By Karlo Mongaya
Tens of thousands joined a September 21, 2017, protestin Manila, Philippines, to condemn human rights abuses under the government of President Rodrigo Duterte, who assumed power in June 2016.
Theprotestwas held on the same day when martial law was imposed in the country by former dictatorFerdinand Marcosin 1972. The Philippines was under martial law until 1981. During this period, the Marcos government was accused of committing widespread human rights abuses. Marcos was eventually ousted by a peaceful uprising known as People Power. Duterte has repeatedly said that he admires Marcos.
Participants expressed collective indignation over the Duterte administrations so-called triple wars: thewar on drugsthat has already killed over 13,000 people, the all-out war against communist rebels which hasdisplacedfarmers and indigenous peoples, and thewar on terrorin Marawi which placed the whole southern island of Mindanao under martial law.
On top of the rising anti-drug war death toll, rights group Karapatan has alsodocumented 88 political killing of mostly peasant leaders and activistsalongside cases of illegal arrests, forced evacuations, aerial bombings, and indiscriminate shootings in Dutertes counterinsurgency war.
Despite efforts by the Duterte administration to disrupt and discourage protests, organizers estimated around 30,000 people braved the rains to join mass actions in Manila’s Luneta Park.
Led by the broad civil society alliance Movement Against Tyranny (MAT), workers, peasant, and peoples organizations, members of national minorities, church groups, artists, students, and professionals were involved in organizing the Luneta rally.
Protesters voiced concern over what they saw as President Dutertes attempt to impose dictatorial rule in the country. Human rights groupKarapatanpointed out similarities between Marcos and Duterte:
The parallelism between the Marcos and the Duterte regimes are becoming more pronounced, as the latter not only aids the political rehabilitation of the Marcoses but also employs the same fascist tactics and anti-people policies of the Marcos dictatorship, including threats to impose a nationwide martial rule. Duterte and his security cluster has utilized narratives and tactics straight out of Marcoss playbook of repression, repeating and justifying rights violations, with increasing frequency and intensity.
Efforts to sabotageand delegitimize protesters
The path to holding the protest was paved with obstacles. Authorities initially declared the holding of anationwide earthquake drillon September 21. Some believe this was intended to prevent the people, especially workers and students, from joining the rally. Then, rally organizers were reportedly given a hard timesecuring space in Luneta Parkfor the protest. Classes and work in public schools and government offices were alsosuspended, apparently to discourage attendance in the protest. In the Philippines, students and their teachers are able to join rallies en masse if there are classes since they can persuade school officials to join a political activity as a group. Also, politicians often suspend classes to prevent schools and their students from participating in political actions.
President Dutertethreatened martial lawif the protest were to turn violent. Meanwhile, the national police chief warned thatsix barges of protesters from Visayas and Mindanao infiltrated by armed rebels were going to jointhe demonstration. He later claimed that the information he got was wrong.
Just days before the protest, President Duterte declared September 21 aNational Day of Protestand mobilized a few thousand government employees and supporters for pro-Duterte rallies usinggovernment fundsto hire buses, distributefoodto participants and hiresexy starsto entertain the crowd.
Rally highlights
Protesters burned an8-foot Rodys cube effigymodeled after a rubix cube but showing President Dutertes face alongside those of Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and a puppy signifying the governments puppetry to foreign powers like the United States. In the Philippines, the use of the term puppy (tuta in Filipino) in politics denotes blind subservience to a master.
Apart from creative effigies, big banners, colorful placards, and fiery speeches, the protest also featured cultural presentations. This included, among others,a Filipino version of Do You Hear The People Singfrom the Les Miserables musical.
Despite the suspension of classes in public schools and in many private schools, thousands of studentsjoinedthe protest in Luneta. In fact, a Twitter post showing a student joining the rally while strudying went viral:
ISKOLAR NG BAYAN
NGAYON AY LUMALABAN
(AT NAGREREVIEW NG BIO 12)pic.twitter.com/GxzsgLDTFOPatrick Wincy Reyes (@incywincyyy)September 21, 2017
SCHOLAR OF THE PEOPLE
ARE PART OF THE STRUGGLE
(AND REVIEWING FOR BIO 12)
More protests in the coming weeks
In the wake of the strong showing in the September 21 protest, President Duterte backtracked from previous threats and once more changed his stance by extending anolive branch and offers of constructive dialogue to protesters.
Protest leaders, however, saidDuterte’s offer was hypocriticalamidst the continuing anti-drug war, counterinsurgency war, and martial law in Mindanao. They say this only shows President Dutertes fear of the emergence of a genuine mass movement against his bloody rule.
Various civil society groups have vowed to launch bigger protests against the Duterte government’s intensifying human rights abuses and rising tyranny.
This article has been originally published in Global Voices.
Featured Image Credits: Global Voices
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