Southern Tagalog joins protest in Mendiola

By: Ashley Dela Pena

40 years after the imposition of Martial Law, militants from Southern Tagalog joined sectors from National Capital Region (NCR) in the multi-sectoral mobilization held at Mendiola to protest the existing human rights violations under Aquino administration.

The convoy, organized by the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Tagalog (BAYAN-ST), started with a program at the University of Santo Tomas and rallied to Mendiola.

"Despite that Martial Law has already long ended, the citizens of Southern Tagalog is still experiencing Martial Law under the banner of Aquino's Oplan Bayanihan," said XL Fuentes, Secretary General of BAYAN-ST, in a press statement.

According to Fuentes, “Until now, South Quezon and Bondoc Peninsula of Quezon Province are still militarized and the 8 battalions of AFP, PNP and CAFGU that were deployed there remains. Although there was no Martial Law declared, the presence of the 8 battalions and the human rights violations these state security forces committed are similar to that of Martial Law.”

Karapatan, a human rights group, insisted that traces of the Martial Law are still evident up to this day. The alliance has noted 100 victims of extrajudicial killings, 170 illegally arrested and detained, 62 victims of torture, 11 desaparecidos and a total of 37,000 cases of human rights violations in two years under the Aquino administration.

Karapatan-Southern Tagalog Secretary General Glendhyl Malabanan said that since after martial law, the region has never experienced stability due to the counterinsurgency programs of the government.

The group said that the victims are still the Filipinos who aspire for freedom, democracy and justice.

“Forty years and five presidents ago, the “democratic space” that was supposedly restored in 1986 remains a space for the landed, the rich and the powerful,” Karapatan said in its statement. “The poor are still poor, exploited and oppressed. Today, social justice remains elusive, and the culture of impunity prevail, like it was under martial law.”