What Is the Contribution of Martial Law in Philippine History

There has been some controversy as to whether the ambush on Enrile, which was used as one of the justifications[50] for declaring martial law, was staged. However, Enrile himself denied that this was staged in his memoirs and defended the imposition of martial law:[83] I was already at the highest altitude—martial law was still in effect—when I realized that my childhood cartoons weren`t the only things stolen by martial law. My right to decide how to spend my Saturdays was not the only right wrested from the rule of one man supported by Marcos` army. And I wasn`t the only one whose rights were killed when martial law was imposed. A brief history lesson on the fourteen-year military-backed dictatorship in the Philippines When Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, he had: Many statements have been cited as reasons why Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, some of which were presented by the Marcos government as an official justification and others were divergent perspectives expressed either by the dominant political opposition, or by analysts. The political economy of decision-making. [15] Marcos` imposition of martial law in September 1972 had a major impact on the 1971 Constitutional Convention. Marcos stopped the leadership of the Convention`s “opposition bloc,” which wanted to ensure that Marcos would not stay in power longer than the 1935 constitution allowed. Eventually, a group of delegates supporting Marcos led by Gilberto Duavit presented a brand new draft constitution, which they submitted to Malacañang for ratification just two months after martial law was imposed. [57] This 14-year period in the history of the Philippines is remembered for human rights violations committed by the government,[19][20] which targeted in particular political opponents, student activists,[21] journalists, religious workers, peasants, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on documents from Amnesty International, the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines and similar human rights observers,[22] historians estimate that the Marcos dictatorship was characterized by 3,257 known extrajudicial executions,[22] 35,000 documented tortures, 77 “disappeared” and 70,000 detentions.

[23] [24] “Whether contradicting each other or not, all accounts suggest that Marcos` obsession with numerology (especially the number seven) required that Proclamation No. 1081 be officially signed on a date divisible by seven. Thus, September 21, 1972 became the official date on which martial law was imposed and the day when the Marcos dictatorship began. It also allowed Marcos to control the story on his own terms. [1] When Marcos became president in 1965, the PKP was a weakened organization, and the Hukbalahap was reduced to “banditry.” [14] But Marcos immediately made noise about the alleged “communist threat” – he drew on images of Huk`s bloody encounters in the 1950s and courted the Johnson government`s political support in light of the recent US entry into the Vietnam War. [14] [38] Amendment No. 6 to the new 1973 constitution allowed it to continue legislating, and decrees issued during martial law continued after the repeal of Proclamation No. 1081. It also reserved the right to suspend the habeas corpus warrant for “crimes related to subversion, insurrection, rebellion and also conspiracy to commit such crimes.” [99] While the period of Philippine history during which Ferdinand Marcos was in power actually began seven years earlier, when he became president of the Philippines in late 1965,[5] this article deals specifically with the period when he exercised dictatorial powers under martial law, [1] and the period during which he continued to exercise these powers, although he technically lifted the declaration of martial law in 1981. [6] [7] In addition to the continued increase in militarization despite the supposed end of martial law,[73] the Mission reported numerous extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances of various individuals arrested or taken away by military or state security forces.