Youth groups to rally against EJK

NEVER again.

The battlecry alludes to Martial Law in the Philippines at the time of Ferdinand Marcos and the abuses that came in between.

Today, September 21, the mantra has gained new ground in the eyes of the young who are seeing parallelisms between the Marcos regime and the Duterte administration.

To mark the 44th anniversary of Martial Law, youth organizations will gather in Cebu City this afternoon to stage a protest against the continued rise of extrajudicial
killings in the country and human rights violations especially those involving casualties in the administration’s all out war against illegal drugs.

Niño Olayvar, vice president of Anakbayan – Visayas estimated that around a hundred students will march from P. Del Rosario St., to Fuente Osmeña Circle in uptown Cebu City at 5:30 p.m. where a program will follow.

“Although President Rodrigo Duterte is not directly implicated in these killings, we are worried with the rise of casualties under his administration,” Olayvar said.

“There will be a candle lighting activity and reading of letters. Some groups will have their own presentation and performances,” he told Cebu Daily News, adding that while the Martial Law years may have already ended, the dictatorship and human rights violations have continued.

“Extrajudicial killings have become a norm in the news including those who are killed under the administration’s war on drugs,” Olayvar said, noting that every person deserves the due process of law.  

Olayvar said that it was their duty as the youth of today to take action and pursue what the youth of the Martial Law era dreamed about. 

“It was not only about putting an end to the dictatorship but to end all forms of injustice,” Olayvar said of the decades’ old Filipinos’ struggle to end Martial Law in the country.

In today’s rally, youth groups will also express their continued opposition against the burial of the late dictator in the Hero’s Cemetery and call for the prioritization of “education for all” under the Duterte administration.

“We cannot despise Martial Law while giving Marcos state honors through burial. It is like turning back from the dictator’s killings, human rights violations and corruption,” Olayvar said.

Akbayan also organized an art caravan in four universities: University of San Carlos (USC), Cebu Normal University (CNU), University of the Philippines (UP) and Southwestern University (SWU) from Monday until Thursday displaying paintings depicting stories on martial law, human rights violations and the killing of lumads.

The paintings are done by Cebuano artists who are members of Artista para sa Nasyunalista Demokratiko at Rebolusyonaryong Sining (ANDRES).