PROGRESSIVE groups led by Bayan-Negros are set to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of Escalante Massacre by staging march from Sagay City and Toboso on September 19.
Michael dela Concepcion, secretary-general of Bayan-Negros, said the march will end at Escalante City where series of activities will be held in relation to the gruesome killing of farm workers that occurred 33 years ago.
At dawn, a torch parade will be conducted followed by a cultural program to remember the heroics of martyr and survivors, he said.
On September 20, “Misa ng Bayan” will be celebrated by Bishop Jerry Alminaza of Diocese of San Carlos at Mt. Carmel gym.
As a closing program, the reenactment of Escalante massacre will be set in the afternoon which will culminate in the city shopping center.
On September 21, the Bayan-Negros and its allied organization will proceed to simultaneous protest actions and activities at Escalante City, Kabankalan City, Dumaguete City, and Bacolod City for the 46th anniversary of martial law.
The activities they prepared will honor the martyrs, and the survivors, alongside with protest action against continuing militarization of communities, landlessness, soaring prices of basic necessities and the tyrannical rule of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Escalante Massacre was the result of the violent assault against the 5,000-strong rally composed mainly of sugar workers and other progressive sectors such as fisherfolk, students, urban poor, professionals and church people who gathered in Escalante to protest the 13th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law of September 20, 1985.