking budol-budol scam.
Such is the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. – pretentiously impressive and banking on perceived “national greatness”. All for what? All for the glory and enrichment of the Marcos clique.
As the people’s economic rights are violated, violations of the people’s civil and political rights continue.
Most of us martial law survivors are already in our senior age, but we remain vehemently opposed to this plot to repeat history. At the same time, we link up arms with victims of present-day rights violations. We condemn the unending killings, arrest and detention, and Red-tagging of activists, critics, and organizations. We have been there.
Back then, we were persecuted as extremists, hooligans, troublemakers, and destabilizers. The labels became tantamount to a death sentence to thousands of Filipinos. These days, the Marcos Jr. government has further institutionalized state-sponsored terrorism, what with such subsidy in the 2023 budget as the P10 billion fund restored in the NTF-ELCAC budget, and the P150 billion confidential fund of Sara Duterte in the Department of Education.
Today, on International Human Rights Day, we solemnly vow to persist in the movement against the continuing Marcos dictatorship because we cannot imagine the generations of our youth enduring what we endured through the years.
Today, when we say “Never Again,” we mean “Tuloy ang laban!” Assert our human rights! Much unlike the emptiness of the Marcos Jr. rhetoric, it is the fortitude of our battle cry for truth, justice, and accountability. ###