Demise fell in the Philippines in 1972 when late dictator Ferdinand Marcos placed the country under Martial Law through signing Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, with its formal declaration on September 23 at exactly 7:15 pm, leading to one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history.

“Justification” to the call for democracy abolishment

The issued declaration, enforcing military authority and suspension of civil rights, are said to be grounded with purposes and reasons that drove the late President Marcos to enforce the law.

Marcos explained that the Martial Law was signed for the need of extra powers to get rid of the national chaos from rebellion and cases of violence allegedly caused by communists; to protect the Filipino’s welfare from the threats of peace and order of the country; and to enhance growth for national development.

However, what pushed for the sudden emergency rule and declaration is the alleged ambush of then former Minister of Defense Juan Ponce Enrile that made the “martial law proclamation a necessity,” according to the diary entry of Marcos last September 22, 1972. Some reports, specifically the claim of Oscar Lopez and his family who lived near the incident area, stated that it was staged. Nonetheless, Enrile responded with confusing statements as he insisted the ambush’s validity in his memoir and documentary last 2014 howver, he disclosed in 1986 that it was staged to justify the declaration of the law.

Rundown of Events and Statistics

Martial Law lasted for almost a decade that suppressed any act of rebellion, enforced curfew hours, and oppressed personalities by the military and Philippine Constabulary. Here is a recap of the events from its context, origin, up to its end.

• 1969: Late President Marcos was re-elected despite electoral fraud allegations while guerilla wars, communist threats, and Muslim rebellions and separatists continue to arise.
• September 21, 1972: Proclamation No. 1081 was signed by Marcos that extends his rule beyond the constitutional limit of two-term limit.
• September 22, 1972: Ex-Senate President and former Defense Secretary Enrile was allegedly ambushed at night in his three-vehicle convoy at Wack-Wack subdivision. He was on his way home from briefing military officers for Martial Law implementation.
• September 23, 1972: After hearing the incident, Marcos declared Martial Law formally via national television at 7:15 pm.
• Successively, he issued these following General Orders and Letter of Instructions:
• General Order No. 1, s. 1972, transferring all government powers to him;
• Armed Forces of the Philippines were strengthened with an estimate of 60,000 personnel from the army, navy, air force, and constabulary.
• General Order No. 2-A, authorizing the military to capture, arrest and detain approximately 8,000 personalities conspiracized as threats to his reign;
• Arrested prominent ones include 1971 Constitutional Convention delegates Napoleon Rama, Enrique Voltaire Garcia, Jose Mari Velez, Journalists Max Soliven, Chino Roces, Teodoro Locsin Jr., Hernando Abaya, Luis Mauricio, Luis Beltran, Amando Doronilla, Ernesto Granada, Senators Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Jose “Pepe” Diokno, Ramon Mitra Jr., Francisco “Soc” Rodrigo, and Justice Vicente Rafael
• Letter of Instruction No. 1, shutting down mass and private media nationwide;
• These consist of 7 major English dailies, 1 English-Filipino daily, 3 Filipino dailies, 1 Spanish daily, 4 Chinese dailies, 66 community newspapers, 11 English weekly magazines, 7 television stations, and 292 radio stations.
• Media outlets that were only exempted from the imposed censorship are: Daily Express (Newspaper), TV Channel 9 (TV Station), and Kanlaon Broadcasting System (Radio Station).
• Letter of Instruction No. 2, permitting public utility takeover;
• Public utilities that were shut down are Manila Electric Company (MERALCO; Electricity and Power), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT; Telephone), National Waterworks and Sewerage Authority (NAWASA; Water), Philippine National Railways (PNR; Railway), Philippine Airlines, Air Manila, and Filipinas Orient Airways (Air transport services).
• Letter of Instruction No. 3, mandating military to seize all Philippine-registered and privately-owned aircraft and watercraft; and
• Letter of Instruction Nos. 4 and 5, commanding the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice to reject and not issue travel documents and immigration clearance to any citizen who requests to depart from the country.
• 1973: Late President Marcos adopted the new 1973 Philippine Constitution that gave him absolute powers.
• 1977: Opposition and critic Senator Aquino was sentenced to death but late President Marcos delayed his execution.
• 1980: Senator Aquino was permitted to travel to the US for medical treatment.
• January 17, 1981: Martial Law has been lifted through the signing of Proclamation No. 2045 ahead of the first papal visit of Pope John Paul II in February. Late President Marcos has won the elections once again.
• 1983: Aquino returns to the Philippines but is shot dead at the Manila airport. However, no one was punished for ordering the assassination.
• 1985: Seeing that the country is in political and economic disaster, Marcos is under attacked by those in the media and the opposition. Resolution for his impeachment was signed by 56 assemblymen on the grounds of Marcos’ alleged rerouting of US aid for his personal use. A political movement starts to form for Aquino’s widow.
• February 22, 1986: Millions of Filipinos united on EDSA for a mass protest to overthrow the rule of late President Marcos.
• February 25, 1986: People Power led the military to abandon late President Marcos, who then fled to Pampanga with his family and other government officials before exile in Hawaii. According to the opposition, late President Marcos ransacked billions of dollars in his almost two decades of office.
  
