“Will people just move on for that? Never!”
By Kat Ulrike
This note joins the Filipino folk in commemorating the 49th year of the declaration of Martial Law. And contrary to what orderists and its apologists insisted its how Martial Law meant "national development", the folk must never forget this as one of the worst period in history: in which Ferdinand Marcos grabbed and wielded absolute power as dictator for 14 years and engaged in relentless plunder, corruption, and fascist suppression- that behind the atmosphere of "development" under the "new society" he bankrupted the government, led to country to unprecented ruin, and further indebted the people with enormous debt.
And to think that orderists and its apologists continue to insist how Martial Law meant "development" and "discipline", if not urging people to forgive the perpetuators forget the pain and suffering that was left it becomes an urgent to look back and draw lessons from the dark days of Martial Law and its lasting effect on Philippine society- especially in a time Duterte unabashedly declared admiration for Marcos and openly harbors ambitions of following his footsteps.
Quite absurd to hear apologists to "move on" especially when their idol Marcos and its supporters telling "how good Martial Law" was: that numerous achievements been made even it brought enormous debts and created numerous concessions to big capitalists. Like Marcos, Duterte's orderism, through its war on drugs, has resulted to more than 30,000 victims, close to ten times more than the 3,000 people killed in the massacres and “salvagings” perpetrated by military and police forces under the Marcos dictatorship. The militarised bureaucracy with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) showed an attempt to intensify anticommunist hysteria from peasant communities to the academe. The peasant masses suffer from rampant abuses and violations of human rights that come with the militarization and hamletting of their villages, with military showcasing "fake surrenders" in exchange for assistance, worse, “surrender” their rights and acquiesce to worsening forms of oppression and exploitation including the grabbing of their lands by big mining corporations and plantations, and energy and ecotourism projects. Even schools such as the Kalinga State University, the Isabela State University and the Aklan State University were also pressured by both Military and Police, to remove and ban from their libraries books and other literature authored/or published by the National Democratic Front. Most of these books banned pertain to peace negotiations and the views taken by the NDF and the revolutionary movement on the matter of just and lasting peace and outstanding socioeconomic, political, cultural and military issues in the country. Such actions were reminiscent of Martial Law and its barefaced act of censorship and suppression of thought- which is way contrary to what the government presented as showcasing Democracy and Freedom, particularly freedom of instruction, press, and expression.
Also like Marcos, Duterte has surpassed his idol's regime for the rate of accumulating government debt. Philippine debt grew at around ₱65 billion a year ($1:₱50) for 20 years under Marcos. From ₱6.09 trillion at the start of Duterte’s term, government debt skyrocketed to ₱11 trillion and expected to reach ₱13.42 trillion by 2022, growing by ₱1.22 trillion annually, almost 20 times faster than the Marcos regime. And these are meant for the "build build build" program apologists trying to compare with Marcos's "golden age of infrastructure" that's, debt driven. Invoking "development", Duterte duped the folk to pocket fat commissions by diverting hundreds of billions of pesos to anomalous government contracts involving Chinese-funded infrastructure projects using "build build build". He has funneled more and more public funds to debt servicing, "anti-crime", counterinsurgency, and infrastructure projects using TRAIN, "Bayanihan to Heal/Recover as One" and other laws to justify getting more funds. Like Marcos, education, health, and social services remain the least of state priorities that even in this time of COVID19 pandemic health services remain less supported contrary to their statements if not profited by scrupulous government officials in connivance with profiteers. Duterte has accelerated import liberalization of agricultural products, particularly rice and meat, leading to bankruptcy of palay farmers and livestock producers in favour of smugglers, entrenched interests with artificial rise over prices of food and other daily commodities.
Such bullshitry brought by the order would say that this is way contrary to what is presented to them. Of course, they would claim "they're patriotic" in "saving the republic" or "protecting the people" while continuing its subservience to both American and Chinese interests. In exchange for promises of Chinese money, vaccines, and protection, Duterte has surrendered vast parts of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to the Chinese military and giant fishing industry. On the other hand, Duterte continues to extend extraterritorial rights to the US military through the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) and other lopsided military agreements, all in exchange for the sale of new military weaponries, as well as vaccines while allowing the expansion of its military facilities within Filipino military camps for stockpiling and forward deployment of drones, communication equipment, and other war matériel.
All in all, the actions brought by the Duterte regime meant terror, corruption, and repression just like those of his idol. With obvious aversion to human rights, the administration's brand of orderism urges people to "move on" despite the fact that the stench of the past continues to stink society. Yes, development did commence, but did it really benefited the folk and communities as exploiters oppress them? The regime claimed to be "against oligarchs", yet how come it is the same regime that created new oligarchs and tolerated existing ones in exchange for the latter's support for the administration? The "drug war" turned out to be just a "war against the poor" as local drug lords and big Chinese syndicates trying to "protect themselves" in exchange for protection by corrupt officials while killing those who are falsely accused. People starting to get concerned as the regime's actions became way contrary to the "promise of change" and "comfortable life"- that injustice and contempt with the poor became the main attributes under Duterte and his administration.
And by seeing, hearing those who urge to "move on" this is all but a mockery of people's desire for justice. Will the folk who desired for justice just give up and move on? Never! Expect them demand justice even further even it requires blood!