ML ensured Duterte’s victory

THE martial law situation ensured the control of the mid-term elections by the Duterte government in Mindanao.

Under Martial Law, the attacks against the national minorities, the Lumad and Moro continued and intensified. Our  communities are bombed,  military operations in Lumad and Moro communities escalated, Lumad schools were forcibly closed, and trumped up charges were filed against the indigenous people’s (IP) leaders. The Duterte government made it easy to coerce the people to vote for administration’s candidates, or not vote at all.

By jailing the likes of Jomorito Guaynon,  also a council member of Sandugo and staunch Higaonon IP leader, many of his tribesmen were intimidated or even failed to freely campaign and vote for candidates based on their character and genuine platform for the national minorities.

Guaynon, also chairperson of Kalumbay (a regional IP organization) was abducted together with peasant leader Irineo Udarbe on January 28, 2019 by elements of the Philippine Army and later charged under Human Security Act. Guaynon and Udarbe would have led for the campaign Atty. Neri Colmenares for senator in their region and for partylists under the Makabayan coalition.

The red-tagging and defamation of progressive personalities, organizations and partylists instilled fear and a chilling effect among their members, constituents and supporters. There were rampant distribution and posting of materials tagging various organizations and individuals as NPA members and supporters before and during campaign period. Named in these black propaganda paraphernalia were  the Makabayan partylists (Act Teachers, Anak Pawis , Bayan Muna, Kabataan and Gabriela Women’s Partylists), the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines Northern Mindanao and personalities like Bp. Antonio Ablon,  Fr. Cris Ablon,  Atty. Czarina Musni and many others. These organizations and individuals are  supportive to our plight. They support our opposition to  the intrusion of big business in our ancestral lands and territories and  our assertion to the right to self-determination.

Presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte-Carpio even campaigned against the Makabayan bloc, calling for zero votes for Makabayan. The partylists under Makabayan are the same groups that the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio and even President Duterte baselessly tagged as NPA fronts.

Even the presence of armed soldiers inside the polling precincts intimidated  voters. How can they comfortably and freely vote when soldiers with high powered rifles are within sight?

Despite the intense repression and various forms of electoral fraud, the Makabayan bloc won six seats at the house of Representatives. This manifests a resounding victory of the people against attempts to deny a genuine voice and opposition in Congress. More so, a Lumad woman leader becomes the first genuine Lumad and IP representative in Congress.

The Duterte administration now dominate the Senate and the House of Representatives.  The immediate future looks bleak for the Filipino people. Duterte’s charter change agenda and other anti-people policies immensely threaten the democratic and civil rights of the Filipino people  and sovereignty of the nation. Clearly, we now have a rubber stamp Congress.

The next three years under Duterte is seen as a prolonged agony. Fascist attacks and repression, deterioration of poverty brought about by anti-people economic programs and plunder will further intensify. The Filipino people must unite.

Two years of martial law in Mindanao has miserably failed to end people’s legitimate resistance, social unrest and the armed revolutionary movement in the Philippines. Martial law and repression only strengthened the people’s resolve. —Amirah Lidasan, a Moro and council member of Sandugo