San Francisco, CA – On 21 September, crowds descended upon the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco to condemn human rights violations by the Marcos regimes of both 1965 and today. Throughout the rally, the People’s Choir sang songs written during periods of US-led violence in the Philippines, including Tamisan sa Sining’s “Dakilang Pakikibaka” and José Alejandrino’s “Bayan Ko”.
Alex Marquez from the League of Filipino Students – SF State told the crowd, “54 years ago today, President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law and plunged the Philippines into 14 bloody years of state violence, until it was put into an end by the People Power Revolution in 1986, when the masses came together to exile this brutal dictator like a stallion kicks off a fly!” shouted Marquez.
Struck by fears of communist led insurgency, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. secretly wrote Martial Law into effect on September 21 before publicly confessing to the decree’s existence on September 23, sending orders to kill organizers and resistance fighters on a whim.
Rob Salazar from Malaya San Francisco spoke on the legacies of bureaucrat capitalism in the Philippines that were left by Marcos Sr., whose son governs the country today.
Salazar stated, “Government funding that should be used to create better city infrastructure is being used to create ghost flood control projects while students cannot return to school because of the flooding,” he said. “This represents the next generation of thievery that our people have to deal with, and we must not allow this to continue!”
Damian Clark from LFS Berkeley gave a reportback from an international trip to the Philippines led by the Defend Negros NorCal Coalition and ICHRP. “During our trip, we visited the US-led Pax Silica within the Clark Economic Zone, which is being built to meet the US’s needs in their war against the People’s Republic of China,” Clark said. “And despite increasing militarization and repression, it is being met by the People’s Resistance at every turn.”
Clark continued, “As Filipino students, we must refuse to let our skills be used for projects like Pax Silica, and confront the Philippine state to prevent it from selling out our people.”
Paulo Ramos from BAYAN NorCal closed the rally with a personal account of Martial Law from his family, “Growing up, my father would always tell me stories about martial law, and how he and his friends had to run home in fear of the military curfew and the bodies he saw floating in the canal. The brutality of martial law in 1972 is still the reality of today in Duterte’s War on Drugs and the Negros 19 killings by the 79th Infantry Battallion of the AFP.”
Ramos continued, “History has taught us that the darkest hour of the night comes just before the light comes steadily in,” he stated. “The revolutionary movement of patriotic and freedom-loving Filipinos has only grown since martial law. Let us learn the lessons of history and continue the legacy of our brave martyrs by fighting for national democracy and sovereignty in the Philippines.”
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