Remembering the lessons of martial law is now more crucial than ever as atrocities committed during that time are now being repeated by the current administration, a religious leader said on Monday, as various groups geared up for the commemoration of the September 21, 1972, declaration.
National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) Pastor Rev. Irma M. Balaba issued the statement on Monday to stress the importance of marking former President Ferdinand Marcos’s declaration of martial law.
Balaba recalled how NCCP’s general secretary together with other staff were arrested for helping vulnerable sectors of society.
“This has happened not only before. It is now being done under the current regime,” Balaba said in a press conference of the United People’s Action (UPA) in Manila on Monday.
Balaba said this is the reason UPA will be joining the multisectoral demonstration on Friday to show opposition to alleged human-rights violations, particularly victimizing critics of the administration.
“Silence may momentarily protect us, but not forever. So beloved community of faithful and member churches of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, let us raise our anguish and voices to the heavens and public places of our lands,” Balaba said.
Like Balaba, former Chief Justice and UPA member Maria Lourdes Sereno also noted of the rise of criminality and brazen disregard for the rule of law.
“The poor became poorer. Dissenters including the young were tortured, killed, disappeared and the nation gradually succumbed to the lost hope. This is all a matter of fact,” said Sereno, reading the joint UPA statement.
“It is by actively remembering this past heroism that we could save the light of this nation,” she added.
Sereno said the UPA demonstration, a day before the 47th anniversary of the Marcos martial-law declaration, will include participants from civil society and faith-based groups.
She said it will be held from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Rizal Park in Manila.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila, Philippines Daily Express