The Philippines During Martial Law   

It was the time when the Philippines reached the condition of cynicism and feeling of hopelessness among the Filipino people that they were motivated to join rebel groups and became activists who were regularly seen on the streets rallying while violently attacking the police forces. The Martial Law was declared by Ferdinand E. Marcos who was the President that time for 21 years. There was the unprecedented overspending of the government’s budget during Marcos’ reelection term, the time he declared the Martial Law.

    

The election caused him to spend so much money to the extent that the country’s economy reached the inflation rate. Prices of commodities, workers’ wages and tuition fees of the students became problematic. Unemployment, on the other side, increased in the rating during his regime. In general, the martial rule destroyed the lives of the ordinary Filipino people while the rich ones enjoyed the advantages in this time.      

The Martial Law Declaration 

In September 21, 1972 by Proclamation 1081, after a series of unexplained bombing, the martial law was declared. The leftist organizations were put to blame for this declaration because of the increasing number of Filipinos joining the left-wing rebel armies against the government. The government was threatened by this, so the declaration took place. However, according to some critiques, the true motive of declaring the military rule was to maintain the power of Marcos in the government after his corruption and overspending of money for only luxurious things for his family.    

In addition to the claim, it was also because of the fear of the dictator that a mass revolution might take place as the Filipinos became united and organized many mass Party of the Philippines, making him to be ousted from presidency. His former allies also stated the declaration was part of the President’s plan to sow anarchy, fear, terror, and despair as the preconditions for the imposition of martial law (Mangahas, 1994). The fake ambush of Juan Ponce Enrile, who was then the Secretary of National Defense, was used to formally declare the martial law.      

The Societal Crises during Martial Law  

The increase rate of poverty, high prices of commodities, students’ massive dropouts, unemployment problem were among the manifestations of the crises happening in the country during the martial law. Rice importation in the hand of the cartels and big business lords enriched the government cronies and even their relatives. As a result, small-scale and large-scales farmers became their victims.    

Despite some gains to reduce the tenancy level under the Marcos administration and his land reform program, majority of the Filipino peasants remained poor and discontented. In fact, most of them were inspired by the Communist rebels and became the largest portion of the membership status of the party. Due to the rampant suffering of poverty in many provinces in the country, many town people migrated to the cities to explore living opportunities. Eventually, they became informal settlers in the cities with the jobs involving infrastructure labors in the purpose of beautification projects by the government.      

Impunity from Massive Killings 

Enough for the massive extrajudicial killings committed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the police forces during the martial law that President Marcos earned his reputation to be called Hitler or the Philippine version of Nazi. Abductions of student activists, human rights workers, leaders of the workers’ organizations, and many other patriotic Filipinos were very rampant during the military rule, causing the Bantayog ng mga Bayani to be established where all the names of the victims of martial law were listed there.    

Moreover, it was the main reason for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to gain strength and earned support from the Filipino masses as it stood as the only genuine government for the suffering people.      

The CPP-NPA-NDFP Movement 

CPP-NPA-NDF stands for Communist Party of the Philippines – New Peoples’ Army – National Democratic Front of the Philippines. The Communist Party of the Philippines stood and has continued to exist as the left-wing government, practicing Marxism-Leninism-Maoism ideologies in contrast to the official government that used to be fascist during the time of Marcos. The New Peoples’ Army is the armed force of the CPP.    

Lastly is the NDFP as the manager of all the leftist organizations of the students, workers, and government officials as well as patriotic professionals. The rebels advocated democracy against the martial law, but it was not the type of democracy that the United States has been practicing. It was not liberal. The CPP has been pushing until now national democracy that would liberate the country from external control.    

The martial law of Marcos strengthened the movement. Many Filipinos left the government and joined the alternative one. They engaged in armed struggle through guerilla warfare where they camped in the countryside. A massive number of laborers in factories left the job and joined the rebels. Almost half of the population of the students in the University of the Philippines waged revolutions and raised firearms against the fascist government.    

Even doctors, lawyers, and academicians who already established underground organizations chose to revolt against Marcos and joined the New Peoples’ Army.      

The Rise of Democracy 

The oppressive martial law caused the people to rise up and give democracy a chance to reign once more. During the martial law, the support of the Americans was already cancelled. As represented by Cory Aquino right after the death of her husband during the arrival of the plane, the first people power revolution happened. The Americans gave support to Cory Aquino against the martial law. Several of the former allies of Marcos pledged support for Aquino, and, of course, the masses organized themselves for Aquino. 

   

All of these combinations of power successfully overthrew Marcos regime. Finally, by the declaration of the Filipino people and with the guidance of the Americans, Cory Aquino became the first lady President of the Philippines. It was then the democracy ruled again.    

The martial law that happened in the Philippines shares the commonalities with the other countries which also have a history of martial rule. It is always an event of inflation, political manipulation of the few, total monopoly of the resources, human rights violation, and many more. And the common response for this as a solution is always democracy. The United States of America is the famous nation to be looked up when it comes to democracy as it has influenced its system to almost all of the places in the world. 

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