Photos
by A Life on Fire

Never forget, never again

On 18 November 2016, former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was buried in the National Heroes’ Cemetery in Manila, Philippines with the approval of current president Rodrigo Duterte, who has close ties with the former dictator’s family. Funny how, in other countries, dictators are usually imprisoned, or their (illegally-obtained) assets confiscated, and they are not venerated. In the Philippines, though, a dictator can be buried in a cemetery reserved for heroes, and a dictator’s family can be rehabilitated, get away with their crimes against the people scot-free and its member allowed to run for office.

I believe the idea of resisting martial rule is even more relevant today in the Philippines, as Duterte grows increasingly more authoritarian daily and as more and more human rights defenders in the country are either killed, illegally detained, or disappeared.

Note: Photos here are all mine. They were taken on 18 November 2016, during the demonstrations held in protest of Marcos’ burial at the Heroes Cemetery on that day. I was still new to photography, and so I didn’t know how to work the settings of my camera back then (not that I know any better, now).

Women activists decry lack of justice for female victims of martial law under Marcos.
Card reads: Plundered natural resources, illegal logging and foreign mining.
The Escalante massacre happened on 20 September 1985 under Marcos’ rule. On that day, government paramilitary forces gunned down civilians protesting against continued martial law in the country. Twenty people were killed in the shooting.
“Fake land reform.”
“Illegal seizure of ancestral lands.”
The streamer to the left reads “Marcos not a hero.” The one to the right says “Marcos, traitor to the people.”
Part of the crowd which gathered in front of a university in Quezon City. And in the midst of this group….
BNPP-Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a mothballed nuclear power project under the Marcos regime.