The struggle continues,' SELDA says on 48th anniversary of Marcos' Martial Law

A group of detainees during the late Ferdinand Marcos' regime said they will continue to defy "another fascist regime" almost five decades after Marcos' Martial Law.

"The struggle continues," the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) said in a statement on Monday, the 48th anniversary of Marcos' declaration of Martial Law.

"We are facing another fascist regime, one that similarly conducts and promotes vicious attacks against the people, abuse of power, and brazen human rights violations, with Marcos wannabe Rodrigo Duterte at the helm," SELDA said.

They recalled Martial Law as a period of "atrocities and injustices against the Filipino people," saying Marcos and his cronies plundered public funds and arrested, tortured, killed, or forcibly disappeared opposition leaders and activists.

This time, even without the declaration of martial law, SELDA said President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed military and police generals to civilian government agencies and allowed "draconian" measures, such as the anti-terrorism law and the shutdown of ABS-CBN.

The group also accused Duterte of "shamelessly coddl[ing] the Marcoses in their attempts for political rehabilitation."

"We refuse to let this reign of terror, deceit, and incompetence continue," SELDA said. "We had faced grim days before, fiercely fighting for our freedoms and rights, and we eventually toppled a despot."

"We will never forget the countless atrocities committed by the Marcoses and their cronies. During these dark times, we remain committed in defying another fascist regime. We will continue our fight against all forms of fascism and tyrannical rule, and uphold truth, freedom, and justice," the group said.

For their part, Kapatid, a group of families and supporters of political detainees, urged the Duterte administration to free deserving inmates, including prisoners who face what they say are fabricated charges.

"Martial law never left us even when Marcos fled to Hawaii following the people power uprising that ousted him in February 1986," said Kapatid spokesperson Fides Lim.

"His family is back in power and so are the enablers who have set up a new infrastructure of authoritarianism, debt-driven growth, foreign subservience, cronyism and corruption,” she said in a statement.

Citing data from human rights group Karapatan, Kapatid said at least 973 people, more than 600 of whom are political prisoners, have been illegally arrested and detained under Duterte's government.

Kapatid urged the administration to release political detainees and grant pardon to imprisoned Filipinos, whom they said are "far more deserving of liberty" than Joseph Scott Pemberton, the US Marine who was convicted for killing Jennifer Laude and was pardoned by Duterte this month.

“We press President Duterte for the just release of political prisoners, some of whom have already been in prison for 20 to 30 years for made-up offenses. They represent the continuance of the horrors of martial law, foisted with fake criminal cases when they don’t even deserve a single day in jail,” Kapatid said. —KBK, GMA News