Martial law in the Philippines

Martial Law monument in Mehan Garden

Martial law in the Philippines (Filipino: Batas Militar sa Pilipinas; Spanish: Ley marcial en Filipinas) refers to several intermittent periods in Philippine history where in the Philippine head of state (such as the President) proclaims that an area is placed under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Martial law is declared either when there is near-violent civil unrest or in cases of major natural disasters, however most countries use a different legal construct like "state of emergency".

Typically, the imposition of martial law accompanies curfews, the suspension of civil law, civil rights, habeas corpus, and the application or extension of military law or military justice to civilians. Civilians defying martial law may be subjected to military tribunals (court-martial).

History of martial law proclamations

Spanish period

Hostilities that began the Philippine Revolution of 1896 started on the evening of 21 August 1896, when hundreds of rebels attacked the Civil Guard garrison in Pasig, just as hundreds of other rebels personally led by Andrés Bonifacio were massing in San Juan del Monte, which they attacked hours later on the 30th. Bonifacio planned to capture the San Jose del Monte powder magazine along with a water station supplying Manila. The defending Spaniards were outnumbered, and fonce piece pirates pmugaiaff rebels until reinforcements arrived. Once reinforced, the Spaniards drove Bonifacio's forces back with heavy casualties. Elsewhere rebels attacked Mandaluyong, Sampaloc, Santa Ana, Pandacan, Pateros, Marikina, and Caloocan,^[1] as well as Makati and Taguig.^[2] Balintawak in Caloocan saw intense fighting. Rebel troops tended to gravitate towards fighting in San Juan del Monte and Sampaloc. South of Manila, a thousand-strong rebel force attacked a small force of civil guards. In Pandacan Katipuneros attacked the parish church, making the parish priest run for his life.^[2]

After their defeat in San Juan del Monte, Bonifacio's troops regrouped near Marikina, San Mateo and Montalban, where they proceeded to attack these areas. They captured these areas but were driven back by Spanish counterattacks, and Bonifacio eventually ordered a retreat to Balara. On the way, Bonifacio was nearly killed shielding Emilio Jacinto from a Spanish bullet that grazed his collar.^[2] Despite his reverses, Bonifacio was not completely defeated and was still considered a threat.^[1]

North of Manila, the towns of San Francisco de Malabon, Noveleta and Kawit in Cavite rose in rebellion.^[2] In Nueva Ecija rebels in San Isidro led by Ivan Pilien attacked the Spanish garrison on September 2–4; they were repulsed.^[3]

By 30 August, the revolt had spread to eight provinces, prompting the Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco, 1st Marquis of Peña Plata, to declare a "state of war" in these provinces and place them under martial law. These provinces were Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Tarlac, Laguna, Batangas, and Nueva Ecija.^[4][2] These would later be represented in the eight rays of the Sun in the Philippine flag.^[5] Despite such declaration, which provided a 48-hour period in giving amnesty to rebels except their leaders, Blanco adopted a cool, conciliatory stance, seeking to improve Spain’s image in the face of world opinion.^[6]

Emilio Aguinaldo

After the outbreak of Spanish–American War, Emilio Aguinaldo, who grabbed leadership of the revolution from Bonifacio by executing him under fabricated charges, returned to the Philippines from his exile in Hong Kong on 19 May 1898, with 13 of his staff. He was encouraged to return by the Americans, who saw in him as an opportunity in their war against Spain.^[7] After five days, on May 23, Aguinaldo issued a proclamation in which he assumed command of all Philippine military forces and established a dictatorial government with himself as dictator.^[8]

On 12 June, at Aguinaldo's ancestral home in Cavite, Philippine independence was proclaimed and The Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence was read. The act had been prepared and written in Spanish by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, who also read its proclamation.^[9] On 18 June, Aguinaldo issued a decree formally establishing his dictatorial government.^[10] On 23 June another decree signed by Aguinaldo was issued, replacing the Dictatorial Government with a Revolutionary Government, with himself as President.^[11][12]

José Laurel

President José P. Laurel of the wartime Second Philippine Republic (puppet-government under Japan) placed the Philippines under martial law in 1944 through Proclamation No. 29, dated September 21. Martial law came into effect on September 22, 1944. Proclamation No. 30 was issued the next day, declaring the existence of a state of war between the Philippines and the US and Great Britain. This took effect on September 23, 1944.

