This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 16, May 29-June 4, 2005
‘Undeclared
Martial Law’ Denounced by Civil Libertarians, Legislators
By Gerry Albert
Corpuz The country’s leading civil
libertarians, legislators, human rights lawyers, justice and peace advocates and
activists last week warned that the restoration of martial law is imminent under
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). They also declared an “all-out war"
against the President as they publicly announced that Mrs. Arroyo was worse than
the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. Madrigal added: "If you
criticize the government under the veil of democracy, you will be charged with
sedition. President Arroyo (manipulates) the media and public opinion to justify
the bullets of repression. In guise of democracy, the administration is using
the military to silence critics. We are back in the dark old days of Martial Law
where we have to say our piece in whisper." © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Cases of
military abuse mounting
Bulatlat
Speaking before a full up crowd which also included former government
executives, leading members of the academe and film and stage directors at the
re-launching of the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL)
at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City on May 25, opposition Sen. Jamby
Madrigal likened the present situation to the dark days of martial law under the
U.S.-backed Marcos dictatorship.
The opposition senator also took the occasion to assail her colleagues in the
Senate and House of Representatives, including the influential Commission on
Appointments (CA) saying Malacañang was using the tyranny of majority to pass
laws and other legislative actions against the interest of the Filipino people.
Madrigal, who was first elected senator in May last year, said the re-launching
of MCCCL was a politically correct move to challenge the revived but undeclared
martial law under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. She said the “Strong
Republic” was not a strong republic but a republic for strong people in the
government.
"There's travesty of justice,” Madrigal said in her first scathing attack
against the incumbent President Arroyo. “There's miscarriage of justice. The
Strong Republic means repression. It is the repression of executive system, the
repression of the legislative system and the repression of the judicial system.
Gloria's Strong Republic controls the executive, the judiciary, the legislative,
the electoral tribunal and the military."
Pre-emptive strikes
Martial law veteran activist Marie Hilao-Enriquez, secretary general of the
human rights watchdog Karapatan and one of the convenors of MCCCL confirmed the
undeclared martial law situation under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
"Mrs. Arroyo is launching pre-emptive strikes to silence critics and legitimate
opposition,” Hilao-Enriques said. “The take-no-prisoner policy is being
implemented to sow state terror and violence against political activists,
lawyers, human rights workers, church people and journalists exposing the
regime’s crimes and atrocities against the people."
In a power point presentation, Karapatan said in the first quarter of the year
(January to March 2005), 39 activists and ordinary people were brutally killed
and summarily executed by alleged members of the military and AFP-backed death
squads. Thirteen of the activists killed during the first quarter of 2005 were
all from Central Luzon, including Tarlac City Councilor Abelardo Tadena and
parish priest Rev. Father William Tadena, both active supporters of striking
farm workers of Hacienda Luisita which is owned by the family of former
Philippine President Corazon Aquino.
Karapatan said 24 of those killed were leaders and mass members of progressive
party list groups like Bayan Muna (people first) and Anakpawis (toiling masses)
and other left-leaning cause-oriented groups affiliated with the militant
alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-New Patriotic Alliance).
The human rights group also said since 2001, 59 coordinators of Bayan Muna and
19 coordinators of Anakpawis party list had been killed by alleged members of
the military and AFP-backed death squads across the country. Karapatan said a
total of 19 human rights workers were killed since President Arroyo assumed the
presidency in January 2001.
The non-government human rights organization documented 4,144 cases of human
rights violations also under the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. The group said, all
cases implicated top military and police officials who had been tagging officers
and members of militant groups as front men of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP) and New People's Army (NPA), enemies of the state and serious
threats to national security.
Karapatan's Enriquez said these killings and other acts of state terrorism and
military directed assaults against political activists, lawyers, journalists and
critics of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration were
sanctioned by the Office of the President and the military generals inside the
inner circle of Mrs. Arroyo and were all attuned to the U.S. war of aggression
under the pretext of fighting global and domestic terrorism.
Situation merits MCCCL revival
Bayan Muna party list Rep. Satur Ocampo on the other hand said the prevailing
state of political repression in the country merits the revival of MCCCL.
"The assertion of basic freedom rights under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration
becomes a paramount concern for all freedom-loving Filipinos,” Ocampo, himself a
long-time political prisoner during the Marcos years, said. “The situation calls
for the mass campaign and the mass education of the masses, the professionals
and members of the opposition parties to counter the resurgence of state fascism
and dictatorship which we fought more than 30 years ago."
Ocampo, a former newspaperman of the Manila Times, recalled how the rising tide
of the anti-fascist and anti-dictatorship movement during the Marcos era moved
and mobilized Joaquin “Chino” Roces, publisher of the Manila Times, former Sen.
Jose W. Diokno, former Sen. Lorenzo Tañada, Joaquin Po and National Press Club (NPC)
officers Amando Doronila, Jose Burgos and Antonio Zumel to the cause of civil
liberties and basic human rights.
