HUNDREDS OF citizens gathered in solidarity at the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) headquarters on September 21 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines by former president Ferdinand Marcos.
They also denounced against extrajudicial killings under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
A statue of former senator and staunch human rights advocate Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno was also unveiled on that day.
Organized by the opposition coalition Tindig Pilipinas, the mobilization was one of the rallies held last Thursday, a day Duterte declared as a “National Day of Protest.”
Other groups had also gathered at Luneta, Mendiola, and in other parts of the country to denounce the government’s growing disregard of human rights.
In a display of courage and passion, protesters shouted, “Never again to martial law!” “Kultura ng karahasan, wakasan (End the culture of violence)!” and “Kabuhayan, hindi patayan (Life, not death)!”
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and CHR chairperson Chito Gascon were present in the event. Several Liberal Party members, including Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Bam Aquino and Franklin Drilon, former president Noynoy Aquino, and former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas were also in the gathering.
Groups such as Youth Resist and Laban PUP were also represented.
Commemoration
The mobilization began with the “Misa Para sa Katarungan (Mass for Justice)” at the Parish of Holy Sacrifice in University of the Philippines-Diliman. Ateneo de Manila University President Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ was the main celebrant.
Protesters then marched to the CHR headquarters to unveil the new monument for “Ka Pepe.”
The bronze statue of Diokno, which stands at nine feet tall along Commonwealth Avenue, was an initiative of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). It was dubbed as “The Defiant Diokno” by Gascon.
Diokno had actively opposed martial law during the Marcos regime. He eventually became the founding chair of the CHR.
The event concluded with the Manlaban Para Sa Karapatan Concert Rally, though more groups continued to arrive until the end of the program.
Pleas for remembrance
Robredo and Sereno were among the speakers who urged the people to stand up against acts of brutality.
They said that these are not new to the country, and had already been present during the Marcos regime.
“Kung hindi tama ang pagkakaalala natin sa nakaraan, maaaring maulit muli ang ating pagkakamali (If we do not remember the past correctly, our mistakes may be repeated),” said Robredo in a statement released on the day of the protests.
Robredo reiterated this at the chapel after the Mass, encouraging Filipinos to reject all forms of violence in the country.
Later at the unveiling ceremony of the Diokno monument, Sereno condemned the abuses of Martial Law and the current administration in her keynote speech.
Sereno took a poetic approach in the delivery of her speech, addressing her frustrations to Diokno: “Paano po ba gagamutin itong paglimot sa kahapon (How do we remedy the forgetting of one’s past)?”
Sereno later she said that there is still hope amid turbulence. “Kung madalas lang nating ginugunita ang mga nagtagumpay sa kasaysayan, mapupuno ulit ng pag-asa ang ating bayan (If we only remember all those who prevailed in history, the country will once again be filled with hope).”
