An integral part of contextually analyzing the declaration of Martial Law during

the reign of Marcos is to assess the situation that lead to the culmination of it in the first
place. Was it a carefully planned scheme or was it truly necessary during that time?

Former President Ferdinand Marcos governed the Philippines for 21 years. He

was the longest person to remain in the presidential seat in the country (Official Gazette ,
n.d). In 1965, he was elected as the 10th President of the Philippines and once again won
the title in 1969 (Official Gazette, n.d). On May 17, 1969 , Marcos’ had hinted about
declaring Martial Law during his closing remarks at the dinner program of the Philippine
Military Academy Alumni Association. He had stated that one of his favorite mental
exercises is to foresee possible problems so he can prepare measures how to properly
address it. He used the declaration of martial law in Malaysia as a good example to
respond to a national threat (Official Gazette, n.d). Furthermore, according to Juan Ponce
Enrile’s memoir, in December 1969, Marcos ordered him to discreetly study about the
extent of his command as President under martial law (Enrile, 2012). On the same year,
Marcos assigned former Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor and Jose Almonte to
understand how martial law was declared in other countries and its consequences. The
conclusion of their report was Martial Law would cause great disparity ,and thus,
destroying the nation. There will be no more division of powers for all of it would fall in
his hands (Almonte & Vitug, 2015).

In 1970, Enrile was instructed to prepare the legal documents in declaring Martial
Law in the Philippines (Enrile, 2012). Then on January 27th, 28th, and 30th of 1971,
Marcos had stated in his diary entries that he had met up with business leaders,
intellectuals from University of the Philippines and the military to strategize plans that
are vital in the implementation (Official Gazette, n.d). Lastly, on May 8, 1972, Marcos
and the military listed all the personalities he wanted arrested and finalized with Enrile
the legal paper works (Official Gazette, n.d). On August 1. 1972, dates for the declaration
of Martial Law was being decided (Official Gazette, n.d). September 13, 1972 Senator
Benigno S. Aquino Jr. opened about the “Oplan Sagittarius” in his privilege speech
warning the masses that Marcos is planning to turn the country into a “Garrison State”
(Official Gazette, n.d). He was arrested at midnight on September 22, 1972 a day after his
privilege speech of which will be his last chance (Official Gazette, n.d). Along with him
were 100 personalities, whom are known critics of Marcos were detained in Camp Crame
(Official Gazette, n.d).
At 8 in the evening on the same day of Ninoy’s arrest, Enrile was ambushed at
Wack Wack village. According to him, they were on their way to Camp Aguinaldo when
someone had opened fire in his car and hurriedly left. Enrile disclosed this experience to
Marcos and the president saw that the event was crucial in justifying the declaration of
Martial Law (Official Gazette, n.d). However, there are contrasting accounts that blurs
the said facts of Enrile. Oscar Lopez, who lives in the Notre Dame Street, Wack Wack
village heard ringing gunshots (Rodrigo, 2007). He went out of his home and saw a lone
car riddled with bullets. (Rodrigo, 2007). Lopez’s driver who saw the whole thing
narrated that there were two cars that came and stopped beside a Meralco post. Several
people came out and started shooting simultaneously at the car (Rodrigo, 2007). The
ambush peaked the curiosity of Vergel Santos who questioned the elements of the
incident. Santos inquired why the ambush happened conveniently near the home of
Enrile’s sister, Irma and her husband Dr. Victor Potenciano and even received the official
story from them (Santos, 2010). Primitivo Mijares, a former journalist for Marcos
exposed that the ambush was staged to aid the implementation of Martial Law (Official
Gazette, n.d). He would later disappear without a trace in 1973 (Official Gazette, n.d).

After 14 years of controversy, Enrile finally confessed to the Philippine Daily

Inquirer on February 23, 1986 that his ambush was indeed fake and was utilized for the
declaration of Martial Law (Official Gazette, n.d). However, he later refuted his claim in
his book entitled “Juan Ponce Enrile: A Memoir”stating that he was truly ambushed. He
opposed many criticisms about him saying that there wouldn’t be any need to fake the
ambush when Martial Law was already signed before it even happened (Inquirer
Research, 2012). He also exclaimed that there is no proof that he had actually said it
(GMA News, 2012). Nevertheless, there are existing newspapers and magazines that had
documented his earlier statement. The headline of Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper
issue dated February 23, 1986 was “Enrile, Ramos lead ‘revolt’ against FM” with a
drophead “1972 ambush fake- Enrile” (Inquirer Research, 2012 ; Bueza, 2018). “The
Age” an Australian newspaper also has a record of the appalling claim of Enrile in their
February 24, 1986 issue (Bueza, 2018). In the 32nd page of a magazine called
“Asiaweek” it is written that Enrile revealed for the first time that his ambush was just a
set-up for the implementation of Martial Law (Robles, 2012). Finally, the Official
Gazette has already published a statement stating that Enrile did confess about the event
being untrue in 1986.
It can be observed that since the beginning, Marcos had undoubtedly wanted to
put the country under the control of the military and centralize all the powers of
government to him and in extension, to his cronies. It is factual that the Communists
group was growing in the Philippines (Gleeck, n.d) but Marcos and the military
overhyped the threat to rationalize their desire for the implementation of Martial Law (
Kessler, 1989 ; Asia Report, 2011). The peace and order that Marcos wants to protect
according to his speech was nothing but a fantasy. It was never peaceful during his reign
people were against his way of ruling. He was the first Philippine President to win an
election with massive hatred towards him. (Jones , 1989)