The Horrors of Marcos’s Martial Law by Lawin Authoritarianism and dictatorship disguised as people’s protection is nothing but simply national manipulation. On December 30, 1965, the Philippines witnessed a dictator rise to power. It was the day when former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. y Edralin assumed his post after winning the 1965 Elections. The latter was then reelected during the November 1969 Elections, making him the first and last president of the Philippines to serve two full terms. About three months before his second term ended, Marcos imposed Martial Law, a law which allows the country to be controlled by a military government instead of a civilian one. The Martial Law era in the Philippines was a golden age; not for the masses, though—but for those who are in power. On the 23rd of September, 1972, Marcos officially declared Martial Law to be implemented nationwide. This was rooted in the swell of student radicalization and the growing number of protests and demonstrations against him. He called the implementation of martial law “constitutional authoritarianism”. Due to the extraordinary powers the martial law gives the head of the State Marcos was able to cancel out the very constitution, and systematically replaced it with his. Hence, the replacement of the 1935 Constitution with the 1973 Constitution which was done under dubious circumstances (Official Gazette, n.d.). First, as a ratification of the new Constitution, he reduced the voting age to 15 years old. Then, the military was strategically distributed to intimidate voters. The “yes” voters for the Constitution were given quotas, and those who have opposing views and votes were often not recorded. This first step was all under his order of a viva voce plebiscite. Second, Marcos was able to force and intimidate the Supreme Court, to uphold martial law and the new constitution using the stick and carrot method. With the emergency powers, the new constitution, and the justification of Martial law, Marcos was also able to attack press and speech freedom via the issuance of Letter of Instruction No. 1 which ordered the Press and Defense Secretary to gain control over all media outlets. He was also able to violate civil rights as he suspended the writ of habeas corpus which helped justify the detention of any opposing members of the government and the people. As martial law continues to thrive in the whole nation, so did the violations on human rights. In fact, a report made by Amnesty International, a worldwide independent human rights movement, showed the statistics and data of human rights abuses and violations which they gathered as they investigated for their mission in the Philippines. In various reports, it was recorded that over 100,000 people were victims of martial law (1972-1981). At least 70,000 of which are illegally detained and arrested in adherence to the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. In addition, 35,000 people were reportedly tortured, 3,257 people were killed because of the extrajudicial killings induced by the military and the police, 77 people went disappearing, and 579 businesses were “violently and illegally” taken over by the dictatorship. Some stories of these abuses have been known by the public through countless revelations, including different Journalists i.e., Teodoro Locsin Jr. from the Philippine Free Press, columnist Luis Beltran, Joaquin Roces from Manila Times, and Primitivo Mijares, a former Marcos-crony who had soon written against the government in his publication of the book “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos”. On January 17, 1981, a month before the state visitation of Saint Pope John Paul II, Marcos lifted the martial law due to the growing opposition of the Catholic Church, and the said visitation via Proclamation No. 2405. This lifting of martial law, however, was only declared by name; the system of the state and government units remained the same. In November 1985, Marcos announced his intention for snap elections to be held in 1986, a year before the scheduled regular elections. In 1986, several historic events happened in the Philippines. The snap elections became extremely controversial as massive poll fraud, rampant cheating, and vote rigging was recorded and overviewed by the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), an election watchdog famous for debunking and stopping election fraudulation, and several foreign and international observers invited by Marcos himself. In line with the cheating incident, 35 COMELEC employees walked out of the COMELEC Tabulation center as a sign of protest. By February 15, 1986, the Batasang Pambansa declared Marcos and running mate Laurel, which had soon sparked public outrage after the ballot-rigging. This paved the way for the opposition to grow and gain more power as Marcos soon lost his cronies and control over the country. February 25, 1986 was the scheduled date for Marcos’s inauguration. The event continued in Maharlika Hall, though. But around the same time, Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the real winner of the 1986 snap elections, and running mate Salvador Laurel took their oaths as the President and Vice President of the Philippines in Club Filipino. However, since Marcos have already lost his military and political cronies and puppets, the support and power of Cory have grown enormously, intimidating that of Marcos’s. This led to Marcos finally fleeing the country with his family to go and live in Hawaii. This departure marked the official end of the 20-year long tyranny of Marcos. The Philippines, on the other hand, have finally, peacefully restored democracy—the democracy that the Marcos administration has suppressed for a long time. After more or less 20 years of being incarcerated under Marcos’s dictatorship, the Philippines was finally free–free from tyranny, but not debt. By 1986, the external debt of the Philippines was $28.26B, 78.5% more than the external debt of the country in 1961 ($0.36B). The martial law also left the country with a negative GDP, burying the Philippines in even deeper economic problems. It was then, however, solved by the Cory administration as the country’s GDP bounced from -7.037 to 3.417. Martial Law, if used by good people, for good intentions, is not a big problem. But using it as a way to exploit the entire country and use it for your own benefit, is far from people’s protection. The martial law era was not a golden age for the people. It left the country bodies in black bags, innocent people behind bars, Filipinos nowhere to be found, tortured people, silenced voices, businesses collapsing, and the country crippling in debt and democracy. REFERENCES (APA): ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Official Gazette. (n.d.). The Fall of the Dictatorship. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/the-fall-of-the-dictatorship/. Official Gazette. (n.d). Declaration of Martial Law. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/. Britannica. (n.d.). Ferdinand Marcos. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ferdinand-E-Marcos. Dela Peña, K. (2021, September 21). Marcos’ martial law: Golden age for corruption, abuses. Inquirer.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1490968/marcos-martial-law-golden-age-for-corruption-abus es. Galvez, D. (2018, September 21).Remembering Martial Law under the Marcos regime. Inquirer.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1034745/remembering-martial-law-under-the-marcos-regime . Amnesty International. (2020, November 22). Report of an Amnesty International Mission to The Republic of the Philippines. Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/asa350191977en.pdf. Kenton, W. (2021, October 17). Martial Law. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/martial-law.asp. Lau, T., & Nunn, J. (2020, September 10). Martial Law Explained. Brennan Center For Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/martial-law-explained.
