The following is the Unity Statement of the Science and Technology Say No to Tyranny ((SnT)2), an alliance of concerned scientists, engineers, and technologists opposing state-sponsored abuses and human rights violations. This statement was signed by at least 150 concerned individuals and organizations from the science, technology and engineering community.

We invite you to stand against another attempt to reinstate another fascist Marcos-Duterte regime by adding your name in the comment section.

Scientists and technologists oppose the Marcos-Duterte tyrannical tandem!

We stand united, as professionals and organizations from the Science, Technology and Engineering community, in opposing the Marcos-Duterte alliance in their bid to return to power.

We are at a perilous moment in time with the coming of the 2022 National Elections as presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr is working his way to Malacañang to reinstate his family into political power despite the crimes that they have committed  against the Filipino people. The Marcos family has faced the international and local courts on cases pertaining to their billion-dollar ill-gotten wealth which found them guilty on various grounds (1) (2). The family was also responsible for the human rights violations against activists, critics of the regime, and civilians that resulted to illegal imprisonment, torture, killing, disappearance, committed to more than 107,000 victims (3).

The regime was also infamous for implementing billion-dollar projects such as the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant that plunged the country’s economy into abysmal debt being paid by the public up until the present. Masagana 99, an agricultural program to address the rice shortage in the 1970s, left our farmers in bankruptcy and lost their land productivity. They were enticed to enter a loan agreement and to adopt agricultural technologies inappropriate to the needs of local production. In short, at the hands of the Marcos ilk, science will not serve the people even if it hides behind the shroud of employing their technocrat-collaborators, as S&T representatives, whose only aim is to serve their own class interest.

Bongbong Marcos tries to absolve himself from this historical abuse of power by the Marcos administration, dismissing the gravity of the unlawful acts that his family and he himself has committed. He  has his own share of atrocious acts that violated laws when he was found guilty of tax evasion during the time he held the positions of Vice Governor in 1980 and Governor in 1983 of Ilocos Norte. He was then sentenced with nine years of imprisonment in 1995.

And just like the father and son aims of a power grab, Sara Duterte, Bongbong’s vice presidential running mate, is the continuation  and will try to maintain Rodrigo Duterte’s dynasty that has been mired with various abuses of authority. An investigation of the UN Human Rights Council found President Duterte responsible for the killings of drug suspects and other civilians under  the guise of his War on Drugs. He extended the killings to silence activists and journalists who were critical of his administration, this involved the illegal arrests of peace advocate and physicist Rey Casambre and environmental scientist/community organizer Delai Padilla.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, her father’s administration implemented an unscientific response to the health crisis. In pure Duterte fashion, the militaristic “response” led to various human rights violations due to the shootings, arrests, and imprisonments of both civilians and critics alike. Aside from this, tax-wasting and environmentally-degrading projects on reclamation and large-scale mining among others left many communities and individuals losing their livelihoods and homes. A clear example of this is the Dolomite Manila Bay project which not only wasted vital resources during the time of a crisis but was also responsible for further destruction of our resources through dolomite mining in Cebu. Again, science and technology at the hands of these fascist tandem is not science for the people.

Scientists and engineers were victims of atrocities as they took part in the political dissent against  the Marcos fascist  regime and continue to be victims of the Duterte fascist regime as they try to fill the gap left by these two anti-people regimes. At the height of Martial Law, many young and brilliant scientists, engineers and technologists fell victims to Marcos’ tyrannical rule. The recent murder of Chad Booc, a computer science graduate who served Lumad communities as a volunteer teacher, is a testament and reminder that villification and the demise of scientists and engineers is what we can expect if they rise and return to power.

Philippine industries and the agriculture sector have not developed under the Marcos rule. Fifty years later, the Duterte regime as a failed copycat of Marcos, scientists continue to face state abandonment as funding for research and development are being cut yearly while spending for the military increased under Duterte’s rule. Scientific advice to effectively address the pandemic was often ignored. Worse, pro-environment scientists were vilified by government officials for calling out unnecessary spending on useless beautification projects instead of allocating funding for mass testing, vaccine development and economic aid for the poor. The list is flooded with their anti-science and anti-people policies, which reminds us that their class interest will not change overnight as they try to sweet talk the people to vote for them in this coming election.  

We stand firm and united, as scientists, academics, researchers, engineers, STEM students and educators, in opposing yet another attempt to  distort history and reinstate another fascist Marcos regime. We have to be reminded that fascists do not deserve second chances as they do not second guess in violating the rights and the future of the people. Oppose the Marcos-Duterte alliance in the coming May 2022 election! Let us not allow another 6 years of unscientific and anti-people governance.

Signed,

AGHAM – Advocates of Science and Technology for the People

Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU)

Agham Youth National

Pro-people Engineers and Leaders (PROPEL)

For the full list of signatories, see the photo below:


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