Youth and student groups marched across Metro Manila on September 20-21 to mark the 54th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.
During the protests, they called for accountability over corruption, the recovery of alleged stolen public funds and the passage of an anti-political dynasty law.
Demonstrators carrying the banner “Never Forget: Hindi Mababaha ang Katotohanan” (“The truth will not be flooded”) converged at the EDSA Shrine after marching from De La Salle Greenhills, where they were joined by other civic groups holding separate commemorative activities.
They were led by the Akbayan Youth, the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, Youth Against Kurakot (YAK) and student leaders from different schools.
Calls for accountability
Apart from demanding accountability for corruption, the groups also called for the arrest of Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who is currently in hiding due to a pending International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
Additionally, the groups pressed for a full investigation into Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano over allegations involving anomalous and ghost projects in Taguig City.
They also sought the immediate passage of an anti-political dynasty law, which has been delayed for 39 years despite the Congress’s constitutional mandate to enact one.
The groups then opposed what they described as special medical privileges granted to detained politicians who are facing plunder allegations.
“We have to finish the fight, hold all those involved in corruption accountable, recover every peso stolen from the people and dismantle the system that enriches a few while making the majority suffer,” Khylla Meneses, national chairperson of Akbayan Youth and lead convenor of YAK, said.
Police deployment
More than 17,000 were deployed on September 21, according to a report by the Philippine Star.
Officers were instructed to exercise maximum tolerance while ensuring public order during the rallies, according to the authorities.
As of 11am on September 20, an estimated 250 protesters arrived at the EDSA Shrine while police personnel reached 2,000.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) said that the protests were quiet and peaceful.
However, the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman committee on the protection of academic freedom and human rights accused the PNP of using excessive force against protesters, saying activists were “armed only with placards and their voices.”
It also described the number of officers deployed as “overkill.”
“The deployment of 15,000 police forces on Monday is nothing but an overkill, a show of force to stifle the rights of our people to protest against the repressive policies of the government,” the committee said, as reported by Philippine Star.
Meanwhile, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Brigadier General Christopher Abrahano rejected the “overkill” description.
“Our singular focus for September 21 is to keep the entire metropolis safe, orderly, and fully functioning,” he said.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Philippine lawmakers propose stricter gun control after rise in campus violence
Martial Law legacy
The declaration of Martial Law by then-President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 led to years of documented human rights violations.
The Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board has recognised 11,103 individuals as eligible for monetary reparations for violations committed during the first Marcos administration, according to the Philippine Commission on Human Rights.
The period, which ended in 1981, was marked by widespread arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings targeting government critics and those perceived as political opponents.
Amnesty International said that Marcos told the organisation in a 1975 interview that more than 50,000 people had been arrested and detained under Martial Law between 1972 and 1975.
Those arrested included church workers, human rights defenders, legal aid lawyers, labour leaders and journalists, it added.
READ NEXT: Sri Lanka pursues deeper ocean co-operation with China and South Asia
Wendellyn Mateo 
Lucia Caporalini