On the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines by then President Ferdinand Marcos, the women and men of the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC) joins the widespread call Never Again to Martial Law.
In the past 6 months that the entire country has been struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, CDPC adjusted its activities to contribute to the urgent need for health response and economic relief. CDPC shifted to supporting economic relief missions and provision of personal protective equipment and hygiene sets. Activities involving mass gathering were suspended and instead, support for the improvement of food sufficiency and other infrastructure facilities in far-flung villages were prioritized by CDPC.
In the course of these modest relief missions, the people’s organizations we work with were derisively vilified as terrorist fronts, supporters or recruiters. The Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) and affiliated organizations with whom our advocacy and services emanate from has been systematically being attacked, declared persona-non-grata and is under threat of being criminalized under the Anti Terrorism Act.
To our further dismay, we received negative responses from local government units with regard to our socio-economic projects. We were made to understand that this is part of government’s anti-insurgency program by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). Under the NTF-ELCAC strategy, ‘insurgency-affected’ or ‘vulnerable areas’ are prioritized by government for provision of socio-economic services. Apparently, part of the strategy is the prohibition of support provided by non-government organizations. Denying these much-needed basic services is inhuman, especially at this time of pandemic.
To this end, CDPC stands by the communities who are challenging the aberrant policies and multiple violation of human rights under ELCAC. Further, CDPC supports the various actions rescinding the Anti Terrorism Act and defying the Duterte administration’s strategy of militarizing development services. CDPC will continue supporting grassroots communities and people’s organizations in calling on the government to address the socio-economic roots of the armed conflict. In so doing, we join the Filipino people calling for:
Kalusugan at kabuhayan, hindi pasistang diktadura!
Pondo para sa serbisyo, hindi sa pasismo!
Stop the killings! Never again to Martial Law!