Commemorating the Declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines 2019 speech, Lafayette Square, Washington D.C.

Brothers and Sisters, my dear friends, mga Kababayan at iba pa,
Today, September 21st on the anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines, our action here in Washington, D.C. should be a catalyst for historic change in how the United States treats it’s quote unquote ally. As a colonized people both in past and present, the imposition of martial law has only worsened the existing suffering of the Filipino. Martial Law can never be disentangled from its indisputable fascistic stranglehold on society, regardless of the propaganda and intentional miseducation campaign peddled by its enactors.
The United States has knowingly supported dictatorship in the Philippines in every way possible: politically, monetarily, militarily, and psychologically, choosing to ignore the rampant human rights crises that inevitably arise. The intergenerational trauma of Martial Law, it’s very real and lasting damage has had consequences that the United States has willfully ignored over and over again throughout history.
Intergenerational trauma from the impact of Martial Law in the United States has manifested in in many forms, such as: trafficked first generation immigrants, homelessness in major urban cities, marriages to Americans that end in murder of Filipina women, our status as having the highest percentage of depression as compared to other Asian Americans and even more than the majority of the American population. While all this has been happening, the Presidents of the United States have wined, dined, danced and entertained Filipino dictators and bureaucrats at our expense. Using our tax dollars.
The kidnapping, torture and murder of student activists and journalists didn’t prevent this country from giving Ferdinand Marcos and his family safe haven in Hawaii. As death squads roamed the streets slaughtering the poor, imprisoning its critics, Donald Trump was being serenaded by Rodrigo Duterte with a love ballad.
Martial Law has only served to oppress the very people it espouses to protect. Our Filipino communities at home and throughout the diaspora are suffering immeasurably while this country lines the pockets of bureaucrats. There is no excuse, no political explanation or philosophical summation that could ever justify Martial Law in any part of the Philippines, not then, not now.
It is not enough to be compassionate, our Kapwa, our shared inner self and identity as Filipinos must compel us to act. We need Filipino Americans in higher education to continue to teach the truth that our history books have omitted, we need Filipino American representation in our government to reverse destructive policy and misappropriation of our hard earned tax dollars, we need Filipino American issues at the forefront of Mainstream Media conversations and headlines. Our action here today is much more than just a testament to our acknowledgement of the mentioned atrocities, it is a warning to the Washington D.C. establishment that surrounds us. Martial law in the past or present will not intimidate us in our endeavor to liberate the Filipino in the Philippines nor will it deter us from mass mobilization abroad.
The more our leaders for the Filipino people are attacked, the more our people fight back. An ally once told me that quote, “Everything I know about activism, I learned from the Filipino” Because she recognizes the inextinguishable love for our people that abides in every activist, a human rights defender like Brandon Lee, an imprisoned Senator like Leila de Lima, or an attorney like the martyred Benjamin Ramos.
Let us strive to not only never forget Martial Law, to vigorously oppose its continued imposition to this day, but to also never waver in our commitment to our people as living examples of the leaders Filipinos deserve and need us to be.
Thank you, Salamat Po.
