LABOR and civil society groups will hold a protest on Monday morning to reject what critics see as the country’s drift toward yet another martial rule.
In a statement, labor coalition Nagkaisa condemned how the administration has “severely weakened” many government institutions, consolidating the power of President Duterte.
This, it noted, eroded “checks and balances” in the government.
“What is happening to our country today, Mr. President Duterte? Your administration has been manifesting a strong tendency towards another tyranny,” Nagkaisa said in a statement on Sunday, the eve of the anniversary of the declaration of martial law by Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1972.
The coalition said mass corruption in some government agencies such as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) continue, leading to billions of public funds being lost.
It also expressed its alarm at the Human Rights Watch figures, showing that extra judicial killings went up by 50 percent in the first four months of the lockdown as compared to the months prior to the pandemic.
The administration’s alleged institutionalization of red-tagging, Nagkaisa said, has endangered the lives of many innocents.
Nagkaisa issued the statement in time for the 48th anniversary of President Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law, which it stressed should no longer be repeated.
“Trade unions and other civil society groups will remember the looting of public funds with alacrity by Marcos and his minions, the 36,000 documented tortures, 70,000 incarcerations and 3,257 known extra-judicial killings, among others, from 1972 to 1986,” Nagkaisa said.
“We need to learn that strong leadership is a myth. Democracy requires active citizenship, not a strongman. We cannot afford to have another Marcos to plunder the economy and inflict harm on individual citizen and violate his or her rights,” it added.
Nagkaisa together with civil society groups, which are members of the Movement Against the Terrorism Act (MATA), will hold a protest at 8 am Monday at the grounds of the Commission on Human Rights in Diliman, Quezon City.
Image credits: Bernard Testa