BAYAN opposes in no uncertain terms a return to Martial Law, and any threat or justification of its re-imposition.
We warn President Duterte that threats of Martial Law, along with attempts to override Constitutional safeguards, will be met with resistance and will ultimately be defeated by the people. A declaration of Martial Law, even in the context of what the President describes as a “virulent” situation, will not save the nation and the people. Removing constitutional checks and balances will open the floodgates to more violations and to blatant authoritarianism. These abuses will doom rather than save the nation.
If we go by the abuses already taking place in the war on drugs, expect these to multiply a hundred fold once Martial Law is declared. The fascist implementors of Martial rule, the State security forces, are most notorious for rights violations and corruption.
The President should cease making threats or remarks on Martial Law and instead address the growing concern and indignation over the deaths arising from this war on drugs. These gross violations provide the strongest arguments against any return to Martial Law. Duterte himself previously acknowledged that no good came out of Marcos’ Martial Law so his recent contradictory pronouncements make his position untenable.
We can also anticipate that any move towards Martial Law will have dire consequences for the peace process with various groups. Martial Law in particular would run counter to the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
The only reference the President should be making in relation to Martial Law is one that recognizes past abuses along with the commitment that he will never allow the same to happen during his watch. –Renato M. Reyes Jr. Bayan secretary general
The Thing with Oplan Bayanihan
IF Oplan Kapayapaan of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is a continuum of Oplan Bayanihan, we expect that human rights and international humanitarian law violations will continue, especially in struggling communities and among the poor majority of peasants and workers.
From the initial statements by AFP officials describing Oplan Kapayapaan, the “whole of nation approach” was deemed as an effective framework in addressing the so-called insurgency. What the AFP conveniently left out is that this framework caused the killings of Lumad and other national minorities and peasants, the forcible evacuation of civilian communities, particularly those tagged as “NPA supporters,” and the illegal arrests and detention of activists. The human rights record of the BS Aquino administration is proof of this.
The AFP’s whole of nation approach, adopted from the United State Counter-insurgency Guide of 2009, sought to “win the peace” through a combination of primarily military combat operations and intelligence and use of civilian agencies and entities for its military objective in the guise of “peace and development programs.
Civilians are victimized and the root causes of the armed conflict remains unresolved. If the AFP and State security forces under the Rodrigo Duterte administration will have the same framework and approach of the past regimes and with their fascist and mercenary character, the Filipino people will continue to experience unpeace in communities.
The whole of nation approach, in the guise of ‘peace and development programs’ or civil military operations of the AFP, legitimizes military occupation of communities. Even during the period of the GRP unilateral ceasefire in line with its peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, human rights violations by the military and police continued in suspected areas of the New People’s Army.
During the first six months of Duterte presidency, there were 19 victims of political killings, two enforced disappearance victims, and illegal arrests continued. Human rights violations persisted in communities, due to the military’s indiscriminate firing and bombing and use of schools and public places.
If the AFP’s priority in Oplan Kapayapaan is indeed the ‘destruction of Abu Sayyaf, Maute Group, Biff and other foreign and local terrorists,’ there is no need for the army to stay in communities looking for members of the New People’s Army, harassing the residents they suspect as supporters and members. The soldiers should pull out now from peasant and tribal communities.
Karapatan also warns against using the pretext of anti-crime/anti-drugs campaign against activists and organized communities struggling for land and their rights. Soldiers have been reportedly occupying communities, claiming to be looking for illegal drugs but were actually harassing residents on the presence of NPAs and their affiliation with progressive groups.
No amount of concealment can cover the true purpose of counter-insurgency programs. It is only through addressing the root causes of the armed conflict that just and lasting peace can be achieved. Comprehensive social, economic and political reforms through the peacetalks, through rejection of anti-people and neoliberal economic policies and by upholding people’s rights and welfare and the country’s sovereignty can bring genuine peace to the Filipino people. –Cristina Palabay, Secretary General, Karapatan
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