By JUSTIN UMALI
Bulatlat.com
SAN PABLO, Laguna – Progressives and human rights defenders from the Southern Tagalog region called for justice and accountability as the infamous Bloody Sunday massacre back in 2021 remains unresolved.
“Years have passed but the Marcos Jr. administration still refuses to face the families and victims,” said Charm Maranan, Defend Southern Tagalog spokesperson.
Defend Southen Tagalog is among the groups who joined the two-day caravan, which was also held as part of the commemoration of the 52nd year since Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared martial law, Sept. 21.
The Bloody Sunday massacre refers to the series of police and military operations in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Rizal provinces on March 7, 2021 that left nine activists killed and seven more arrested.
Defend ST said that despite the DOJ’s investigation under Administrative Order 35, cases filed against the perpetrators “were either junked or dismissed.”
“It is simply ridiculous that the government can investigate their ranks and later find themselves not guilty,” said Maranan.
Several unionists continue to face charges that stemmed from the Bloody Sunday massacre, said Defend Workers Southern Tagalog Spokesperson Mags Camoral, noting that the likes of Arnedo Lagunias, Steve Mendoza, and himself are still facing charges over planted evidence.
Mendoza and Lagunias remain behind bars.
Defend ST said that the continuing culture of impunity only proves that there is no justice under the administration’s “Bagong Pilipinas.”
Maranan pointed out in particular that the cases regarding victims of the March 2021 Bloody Sunday killings have “yet to receive justice.”
Rampant rights violations
Apart from the Bloody Sunday killings, the protest caravan also highlighted the continuing role of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) in the “alarming trend of human rights violations” sweeping the Southern Tagalog region.
According to Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan Spokesperson Mia Antonio, workers continue to be subjected to harassment and killings, particularly of union leaders.
PAMANTIK-KMU noted the alarming trend of surveillance, red-tagging, and harassment against workers in an attempt to discourage efforts to form unions. These attacks were earlier called out by the International Labor Organization in their tripartite mission report last year.
Antonio said their group has received reports of state meddling in union affairs against workers in companies such as Technol Eight, HKR, Gardenia, and Philfoods, among others. These range from anti-union seminars to house-to-house campaigns conducted by supposed agents of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
The NTF-ELCAC, in particular, has remained involved in multiple cases of human rights violations across the region.
The Marcos Jr. administration, in his National Security Plan, said the counterinsurgency arm “shall be vigorously supported.”
In Laguna, the provincial ELCAC is trying to pass a resolution through the provincial Peace and Order Council to enable the CHED and TESDA to conduct “peace and order seminars” inside schools and campuses.
According to Karapatan Laguna, the so-called seminars are only used to “push the narrative of equating activism with terrorism while enabling military presence in schools.”
Youth not spared
The Youth Movement Against Tyranny Southern Tagalog has likewise noted continuing attacks against student and youth leaders.
In Laguna and other provinces, YMAT ST reported that military personnel conducted peace and order seminars with Sangguniang Kabataan officials in order to dissuade them from interacting with organizations like Gabriela and Kilusang Mayo Uno.
The group also raised alarm at the recent series of checkpoints placed around the University of the Philippines Los Baños. According to their reports, police officers would stop students and ask if they knew anybody who was supposedly “anti-government.”
Militarization
Meanwhile, militarization in the rural communities in Southern Tagalog remains rampant, the groups said.
According to Tanggol Quezon Dpokesperson Paul Tagle, the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ 85th Infantry Battalion has “waged an illegal war against the people of Quezon.”
Tagle highlighted the spate of arrests and trumped-up charges against peasant leaders and human rights defenders, including the most recent arrest of Roberto Mendoza last September 1 in San Francisco. Tagle himself was a victim of a trumped-up charge of financing terrorism, which was junked last June 2024 for lack of evidence.
In Cavite, peasant communities are “besieged” by police and military personnel seeking to “illegally enter [their] communities and undermine the anti-feudal struggle.”
Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka sa Timog Katagalugan Dpokesperson Jeverlyn Seguin stated that in Lupang Ramos, state forces have already “forced their way inside” and set up checkpoints, supposedly to enforce an election gun ban.
In Laguna, multiple municipalities have declared themselves “insurgency-free” via signing Declarations of Stable Internal Peace and Security in cooperation with state forces. Karapatan Laguna denounced these declarations, stating that they were the result of a “misinformation and intimidation campaign” spearheaded by the police and military.
Despite the attacks, Maranan declared that the Southern Tagalog region remains “committed to achieving justice.”
“Our struggle will continue,” she said. “Fighting for justice and our rights remains just.”
The Southern Tagalog protest caravan later joined the national protest to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. (JJE, RVO)
