By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
On the 37th anniversary of the declaration of martial law, activists and victims of the brutality of military rule drew parallels between the Marcos dictatorship and the Arroyo regime. “The bad dream known as martial law has become an absolute nightmare under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo!” one of them said. View slideshow
Martial Law in the Philippines: 37 Years Later
Analysis Talk is rife that the Arroyo government would proclaim martial law, especially after the series of bombings that rocked several parts of the Philippines. However, the Arroyo regime sorely lacks the factors that enabled the dictator Ferdinand Marcos to successfully impose martial rule. The bottomline: if Arroyo declares martial law, she would be adding fuel to the fire of the people’ anger.
While authorities dismiss the recent bombings in Quezon City, Jolo, Iligan City and Cotabato City as mere pre-Sona “noises,” critics, martial-law era activists and analysts believe that an Arroyo regime desperate enough to hold on to power is capable of anything, including using its iron fist on Filipinos.
Martial Law? The recent bombing at the Office of the Ombudsman and the discovery of two unexploded bombs at the compound of the Department of Agriculture and the One Burgundy Plaza along Katipunan Avenue raise once again the specter of martial law. (By Flon Faurillo)
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat MANILA — First, they made sure that House Resolution 1109 was passed before Congress went into recess. The attendance during the voting was one of the highest in the history of the Lower House. There were reports that after the voting, there was a long queue of legislators leading to…
Impunity and desperation in a murderous, corrupt, and undemocratic regime is a dangerous combination. It brings back memories of Martial Law. BY BENJIE OLIVEROS ANALYSIS Bulatlat Karapatan has raised the alarm over the surge in extrajudicial killings during the first quarter of 2009. A total of 16 extrajudicial killings have been recorded so far, the…
Review of Nilikhang Kasaysayan Visual Art Exhibit Sept. 21 – Nov. 28, 2008 Bantayog Memorial Center Quezon Avenue cor. EDSA, Quezon City The martial law that Ferdinand Edralin Marcos imposed in 1972 left a tragic imprint, snippets of terror and malevolent signs. In the visual art exhibit Nilikhang Kasaysayan, the violence of the tumultuous years…
They are victims of the same abhorrent acts, although three decades apart. One has searched for a sister, the other is still looking for his parents. One shared the same belief as his sister, the other could not fully understand his parents’ work. But whether it happened during Martial Law or now that we are supposedly under a democracy, whether the relative is a sister, a brother, or a parent, or whether one is an activist or not, the pain one feels in having his or her relative forcibly disappeared by state security agents is still the same; it does not diminish the cruel effects of the crime.
The translation of feces from an abject source of embarrassment into a potential weapon of vengeance is perhaps the most telling instance of a kind of rebellion: the refashioning of the body from an object of captivity into an agent of its own liberation. Drawing upon its resources, the body fights back in ways difficult…
Not only thieves prowl the night. In the dead of night, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration tried to transfer Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna (People First) party to Leyte. It was also late evening when the government transferred Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith to the custody of the U.S. embassy. In Ocampo’s case they did so to…