Photo credit: Bulatlat
Human rights group Artikulo Trese (A.13) is taking it to the streets this weekend as the nation celebrates the 32nd anniversary of People Power Revolution.
“The essence of People Power is rooted in the truth,” said Caloocan Bishop Emeritus Deogracias Iñiguez, DD., convenor of Artikulo Trese. “We want to be instruments of truth in this era of ‘fake news’ so we stand with those who seek the truth in the name of human rights and social justice.”
A.13 will be heading a rights and truth caravan dubbed, “Lakbay Karapatan,” as part of its commemoration of People Power on Sunday. Workers, farmers, urban poor, teachers, students, NGOs, faith-based groups, victims of extra legal killings and other advocates of social justice and human rights will gather by lunch time in different parts of Metro Manila where the incidence of killings are rampant.
Starting at 1:00pm, A.13 will converge at the Freedom Park, Commission on Human Rights grounds along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City for the main “Lakbay Karapatan” program, where survivors of extra legal killings and Bishop Iñiguez will address the crowd.
“Even before the peaceful revolt that toppled the dictatorship, the Filipino’s quest for the truth fueled the movement. What was the truth behind graft and corruption and the ill gotten wealth? What was the truth behind the missing activists? What was the truth behind the torture of freedom fighters? What was the truth behind the cheating in the snap elections?”
Bishop Iñiguez said that among the many truths that needs to be told is that “extra legal killings for the two year-old war on drugs has been a direct affront to respect for human rights, which in the process has victimized our youth and only the poor.”
“Our collective failure to remind our era about people power, the courageous movement that directed it and the importance of teaching these lessons to our youth, have opened the doors for the forces of evil to twist history in an attempt to fully regain power,” said the retired bishop.
Artikulo Trese is a multisectoral network that stands for social justice and human rights, as provided in Article 13 of the Philippine Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Marcoses have returned to power and are bent on changing how history judges the former stong man, President Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator who declared Martial Law in the 70s, cracked down on rights activists and the political opposition, tortures and killed them, and ruled the Philippines for more than 20 years.
Many of the atrocities under Martial Law in the Marcos era are repeating itself in the present era. People suddenly disappear and turn up dead after a few days. The only difference is that it is not the whole country under Martial Law, only Mindanao. At least for now.
Exie Nidea, co-convenor for labor of Artikulo Trese and president of the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE), said that continued labor contractualization betrays the spirit of people Power. “Endo, contractualization and manpower agency hiring trample upon workers’ human and trade union rights. Security of Tenure and Living Wage are enshrined in our freedom constitution, which the Duterte administration wants to amend,” said Nidea. “The proposed Duterte Constitution aims to remove Article 13 from the Constitution.”
“The pains, lament and rage of families of victims of extra legal killings are real,” said Sr. Nenet Daño of the Religious of the Good Shepherd (RGS), also a co-Convenor of Artikulo Trese.
“They have lost their loved ones and also lost their breadwinners. They have been deprived of justice and deprived of economic rights,” added the nun who filed a Writ of Amparo on behalf of the poor community in San Andres, where many suspected drug users have been killed.
“The ‘fake news’ today is creeping into our past and alarmingly ‘revising’ the story of people power and the people’s history. If we fail to act now, the collection of ‘fake news’ today will eventually become the ‘fake history’ in the future,” said the Bishop Iñiguez.
By 2:30pm, A.13 will move the “Lakbay Karapatan” caravan to Arayat in Cubao, then march later in the afternoon to the People Power Monument to join other rights activists for the People Power commemoration.#
