Ben Madilynn
THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) concluded the 52nd commemoration of the Martial Law rally at Freedom Park, Roxas Avenue on Saturday, September 21, 2024, “successfully” with no “untoward” incidents recorded.
This, after the DCPO assigned around 230 personnel to conduct security operations and monitor the situation.
In a report provided by the city’s police office, the prayer-lighting peace rally was participated by around 60 individuals from various progressive groups including students from different universities and colleges in the city.
Particular groups that participated in the event were Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Makabayan Partylist, League of Filipino Students, Anakbayan, Gabriela Youth, Gabriela Partylist, Kilusang May Uno or KMU, and Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda)-Southern Mindanao.
Protesters were calling on the long-standing Injustices, accountability, and unresolved human rights issues committed during the dictatorship of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and political leadership of the regime of his son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and Vice President Sara Duterte.
On September 21, 1972, former President Marcos Sr. signed Proclamation No. 1081, placing the Philippines under martial law.
According to Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and other human rights organizations, the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 737 ‘disappeared’, and 70,000 incarcerations. DEF
