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Martial law survivors oppose DepEd’s whitewashing of Marcos dictatorship

Teachers also condemn new curriculum as ‘undermining truth’

A group of martial law survivors expressed opposition to a Department of Education (DepEd) memorandum ordering that the Marcos name be disassociated from the dictatorship of the 1970s to the 1980s.

The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) said the recently-launched Matatag curriculum is “historical distortion and mass disinformation.”

“We at the [CARMMA] flag and condemn in the strongest possible terms the [DepEd]’s shameless scheme to whitewash and distort our history with its September 6, 2023 memo to change ‘Diktadurang Marcos’ to ‘Diktadura’ in the Grade 6 Araling Panlipunan curriculum of the newly-launched Matatag curriculum,” the group said.

CARMMA said it is historical fact that the two-decade rule of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was a dictatorship.

“The culpability of the crimes against the Filipino people during that dark and bloody period in our history rests primarily on the Marcoses,” the group said.

Teachers condemn move

Earlier, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) told the DepEd to stick to the historical fact that Marcos Sr. was a dictator.

“The alteration of historical terminology is not only distortion but also undermines the truth about one of the darkest periods in Philippine history,” ACT said last Sunday.

The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) also said the revision is “a blatant example of disinformation, where the people are deliberately misled by manipulating historical facts.”

The DepEd, meanwhile, said in its controversial memorandum that the revision of the Araling Panlipunan curriculum was made after an “arduous process of review and revision.”

“[It] was done under the guidance and scrutiny of experts, the review of stakeholders, and the public and the launch of the MATATAG curriculum,” the memorandum said.

Who implemented the dictatorship?

CARMMA however asked who was ultimately responsible for dictatorship that resulted in the murder, torture, illegal incarceration, and disappearances of thousands of victims.

“Who signed the orders to dissolve Congress and for the military to take over media outlets 50 years ago on September 21, 1972? Who ultimately benefitted from the plunder of our nation’s coffers, burdening Filipinos with debt that will be paid by generations to come?”CARMMA further asked.

“The answer to these questions is simple: the Marcoses,” the group said.

“Hence, the compound term ‘Marcos dictatorship’ is different from merely calling the period a ‘dictatorship’ alone,” it explained.

Marcos Sr. declared martial law on September 21, 1972, 51 years ago.

The Marcoses were deposed in 1986. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Martial law survivors see emerging scheme to recover Marcoses ill-gotten wealth

The dismissal of yet another corruption charge against the Marcoses is part of an emerging pattern to recover the family’s ill-gotten wealth, martial law survivors warned.

Following the affirmation by the Supreme Court (SC) of the September 2019 dismissal of the P1.05 billion civil forfeiture case, the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) said it may be a scheme by the family now that another Marcos is president.

Promulgated by the SC last March 29 but only publicly announced last Wednesday, the high court said there is no merit to the prosecutors’ review petition of Sandiganbayan decision that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) filed the complaint in 1987 that sought to forfeit alleged illegally acquired properties by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his widow Imelda and cronies who acted as dummies to the couple.

CARMMA said the dismissal is deplorable, coming in the heels of other recent failed efforts such as:

1. The June 2023 Sandiganbayan dismissal of the P600 million civil forfeiture case involving Imelda, now President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and cronies;

2. The February 2023 Sandiganbayan Fifth Division dismissal of a civil case against the Marcoses and others in relation to more alleged ill-gotten wealth by the family; and

3. The July 2022 Sandiganbayan Fourth Division dismissal of the government’s lawsuit to recover P200 billion worth of assets and properties.

The group cited the PCGG’s declaration that at least USD6 billion worth of reported Marcos ill-gotten wealth have not been recovered, excluding the the P203 billion estate tax unpaid by the Marcoses. The family has appealed to the SC for the dismissal of the tax case.

CARMMA also said the dismissal of former BIR chief Lilia Guillermo is connected with the latter case after she expressed publicly that all Filipinos including presidents and the Marcoses are accountable in ensuring the payment of estate taxes.

“All these point to a disturbing picture of impunity and injustice in relation to the plundered wealth of the Marcoses and a grand heist being done in full view of the Filipino people to allow them to keep their loot and more opportunity to get their hands on the people’s money,” CARMMA said.

“We at CARMMA condemn these schemes and machinations. We demand the full return of the stolen funds by the Marcoses and that they be held fully accountable for the massive plunder and grave human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship,” the group added.

