BAYAN Canada launches awareness campaign

"Never again to Martial Law in the Philippines"

To mark the 37th anniversary declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Canada member organizations are holding rallies, study sessions, coffee house discussions, public fora and photo exhibits in different cities in Canada.

Throughout the week, BAYAN Canada member organizations will be holding events in different cities under the theme “Never again to Martial Law in the Philippines.”

In Toronto, BAYAN Canada organizations marked the day by holding a rally at a busy intersection where many Filipino-owned businesses are situated. As a tribute, the demonstrators held up enlarged photos of victims of extra-judicial killings under the Macapagal-Arroyo regime. Many of those who joined the rally was made aware of the activity through an advisory in a local community paper by BAYAN Canada groups. A cultural night of short films, songs and music, highlighted by the sharing of stories from those who experienced first-hand Martial Law, concluded the activity.

In Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver, an ongoing “Peace Tour” with National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) leader and peace negotiator Coni Ledesma aims at informing the public regarding alternatives being put forward to end the armed conflict in the Philippines. The peace negotiation was again recently stalled when the Arroyo government pronounced its withdrawal, a decision which according to BAYAN-Canada was largely influenced by those in the upper echelon in the military. The event also stresses on unabated humans rights abuses in the Philippines and the upcoming 2010 elections, among other issues.

Meanwhile in Montreal, BAYAN groups are holding educational discussions on the history and basic problems of the Philippines and the National Democratic alternative to the current conditions in the country. A coffee house discussion is also being organized about the possibility of another Martial Law under the Arroyo regime. The coffee house discussion will be held in Sablo Kafé where a photo exhibit entitled “Movements in Manila” which features scenes in Tondo as well as portraits of activists from people’s organizations is taking place. The photos were taken during the 2004 mid-term elections by Montreal independent journalist Stefan Christoff.

“BAYAN allied organizations are doing the important work of educating mass members, friends, allies and their communities in Canada to remain vigilant and committed to ensuring that Martial Law or other Marcosian rule in the Philippines never happens again,” says BAYAN Chairperson Dr. Chandu Claver.

The dictatorship was a dark period in Philippine history when the US-backed Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, upon declaring Martial Law on Sept. 21, 1972, spawned reign of terror that committed mass abductions, arrests, torture and detention of political opponents and activists.

There was an estimated 70,000 accounts for the victims of extra-judicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearance during this period. Of this figure, 3,257 involved executions and 769 disappearances.

In less than a decade in the Philippines, there have been more than 1,000 cases of extra-judicial killings, 202 enforced disappearances, 1,036 torture, and 223 political prisoners under the US-Macapagal-Arroyo regime according to Philippine-based human rights watchdog Karapatan. "Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a new dictator, who along with her cohorts has put the nation under an undeclared martial law for almost a decade," the rights group said.

“With the Arroyo regime hell-bent on staying in power beyond the 2010 presidential elections, the people have every right to fear (PWEDE BANG HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO RESIST) a return of Marcosian-type rule in the country,” says Dr. Claver who himself experienced the iron-hand of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime in an ambush in Kalinga, Philippines that killed his wife, Alyce, in 2006.

“We must do everything within our power, whether we are in the Philippines or abroad, Filipinos, as well as all democratic and peace loving people, to frustrate the plans of US imperialism’s most favoured puppet in South-East Asia,” he added.

For more information contact BAYAN Canada at bayan.canada.noc@gmail.com.