Martial law survivors slam Upsilon Fraternity’s award to Marcos Sr.

By ANNE MARXE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA –The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) denounced the award bestowed to late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. by Upsilon Phi Fraternity’s “Upsilonian Noble and Outstanding.

“It appears that the illustrious brotherhood of the oldest fraternity of the University of the Philippines has been attacked by amnesia. Forget the numerous cases of ill-gotten wealth? Or the still unpaid estate taxes running into billions? Did the fraternity even consider a demerit in the award, the Marcoses’ non-accountability in their payment of taxes? Or the hundreds of UP constituents imprisoned during martial law and the many UP students who were killed fighting the dictatorship?” the group said in a statement.

The award was received by his son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last weekend.

According to a news report, the award highlights Marcos Sr.’s “lasting influence on Philippine governance, economic policy and national identity.”

But for CARMMA, Marcos Sr. left “a legacy of plunder , economic crisis, and an authoritarian rule marked by thousands of human rights violations.”

Read: Impunity on extrajudicial killings is a Marcos legacy

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Read: The lies about the ‘Tallano Gold’ and the truth about ill-gotten wealth

“The dictator’s son who received the award, on the other hand, enjoys this dark “legacy,” while perpetuating the same policies, atrocities, and impunity,” the group said.

For CARMMA, awarding Marcos Sr. “contribute to the overall historical distortion that the current Marcos Jr. government is hell-bent in doing.”

“Not only that the president continues to mouth the rhetorics of his dictator father’s narrative of sham progress during martial law, and the current reality that the Filipino people continue to suffer under the decades-long rule of the tyrants and the greedy,” they added.

Other Upsilon members who joined the anti-dictatorship movement are Salvador Lopez, Armando Malay, Behn Cervantes and Melito Glor. This is why for the group, giving an award to “a thief and a murderer is a most dishonorable act.”

The group called on the public to join the protest on February 25 “to revisit the history of tyranny and plunder and the continued corruption and impunity that the son of Marcos Sr. and his Vice President, Sara Duterte are also guilty of.” The day also marks the anniversary of People Power 1 uprising, which toppled the late dictator.

“We are sure that a number of patriotic and anti-tyranny Upsilonians and their sisters in Sigma Delta Phi are with us in this call!” the group said. (RTS, RVO)