Ferdinand Marcos

At the height of armed communist insurgency in the Philippines, Philippine Military Academy instructor Lt. Victor Corpuz led New People's Army rebels in a raid on the PMA armory, capturing rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, a bazooka and thousands of rounds of ammunition in 1970.^[13] In 1972, China, which was then actively supporting and arming communist insurgencies in Asia as part of Mao Zedong's People's War Doctrine, transported 1,200 M-14 and AK-47 rifles^[14] for the NPA to speed up NPA's campaign to defeat the government.^[15][16] Prior to the 1975, the Philippine government maintained a close relationship with the Kuomintang-ruled Chinese government which fled to Taiwan (Republic of China), despite the Chinese Communist Victory in 1949, and saw Communist China (People's Republic of China) as a security threat due to China's financial and military support of Communist rebels in the country.^[17]

In a privilege speech before Senate, Benigno Aquino, Jr. warned the public of the possible establishment of a “garrison state” by President Ferdinand Marcos. President Marcos imposed martial law on the nation from 1972 to 1981 to suppress increasing civil strife and the threat of a communist takeover following a series of bombings in Manila.^[18][19] However, Aquino himself rubbed elbows with leaders of Communist Party of the Philippines — first with founder Jose Maria Sison, and later with Rodolfo Salas, CPP chair at the height of Martial Law. In an interview with Ateneo De Manila University Professor Lisandro Claudio, Salas said not only did he bring wounded New People's Army (NPA) soldiers to Aquino’s houses, but he received guns and cash from Aquino himself. He also said Aquino had a significant contribution to the expansion of NPA in the country. In another communication to the State Department dated September 21, the US Embassy sheds further light on what Ninoy told the American officials. On September 12, Ninoy had a “lengthy luncheon conversation" with two embassy officers about the “growing strength of Communist dissidence in the Philippines." In this luncheon, the senator “readily admitted his past ties with the several Communist factions in the Philippines." He claimed that maintaining links with Huk rebels was a “fact of life" for a Tarlac politician.^[20][21] In the Philippine parliamentary election, 1978, the first parliamentary election during Martial Law, Ninoy fielded in his Lakas ng Bayan party Alex Boncayao, who was associated with Filipino communist death squad Alex Boncayao Brigade^[22][23] that killed U.S. army captain James N. Rowe. All of the party's 21 candidates, including Ninoy, lost in the election.

On 21 August 1971, while the opposition (Liberal Party) was having their miting de avance in Plaza Miranda, 2 fragmentation grenades exploded. It took 9 lives and left more than 100 people seriously wounded. Some Liberal Party candidates were seriously injured including Jovito Salonga, who nearly died and was visually impaired. Suspicion of responsibility for the blast initially fell upon Marcos, whom the Liberals blamed for the bombing; however, in later years, prominent personalities associated with the event have laid the blame on the Communist Party of the Philippines under José María Sison.^[24] In his autobiography, Salonga states his belief that Sison and the CPP were responsible.^[25] Based on interviews of The Washington Post with former Communist Party of the Philippines Officials, it was revealed that "the (Communist) party leadership planned -- and three operatives carried out -- the attack in an attempt to provoke government repression and push the country to the brink of revolution... (Communist Party Leader) Sison had calculated that Marcos could be provoked into cracking down on his opponents, thereby driving thousands of political activists into the underground, the former party officials said. Recruits were urgently needed, they said, to make use of a large influx of weapons and financial aid that China had already agreed to provide."^[26]

A month of "terrorist bombings" of public facilities in Manila and Quezon City culminated on 22 September with an assassination attempt on Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile. Six hours after the alleged assassination attempt against Enrile and citing more than 15 bombing incidences, chaos and lawlessness, Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081, declaring and imposing martial law in the entire country.^[27] By declaring martial law, Marcos suspended the writ of habeas corpus and also the 1935 Constitution, dissolved Congress and padlocked the doors to the Batasang Pambansa, and assuming both legislative and executive powers. Proclamation No. 1081 was dated 21 September 1972 but it was actually signed on 17 September. The formal announcement or promulgation of the proclamation was made only at seven-thirty in the evening of 23 September, evidencing the plan to declare martial law even before the supposed ambush against Enrile. He had also commanded his military collaborators to start arresting his political opponents and close down all media and retail (fashion, food, religious, sports) establishments about twenty-two hours before the announcement.^[28]