  

Golden Age? Think again.

We have continuously heard various claims that Martial Law is the best period for the Philippines. However, its numbers, apart from the stories and its past, showcased otherwise. Filipinos served as commodities and victims of Marcos’ institutional and social deconstruction and impunity.

Let us debunk the myths and claims that were made with facts and numbers during the period to confirm the ‘glory’ that was wished to be illusioned. 

• Myth 1: Philippines has a booming infrastructure and a tiger and high economy.

• Fact 1: Four out of ten families were poor before his rule while six out of ten Filipino families were poor by the end of his term

• Poverty levels during and after his administration worsened with the high drop of wage and continuous increase of prices.

• Fact 2: Farmers became poorer as daily wages of Filipino agricultural workers plunged by 30%.

• In 1972, a farmer earned 42 pesos a day but it decreased up to 30 pesos as 1986 came. It even went as low as nearly half during 1974. The country’s coffers are also plundered that is estimately ranged from 5 billion to 10 billion dollars.

• Fact 3: Skilled and unskilled workers wages also fell.

• In urban areas, skilled and unskilled workers saw a decrease in their wages from 127 pesos to 35 pesos and 89 pesos to 23 pesos a day, respectively. Manufacturing was stagnated and work conditions also worsened, leading to underemployment from around 10% to 33%. This worsens the high poverty incidence of the country. 

• Fact 4: Prices of goods tripled sharply.

• There has been a huge change in the Consumer Price Index of the country from food to non-food items. Basic commodities that were priced 100 pesos in 1976 cost more than 300-400 pesos in 1986.

• Fact 5: Marcos’ policies reduced forest cover to almost a half, leading to massive deforestation.

• Due to Marcos and his cronies’ pursuit for economic gains, unrestrained and massive exportation of timber caused a huge shave to the forest cover reduction. Martial Law took control of the country’s about 90% 18.7 million hectares of uplands and that includes the 11 million-hectare timberland.

• Fact 6: Sick Man of Asia: Filipino’s Gross Domestic Product experienced the biggest decline in history from 1983-1985.

• Income per person or the Philippine GDP per capita fell after 1982 which took 21 years later to recover from the lost development for decades.

• Fact 7: International debt hit the roof during his period by 77 times in nominal terms and 24 times in real terms. 

• Outstanding external debt of 360 million dollars in 1961 rose steeply to whopping 28.26 billion dollars in 1986. They failed to meet their obligations to the point that it has become unsustainable exponentially. This debt-driven growth may temporarily explain the growth in infrastructure or some economic gains on the surface but that short-term gratification compromised its long-term effects gave more burden to the future generation as they pay back for the said debts.

• Myth 2: Martial Law brought about peace and order. 

• Fact 1: This period showed an abundance of human rights violations and exploitation of those who were characterized in the act of subversion. 
• Fear has been the driver for Marcos’ rule and the bodies were its counts. According to  American historian and educator Alfred McCoy article’s “Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime,” 3,275 extrajudicial killings were done during Marcos’ period which is higher than Chile’s Pinochet 2,115 casualties, 35,000 were tortured and 70,000 were jailed for any minor “infraction,” and 77% of the EJK victims (2,520 victims) were purposefully salvaged. 
• As human rights lawyer and son of the late senator Jose ‘Pepe’ Diokno who has been consistently against the Marcos dictatorship, Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno has said at the International Forum on Lawfare at the De La Salle University-Manila (DLSU), the “real legacy of martial law” is law weaponization to silence and block political dissent. “[Marcos] was responsible for creating an oppressive climate of fear, obsequiousness and corruption that all but smothered the impartial administration of justice,” Diokno stated. 
• Fact 2: Thousands of Filipinos were exposed to various forms of torture.
• According to the study of historian Michael Charleston Chua titled “TORTYUR: Human Rights Violations During The Marcos Regime,” physical torture involves electric shock, “San Juanico Bridge,” truth serum, Russian roulette, beating, pistol-whipping, water cure, strangulation, cigar and flat iron burns, pepper torture, being treated as an animal, and sexual abuse. He also added that elite torture units specialize in psychological and mental torture from humiliation, shaking principles, and threats of rape, harm, and death.

• Fact 3: Freedom of information and speech is curtailed through media shutdown and abuse of youth leaders and journalists who have never seen the light of day.