After being deposed in an uprising in 1986, the Marcoses were described as the world’s biggest kleptocrats, or rulers who use political power to steal a country’s resources.

The family staged a complete political comeback after 36 years with members occupying top national and local government positions as well as seats in both houses of the Philippine Congress. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Human rights stalwart Marie Hilao-Enriquez passes away

Karapatan’s chairperson emeritus Amaryllis Hilao-Enriquez has died on April 24 in California, USA, the human rights icon’s family announced.

Hilao-Enriquez’s daughter Andrea said her mother died at 12 noon Sunday (California time). She was 68.

 “My mother, Amaryllis Hilao-Enriquez, passed away at 12 noon today. She is reunited with her sister, Liliosa, who died under martial law in the Philippines,” Andrea wrote on Facebook.

 “My mother dedicated her life to fighting for justice and human rights. She was a beautiful person, funny, intelligent, brave, and strong. She was loved and will be greatly missed,” she added.

Karapatan also announced her death, adding it mourns with her family along with human rights violations victims, their families and communities.

Hilao-Enriquez was also a former chairperson of the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensiyon at Aresto (SELDA) and former convernor of the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA).

Hilao-Enriquez had long been suffering from various illnesses.

Martial law survivor

Fondly-called Marie by the Philippine human rights community, Hilao-Enriquez was a scholar at the College of Medicine at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) taking up occupational therapy when she first became involved in activism.

She eventually joined the Kamuning chapter of the youth organization Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth).

Karapatan further described its former long-time chairperson as a stalwart in the anti-Marcos dictatorship struggle and in the relentless advocacy for justice and accountability of the Marcoses.

“[S]he and her family endured gross human rights violations during that dark period of our nation’s history. Her sister, student journalist and activist Liliosa, was the first reported case of killing under military detention after Marcos’s martial law was imposed,” Karapatan said.

After Liliosa’s death, Marie went underground and continued her work as community organizer.

In 1974, Hilao-Enriquez was arrested, tortured and was detained for two years. She became part of the Kapisanan para sa Pagpapalaya at Amnestiya ng mga Detenidong Pulitikal sa Pilipinas or Kapatid after she was released from prison and as she campaigned for the release of her detained husband, Karapatan said.

After the late dictator was ousted in 1986, she joined SELDA and helped in the filing of the historic class action suit against Marcos in Hawaii.

Hilao-Enriquez helped in consolidating the data and finding the lead plaintiffs for the class suit. Her mother and younger sister were two of the ten named plaintiffs in the case.

She led campaigns for justice and reparations of human rights violations victims against the Marcoses, including in the advocacy for the enactment of Republic Act No. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013.

She led the formation of CARMMA in 2016, having campaigned against what Karapatan said are historical lies of the Marcoses throughout decades.

Hilao-Enriquez continued in leading the campaigns for people’s rights as the founding secretary general of Karapatan in its establishment in 1995 and became its chairperson in 2009.

“She worked for the release of political prisoners and the dismissal of trumped up charges against those detained, in pursuing justice for victims of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture, and in working for the signing and implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL),” Karapatan said.

“Hilao-Enriquez mentored numerous activists and human rights workers throughout decades. We are deeply indebted to her brilliant, selfless and passionate work as among the foremost human rights defenders in the Philippines. We vow to strive to honor her legacy of service to the Filipino people in every possible way that we can and as long as tyrants and dictators remain in our midst,” it added.

READ: Marie Hilao-Enriquez: An Icon of Human Rights Activism in the Philippines

Marie Hilao-Enriquez (Photo from Andrea Enriquez’s announcement)

‘From Manila to the world’

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers president Edre Olalia said he is very sad at the news of Hilao-Enriquez’s passing.

“Tita Marie (Hilao-Enriquez) was very dear to me. We walked together in many a journey to defend, protect and promote human rights. From Manila to Geneva, from Utrecht to Oslo to New York, she was a partner, aunt, comrade, and friend,” Olalia said.

The lawyer added that Hilao-Enriquez was “unique, indefatigable, funny, thoughtful and selfless, even as she was naughty and sometimes pesky in her own adorable way. I got only the fondest, funniest and feistiest of memories of her.”

To say that Hilao-Enriquez is an icon of the human rights struggle is an understatement, Olalia said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Martial law survivors urge COMELEC to cancel ‘tax evader’ Marcos Jr’s candidacy

Martial law survivors called on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to disqualify Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the poll body hears petitions to cancel the former senator’s certificate of candidacy for the presidency in next year’s national elections.

