MARTIAL LAW: GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHILIPPINES?
Watching the documentary “Batas Militar,” the Philippines under former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s Martial Law went through a series of human rights violations, including the arrest and killing of priests, nuns, students, farmers, workers, urban poor, reporters, teachers, attorneys, and politicians who oppose and criticize the Marcos government, making them prisoners of concentration camps [1] [11], a decline in economic growth caused by political instability, an increase in poor Filipinos and the unemployed [12], the closure of television, radio, and newspaper outlets that criticize the injustices done by the government, and dirty tactics during national elections. [11]
According to Marcos, the sole reason he declared martial law in the Philippines was due to the uprising of communist ideology and rebel groups in Southeast Asia in relation to the Cold War between the Americans and the Soviets. [13] As revealed by Primitivo Mijares, a reporter of the Daily Express who belongs to FEM’s inner circle, Marcos used this kind of tactic to extend his term and power as president of the Philippines from the late 1960s up to the early 1970s, creating an authoritarian government. [11]
As indicated in the introduction, these were the many tragedies in the past that happened to Filipinos during Martial Law before the Marcoses were ousted in Malacanang in 1986 and flew to Hawaii. [1] As they returned to the Philippines in 1992, they continued to maintain their political machinery. With the rapid spread of information through the advancements of technology in the 21st century, many Filipinos can easily access information wherever they are, especially the news, with their smartphones and laptops. In the present time, by the influence of vloggers and online content creators that reaches thousands to millions, over the past decades, they have spread lies and disinformation among Filipino commoners on Facebook, Youtube, and TikTok, creating enormous pro-Marcos propaganda such as Tallano Gold narratives, faked World War II achievements, and Marcos being a close friend of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. [5] [6]
Considering that many read and watch this kind of false documentaries and conspiracy theories to clean the name of the Marcoses after EDSA ’86, the lessons of EDSA People Power ’86 having the true spirit of democracy and unity in the past remain forgotten and disregarded.
Some of the continuities from the Marcos dictatorship up to the post-Martial Law Era (1986–present) are the country’s problems with its increasing National foreign debt and Anti-Marcos activism and rallies in universities, plazas, and open spaces. The nation’s foreign debt increased dramatically throughout the Marcos administration because of corruption, massive infrastructure, and Marcos cronyism [12], rising from $599 million in 1966 to $26.7 billion in 1986. [8] This will continue until the post-EDSA period, when we will be paying Marcos foreign debt until the year 2025.
Activism against the Marcoses from the Diliman Commune [17] up to the 2022 Philippine National Elections Anti-Marcos Protests [7] is being continued when Martial Law victims are commemorated in the Bantayog ng mga Bayani. [3] Ideas of armed struggle [14] and liberation theology [19] inflame the hearts of left-leaning groups and organizations to call out a fascist dictatorship.
The practices that were discontinued were sentences of capital punishment for grave crimes and media censorship that criticizes the government. The death penalty was given as a sentence during Martial Law, especially for grave crimes like murder, treason, rape, and drug trafficking. The methods of punishment included sitting on an electric chair and firing squads, which were aired on national television, like the case of Lim Seng, a drug lord who was then sentenced to a firing squad in 1973. [15] This practice of execution was abolished with the 1987 Constitution. [4]
In media censorship, the Media Advisory Council (MAC) approves all news organizations before they print or broadcast any content, as stated in Presidential Decree №191. [16] The only publications permitted to resume publication were the Daily Express and Bulletin Today, both controlled by the government. [18] However, Radio Veritas was shut down by military forces by bombing its transmitter in Bulacan because it was critical of the President and helped the opposition. [10]
The Martial Law Era and the EDSA People Power Movement are essential events in Philippine contemporary history because they make us reflect on the fact that our people can be united in opposition despite having different ideologies, faiths, and cultures. They have thus created a “People Power Revolution” to stand up against a dictatorship, realizing that power comes from the people who work and study hard, pay taxes, and elect the leaders who govern the country. In contrast, the group united in opposition has only set short-term goals to oust a dictator yet has failed to achieve social justice because of different interests after ousting Marcos. [9] This is the reason why our country has not been able to be progressive in politics, why EDSA removed Joseph “Erap” Estrada from office in 2001 [1], and why the Marcoses returned to Malacañang with Bongbong Marcos, the son of the late dictator, elected by 31 million voters as the President of the Philippines in 2022. [2]
Relating all that happened in the roots of our history from the Spanish colonization, American Imperialism, Japanese occupation, Philippine independence from the United States in 1946, Martial Law, and the EDSA People Power of 1986 up to the present time, we see that Filipinos desire freedom, liberation from oppression, and a country that loves nationalism. How do we value our freedom? Do we use it for our own interests or for the good of all?