The Proclamation read in part

The declaration of Martial Law was criticized as a planned precursor to extending Marcos' term in office, which under the 1935 Constitution is limited to two terms of four years each or a maximum of eight years^[29] Rigoberto Tiglao, former press secretary and a former communist incarcerated during the martial law,^[30] countered by arguing that the liberal and communist parties provoked martial law imposition.^[31]

Martial law was ratified by 90.77% of the voters during the Philippine Martial Law referendum, 1973 though the referendum was marred with controversy. Primitivo Mijares, author of the book Conjugal dictatorship,^[32] alleged that there could not have been any valid referendum held from January 10 to 15, 1973 as the 35,000 citizen's assemblies never met and that voting was by show of hands.^[33][34]

Under martial law the regime was able to reduce violent urban crime, collect unregistered firearms, and suppress communist insurgency in some areas;^[35] however, it but became unpopular as excesses and human rights abuses inflicted by the military on leftist activists, communist, and others rebels emerged. Liliosa Hilao was the first murder victim under Martial Law.^[36] There were over 70,000 filed cases of human rights abuses today from this period. Torture methods employed by the army on their victims were extremely inhumane, which included beating, rape, electrocution, animal treatment, and mutilation among others. Many private establishments particularly media companies critical of the government were closed, and the arrest of activists were made through the Philippine Constabulary; many of the abuses were attributed to the latter, which was then headed by future president Fidel Ramos.^[37] In total, there were 3,257 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 individual tortures, and 70,000 were incarcerated. Of the 3,257 killed, some 2,520, or 77 percent of all victims, were salvaged—that is, tortured, mutilated, and dumped on a roadside for public display. It is also reported that 737 Filipinos disappeared between 1975 and 1985.^[38] The Civilian Home Defense Force, a precursor of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), was organized by President Marcos to battle with the communist and islamic insurgency problem, has particularly been accused of notoriously inflicting human right violations on leftists, the NPA, Muslim insurgents, and rebels against the Marcos government.^[39]

After martial law was declared, critics of the government were arrested, led by then Senators Benigno Aquino Jr. and Ramon Diokno, and Manila journalists—Manila Times publisher Chino Roces and columnist, Max Soliven; Manila Chronicle publisher Eugenio Lopez Jr. and his editor Amando Doronila; Philippines Free publisher-editor Teddy Boy Locsin and his staff writer, Napoleon Rama; and Press Foundation of Asia joint executive Juan L. Mercado.^[40] Many of those who were arrested were later freed without charges, but Benigno Aquino Jr. was charged and convicted guilty along with his two co-accused, NPA leaders Bernabe Buscayno (Commander Dante) and Lt. Victor Corpuz, guilty for illegal possession of fire arms, subversion, and murder, and was sentenced them to death by firing squad by a Military Court. The death sentence was never carried out by the Marcos government.^[41]

There was some controversy whether the ambush on Enrile used as one of the justifications^[42] to declare Martial Law was staged. However, Enrile himself denied that it was staged in his memoir and defended the declaration of martial law:^[43]

One of Marcos’ top technocrats, the University of the Philippines economics professor and former NEDA Director-General Dr. Gerardo Sicat,^[44] an MIT Ph.D. graduate, portrayed some of Martial Law's effects on his biographical book, "Cesar Virata: Life and Times Through Four Decades of Philippine Economic History", as follows:^[45]

“Economic reforms suddenly became possible under martial law. The powerful opponents of reform were silenced and the organized opposition was also quilted. In the past, it took enormous wrangling and preliminary stage-managing of political forces before a piece of economic reform legislation could even pass through Congress. Now it was possible to have the needed changes undertaken through presidential decree. Marcos wanted to deliver major changes in an economic policy that the government had tried to propose earlier.”

