Activists liken President Noynoy Aquino to the late strongman, Ferdinand Marcos as a march rally was held to commemorate the 42nd anniversary since the declaration of Martial Law.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Secretary General Renato Reyes said during the protest at Mendiola Bridge that despite President Aquino being himself a victim of Marcos’ totalitarian rule, 42 years after the declaration of Martial Law, the second Aquino president is attempting to do exactly what Marcos did during his 20-year regime.
“We’re not sure if Aquino flunked history class, but it sure looks like he has not learned the lessons of the past,” said Reyes. He also made a parallelism on Marcos’ ‘Bagong Lipunan’ and Aquino’s ‘Tuwid na Daan’. “Does he not know that at one point in our history, another president sought to perpetuate himself in power in the name of reforms and a New Society?” added Reyes.
[quote_center]“We’re not sure if Aquino flunked history class, but it sure looks like he has not learned the lessons of the past”[/quote_center]
Aquino who is in the United States for his European and US tour left the country with many issues hounding his presidency such as the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) or what militants call as his share of ‘Pork Barrel’, his support for Charter Change both for economic provisions and his term extension.
“Rather than seek a term extension, Aquino must be made accountable for the gross pork barrel corruption under his regime,” concluded Reyes in his speech.
A political prisoner during the Martial Law era and former Bayan Muna congressman Satur Ocampo said during the program that countless human rights violations were committed by state agents against political dissidents armed and unarmed alike. The former solon also recalled that the victory of ousting Marcos was not a result of the defection of then Defense Minister and now imprisoned Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile and his Constabulary Chief and former President Fidel Ramos. But rather “a victory of the broad mass of people united against the dictatorship.”
Wife of free speech icon Joe Burgos and also a victim of Martial Law herself, Edith Burgos also recalled her experience when their two newspapers We Forum and Malaya were shut by the dictatorship for outspokenly fighting the Marcos tyranny. On December 1982, agents of the Metropolitan Command (MetroCom) stormed the publication’s office. Burgos noted in her speech that the state agents even took the rice in the office for being ‘subversive’ to which she quipped “you might want to take these paper clips also for being subsversive paper clips.”
Various cause oriented groups joined the protest which was earlier scheduled last Friday but was moved because of the extreme floods that was brought by tropical storm Mario and the monsoon. Protesters converged at Plaza Miranda in Manila where a short program to remember the dead and desaparecidos during the 9-year imposition of martial rule in the whole country. The demonstrators then marched for the gates of Malacanan at Mendiola bridge where another program was held.
Also present in the protest were Abolish Pork Movement leader Monet Silvestre; veteran journalist Inday Espina-Varona; Renowned TV, Film and theater actor Bernardo Bernardo; former legislators Liza Maza, Rafael Mariano, and Teddy Casino.
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Photos by Max B. Santiago
