VARIOUS STUDENT leaders, faculty members, and administration staff of the Loyola Schools met with Paeng David and Susan Quimpo of the Martial Law Chronicles Project to discuss the agenda of “Duyan ng Magiting,” on July 13.
Duyan ng Magiting is a coalition opposing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Quimpo noted that the coalition emerged from the groups protesting against the Marcos burial as well as historical revisionism during the campaign period. However, she noticed that the protests dwindled after the national elections on May 9.
“A meeting was called to try to set up this coalition because all the groups were scrambling, we all did not know what to do next, we all did not know what to do with the burial issue,” she said.
“But at the bare minimum, we were all against the Marcos burial,” she added.
Coalition objectives
As discussed by David, Duyan ng Magiting is expected to be “a broad coalition that aims to bring together the various networks and key individuals who have been fighting against the return of the Marcoses and/or advancing democracy, human rights, and good governance in the country.”
Moreover, the coalition is set to deliver four main objectives: Build a broad constituency, launch creative and participatory projects, pursue legal actions, and urge the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to implement mandatory teaching of the Martial Law atrocities.
David, who is also the Akbayan Youth chair, said that that the Marcoses have been “systematically changing history” and it has been very rampant in social media.
“Medyo matindi ang kalaban kaya we need a broad constituency to ensure that even if we do not have the resources, we have people on board who are passionate enough to make this campaign win,” she said.
Avenues for participation
David invited the Ateneo community to take part in the #BawatBato initiative, “to honor the real heroes who fought against the Martial Law.” She said that the project only requires “rocks, pens, and people who will join the campaign.”
The initiative was launched at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on June 26. University of the Philippines-Baguio, Silliman University, and University of the Philippines-Diliman supported the initiative not long after.
“We also have a legal team drafting a petition for a temporary restraining order in case President Duterte orders for the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. We will need your help to go to the Supreme Court and show support,” she said.
“And of course, we will also need help with the Martial Law education. We are trying to find more ways to teach Martial Law creatively,” she added.
The Duyan ng Magiting National Launch will take place at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City at 10:00AM on July 19.
David said, “We’re hopefully going to launch it in other regions din to make it as broad as possible – hindi lang sectorally, but geographically as well.”
An open invitation
According to David, the coalition is open to organizations and people alike.
She hopes that the Ateneo community will become part of the coalition. She has initially talked with representatives of the Sanggunian, Council of Organizations of the Ateneo, Ateneo Resident Students Association, and Office of Social Concern and Involvement.
Some of the proposed members are the Martial Law Chronicles, Akbayan Party and Akbayan Youth, UP-SAMASA Alumni, Claimants 1081, Filipinos Against Historical Revisionism, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, and Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking.
“The idea of the coalition is to unite different groups from left to right. We may disagree on different things, we may disagree on who we supported during the elections, we may disagree on how we want the current administration to move forward,” she said. “But the point of agreement would be fighting against the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.”