"The people's rallying call against the dictatorship led to the transformation
of NPC as a major hub for anti-fascist and anti-dictatorship forces at the
height of the Martial Law regime," Ocampo said.
Another stalwart of the martial law era, Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, convenor of
the anti-corruption watchdog Plunder Watch and MCCL and concurrent chair of
Bayan noted many similarities of the pre-martial law era and the present
situation under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
"The similarities include but not limited to the escalating murders of activists
and journalists, moves of the administration to impose a national ID system and
anti-terrorism bill which are both seen as threats to civil
liberties and the labeling of administration critics as enemies of the state,"
Araullo said.
She said the killings have not stopped and that the administration is putting
more repressive measures against the people. Araullo also said the economic and
political crisis brought forth the conditions for heightened repression in the
country.
"It appears that the only way the administration can survive the crisis is
through the use of iron-fisted rule. The administration is so paranoid that
dissent is no longer tolerated and is branded as destabilization," Araullo
stressed.
Terrible times
"It seems like we are living back to the terrible times of martial law. That's
why we have this gathering which appears to me as an alumni homecoming of
anti-Marcos activists," said Mother Mary John Mananzan, OSB, former President of
St. Scholastica College.
The activist nun, who was with the workers of La Tondeña when the first labor
strike during the Martial Law era broke out, rallied colleagues in the civil
liberties movement to go forward and start building a broad resistance against
the looming undeclared martial rule under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
"We must reject the concept of Strong Republic and junk the recycled militarist
solution being carried out by the administration of President Arroyo," Sr.
Mananzan said. She also cited the role of the United States in the ongoing
campaign of the government against legitimate dissent and mass protest.
Mananzan said the U.S. knew of Marcos plan of declaring martial law. The U.S.
supported Marcos' plan because he was still then a reliable ally and puppet of
Washington. "But later the U.S. government dumped Marcos because he has become
an extreme liability to American business and military interests in the country.
The same might happen to Gloria," she said.
Clear and imminent danger
The clear and imminent danger of martial law or a situation worse than martial
law was seen by former UP Law Dean Pacifico Agabin in the proposed
Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) currently being debated at the House of
Representatives. The MCCCL, according to Dean Agabin should look into the vague,
overbroad and ridiculous terminologies used in the anti-terrorism bill, which he
summed up into one solid word – “repression.”
"Every innocent action can be classified as act of terrorism under the terror
bill being proposed by Malacañang for legislation. Even smoking in private and
public places can be classified by the state as act of terrorism because it
might endanger people's health or sabotage the operations of public or private
interests," Dean Agabin said.
Agabin said strikes staged by jeepney drivers and other mass transport groups
against successive oil price hikes can be considered as acts of terrorism
because these can be declared as unlawful by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration
through the Department of Justice and the Anti-Terrorism Council under the
Office of the President.
The former law dean also said military and police operatives can also perform
surveillance operations against suspected terrorists without probable cause and
can secure a court order based on narrow assumptions and subjective assessments.
Powerhouse cast of defenders
The re-established MCCCL, aside from Rep. Ocampo, Dr. Araullo, Sr. Mananzan,
Dean Agabin, human rights activist Enriquez, includes a powerhouse cast of
convenors led by former UP President Francisco Nemenzo Jr., Bro. Eddie
Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas Movement and Jesus is the Lord Fellowship,
former Senator Wigberto ' Bobby" Tañada, former IFI Obispo Maximo Alberto
Ramento, nationalist Renato Constantino Jr., Sr. Emelina Villegas (ICM),
activist priest Fr. Jose Dizon, UP Manila Chancellor Dr. Marita Reyes, Prof. Joi
Barrios, UN Ad Litem Atty. Romeo Capulong, former Labor undersecretary Amado "
Gat" Inciong, former Nueva Viscaya Rep. Carlos Padilla, former Solicitor General
Atty. Frank Chavez, National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP)
Secretary General Sharon Joy Ruiz-Duremdez, Atty. Eduardo Araullo, Atty. Marvic
Leonen, Fr. Rudy Abao (MSC), Dr. Ernesto Gonzales (UST), UP Dean Luis Teodoro,
Bro. Edmundo Fernandez of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the
Philippines (AMRSP) and former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) commissioner
Atty. Nasser
Marohomsalic.
Representing the people's organizations are Danilo Ramos, secretary general of
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP- peasant), Elmer Labog of Kilusang Mayo
Uno (KMU-Labor), Emmie de Jesus (Gabriela-women), Cosain Naga of Moro Christian
People's Alliance (MCPA), Biyaya Quizon of (KKKP) and Jose Cosido of the College
Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP).
Film artists and stage directors Joel Lamangan, Bart Guingona and Ben Cervantes
and political personalities like Congressman Herminio Teves, actor Rez Cortez,
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME) convenor Jimmy
Olegario, ex-Navy Capt. Dan Vizmanos, Ramon Magsaysay awardee Bien Lumbera and
noted opposition leader Linggoy Alcuaz graced the affair in solidarity with the
civil liberties activists. Bulatlat