As we value our knowledge of history, we do not only memorize dates, persons, and places; this is theoretical in nature. What we need is to be rooted in love for our country and to empower the voiceless, such as the marginalized, by being aware of what happened in the past and how we can relate it to the happenings in the present and have application to it by contributing to socio-political causes and advocating for good values and governance for our country.
REFERENCES:
[1] Abinales, P. N. N., & Amoroso, D. J. (2005). State and Society in the Philippines. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40023000
[2] Cabato, R. (2022, May 10). Marcos family once ousted by uprising wins Philippines vote in landslide. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/10/philippines-presidential-election-result-ferdinand-bongbong-marcos/
[3] Claudio, L. E. (2010). Memories of the Anti-Marcos Movement: The Left and the Mnemonic Dynamics of the Post-Authoritarian Philippines. South East Asia Research, 18(1), 33–66. https://doi.org/10.5367/000000010790959884
[4] Cruz, B. (2017, February 5). Revisiting the death penalty. The Lasallian. https://thelasallian.com/2017/02/05/revisiting-the-death-penalty/
[5] Coronel, S. S. (2001). The media, the market and democracy: The case of the Philippines. Javnost-The Public, 8(2), 109–126.
[6] Domingo, L. Z. P. (2021). Removing Philippine History in the ‘age of disinformation’: Politics, implications, and efforts. De La Salle University Research Congress.
[7] Gregorio, X. (2022, May 10). Asserting ‘poll fraud’, protesters reject Marcos victory at Comelec. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/05/10/2180086/asserting-poll-fraud-protesters-reject-marcos-victory-comelec-hq. Philippine Star.
[8] Jose, V. R. (1991). Philippine external debt problem: The Marcos years. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 21(2), 222–245.
[9] Lat, T. K. A. (2018). Philippine democracy and its discontents: the failed promise of social justice under the 1987 people power constitution. Estudios de Deusto: revista de la Universidad de Deusto, 66(1), 133–158.
[10] Mercado, G. (2017, May 31). A rebel radio station that defied Marcos’ martial law. CNN Philippines. https://www.cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/politics/2017/05/31/radyo-bandido-edsa.html
[11] Mijares, P. (1976). The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. http://rizalls.lib.admu.edu.ph:8080/ebooks2/Primitivo%20Mijares.pdf.
[12] Miranda, F. (2001). The political economy of national plunder: The Philippines under Marcos. In Memory, truth-telling, and pursuit of justice: A conference on the legacies of the Marcos dictatorship: A conference report (pp. 89–128).
[13] Morris, S. J. (1994). The Soviet Union and the Philippine Communist Movement. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 27(1), 77–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45301887
[14] Nathan, D. (1987). Armed Struggle in Philippines. Economic and Political Weekly, 22(51), 2201–2203. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4377885
[15] New York Times. (1973, January 15). A DEALER IN HEROIN EXECUTED BY MANILA. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/15/archives/a-dealer-in-heroin-executed-by-manila.html
[16] New York Times (1972, September 29). Manila Imposes Strict Censorship on News Media. https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/29/archives/manila-imposes-strict-censorship-on-news-media.html
[17] Scalice, J. (2018). A planned and coordinated Anarchy: The Barricades of 1971 and the ”Diliman Commune”. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 66(4), 481–516.
[18] Tuazon, R. (2019). The Print Media: A Tradition of Freedom. https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-cultural-disseminationscd/communication/the-print-media-a-tradition-of-freedom/.
[19] Youngblood, R. L. (1978). Church Opposition to Martial Law in the Philippines. 18(5), 505–520. https://doi.org/10.2307/2643463
