Children from Salinlahi and Children’s Rehabilitation Center launched a Black Saturday procession on April 19 at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman. This was the group’s way of calling for justice for the victims of the Duterte and Marcos regimes.

The children held a symbolic dramatization and presentations to remember the 150 children the previous Duterte regime killed under its fake war on drugs and anti-insurgency program. Some of the featured victims were Kian Delos Santos (17) from Caloocan, Kuni Cuba (16) of Sultan Kudarat, Obello Bay-ao (19) of Davao del Norte, Myca Ulpina (3) of Rizal, and others.

Ang Bayan reported that at least 1,267 cases of human rights violations involving children occurred under the Marcos regime from June 2022 to January of this year. AFP soldiers mercilessly killed ten children who were made to appear as casualties in its encounters with the New People’s Army (NPA). These are all violations of international humanitarian law, and of special protections for children, newborn babies, and their breastfeeding mothers.

“Remembering should not end in tears. It should be carried in directed anger. In healing, there is reckoning. In remembrance, there is action. And in our collective struggle, we will rise again,” a speech at the start of the procession program said.