NEWS RELEASE: Feb. 6, 2018

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP)

The Supreme Court gave in to Malacanang’s arm-twisting and voted 10-5 in favor of the constitutionality of the Martial Law extension in Mindanao. “It’s a go-signal and a renewal of AFP’s license to kill.”

Peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said “The ‘Gods of Padre Faura’ have willfully turned deaf and blind on the poor seeking mercy and justice. May the fates be in our favor for all of the hell to come.”

The Supreme Court unjustly junked the petitions against Martial Law extension in Mindanao filed by human rights groups, progressive organizations and Mindanao Martial Law victims– a proof of the High Court’s political submission to Malacanang.

“If Congress is Duterte’s stamp pad, the Supreme Court is shamelessly acting as the President’s ‘judicial enabler’,” says KMP secretary general Antonio Flores.

Another year of Martial Law in Mindanao will lead to more peasant killings, illegal arrests and detention, militarization of peasant communities and human rights abuses.

“Where will Filipinos turn to for justice and accountability at during these dark times of impunity if the Supreme Court itself is already an appendage of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its Commander-in-Chief?” asked Flores asked who also noted that human rights violations in Mindanao provinces escalated under Martial Law.

In Compostela Valley alone, an alarming number of members and peasant leaders of the Compostela Farmers Association (CFA) were killed since 2016, with the military and AFP units as the suspected perpetrators.

“We call on the public to remain vigilant at all times,” Flores said.