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(Leson 7) Fourth Philippine Republic (1981–1986)

PRESIDENT FERDINAND MARCOS

First term

In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos won the presidential election and became the


10th President of the Philippines. His first term was marked with increased
industrialization and the creation of solid infrastructures nationwide, such as the North
Luzon Expressway and the Maharlika Highway. Marcos did this by appointing a cabinet
composed mostly of technocrats and intellectuals, by increasing funding to the Armed
Forces and mobilizing them to help in construction. Marcos also established schools
and learning institutions nationwide, more than the combined total of those
established by his predecessors.

In 1968, Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. warned that Marcos was on the road to


establishing "a garrison state" by "ballooning the armed forces budget", saddling the
defense establishment with "overstaying generals" and "militarizing our civilian
government offices". These were prescient comments in the light of events that would
happen in the following decade. Marcos also sent 10,450 Filipino soldiers to Vietnam
during his term, under the PHILCAG (Philippine Civic Action Group). Fidel Ramos, who
was later to become the 12th President of the Philippines in 1992, was a part of this
expeditionary force.
Second term

In 1969, Marcos ran for a second term (allowable under the 1935 constitution then in
effect, and won against 11 other candidates. Marcos' second term was marked by
economic turmoil brought about by factors both external and internal, a restless
student body who demanded educational reforms, a rising crime rate, and a growing
Communist insurgency, among other things. At one point, student activists took over
the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines and declared it a free
commune, which lasted for a while before the government dissolved it. Violent
protesting continued over the next few years until the declaration of martial law in
1972. The event was popularly known as the First Quarter Storm.

During the First Quarter Storm in 1970, the line between leftist activists and
communists became increasingly blurred, as a significant number of Kabataang
Makabayan ('KM') advanced activists joined the party of the Communist Party also
founded by Jose Maria Sison. KM members protested in front of Congress, throwing a
coffin, a stuffed alligator, and stones at Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos after his State of
the Nation Address. On the presidential palace, activists rammed the gate with a fire
truck and once the gate broke and gave way, the activists charged into the Palace
grounds tossing rocks, pillboxes and Molotov cocktails. In front of the US embassy,
protesters vandalized, burned, and damaged the embassy lobby resulting in a strong
protest from the U.S. Ambassador. The KM protests ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 in
number per weekly mass action. In the aftermath of the January 1970 riots, at least two
activists were confirmed dead and several were injured by the police. The mayor of
Manila at the time, Antonio Villegas, commended the Manila Police District for their
"exemplary behavior and courage" and protecting the First Couple long after they have
left. The death of the activists was seized by the Lopez controlled Manila Times and
Manila Chronicle, blaming Marcos and added fire to the weekly protests. Students
declared a week-long boycott of classes and instead met to organize protest rallies.

Rumors of a coup d'état were also brewing. A report of the U.S. Senate Foreign
Relations Committee said that shortly after the 1969 Philippine presidential election, a
group composed mostly of retired colonels and generals organized a revolutionary
junta to first discredit President Marcos and then kill him. As described in a document
given to the committee by Philippine Government official, key figures in the plot were
Vice President Fernando Lopez and Sergio Osmena Jr., whom Marcos defeated in the
1969 election. Marcos even went to the U.S. embassy to dispel rumors that the U.S.
embassy is supporting a coup d'état which the opposition liberal party was
spreading. While the report obtained by the NY Times speculated saying that story
could be used by Marcos to justify Martial Law, as early as December 1969 in a
message from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, the U.S.
Ambassador said that most of the talk about revolution and even assassination has
been coming from the defeated opposition, of which Adevoso (of the Liberal Party) is a
leading activist. He also said that the information he has on the assassination plans are
'hard' or well-sourced and he has to make sure that it reached President Marcos.

In light of the crisis, Marcos wrote an entry in his diary in January 1970: "I have several
options. One of them is to abort the subversive plan now by the sudden arrest of the
plotters. But this would not be accepted by the people. Nor could we get the Huks
(Communists), their legal cadres and support. Nor the MIM (Maoist International
Movement) and other subversive [organizations, nor those underground. We could
allow the situation to develop naturally then after massive terrorism, wanton killings
and an attempt at my assassination and a coup d’etat, then declare martial law or
suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus – and arrest all including the legal
cadres. Right now I am inclined towards the latter

Plaza Miranda bombing

On August 21, 1971, the Liberal Party held a campaign rally at the Plaza Miranda to


proclaim their Senatorial bets and their candidate for the Mayoralty of Manila. Two
grenades were reportedly tossed on stage, injuring almost everybody present. As a
result, Marcos suspended the writ of habeas corpus to arrest those behind the attack.
He rounded up a list of supposed suspects, Escabas, and other undesirables to
eliminate rivals in the Liberal Party.

Marcos accused the communist movement as the perpetrators of the bombing, and
responded by suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Declassified documents from the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency also implicate Marcos in at least one of the deadly
series of bombings in 1971.
Martial law (1972–1981)

On September 23, 1972, then-Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile was ambushed while


en route home. This assassination attempt together with the general citizen disquiet,
were used by Marcos as reasons to issue Presidential Proclamation No. 1081,
proclaiming a state of martial law in the Philippines on September 21. The
assassination attempt was widely believed to have been staged; Enrile himself admitted
to the assassination attempt to have been staged but he would later retract his claim.
Rigoberto Tiglao, former press secretary and a former communist incarcerated during
the martial law, argued that the liberal and communist parties provoked martial law
imposition. Enrile said that "The most significant event that made President Marcos
decide to declare martial law was the MV Karagatan incident on July 1972. It was the
turning point. The MV Karagatan involved the infiltration of high powered rifles,
ammunition, 40-millimeter rocket launchers, rocket projectiles, communications
equipment, and other assorted war materials by the CPP-NPA-NDF on the Pacific side
of Isabela in Cagayan Valley." The weapons were shipped from Communist China which
at that time was exporting the communist revolution and supported the NPA's goal to
overthrow the government.

