Likha Filipino Migrants' Cultural Organization

22/09/2026

REMEMBER MARTIAL LAW BY RESISTING IMPERIALISM: NePS-HK Statement on the 54th Anniversary of Martial Law

The Network for Philippine Studies in Hong Kong (NePS-HK), a collective of Filipino students, scholars, academics, and young professionals, commemorates the 54th anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972. The dark days of the Marcos dictatorship saw widespread arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances, and killings. Amnesty International documented the arrest and detention of tens of thousands of Filipinos during the first years of Martial Law, as well as widespread torture among those detained.

As a network engaged in Philippine Studies, we believe that remembering Martial Law requires continuing to study it. We must examine its history through archives, testimonies, literature, film, visual art, journalism, and the many forms through which Filipinos recorded their experiences of repression and resistance. This work matters especially at a time when historical accounts of the Marcos regime continue to be disputed and distorted. We must ask how historical memory is produced, who gets remembered, whose experiences are left out, and how our creative and collective action can help keep these histories in public view.

The dictatorship developed under conditions of US imperialist influence, and its economic and political programs deepened foreign control over Philippine resources, industries, and labor. Today, the Marcos Jr. administration's participation in Pax Silica raises similar questions about sovereignty and foreign power. The Philippines formally joined the US-led initiative in April 2026, with the government advancing a proposed 1,600-hectare advanced manufacturing hub in New Clark City centered on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and other strategic industries. With US President Trump himself flying to the Philippines in November, we must keep ourselves vigilant and ensure that this elite-driven project is scrapped.

Remembering also prods us to link the history we study and the violence that continues to affect Filipino communities. The killing of the Negros 19 in April 2026 has drawn attention to militarization and the dangers faced by people working with rural communities. The incident, and the conflicting accounts surrounding the deaths, demand continued public attention and the remembrance of the lives and work of those killed. Their stories belong in the historical record that fuels our resistance to the structures that fetter the betterment of the homeland.

Commemorating the 54th year of Martial Law, we call on Filipino students, scholars, cultural workers, educators, and communities in Hong Kong and across the diaspora to keep studying this history and develop creative, critical, and militant ways of bringing it into public life. And reliving it must mean joining the ranks of Filipinos who stand against the continued domination of US imperialism, and the local bureaucrat capitalists that abet it, in the Philippines.

NEVER FORGET! NEVER AGAIN!

20/09/2026

20/09/2026

20/09/2026

03/09/2026

We, the Network for Philippine Studies in Hong Kong (NePs-HK), a collective of Filipino academics, students, young professionals, and cultural workers in the territory, stand firmly against the Pax Silica project in the Philippines.

This initiative, framed by the United States and Philippine governments as a pathway to technological progress, threatens to devastate our environment and deepen the exploitation of our people. The extraction of nickel, cobalt, and copper for semiconductor supply chains will scar our lands, poison our rivers, and displace indigenous groups such as the Aetas, whose ancestral domains are already under siege. Far from empowering communities, Pax Silica accelerates the ecological destruction of our country and also undermines our sovereignty and our right to self-determination.

The promise of “technology transfer” is an empty claim touted by Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration to derail the people’s anger against the initiative. History shows that foreign-led projects rarely equip Filipinos with genuine scientific sovereignty; instead, they lock us into dependency, relegating our nation to the role of raw material supplier and low-wage labor pool. Genuine economic development cannot be achieved through extractive enclaves controlled by foreign powers. What the Philippines urgently needs is national industrialization, that is, the building of industries that process our own resources, create dignified jobs, and serve our people first.

Pax Silica must be understood in the larger context of U.S. imperialism in the Asia-Pacific. Just as the Jones Law of 1916 promised independence while maintaining colonial control, Pax Silica promises growth while entrenching dependence. It is part of Washington’s strategy to secure supply chains and maintain geopolitical dominance, using the Philippines as a pawn rather than a partner. This continuity of exploitation reveals that our sovereignty remains conditional, shaped by the interests of a foreign empire.

Filipinos in Hong Kong should care deeply about this issue. Migration is not a choice but a consequence of economic underdevelopment at home. Many of us are here because the Philippines, in wanting to serve instead foreign businesses, failed to provide secure livelihoods, forcing us to seek work abroad. If Pax Silica proceeds, it will only perpetuate this cycle of exporting our minerals, exploiting our workers, degrading our environment, and denying us the industries that could generate real jobs for Filipinos. Our struggle abroad is inseparable from the struggle for genuine development at home.

We therefore call for solidarity among Filipinos in the diaspora to resist Pax Silica and demand a path toward national industrialization. Only by breaking free from imperialist projects can we ensure that our labor and creativity serve the Filipino people and not the interests of foreign powers. The fight against Pax Silica is a fight for our environment, our indigenous communities, and our collective future.

No to the Philippines as a supply chain outpost for imperialist plunder and war!

Fight for genuine national industrialization and economic development!

Uphold Philippine sovereignty!

Shut the Pax Down!

03/09/2026