Human Rights Organizations, Civic Groups, Youth, and various International Orgs marked the 2nd anniversary of the controversial Memorandum Order 32 or “De-Facto Martial Law”, as described by the groups, in Negros Island last November 22, 2020 with an online protest and webinar.
Karapatan Negros Island, League of Filipino Students Bacolod, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, and the International Human Rights Coalition in the Philippines, along with their allies were among those part of the event.
2 years after the declaration and implementation of Memorandum 32 that puts the Island of Negros under the State of Emergency, an undeclared martial rule by President Duterte, that killed almost one hundred activists and peasants and committed unnumbered human rights violations against the Negrosanon.
Karapatan Negros Island and Defend Negros Island Network’s statement on the 2nd year of Memorandum Order 32 on the island.
2 years after, we still call to stop the implementation of Memo 32!
2 year after, we demand for justice!
What is Memorandum Order 32?
MO 32 orders the Department of National Defense and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to “coordinate the immediate deployment of additional forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to suppress lawless violence and acts of terror” in the islands of Negros and Samar, along with the region of Bicol..
The memorandum also intensifies intelligence operations with the aim “to suppress lawless violence and act of terror” in those areas.
Memorandum Order 32, however, did not cite specific incidents of lawless violence and acts of terror in Samar, Bicol, and Negros Island that would warrant the deployment of more troops.
Consequences of Memorandum Order 32
Various unsolicited counts of violence from both state forces and vigilantes have become one of the most prominent results of Memorandum Order 32, along with island-wide redtagging, staged surrenders, and misinformation campaigns, which involved a lawyer, school principal, education official, farmhands, a one-year-old baby, and volunteer health worker Zara Alvarez.
On Negros Island alone, at least 50 peasants and activists have been killed under the Duterte administration. Many of these have occurred during the current period of militarization which began with the declaration of MO 32. Oplan Sauron, a supposed counter-insurgency campaign by the AFP and PNP in Negros Oriental, resulted in the killings of 20 peasants within a six-month period in 2019. More recently, the high-profile killings of several individuals on Negros Island drew international condemnation. These include the killings of Zara Alvarez, a healthcare worker and human rights defender; and the brutal beheading of peasant farmer Bernardo Guillen by the AFP.
International Human Rights Coalition in the Philippines’ statement on the 2nd anniversary of Memorandum Order 32
Aside from attacks on farmers, peasants, and community leaders, the youth have also fallen victim in the latest spade of harassment, black propaganda, and online bullying via the various Facebook accounts of the military, most especially that of the 303rd Infantry Brigade.
With such, human rights groups are calling for an end to the rampant militarization on Negros Island and the implementation of real solutions which meet the people’s needs such as genuine land reform, along with the hashtags: #JunkMO32 #StopMilitarizationNow #DefendNegros #StopTheAttacks
Paghimutad 