Congress urged to include martial law abuses in probe

MANILA, Philippines - The Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka (PMM) urged Congress yesterday to include the killings, tortures and forced disappearances during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the inquiry on military abuses today.

Jose Malvar Villegas, PMM president, told The STAR that unless Congress revisits martial law abuses, the human rights violations will continue in the country.

“Unless martial law human right violators will be brought to justice, the culture of impunity will go on,” he said.

Villegas claims that 10,000 victims of martial law abuses were compensated but their tormentors were not punished. His younger brother was among the torture victims.

He said Congress could invite human rights lawyers Rod Domingo and Nards Deva, who have the records of the 10,000 human rights victims.

“There must be closure to the martial law killings, tortures and forced disappearances before the nation can move on,” he reiterated.

Villegas said military abuses continue in the country because the officers who committed them during the Marcos dictatorship are still working in the government.