The Marcos regime unleashed brutality and violence in recent weeks. Two young organizers were abducted in Isabela, six driver-leaders and operators arrested in Bacolod City and three students in Quezon City and repeated cases of harassment in Cavite.

Abduction. In Isabela, state forces abducted Vladimir Maro and Andy Magno in the town of San Pablo, Isabela on September 11. Maro is an organizer of Migrante Youth and a migrant workers’ rights advocate. Magno, on the other hand, is a member of Minggan-University of the Philippines (UP) Manila, an organization that promotes environmental protection. He graduated with a degree on Development Studies from the university.

On September 15, relatives and lawyers located Maro detained at the police station in Peñablanca. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder and accused of “terrorism.”

Arrest. The Marcos regime’s police and armed forces used water-cannon and violently dispersed protesting jeepney drivers and operators in Bacolod City on September 18. To express their grievances against the jeepney phaseout, they staged a picket before a hotel on Lacson Street where government agencies were holding the Public Transport Modernization Program (PTMP) Summit.

Police arrested several leaders of Undoc-Piston, KNETCO-Piston, and Bacod-Manibela. These include Lilian Sembrano, Rudy Catedral, Eric Bendoy, Shallemar Leutner, Melchor Omangyon, and Rodolfo Gardoce.

On September 19, police in plainclothes arrested three Polytechnic University of the Philippines students in Quiapo, Manila while painting graffiti to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the first US-Marcos regime’s martial law and dictatorship.

Harassment. One September 9, state forces set up checkpoints at the entry to the Lupang Ramos in Dasmariñas City. The following day, 50 military and police forcibly entered the community on the pretext of inspecting cases of African Swine Fever. The community was again raided on September 17.

On September 9, four police cars parked for several hours before Lupang Tartaria. It was accompanied by a 6×6 truck of soldiers with three roof-mounted guns, and three V150 military tanks.