By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“When we understand the roots of suffering, it is then that we can truly call for a cessation of hostilities and call on the parties at war to stay at the negotiating table and talk peace. The peace we seek is one that is based on social justice, one that takes into account issues of the environment and human right..” – Most Rev. Antonio Ledesma
By JOAN GARCIA Bulatlat.com LAOAG, Ilocos Norte – In Ilocos Norte, there was no commemoration of the declaration of martial law. Instead, what the provincial government led by Governor Imee Marcos did was to hold a 4-day Marcos Fiesta last September 8-11 to celebrate the 95th birth anniversary of deposed former president Ferdinand Marcos. The…
Two unlikely photojournalists and activists have observed and documented how, over decades since martial law, ‘the issues remain the same, only the details have changed and worsened.’ By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com MANILA – Lito Ocampo, 59, had not thought he would become a photojournalist. Some 40 years before, he considered himself as “just…
‘Nothing has changed… The same problems plague our country and it’s only getting worse.’ By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL Bulatlat.com MANILA – As Bonifacio Ilagan prepared to attend the University of the Philippines (UP) as freshman in 1969, his neighbors warned him. Coming from a province, he said: “When people in our place leaned that…
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“The poor are still poor, exploited and oppressed. Today, social justice remains elusive, and the culture of impunity prevails, like it was under martial law.” – Karapatan
Sidebar: Aquino urged to indemnify victims, free all political prisoners
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“The challenge is for us to truly see, closely analyze and scrutinize the current situation in the Philippines, the state of human rights, the corruption of those in power and the poverty of the Filipino people. We remember martial law and the sacrifices fighting it entailed… Forty-years after, we affirm it’s greatest lesson: to serve the people in all ways possible.” – Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Bayan
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO MANILA — The year is 1972. One late afternoon in early September as he was on his way to work, Satur was accosted by an armed man. His bag and all its contents were taken, but he himself was left unharmed. Even then it did not appear to him as…
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA – It was drizzling when the lawyers from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) arrived at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City, Sept. 14. The jail guards took their biometrics – photo, fingerprints and basic personal information. They were also subjected to body search before they could…
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Forty years after martial law, it is anomalous and anachronistic to have political prisoners languishing in different jails all over the country.” – National Union of People’s Lawyers