[UPDATED] STATEMENT: Statement of CARMMA on the 40th Year of the Ninoy Aquino Assassination
KARAPATAN Public Information
Statement
21 August 2023
The fight for justice and accountability continues!
Statement of CARMMA on the 40th Year of the Ninoy Aquino Assassination
On August 21, 1983, Sen. Benigno Aquino II was assassinated in the tarmac of the international airport that now carries his name. On this same day in 1971, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, paving the way for a declaration of a full blown dictatorship the following year.
As we joined fellow citizens in the Mass at Sto. Domingo Church this morning and in other assemblies big and small in different parts of the country, the son of the dictator who now holds fort in the palace said that he “stand(s) united” with Filipinos on this day. We cannot help but ask: Where exactly do you stand with us?
Then he mentions a “political barrier” that continues to divide the people from attaining justice and genuine development. There is no other barrier but the abominable “legacy” of his dictator father that Marcos Jr inflicts upon the people – a culture of impunity and corruption, an economic program that favors old and new Marcos allies and the elite, and subservience to foreign masters.
What the Filipino people now witness and experience is the return of an elite rule concerned with high living, parties and fashion shows, jet set travels in the midst of high prices and low wages. In the name of all martial law martyrs and heroes, including Ninoy Aquino, we can never stand united with anyone who upholds plunder and tyranny.
No grand rhetoric, churned out as it were by AI machines, could camouflage the historical truth and dire reality of our people mired in deepening poverty and despair.
“Tuloy ang Laban” is the rallying cry most apt on this day onward, with our continuing commitment to demand justice, accountability and genuine economic and political democracy. The Filipino people must brace for the worst under the untenable Marcos Jr. dispensation. Beyond commemoration, ours is a call to carry on the just fight. #
Reference:
Judy Taguiwalo, CARMMA convenor
Bonifacio Ilagan, CARMMA convenor
CARMMA secretariat, 09189790580
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