Martial law victims led by Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) launched the “Parol ng Pag-Asa” campaign to uphold people’s aspirations in the upcoming 2022 national elections at the National Council of Churches in the Philippines in Quezon City.
“These elections, we should reject those who only want to continue the legacy of injustice and corruption with their lies to ‘bring back the nation’ — to where? To tyranny and killings? To bleeding dry the nation’s coffers and distorting history to whitewash the darkness of their atrocities? To this, we say: ‘enough!’” said CARMMA convenor and martial law survivor Danilo Dela Fuente.
CARMMA alongside various human rights groups and advocates hung Christmas lanterns bearing the people’s call for five K’s namely Karapatan (Rights), Katarungan (Justice), Kalayaan (Freedom), Katotohanan (Truth), and Kapayapaan (Peace).
Dela Fuente also encouraged other people to hang their lanterns in their homes, workplaces or communities along with their wishes like the five K’s for the holidays and next year’s elections, saying that it is best symbolized as a guiding light amid the crisis we endured in these trying times.
“Most Filipinos only want simple wishes: good health for loved ones, livelihood to keep them by, for our lives to be better and safer especially after all the suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, we know, these things seem hard to attain with the darkness that besets our nation,” Dela Fuente said.
