Schools urged to revisit lessons of Martial Law as bishops seek end to impunity

Teachers of public and private schools were urged on the eve of the fortieth anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law to remind students of that chapter of the country's history, so they will value democracy more.

 

“It is important to remind students about the Martial Law because the freedom we are enjoying today is not enjoyed in the past and a lot of people risked their lives for this freedom,” Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) president Fr. Gregg Bañaga said Thursday. Bañaga was a student of Adamson University in 1972 when Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 and placed the country under Martial Law. He recounted the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty prevalent during that era.

 

“Let it be a warning to students not to take democracy for granted. If you don’t guard it, one day you will lose it and you will long for it,” he said.

 

Banaga also urged Filipino youth to “guard the freedom that you are enjoying today so that the future generations can also enjoy it.”

 

Meanwhile, Visayas-based Catholic bishops and priests urged President Benigno Aquino III to “meaningfully honor” his parents’ struggle against Martial Law by stopping human rights violations under his administration.

 

The Visayas Clergy Discernment Group (VCDG) lamented human rights abuses continue despite Aquino’s claim of treading the “straight path.”

 

“We ask the Aquino government to denounce Martial Law through doing all it can to stop impunity and stop all human rights violations,” the statement signed by VCDG head convenor and Jaro Auxiliary Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said, according to an article posted early Friday on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site.

 

The CBCP said the VCDG had noted 99 extra-judicial killings, 11 enforced disappearances, 60 frustrated extra-judicial killings since 2010.

 

The bishops' group added  that the Aquino administration has failed to curb the growing number of cases of illegal arrests and detention and forced evictions of informal settlers.

 

In Cebu, the group said the violent demolition and eviction of urban poor communities have continued. More than 30,000 households in Metro Cebu are facing demolition, it added.

 

Also, the group said farmers’ leaders who have asked help from CBCP president and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma as they are being harassed for seeking agrarian reform.

 

On the other hand, Alminaza said fisherfolks in Cordova and other areas in Cebu are being displaced from their livelihood due to reclamation projects for ports, and golf courses.

 

“Yet amidst increasing human rights violations, we are dismayed with the continuing impunity of perpetrators. Impunity or exemption from punishment of perpetrators has become so common that it has become just another matter of routine. Impunity denies the victims their right to justice and redress,” he said.

 

Alminaza also cited the continued failure to find and arrest retired Army Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr.

 

Palparan had been charged for the disappearance of two University of the Philippines students in 2006, yet the prelate said he “continues to elude the law.”

 

“Many other government military officials and personnel accused of perpetrating human rights violation continue to enjoy impunity under the current dispensation,” he said. — ELR, GMA News