Several labor and urban poor groups recalled on Friday, April 29, the tragedies that the country had suffered, particularly the death of workers during the construction of the Manila Film Center, under the administration of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Members of the President Isko Movement-Isulong ang Kapakanan ng Pilipino (PRIMO ISKO), the Alliance of Genuine Labor Organization-National Confederation of Labor (AGLO-NCL), Labor Power Coalition (LPC), and Bus Transport Workers Alliance (BTWA) held a protest action at the Manila Film Center on Friday, April 29.
Makeshift coffins were displayed in front of the film center to symbolize what they claimed the deaths of the country’s economy, democracy, and human rights under Marcos’ martial law.
“Never again! Our country suffered enough tragedies during the time of Marcos, we don’t need another Marcos to repeat all of these mishaps,” said PRIMO ISKO national chairman Nato Agbayani.
Agbayani reminded the public that the tragedies caused by the Marcoses’ greed for wealth and power during the martial law years should not be forgotten.
The deaths of the 169 workers who died during the film center construction are just some of the human-rights violations committed by the Marcoses under their administration, said Rico Lucero of the AGLO-NCL.
“Just like the laborers who fell to their death in quick-drying cement when the Marcoses tried to rush the construction of this film center. The Marcoses don’t mind, they don’t care for the Filipinos’ lives, as long as they benefit from it,” Jess Olivar of the BTWA said.