The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) said Marcos Jr. should never be allowed to hold or run for public office because he is a convicted tax evader.

“A thief, a liar, a convicted tax evader, and the unrepentant son of an ousted dictator should never be allowed to hold or run for public office — much more the highest and most powerful position in the land,” CARMMA said in a statement.

CARMMA is a group of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s martial law rule in the 1970s to 1980s.

The group said that to allow the presidential aspirant to again run for office is not only a blatant mockery but a shameless bastardization of the country’s democracy and electoral exercise.

CARMMA and other human rights groups earlier filed petitions against Marcos Jr. citing his 1995 tax evasion charges conviction by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (QC-RTC) and subsequent upholding of the decision by the Court of Appeals (CA) in 1997.

The government said the former senator had tax deficiencies amounting to P8,504 while he was Ilocos Norte vice governor and governor from 1982 to 1985.

During trial, Marcos Jr. blamed his staff for the crime, saying he always thought that his employees took care of filing his income tax returns.

The QC-RTC imposed a four year cumulative imprisonment sentence and a cumulative fine of P42,000 against Marcos Jr.

In upholding the QC-RTC decision, however, the CA removed the prison sentence and reduced the fine to P36,000, saying Marcos was not given due notice when the tax assessments were made.

The CA also acquitted Marcos Jr of the charge of not paying his income taxes.

CARMMA however said the late dictator’s son is still convicted of failing to file his income tax returns and should be perpetually disqualified from holding any government post in accordance with the Omnibus Election Code.

The Code’s Section 12 states that a person shall be disqualified from running for public office if he had been sentenced by final judgment “for subversion, insurrection, rebellion or for any offense for which he has been sentenced to a penalty of more than eighteen months or for a crime involving moral turpitude.”

The petitioners said that Marcos Jr.’s failure to pay his income taxes for four consecutive years while in power as a high government official constitutes moral turpitude.

“Having tasted unlimited powers, the Marcoses are now paving their return to Malacañang with Marcos Jr.’s bid for the presidency and their historical distortions and whitewashing of their atrocities funded by the millions they have stolen from the people,” CARMMA said.

The group said it is Comelec’s duty to settle the petitions to safeguard and defend democracy that were restored when the Marcoses were ousted in 1986.

“We must never again allow despots, tyrants, criminals, and liars to lord it over our land,” CARMMA said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

‘We will never accept a repeat of such regimes’

“We will never accept a repeat of such regimes, which will be made worse with a Duterte-Marcos tandem in the 2022 elections. We call on all freedom-loving Filipinos to vigorously reject, campaign and vote against them and to continue to demand accountability from them.”Prof. Judy Taguiwalo, Martial Law victim and Convenor, Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA)

Batas na gawing modelo at holiday ang kaarawan ni Marcos, tinututulan

Nagprotesta ang mga progresibong grupo at mga dating biktima ng batas militar sa Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Setyembre 11, bilang pagtutol sa pagsasabatas na gawing modelo at holiday ang kaarawan ng dating diktador na si Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos.

Ayon sa Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law, tahasang pagsalaula sa kasaysayan ang batas laluna sa mga lumaban at nagpatalsik sa dating diktadura. Ipinapakita din nito anila na walang pinag-iba ang kasalukuyang rehimen ni Pangulong Duterte at dating Pangulong Marcos pagdating sa paglapastangan sa karapatan at kabuhayan ng mamamayan.

Progressives say fight continues 31 years after EDSA

Progressive organizations marched to EDSA to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the first EDSA People Power uprising that deposed the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

While they recalled the horrors that many suffered under Marcos’ Martial Law, they said genuine change has yet to happen.

The group did not join the pro-Aquino or the pro-Duterte activities which were held separately yesterday. Read more

Activists slam Duterte on Human Rights Day

PROGRESSIVE organizations have had enough of human rights violations under the five month old Rodrigo Duterte government.

Thousands of torch-bearing activists stormed Mendiola on International Human Rights Day last December 10 to protest human rights violations under Duterte, including more than 6,000 extrajudicial killings, militarization of communities and the hero’s burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“We support President Duterte’s commitment to the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the revolutionary Moro groups as well as his pronouncements for an independent foreign policy, but we will never accept and turn a blind eye to every fascist act and tendency by the administration,” Karapatan secretary-general Christina Palabay said.

The protesters, led by Karapatan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang (CARMMA), marched from Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola bearing hundreds of torches they later used to burn an effigy of Marcos.

