Fifty years after Martial Law’s declaration, an alliance of Filipino women stood their ground and underscored that they will continue to combat lies and repression by means of truth-telling and resistance.
Gabriela, on Wednesday, Sept, 21, marked the 50th anniversary of Martial Law by conducting a protest of action. Together with various rights groups, they marched and exposed the current crises faced by Filipino women under the President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration, associating it to his late father Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s governance.
“Merely three months into Marcos Jr.’s , activists have disappeared, offices and women shelters have been raided, and rights advocates who so much as demand better governance are immediately branded terrorists,” said Gabriela Secretary General Clarice Palce.
“It feels like the 70’s all over again,” Palce lamented.
As part of its protest, the group called on the national government to “prioritize the needs” of Filipinos amid the ongoing economic crisis, poverty, joblessness, and hunger.
Palce likewise slammed the “attempts” to revise the history and the devious tactics to reallocate the funds that should be given to the people.
“Social services, aid, and dignified jobs – these are the things Filipinos need most today, not military funds and state terrorism, non infrastructure, and most definitely not historical revisionism,” she reiterated.