The enormous shift in the mood of the nation showed from within the government after martial law was imposed. The testimonies of officials of private chambers of commerce and of private businessmen dictated enormous support for what was happening. At least, the objectives of the development were now being achieved…”^[46]

However, there are those who criticize Sicat and his book as it allegedly pretends to be an academic work by listing 25 academic-journal articles in its bibliography. The Manila Times author Rigoberto Tiglao asserts that,

“However, 14 of these are by Sicat himself, and he obviously either rejects or is unaware of the numerous academic writings on Marcos history, especially those written by his colleagues at the School of Economics that contradict his assertions.”^[46]

According to The World Bank, the Philippine's GDP quadrupled from $8 billion in 1972 to $32.45 billion in 1980.^[47] Indeed, according to the U.S. based Heritage Foundation, the Philippines enjoyed its best economic development since 1945 between 1972 and 1979. Nevertheless, despite growth in the country’s gross national product, workers’ real income dropped because of inflation brought about by high oil prices, few farmers benefited from land reform, and the sugar industry was in confusion particularly when global sugar prices fell.^[48] The economy grew amidst very high inflation levels as a result of two severe global oil shocks following the 1973 oil crisis and 1979 energy crisis - oil price was $3 / barrel in 1973 and $39.5 in 1979, or a growth of 1200%. According to the US National Bureau of Economic Research, by the end of 1979, debt was manageable, with debt to Debt-GNP ratio about the same as South Korea. The US National Bureau of Economic Research also adds that low wage costs were the primary engine behind the rapid expansion of manufactured exports during the 1970s. At the same time the failure of real wages to increase (largely because of inflation driven by high oil prices) and the sluggish growth of manufacturing employment were reflected in increasing income inequality and absolute poverty in the Philippines and high recorded rates of economic growth did not translate into improvements in the lot of the Filipino masses.^[49] By late 1970's to 1980, a perfect storm of extremely high global interest rates,^[50] global economic recession, and high oil price began to emerge, hitting all indebted countries in Latin America, Europe, and the Philippines was not exempted.^[51][52] A paper presented to the Philippine Central Bank argued that a weak manufacturing sector was caused in part by the record levels of interest rates by the Central Bank governor Jose B Fernandez, who (could have little choice, as some would argue) followed U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to fight inflation following record oil prices resulting from the Iran-Iraq War and to prevent capital from moving out. This resulted into a strong peso and high debt-service cost that penalized the manufacturing sector. Some economists argued that deliberately weakening the peso, while boosting already a very high inflation driven by high oil prices, would have made the manufacturing sector stronger.^[53] After a period of economic growth and notwithstanding the global economic weakness, very high global interest rates,^[54] and record oil prices towards the end of the martial law period,^[55][52] the Philippine GDP reached US$32.45 billion and debt stood at US$17.2 billion by the end 1980. Despite criticisms of growth not benefiting the masses, GDP on a per capita basis more than tripled from $211.4 in 1972 to $684.7 in 1980.^[56][57][58]

The government subsequently captured NPA leaders Bernabe Buscayno in 1976 and Jose Maria Sison in 1977.^[59] The Washington Post in an interview with former Philippine Communist Party Officials, revealed that, "they (local communist party officials) wound up languishing in China for 10 years as unwilling "guests" of the (Chinese) government, feuding bitterly among themselves and with the party leadership in the Philippines".^[60][61]

Martial law was lifted by President Marcos on January 17, 1981.^[62]

See also

• Proclamation № 1081
• Philippine Martial Law referendum, 1973

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Martial law in the Philippines.

References

• Agoncillo, Teodoro C. (1990) [1960], History of the Filipino People (8th ed.), Quezon City: Garotech Publishing, ISBN 971-8711-06-6 .
• Guevara, Sulpico, ed. (2005), The laws of the first Philippine Republic (the laws of Malolos) 1898–1899, Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Library (published 1972), retrieved 2008-03-26 . (English translation by Sulpicio Guevara)
• Kalaw, Maximo Manguiat (1927), The Development of Philippine Politics, Oriental commercial .
• Salazar, Zeus (1994), Agosto 29-30, 1896: ang pagsalakay ni Bonifacio sa Maynila, Quezon City: Miranda Bookstore .
• Titherington, Richard Handfield (1900), A history of the Spanish-American war of 1898, D. Appleton and Company . (republished by openlibrary.org)
• Zaide, Sonia M. (1999), The Philippines: a unique nation, All-Nations Publishing, ISBN 978-971-642-071-5 .

External links

• Proclamation No. 1081
• Proclamation No. 1959