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ALBAY, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign rally in Pili, Camarines Sur, on Friday, March 7, bringing their campaign promise to remain committed to peace, progress, and the protection of human rights.
“Sa laban kontra sa krimen at droga, hindi nating kailangan dumaan sa madugong solusyon. Wala kaming paniniwala na ang solusyon sa krimen at sa droga ay ang pumatay ng libo-libong Pilipino,” he told Bicolanos gathered at the Kaogma grounds in Pili town, again taking a potshot at the bloody drug war of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
(In the war against crime and drugs, we don’t have to resort to a bloody solution. We do not believe that the solution to crime and drugs is to kill thousands of Filipinos.)
The President also repeated what has become a standard feature of his campaign speeches — that his government will not use fear and intimidation to gets its way another indirect tirade at Duterte, who has also endorsed his own set of senatorial candidates.
Human rights defenders in Bicol, however, cited the disconnect between the President’s statements on human rights protection and the reality on the ground.
“Dito sa Bikol, sa panahon ni Bongbong, tuloy-tuloy na nakapagtatala ang Karapatan-Bikol ng mga kaso ng extrajudicial killings lalo na sa malalayong probinsiya tulad ng Masbate kung saan humigit-kumulang 30 na ang ulat bagama’t 10 pa lamang ang dokumentado na,” said Karapatan-Bikol head Nida Barcenas said on Saturday, March 8.
“Sa tindi ng atake PNP at AFP, hindi madali para sa mga human rights advocates na abutin ang mga pamilyang patuloy na nakakaranas ng harassments dahil sa presensiya ng mga sundalo sa kani-kanilang barangay,” she added.
(Here in Bicol, during Bongbong’s presidency, Karapatan-Bikol has continuously documented cases of extrajudicial Killings, especially in remote provinces like Masbate, where around 30 cases have been reported, although only 10 are documented. Due to the intense attacks from the PNP and AFP, it’s not easy for human rights advocates to reach families who continue to experience harassment due to the presence of soldiers in their villages.)
Barcenas said that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) continues to engage in red-tagging to intimidate and silence progressive individuals and organizations in urban centers in the region such as Sorsogon City, Legazpi City, and Naga City. She also cited the proliferation of posters bearing the faces of leaders and organizers accused of being either supporters or members of the New People’s Army.
Bicolana Gabriela spokesperson Nica Ombao also cited the continued harassment and attacks against progressive women leaders under Marcos’ watch.
“In the entire Bicol, especially led by the Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC), harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and red-tagging continued under the Marcos regime. This is felt by many women leaders even after the public promises made by Marcos in his previous and present-led campaigns, similar to yesterday’s campaign rally in Pili, Camarines Sur,” Ombao said on Saturday.
“Now that we are two years into the Marcos regime, attacks against progressive women leaders who are defending the rights of the masses have been worsening. We need to hold Marcos and his allies accountable for the programs and policies that make the lives of the people tougher,” she added.
A report of Karapatan-Bikol released in January showed that 17 cases of extrajudicial killings and 764 other human rights violations cases reported in Bicol alone from June 2022 to December 2024.
“The impunity in the human rights violations of the past Duterte administration is continuing under the present administration…. Like its predecessor, the Marcos, Jr. administration weaponized the law against its critics, activists, human rights defenders, and environmental defenders,” Karapatan-Bikol said in the January report.
In January, Karapatan Bikol demanded justice for victims of red-tagging and grave human rights violations in the region, and urged local governments and political candidates to “take a stand and create ordinances against red-tagging.”
Amnesty International’s records in 2024 also showed that there was still no progress on human rights issues under the Marcos administration. AI said that despite Marcos’ public pronouncements of focusing on rehabilitation and treatment of suspected drug users, the unlawful killings continued.
Marcos joined the Alyansa slate members who had been touring various Bicol towns ahead of the campaign rally in Pili. In his re-echoed speech, he emphasized the coalition’s unity in serving the people despite their ideological and political party differences.
Backed by the Villafuertes, Camarines Sur’s most prominent political dynasty, the administration coalition’s Pili rally drew attendees from all over the province, reportedly through the help of Villafuerte allies in a bid to boost the crowd’s size.
Estudyante blues
Meanwhile, students of the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) in Pili were dismayed by the sudden cancellation of the “meet and greet” of re-electionist Senator Pia Cayetano at their campus on Friday. Cayetano is part of the Alyansa slate.
John Rey Estiva, The Pili Nut editor in chief, said that while believed that the visit would have “politically tainted” the campus, students and school management alike were greatly inconvenienced by what happened.
“My disappointment stems from the frustrations experienced by us student leaders, not from the event’s cancellation itself. We’re relieved she didn’t come, preventing the campus from being tainted by politics— her supposed visit was clearly politically motivated. Our primary concern, especially for those of us at Pili Nut, is the inconvenience suffered by the students and even the school management,” Estiva said.
He also pointed out that the students did not make an effort to go to the event on their own volition, as many of them were not supporters of the senator. However, they were asked by the school to be there, especially the biology students since Cayetano reportedly specifically requested to see them.
Estiva added: “Many student leaders still went despite heavy traffic and bad weather. All their efforts were wasted. Student leaders went out of their way to engage civically, even against their preferences, so Senator Pia and her team should have at least considered that.”
CBSUA’s management clarified that Cayetano’s office only requested the presence of the school’s top management and student leaders and did not mandate attendance at the supposed event.
“We were unaware that the council required compulsory attendance for the student leaders, but they must have done it to ensure that the students would attend the event. In the case of the school’s management, there was a memo requiring us to attend,” CBSUA’s management said. – Rappler.com
