THE Movement Against Tyranny or MAT staged the historic Luneta rally of thirty-thousand warm bodies from various sectors last September 21 at the Luneta. The mass action was significant because it was the first big protest versus the Duterte administration comprised significantly of a loud and vibrant multisectoral and millennial membership.
The activity was a watershed of sorts because prior to this, Duterte seemed to enjoy unwavering and solid popular support. But the chips in the seemingly infallible armor began falling with his increasing authoritarian disposition.
Duterte himself started this disillusionment when he allowed the burial of the dictator at the National Heroes’ Cemetery last year. Then this was followed by the rising body count from the bloody drug war that eventually alarmed many. The pungent stench of the blood spilled on the streets drawing ever closer and closer to one’s circle of relatives and friends further developed this critical mass and this process of reversal is goaded even more by the unceasing attacks by the president himself on standard democratic institutions.
Many believe that this was the case of the same professional cynics from Luzon spewing their standard tirades against government making this a north versus south affair once again. Mindanao is considered to be Duterte country and his word is supposedly holy in these parts.
But Duterte’s steady and sure shift towards authoritarianism has already trammeled through many Mindanao victims just in his first year of office. The voices of these victims validate that the growing howls of protests originate not just from Luzon but elsewhere, nationwide.
This growing critical stance versus the Duterte administration is evident in the range of testimonies shared during the launching of the Northern Mindanao chapter of the Movement Against Tyranny last October 23 in Cagayan de Oro City.
Despite the celebratory stance taken on by many over the end of hostilities in Marawi, many Maranaos especially in evacuation centers see no cause for celebration especially since many of their homes and livelihood have been completely destroyed from five months of fighting. They are prohibited to return to their community and there is no definite date when they can do so they can begin the process of rebuilding. There are even rumors circulating that significant areas of Marawi will be kept off-limits even from long-time residents of the area since these are declared as military reservations. As early as now, the cauldron of discontent is being stirred to boiling point by shadowy forces. It is easy to see how a new destructive force with a different name from Maute can emerge from this context.
The peasant sector, specifically the Higaonon Lumad of Bagocboc, Opol who are fighting for their ancestral domain claim versus powerful oil palm plantation are also the subject of harassment and attack. Lumad leader Joseph Paborada tearily reported that he was forced to surrender as an NPA guerilla by soldiers who swooped down in their barangay last October 15, 2017 in two six-by-six trucks just because he was at the forefront of their land struggle as a community. It is a similar predicament to the farmers of Bukidnon who are deprived of their land by Central Mindanao University, despite these being awarded to them under the government’s agrarian reform program.
These two incidents prove that the conditions that fuel agrarian unrest in the countryside continue and are actually made even worse by Duterte’s martial law declaration. Martial law and the Marawi siege and the continuing peasant and Lumad unrest in the countryside are all portent indications that the situation could spiral out of control if not checked by a vigilant and militant citizenry.
Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, former Bangsa Moro Transition Council member, who has become face and voice of the Maranao plight, shared a poignant observation about the dangers of tyranny. She spoke about the culture of silence that goes hand-in-hand with tyrannical rule. She identified this as the tyranny within.
We might associate dictatorship to gun-toting soldiers, checkpoints, and battle tanks in our streets that on the one hand make us feel safe from real or imagined threats. But an even more insidious effect of all these vulgar displays of state power, is what Samira identified as the inculcation of the tyranny within. When the cold and unchecked power of the state is allowed to stifle legitimate dissent, it creates a chilling effect. This is the time when we become the docile subjects of an authoritarian regime, even welcoming and defending tyrannical practices for their perceived benefits no matter what the cost. Before this becomes the norm, such practices must be resisted.