Pagpupugay: A TRIBUTE TO ANTI-MARTIAL LAW ACTIVISTS & COMMEMORATION OF PEOPLE POWER OF 1986

Flyer by Jonna Baldres

Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009
Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Gallery 1199
Street: 310 West 43rd St. (between 8th & 9th Ave)
City/Town: New York, NY


SPECIAL GUEST VIA VIDEO: BIENVENIDO LUMBERA, Philippine National Artist for Literature and FQS Alum


On January 26, 1970, anti-Marcos protests culminated in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. Popularly referred to as the “First Quarter Storm”, the historic protests by Filipino students along with the long-standing militancy of the labor movement and the centuries-long struggle of the peasants movement against fascism, foreign domination, government corruption and feudal oppression in the Philippines embodied the historical bravery of the Filipino people with the youth and students at the forefront in fighting for social and economic justice.

In response to the strong student protests, general social unrest of the workers and the urban poor, and armed peasant uprising in the countrysides, US-puppet Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Proclamation 1081, placing the entire Philippine Republic under Martial Law. Under the president’s command, the military arrested opposition figures, including the late Senator Benigno Aquino, journalists, student leaders, labor and peasant organizers, progressive Church members, and prominent businessmen and entrepreneurs. More than 30,000 individuals were detained and tortured by the Philippine military. Businesses were seized, newspapers were shut down, and the mass media were brought under tight control. For about two decades, Marcos reigned over the Philippines with iron-fist dictatorship stripping the nation of basic human rights and democratic freedoms.

But the opposition and the struggle for freedom and democracy of the Filipino people remained strong and vibrant in-spite of the brutal suppression by Marcos. The vibrant peoples’ democratic movement in the Philippines flourished underground and among overseas Filipinos such as those in forced into exile abroad. Despite their distance from their homeland, overseas Filipinos, particularly in New York City, continued to resist and fight to dismantle the Marcos dictatorship. The struggle against Marcos culminated on February 22, 1986, in a three-day uprising at the Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA) that forced Marcos out of power.

Join us in paying a fitting New York tribute to the heroes and heroines of our times and pass the Anti-Martial Law movement’s legacy to the Filipino-American youth of today so they can emulate what it means to be a genuine Filipino patriot and take a stand and fight even if he/she is forced to go abroad and to better understand the current situation in the Philippines.


Organized by:
New York Committee for Human Rights (NYCHRP)
and Anakbayan New York/New Jersey