• Free press and mass media is the first casualty and target of Martial Law Declaration. Censorship is imposed, libels suits are filed on journalists, dissents were stamped out, and those who questioned the government will be punished, or worse, killed. Some of the stories from the thousands of tragic deaths were the following:

• The first female and student activist who died in detention during the Martial Law rule is 23 year-old Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila communication arts student-journalist and youth leader Liliosa Hilao. Signs of torture, cigarette burns on her lips, injection marks on her arms, and lots of bruises were seen in her body when found in 1973. Her sister claimed that her removed internal organs was done to cover signs of torture and potential sexual abuse. 
• All because Imee Marcos was irked by the question on why the presidential daughter was Kabataang Barangay National Chairman in an open forum, Mapua Institute of Technology student Archimedes Trajano was forcibly taken from the venue, tortured for 12 to 36 hours and thrown out of a building’s second floor window. He was only 21 when his bloodied body was found in Manila on September 2, 1977.
• 23-year-old UP Journalism student Maria Elena Ang was arrested and beaten, electrocuted, water cured, and sexually violated when she was detained at Camp Crame.
• Tondo community leader Trinidad Herrera was arrested in 1977. Her fingers, breasts, and vagina were electrocuted until her answers to the questions of the interrogators were passing enough to their standards.
• In 1977, Boyet Mijares received a call that his disappeared father was still alive and he must see him. After a few days, the body—protruded eyeballs, punctured chest with multiple stab wounds, bashed head, and distorted hands, feet and genitals—of this 16-year old was found in Manila. His fault? Being the son of Primitivo Mijares, a whistleblower and writer in Marcos’ reign.

However, what made the Marcos memory tricky, with the arising positive and negative claims, is the different branches of experiences of different people that varied in their place of origin and social classes during the Martial Law period. Everything is in chaos and displaced, and not all have the same roots. Therefore, a need to process and to be rational in considering all factors is essential for those who have not suffered or remained unaware are also victims from filtered and shielded information during this period.

Scars that can’t be healed

Former President Marcos’ action to bring a “New Society” has truly taken a toll on the Filipinos. Memories remain haunted, the economy is in shambles, human rights are abused, political dissents are blocked, and what’s worse is that all it takes is the abuse of power of law from the government, or in particular, the highest in authority, who was supposed to protect its constituents rather than his self-interests.

“The lawyers who stood for us in the past realized one thing: that just as law can be used to oppress, the law can also be used to empower and the law can also be used to liberate,” Diokno added.

As founding dean of the DLSU College of Law and chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group, Diokno mentioned that Marcos should be given credit—not only for the false and rose-colored glasses of information, but for “completely destroying judicial independence and for perverting [the] legal profession.”

Deep scars still prevail and wounds remain unhealed. Debts keep on skyrocketing are carried by every future generation but its fruits and worth has not proven its value. Government corruption and incompetence still exists, justice remains unserved, and the Marcoses did not even take responsibility for their action.

“Hanggang ngayon wala pa kaming katarungan,” Helena Jimenez said. Jimenez’s husband disappeared following his arrest last August 17, 1985.

Not a Political Issue

The stories aforementioned are just one of many injustices caused, that even financial compensation would not suffice. Nonetheless, the whole dilemma is not a political issue or story wherein Marcos is the villain and the Aquinos are the heroes, for both parties are at fault and have their own shortcomings. But rather, it is about the Filipinos and the country who shed blood, faced more than just death, experienced the pain, and became victims of the government's oppression as it took away the freedom, democracy, life, and future they fully deserve.

Given such, labeling former President Marcos and other tyrant leaders’ supporters and apologists, as well as the victims of Martial law, negatively is a sign of carelessness and insensitivity as it invalidates their actual memories, pain, and suffering and alienates the unity that the nation must envision. Respecting both sides and compassion is essential for there are different factors that concede to such thought. 

However, selfishness, fear, self-preservation, apathy, and ignorance must be eradicated for that is what brought the country in the first place. Read books and cross-check facts for awareness. Stand up, be selfless, and protect everyone’s rights, especially the marginalized and oppressed, with louder calls and evidence as citizens caring for each other. Age and time of birth is not a standard for the validity of arguments and action, but rather on the facts and the truth that the past seizes to be seen. 

Instead of worshipping politicians as gods, criticize and treat them with fairness, justice, and transparency—for that is what every Filipino deserves: a good government that is transparent, accountable, and liable for its actions in servant leadership to its constituents. Do not place the efforts of the people and victims in order for us to be liberated into waste. 

As history starts to repeat itself once more, with the arising threats of the current administration, would we let ourselves be controlled, or let ourselves learn from the past, set out indifferences, and act not for our self-interests but for the country that deserves a better future? Once is enough—never again.