Martial law victims to stage protest vs Marcos rule

THE Mothers and Relatives Against Tyranny and Repression (Martyr)-Negros led by martial law victim Edgar Cadagat will stage a protest rally on the 44th anniversary of the Marcos dictatorship on September 21.

In a press conference Wednesday at the Negros Press Club building, the group said they will express their grievance against the deeds of the former strongman who plundered the country, abused, and killed many Filipinos during the martial law.

Next Wednesday, they will march from Rizal Elementary School up to the Fountain of Justice at the old City Hall.

The group also expressed their vehement opposition to the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

They added that the “human rights record of Marcos was unprecedented as more than 75,000 claimants filed their claims under Republic Act 10368, a law which recognizes and reparates human rights victims under the Marcos regime.”

“As we commemorate the declaration of Martial Law on Sept. 21, 2016, the victims are again relieving the trauma which they experienced 44 years ago. Adding salt to the injury is the order of President Rodrigo Duterte to bury the dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani without taking consideration the emotional and physical suffering of the thousands of human rights victims,” Martyr representatives said.

They added that in Negros Occidental, “human rights violations were evident in the sad fate of 21 activists and sugar workers who were killed in the famous Escalante Massacre that occurred on September 20, 1985.”

More than a hundred human rights violations were documented such as the Aningal family massacre, Langgoni Nine massacre, the arrest and torture of church people known as the “Negros Nine” and many more, the group further said.

One of the surviving victims of the Escalante massacre, Hendrilino Cerna, who sustained gun wounds in his hip is still suffering up to this time, they also said.