We Run, We Remember, We Struggle

Fr. Robert P. Reyes
March 21, 2012

September 21, 1972, a day that changed lives, a day that changed a nation. Many were young students and professionals who woke up suddenly deprived of their basic freedom and rights. A president, his wife, relatives and cronies who cannot accept the normal, constitutional transfer of power resort to the use of military might to perpetuate themselves in power. Thus, PD 1081 or Martial Law was declared using as justification, the growing threats to National Security posed by the Communist Party and the Muslim secessionist movement. Warrant-less arrests; torture; forced disappearances; extra-judicial killings; the suppression of human rights, etc. and countless abuses were imposed upon a peaceful and freedom-loving people.

I was then a First Year College Seminarian in San Jose Seminary. And for the next ten years until my ordination as priest in 1982 and another four years as a priest-student in Rome in 1986, I experienced the effects of militarization and the systematic plunder of our nations patrimony by the Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.

On February 25, 1986 EDSA happened. Through the peaceful People Power revolution Marcos, his family and cronies fled. Cory became our president and immediately worked on the restoration of our basic freedoms and rights. She also restored our lost democracy. Twenty six years later, while we still do enjoy the restoration of our democracy, we ask, “But what kind of Democracy? Is it one that is of, by and for the people or, is it one that is of, by and for a few?” Is Martial Law over, or do we continue to suffer from complex and subtle forms of militarization?

While we no longer talk about Conjugal Dictatorship a related phenomenon has spread like cancer throughout the land. Political dynasties rule every province, city and municipality. While we no longer talk about ASO and Curfew, torture and forced disappearances still take place with many cases filed against suspected perpetrators but hardly any conviction. While we no longer talk about the suppression of the freedom of speech and the systematic spread of government propaganda, we continue to suffer from envelopmental journalism on the one hand and regular media killings either by hooded men or backhoes.

March 21, 2012 is six months before the fortieth anniversary of Matial Law. Through a run of remembrance from Chino Roces bridge to the Commission on Human Rights, we wish to invite and challenge everyone to both remember and to continue the peaceful struggle against both the blatant and subtle forms of the abuse of power; corruption; militarization; manipulation and co-optation of institutions and sectors. Join us, and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) We Run, Remember and continue the Struggle for Genuine Freedom and Democracy. Join us…run with us at 7:00 a.m. from Chino Roces Bridge, Mendiola to the Commission on Human Rights.