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We, the undersigned leaders of the Filipino environmental movement, have come together in this critical juncture of history when the return to power of the Marcos dynasty is looming.
The brazen railroading of the hero’s burial for the late Ferdinand Marcos last November 18, to the surprise and deep indignation of the Filipino people, was clearly an attempt to rehabilitate the dark, fascist legacy of the Martial Law dictatorship. It is an act to gloss over the various crimes against humanity perpetrated during Martial Law, including thousand cases of extrajudicial killings, illegal detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and militarization of communities opposing ‘development aggression’ projects.
We firmly hold accountable President Rodrigo Duterte’s consistent moves to return the Marcoses to political prominence. We have been very disappointed and hurt that he facilitated the clandestine burial of Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. We also condemn the mercenary majority decision of the nine(9) Supreme Court Justices that gave the undeserved burial a go.
Do we consider a dictator who promoted the deforestation of over 7 million hectares of timberlands and the construction of destructive and pollutive ‘development’ projects a hero? It is an injustice to the memories of environmental defenders like Kalinga chieftain Macliing Dulag and anti-coal fisherfolk leader Erning Castillano who were martyred amid the struggle against destructive projects during the Marcos era.
Duterte’s administration has also made ‘throwback’ remarks to pillars of Martial Law, including proposals to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus, revival of the Philippine Constabulary and the vigilante group Alsa Masa, and the longstanding impunity over extrajudicial killings. These must stop.
We assert that the accountability should not stop at only the Duterte administration. Three decades of post-EDSA Revolution regimes did nothing to address the economic and political crises that have chronically afflicted our people and environment. From the administration of Cory Aquino to the regime of her son, Noynoy, the Marcoses were never held fully accountable for their human rights violations and their plunder of public coffers.
Ghosts of Marcosian past kept persisting through past administrations, including the attempt to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and to push through with the Kaliwa-Kanan Dam, and the further expansion of the Calaca Coal-Fired Power Plant, the first ever coal plant established during the dictatorship. The killings of environmental advocates continue, with 101 cases recorded since 2001, including the killings of seven advocates during the first few months of the Duterte administration.
This is not just a struggle against forgetting. This is a struggle to learn from history and to take action on the Marcosian attacks against the people and our environment persisting up to the present. We thus unite to:
• Oppose the hero’s burial given to Ferdinand Marcos and all forms of political rehabilitation given to the Marcoses;
• Defend the people and environment from the threats posed by the proposed revival of the BNPP and the Kaliwa-Kanan Dam, and the further expansion of the Calaca Coal Power Plant; and
• Demand justice for the continuing killings of environmental defenders, and uphold the people’s rights against worsening fascism and impunity.
We call on our fellow environmental advocates and on the Filipino public at large to join us in this historic struggle to safeguard our democratic rights and protect our environment.
Signed:
1.AGHAM Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM)
2.Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines (CEC-Phils)
3.Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE)
4.Assistance and Cooperation for Community Resilience and Development (ACCORD)
5.Greenresearch
6.JPIC – Missionary Benedictine Sisters
7.NILAD
8.Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya (SIBAT)
9.Pilipinas
10.AGHAM Youth PUP
11.AGHAM Youth UP Diliman
12.AGHAM Youth UP Manila
13.Environmental Youth Organization – EARIST
14.Kalikasan Youth – Umak
15. Marine Science Society UP Diliman
16. Science and Environment Assembly of Leaders – UP Manila (SEAL UPM)
17. UP Diliman College of Science Student Council (UPD CSSC)
18. UP Saribuhay
19. Youth for Earth Alliance
