AT LEAST 200 people gathered at Magsaysay Park in Plaza Divisoria, Cagayan de Oro City Wednesday, November 30, to join in the simultaneous anti-Marcos nationwide rally and express their dismay on the former dictator’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Militant groups, Anakbayan and Kilusang Mayo Una (KMU), celebrated the 153rd birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio on the streets to voice out their opposition of Duterte administration's move to bury former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The group is also urging the administration to implement the end of the system of labor contractualization.
"In his 153rd birthday, Andres Bonifacio deserves to be remembered as a true hero. As millennials, the present generation, we have the power to be modern-day Bonifacios and fight for what will benefit the country most. The burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani encourages the idea that the Martial Law is alright when it’s really not," said Renz Ybañez, Anakbayan representative.
Anakbayan also pleads from the government to trash Marcos' legacy policies that are existing laws today such as the Batas Pambansa 232 or the Education Act of 1982.
"Other millennials who say that we should 'move on' should realize that some of Marcos' policies still even cripple us today. If the claims that teachers got 70 percent of the tuition hikes and 20 percent went to the upgrade of facilities were true, the Philippines would have had the best educational system,” said Ybañez.
“But 34 years is more than enough time to prove that this law is a failed experiment in our private-sector dominated education system which is addicted to tuition fee increases. Instead of giving more opportunities for children to study, more and more youth are now uneducated because of our expensive education," Ybañez added.
On the other hand, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) forwards the minimum wage hike and wants the Duterte administration to concentrate on their proposal of ending the system of contractualization in the labor system.
Tita Hadman, KMU spokesperson, stressed that their organization simply wants to increase the way of life of the laborers in the Philippines by increasing the wage that they get and assuring each and every one of them that they will not lose their jobs after a time.
"While the increase of the minimum wage in the country can help the workers, the ending of contractualization will further solidify their livelihood. Imagine the double burden if a worker who cannot even provide enough for his or her family because of our low minimum wage will even lose the job after a span of, say, five months. That is really unfair and hard on our workers. That is why we plead for the Duterte administration to hasten the implementation of these policies," Hadman said.
Moreover, the Concerned Kagay-anons movement went with a torch parade to Magsaysay Park as a continuation in their search for truth and accountability of Marcos' burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The group voices their opposition to the historical revision of the Philippines past which they believed played a big role in the burial of Marcos.
"It is indeed ironic that Andres Bonifacio, who was proven with historical evidence to have fought for the independence of the country in the Spanish rule and who even paid for it with his own life is not even buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani whereas Marcos, whose rule only ignited chaos in the country and divided the people got a spot there," Hadman added.