Second term of Ferdinand Marcos (1969-1972)

In November 1969, President Marcos was reelected for an

unprecedented second term because of his impressive
performance or, as his critics claimed, because of massive vote-
buying and electoral frauds. He also defeated the Liberal ticket.
In winning in the election, Marcos achieved the political
distinction of being the very first president to be reelected.
The Rise of Student Activism and the Battle of
Mendiola
It began in January of 1970, when students welcomed Marcos
with demonstrations after his speech in the Congress. The
movement was led by the student leaders of the University of
the Philippines, echoing recent student demonstrations all
around the world before 1970. But then, the Moderate
demonstration turned into a radical one, led by the Kabataang
Makabayan founder Jose Maria Sison as well as the leader of
the New People's Army Bernabe "Kuya Dante" Buscayno.
Laborers also took part, protesting against graft and corruption
in the government, and the decline in the economy caused by
high oil prices and the overkill electoral victory of Marcos for
his second term. Some sources stated that the unrest is the
plan to overthrow the government through communist as well
as socialist support to the masses, as well as students and
workers who facilitated the battle.

The battle ended violently when the police used tear gas to
quell the demonstrators. The storm extended to Divisoria
district in Tondo, Manila. After the failed protest, some of the
surviving radical students, mostly from the University of the
Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and the
University of the East, became avowed Marxists, and took up
arms, engaging in guerrilla and urban warfare.
The Battle of Mendiola was one of the factors that led
President Ferdinand Marcos to declare Martial Law two years
later in 1972.
The Establishment of New People’s Army (NPA)
The New People's Army (NPA) (Filipino: Bagong Hukbong
Bayan) is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP). It was formed on March 29, 1969. The Maoist
NPA conducts its armed guerrilla struggle based on the
strategical line of protracted people's war.
The NPA forcefully extracts so called "revolutionary taxes" from
business owners in areas where it operates. The Communist
Party of the Philippines refers to the NPA as "the tax
enforcement agency of the people’s revolutionary
government".
The NPA is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by
the U.S. State Department and as a terrorist group by the EU
Common Foreign and Security Policy. The Government of the
Philippines, however, has delisted the NPA as a terrorist
organization in 2011 and has recently resumed preliminary
peace talks pending formal negotiations with the NPA's parent
political organization, the CPP.
Plaza Miranda Bombing
The Plaza Miranda bombing occurred during a political
campaign rally of the Liberal Party at Plaza Miranda in the
district of Quiapo, Manila in the Philippines on August 21, 1971.
It caused nine deaths and injured 95 others, including many
prominent Liberal Party politicians.

Suspicion of responsibility for the blast initially fell upon

incumbent President Ferdinand 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.

José María Sison continues to deny these claims, and the CPP
has never released any official confirmation of their culpability
in the incident.

Marcos, for his part, also blamed the communists. Citing a

communist plot to destabilize the government, he assumed
emergency powers and suspended the privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus — a prelude to declaring Martial Law.