On September 21, protesters, including millenials, joined the rally against dictatorship during the 45th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
As young protesters, the millennials made use of their creativity in relaying their messages to President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration through their placards.
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The Philippine Star compiled some of the photos of these millennials with their placards and their explanation behind their message.
A 36-year-old put up a placard that says, “Oy Mocha! Walang envelope dito! Bayag lang.”
The placard bearer’s explanation? “Kasi sabi niya bayaran daw kami. Na may pupunta daw dito na may envelope na ipapamigay. Eh wala eh. Kung meron eh ‘di sana umuwi na ako at nag-shopping na ako ‘di ba Mocha!?”
Another said, “Thesis rinerevise, hindi history.”
The 23-year old placard bearer explained it this way: “Ever since Marcos was buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, we have been revising history. We have been belittling the victims of martial law. We have been belittling the history of these victims. We shouldn’t forget about our history.”
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There were indeed reports of efforts to revise Philippine history where the Marcoses are concerned. Just recently, UK daily The Guardian reported on the Wiki warriors and their fight against Marcos revisionists. In 2016, netizens also warned the public of ongoing historical revisionism in Marcos-related Wikipedia pages. On Marcos’ 100th birth anniversary on September 11, a sociologist celebrated winning the Wiki war on that day. A netizen also expressed outrage over declaring Marcos’ birthday as a holiday in Ilocos Norte.
TV5 also compiled some photos of young people with their placards.
A girl’s placard says, “I’ve got more “balls” than this administration and I’m a girl!”
In what seemed like a message to the Duterte administration to stop killing the poor in its war on drugs, one placard says, “Patayin ang kahirapan, hindi ang mahirap!!!”
This echoed criticisms that the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign is only targeting the poor as critics claimed that majority of the victims of the war on drugs are from poor families.
To this, Duterte said it was because mostly poor people get involved with street-level drug peddling.
“Ang sabi nila, puro mahirap iyan, eh wala na tayong magawa eh. Naghihintay siguro silang mag-recruit ng mga milyonaryo. Wala namang mayamang mag-standby dyan sa lugar mo, sa munisipyo mo,” Duterte said in a speech in March.
“Iyung talagang mahirap, iyan nga ang problema. We have to destroy the apparatus. It needs people killed. Wala talaga tayong magawa… that’s just how it is. You cannot stop the movement of drugs in the entire country kapag hindi mo yariin lahat.”
Facebook page Injustigram has its own compilation of placards carried by protesters during the #ManlabanTayo rally.
“The sequel is usually worse than the original,” a placard says.
This was in reference to how some people view Duterte as a “dictator.”
“Mga bagets, ‘wag sayangin ang pinaglaban ng tandercats noong Martial Law! #NeverAgain,” says another placard.
On September 21, thousands protested the killings and the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao by Duterte. The protests were conducted peacefully, without any untoward incident happening.
Sources: ( philstar.com , newsinfo.inquirer.net )
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