“The martial law continues until now.”

“Martial Law, we will never forget. Defend press freedom.”

Various progressive groups stressed this point at their protest action in Legazpi City, Albay to commemorate the 54th year of Martial Law declaration on September 21.

Bayan Bicol, Condor-Piston Bicol, College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) Bicol, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bicol (KMB), BUeños Kontra Korapsyon (BKK), Manibela Albay Chapter and other local groups marched from Bicol University (BU) main campus to Peñaranda Park, calling for accountability from the Marcos Jr. administration and urging Bicolanos to join their efforts against the distortion of martial law history.

“The Marcos family’s campaign of revisionism in Philippine history to erase the bloody and dark history of Martial Law must end,” Bayan Bicol Secretary-General Dan Balucio said. “Marcos Sr. was ousted but still a Marcos is the president today. The martial law continues until now.”

According to CEGP Bicol, the administration has changed but the media workers and campus journalists continue to face the dynastic rule of the Marcoses as they continue to plunder public funds for foreign interests while repressing rights to a free press.

CEGP Bicol Secretary-General Rheylyn Llagas recalled the martyred journalists who fought the Marcos Sr dictatorship and the journalists today who are imprisoned, threatened, harassed and silenced because of their profession. She cited the cases of Albay broadcaster Noel Samar, community journalists Frenchie Mae Cumpio and RJ Ledesma.

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Llagas is a writer of Cassipi, the official student publication of BU College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, who was elected in the regional progressive formation of campus publications during its general assembly on August 30.

More than 80 campus journalists and 38 student publications in the Bicol region affirmed their commitment in advancing and defending the campus press. During the assembly, the previous CEGP–Bicol executive officers presented the accomplishment report and recorded Campus Press Freedom Violations (CPFVs) experienced by member publications last year.

“Their experience reminds us that we are not truly free from the threat and oppression that became the norm during martial law. The struggle for freedom of expression is only a part of history. It is a battle that continues to this day. Let us not allow history to become a memory,” Llagas said.

“In every attempt to erase or distort history, we must defend the truth. For every right violated and voice silenced, our duty remains to speak out, intervene, and stand up. Fear, abuse, and irresponsible power must never again prevail,” BU University Student Council said.

“We should be more loud now. We should carry until now the rights campus journalists fought for before,” Llagas said. “Our goal as campus journalists is to be the front runners of truth and reality. We are the ones who criticize and question the truth that the people need.”

Campus publications in the Bicol region changed their Facebook profiles to black in solidarity, reiterating that writing for the truth is to fight for it.

The Budyong, official student publication of BU College of Arts and Letters, said that they will “continue to echo the call to hold the guilty accountable, to defend and keep alive the history that is being forcibly changed, and to end the humiliation and oppression that the masses are still experiencing.”

“As long as the long cry for justice continues, no one will be silent and no one will forget,” The Budyong said.

“By remembering history, campus journalists strengthen the people’s struggle, carrying forward the mosquito press’s resistance to rampant censorship and tyranny since Marcos Sr. dictatorship,” CEGP said.

Unresolved widespread corruption

The year after the massive protests against corruption, the Marcos Jr. administration remains selective in holding accountable those involved in the flood control project issues, according to Bayan Bicol.

“The arrest of former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on the orders of the Sandigang Bayan in the plunder case can be considered an ‘escape-goat’ so that the entire blame is passed on to him and the real core of corruption is saved,” the group said.

“The widespread corruption in the government bureaucracy that is rampant especially at the top of the bureaucracy is the legacy of the Marcos Dictatorship to powerful politicians and businessmen,” Balucio said.

Meanwhile, Manibela-Albay and Condor Piston Bicol joined the protest action to call on the Marcos Jr. administration to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law and to remove the 12-percent expanded value-added tax and for fare hikes.

According to Edison Briones, president of Manibela-Albay and Legazpi-Daraga and Drivers Association (Legdajoda), Marcos Jr. is unable to control the oil price hikes causing layers of problems for the transport sector.

“We have been struggling for almost seven months with the high price of crude oil,” Briones said.

Llagas stressed that campus journalists and the media should ask questions, investigate and speak the truth. “In an age of disinformation, censorship and intimidation, we need to be more critical and brave.”

“Press freedom is not only the right of journalists, it is the right of every Filipino. Let’s fight for press freedom, let’s fight for the truth and let’s not let the people be silenced again,” Llagas said.  (RTS, DAA)