Marcos, who thereafter ruled by decree, curtailed press freedom and other civil
liberties, abolished Congress, controlled media establishments, and ordered the arrest
of opposition leaders and militant activists, including his staunchest critics
Senators Benigno Aquino Jr. and Jose W. Diokno, virtually turning the Philippines into
a totalitarian dictatorship with Marcos as its Supreme Leader. Initially, the declaration
of martial law was well received, given the social turmoil of the period. Crime rates
decreased significantly after a curfew was implemented. Political opponents were
allowed to go into exile. As martial law went on for the next nine years, the excesses
committed by the military increased. In total, there were 3,257 extrajudicial killings,
35,000 individual tortures, and 70,000 were incarcerated. It is also reported that 737
Filipinos disappeared between 1975 and 1985.

Though it was claimed that Martial law was no military take-over of the government,
the immediate reaction of some sectors of the nation was of astonishment and dismay,
for even though it was claimed that the gravity of the disorder, lawlessness, social
injustice, youth and student activism, and other disturbing movements had reached a
point of peril, they felt that martial law over the whole country was not yet warranted.
Worse, political motivations were ascribed to be behind the proclamation, since the
then constitutionally non-extendable term of President Marcos was about to expire.
This suspicion became more credible when opposition leaders and outspoken anti-
government media people were immediately placed under indefinite detention in
military camps and other unusual restrictions were imposed on travel, communication,
freedom of speech and the press, etc. In a word, the martial law regime was anathema
to no small portion of the populace.

It was in the light of the above circumstances and as a means of solving the dilemma
aforementioned that the concept embodied in Amendment No. 6 was born in the
Constitution of 1973. In brief, the central idea that emerged was that martial law might
be earlier lifted, but to safeguard the Philippines and its people against any abrupt
dangerous situation which would warrant the some exercise of totalitarian powers, the
latter must be constitutionally allowed, thereby eliminating the need to proclaim
martial law and its concomitants, principally the assertion by the military of
prerogatives that made them appear superior to the civilian authorities below the
President. In other words, the problem was what may be needed for national survival or
the restoration of normalcy in the face of a crisis or an emergency should be reconciled
with the popular mentality and attitude of the people against martial law.

The reassuring words for the skeptic came on the occasion of the University of the
Philippines law alumni reunion on December 12, 1980 when the President declared:
"We must erase once and for all from the public mind any doubts as to our resolve to
bring martial law to an end and to minister to an orderly transition to parliamentary
government." The apparent forthright irrevocable commitment was cast at the 45th
anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines on December 22, 1980
when the President proclaimed: "A few days ago, following extensive consultations with
a broad representation of various sectors of the nation and in keeping with the pledge
made a year ago during the seventh anniversary of the New Society, I came to the firm
decision that martial law should be lifted before the end of January, 1981, and that
only in a few areas where grave problems of public order and national security
continue to exist will martial law continue to remain in force.
After the lifting of martial law, power remained concentrated with Marcos. One scholar
noted how Marcos retained "all martial law decrees, orders, and law-making powers,"
including powers that allowed him to jail political opponents.

Human rights abuses

The martial law era under Marcos was marked by plunder, repression, torture, and
atrocity. As many as 3,257 were murdered, 35,000 tortured, and 70,000 illegally
detained according to estimates by historian Alfred McCoy. One journalist described
the Ferdinand Marcos administration as "a grisly one-stop shop for human rights
abuses, a system that swiftly turned citizens into victims by dispensing with
inconvenient requirements such as constitutional protections, basic rights, due
process, and evidence."

The Fourth Republic (1981–1986)

The opposition boycotted the June 16, 1981 presidential election, which pitted Marcos


and his Kilusang Bagong Lipunan party against retired Gen. Alejo Santos of
the Nacionalista Party. Marcos won by a margin of over 16 million votes, which
constitutionally allowed him to have another six-year term. Finance Minister Cesar
Virata was elected as Prime Minister by the Batasang Pambansa.

In 1983, opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. was assassinated at Manila


International Airport upon his return to the Philippines after a long period of exile in
the United States. This coalesced popular dissatisfaction with Marcos and began a
series of events, including pressure from the United States, that culminated in a snap
presidential election on February 7, 1986. The opposition united under Aquino's
widow, Corazon Aquino, and Salvador Laurel, head of the United Nationalists
Democratic Organizations (UNIDO). The election was marred by widespread reports of
violence and tampering with results by both sides.

The official election canvasser, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), declared


Marcos the winner, despite a walk-out staged by disenfranchised computer technicians
on February 9. According to the COMELEC's final tally, Marcos won with 10,807,197
votes to Aquino's 9,291,761 votes. By contrast, the partial 70% tally of NAMFREL, an
accredited poll watcher, said Aquino won with 7,835,070 votes to Marcos's 7,053,068.

End of the Marcos regime

The fraudulent result was not accepted by Aquino and her supporters.
International observers, including a U.S. delegation led by Senator Richard Lugar,
denounced the official results. General Fidel Ramos and Defense Minister Juan Ponce
Enrile then withdrew their support for the government, defecting and barricading
themselves within Camp Crame. This resulted in that peaceful 1986 EDSA
Revolution that forced Marcos into exile in Hawaii while Corazon Aquino became the
11th President of the Philippines on February 25, 1986. Under Aquino, the Philippines
would adopt a new constitution, ending the Fourth Republic and ushering in the
beginning of the Fifth Republic.

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