MANILA, Philippines — Thousands of protesters marked Thursday’s anniversary of the 1972 declaration of martial law by late Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos with an outcry against what they say are the current president’s authoritarian tendencies and his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
Hundreds of riot police were deployed to secure the marches and rallies, among the largest against President Rodrigo Duterte since he took power last year, although a new survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed the president and his anti-drug campaign are widely popular in the Philippines.
Duterte supporters also staged rallies in Manila. The rival demonstrations reflected deepening divisions sparked largely by the president’s brutal anti-crime style.
Duterte warned that he will use force or expand nationwide his declaration of martial law in the country’s south if the anti-government protesters threatened public order. In May, he placed the southern third of the largely Roman Catholic nation under martial law to deal with a siege by pro-Islamic State militants in southern Marawi city that has dragged on for nearly four months.
Marcos’ martial law era, which ended in 1981, was marked by human-rights violations and muzzling of civil liberties.
“This is the worst administration I have seen,” Marina Maulawin, a 74-year-old retired teacher, said of Duterte’s presidency. “He’s like a madman,” she said at the main opposition rally.
A Catholic nun, Sister Mary John Mananzan, expressed relief that more people were starting to stand up against government abuses. “I am happy that we are all here because I can see that just as fear is infectious, courage is also infectious,” she said onstage at the opposition rally.
Freddie Olase, a 53-year-old driver, joined a few thousand Duterte supporters in a rally in a square beside the popular Quiapo Catholic Church.
“What we need is an iron fist,” Olase said, expressing support for Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. “I now feel safer when going home in our community and my grandchildren can play outside the house even at night.”
Duterte warned protesters not to break the law. “I will not hesitate to use force even if it would mean my downfall as president of this country, remember that,” Duterte said on state TV.