Media crackdown and lawmakers' arrests are unmistakable signs of Martial Law

The Alliance of Progressive Labor denounces the reported raid on the offices of the Daily Tribune and Malaya as a brazen attack on press freedom as in the days of Martial law.

"Not only is GMA staging a direct assault on the freedom of the press," said APL Secretary-General Josua Mata, "she is endangering the jobs of hundreds of workers in the mass media in her maniacal desire to muzzle the critical press."

"The arrest of labor leader Rep. Crispin Beltran on the basis of a rehashed Marcosian warrant and the subsequent attempt on Rep. Satur Ocampo also indicates that unionists and progressives are at the top of Malacañang's hitlist," added Mata.

He said APL had feared and predicted that Proclamation 1017 declaring a state of national emergency would only be used to crackdown on voices critical of the beleaguered President.

"We reiterate our position that the President is operating on an illegal doctrine," explained Mata. "A State of Emergency is a legal fiction and what we have is an undeclared Martial law circumventing the Constitutional safeguards such as Congressional concurrence."

"We expect more arrests and harassments to follow," added Mata, "because against this pathetic show of might is a deeply insecure President who knows her time is up."

To make matters worse, Gloria Arroyo issued today General Order No. 5. While it simply looks like a rehashed version of Proclamation 1017, it is now being invoked by Director General Arturo Lumibao to ban all rallies especially those that are not only criticizing the Gloria Arroyo but calling for her ouster from Malacañang.

Ironically, during the dark years of Martial Law, the Marcos dictatorship used General Order No. 5 to suppress workers' rights to peaceful assembly and the right to strike.

"This only confirms what we have said before that what we have not a state of emergency but an undeclared Martial Law," Mata said. "It gives us even greater impetus to push for her ouster."

"It is sad that after ousting a dictator 20 years ago, today we have to once again deal with a shameless President employing draconian measures to stay in power," said Mata.