“During his campaign, Duterte promised change. But there has been little done for human rights under his regime,” Palabay said.

“Instead, he freed a president that launched the bloody Oplan Bantay Laya (Gloria Arroyo) and promoted Gen. Eduardo Año—the one who abducted Jonas Burgos—to Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff. This is not the change we want,” Palabay added.

Not serious

The protesters also criticized Duterte for his refusal to release more political prisoners, despite his promise to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) during his campaign to do so.

Duterte said in various recent speeches that he will not release any more political prisoners unless the NDFP signs a bilateral ceasefire with his government.

“The political prisoners are already in jail. Must they be hostages now?” Boy Cadano, father of political detainee Guiller, said.

“This is blackmail, plain and simple. This is unacceptable,” Cadano added.

“How many more must die in prison before the government begins acting to release them? The political prisoners are innocent, after all,” Cadano said, citing the recent death of Bernabe Ocasla who died last month while in detention.

NDFP consultant Concha Araneta-Bocala for her part said that this was a sign that the Duterte administration is not serious in his negotiations with their group.

“The peace process is not some poker game where you can treat the political prisoners as bargaining chips,” she said.

“The president’s statements make it clear that he is not serious about addressing the roots of the armed conflict. All he wants is a ceasefire so he can carry on a charade of peace,” Araneta-Bocala said.

Mounting death

The activists condemned the increasing number of extrajudicial killings due to of Duterte’s so-called war on drugs.

“The number of victims of the war on drugs has ballooned. Over 6,000 have died in allegedly legal operations carried out by supposed vigilantes,” human rights group Rise Up’s Irma Balabad said.

“Meanwhile, most of the killers remain free, as the president has stated that he will defend the policemen,” Balabad added.

They added that the war on drugs was actively being used against activists.

“Oplan Tokhang is now being used in rural communities to harass progressives,” Balabad said.

“It is very sad that a regime that talks about change so much is slowly beginning to smell of fascism and oppression,” Balabad added.

Choose wisely

The progressives spoke against the burial of dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, as well as Duterte’s continued affiliation with the Marcos clan.

“The dictator and his clan are addicted to power. We will not allow them to be rehabilitated and reclaim it,” CARMMA lead convenor Bonifacio Ilagan said.

“Duterte must end his alliance – or whatever he wants to call it – with the Marcoses if he wants change to be real. Otherwise, his promises are all just empty words,” Ilagan added.

“Marcos has been buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani but there is still no justice for victims of Martial Law. State fascism remains long after the dictator’s ouster,” Palabay said.

Ilagan said that they are not intimidated by either the Marcos’ return to power or Duterte’s multiple threats against human rights violations.

“This is not enough reason for us to stop our struggle. We have survived Martial Law and we will survive another attempt at it,” Ilagan said.

“We are ready to fight and revolt if things like Martial Law ever happen again. Don’t dare us,” Anakbayan chairperson Vencer Crisostomo for his part said. (Abril Layad B. Ayroso)

 

Karapatan: State terror continues

Tinay Palabay of the people’s rights alliance KARAPATAN, martial law victim Boni Ilagan of CARMMA(Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang) and Nato Reyes of BAYAN (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) address a rally marking International Human Rights Day 2016 in Manila.

Protesters marched from Liwasang Bonifacio to Mendiola where they burned an effigy of Marcos.

Also seen at Mendiola is human rights stalwart Rene Saguisag meeting with Concha Araneta and Alan Jazmines from the peace panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The GRP-NDFP peace negotiations is currently imperiled by the Marcos rehabilitation by Pres. Duterte, stalled release of political prisoners, continuing militarization of communities under the US-designed Oplan Bayanihan, and the recent appointment of Lt. Gen. Eduardo Año as the new chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) — worrisome issues for human rights raised at the rally. Read more

Old and young meet at Black Friday anti-Marcos protest

“Millennials” and “Gen Z post-millennials” meet up with martial law veterans in an anti-Marcos march and rally at the Rizal Park on “Black Friday,” November 25, 2016.

Among the speakers who expressed elation at the huge turnout from the youth and student sector were Bonifacio Ilagan, Wigberto Tanada, Sr. Mary John Mananza, Edita Burgos, and Satur Ocampo.

Tens of thousands participated in the Quirino Grandstand protest excluding 34 other protest actions across the country, according to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan which led the activities along with the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacanang. Read more