Chapter 9:

MARTIAL LAW
AS AN INSTRUMENT:
FILIPINO STYLE

Martial Law as an Instrument for

Economic Development

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

• Emperor Adrian of the Roman
Empire, without any pretense,
arrogated unto himself all the
legislative powers that were being
exercised by the Roman Senate.

• From that time on, “the public and

private jurisprudence was moulded by
the will of the sovereign”.
In 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos imitated what
Emperor Adrian did in the old Roman Empire:

 He assumed all legislative power vested in the

Congress of the Philippines
 He did this under a fig leaf of legality:
MARTIAL LAW
 As a chief martial law administrator, he
moulded public and private law as the will of
the commander-in-chief.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed
under CC BY-SA
Common law definition of martial law:(the traditional definition of martial law as developed by
the common law in America)

- Is a system of law obtaining in time of actual war or rebellion, and growing out of the exigencies
thereof, arbitrary in its character, and depending only on the will of the commander of an army,
which is administered in a place or district of hostile territory held in belligerent possession or
sometimes, in places occupied or pervaded by insurgents or mobs, and which suspends all
existing civil laws, as well as the civil authority and the ordinary administration of justice.

But martial law dates as far back as Roman Law.

According to Gibbon –
“Without any violation of the principles of the Constitution, the general of the Roman armies
might receive and exercise an authority almost despotic over the soldiers, the enemies and the
subjects of the republic. X x x x In his camp the general exercised an absolute power of life and
death; his jurisdiction was not confined by any favors of trial, or rules of proceeding, and the
execution of the sentence was immediate and without appeal.”
Marcos redefined the term and expanded its scope when he declared
martial law.

 He told the country that he declared martial law not only to save
the country from rebellion but also “to reform society” .
He covered all bases to assure that his declaration of martial law would not be struck
out by Congress or by the Supreme Court, to wit:

 Issued a General Order divesting the judiciary of jurisdiction over cases involving
the legality of any decree or order pursuant to the declaration of martial law;
 Convened a constitutional convention to craft a new constitution, he cajoled the
delegates to insert a provision legitimizing martial law;
 Organized “citizens’ assemblies” which purportedly met to ratify the draft
constitution;
 He issued a proclamation recognizing the “outright ratification” of the 1973
Constitution;
 Proclaimed the continuation of martial law to pave the groundwork for a new
society.

To the lawyers of that day, the imposition of martial law was the greatest apparent
trauma in Filipino legal history.
Obstacle in
Marcos’ vision
of
development:
The Regalian
Doctrine
 Constitutionalizing the Service
Contract
Concept of the “service contract”

A service contract is a contractual arrangement for engaging in the exploitation and

development of petroleum, mineral, energy, land and other natural resources
by which a government or its agency, or a private person granted a right or
privilege by the government authorizes the other party (service contractor) to
engage or participate in the exercise of such right or the enjoyment of the privilege,
in that the latter provides financial or technical resources, undertakes the
exploitation or production of a given resource, or directly manages the productive
enterprise, operations of the exploration and exploitation of the resources or the
disposition of marketing or resources. (LA BUGAL-B'LAAN TRIBAL ASSOCIATION,
INC., represented by its Chairman F'LONG MIGUEL M. LUMAYONG, et. al., vs. Victor
Ramos, Sec. (DENR), et. al., G.R. No. 127882, January 27, 2004)
Effects of service contract provision:
Lifted the floodgates to exploitation of natural resources of the
country by his businessmen cronies and by foreign corporations;
Gave him the necessary authority, in exercising the legislative
powers which he had assumed, to open up the natural resources for
foreign exploitation;
• Inserted as a qualifying provision to the Regalian doctrine in the 1973 Constitution
• Inserted a proviso that the legislature, in the national interest, may allow Filipino citizens to
enter into service contracts for financial, technical, management or other forms of assistance
with any foreign person or entity for the exploration, development, exploitation or utilization
of any of the natural resources.
• Marcos and his ministers were fixated with the “service contract” as a tool for economic
development, described it as a piece of “innovative legislation”
• A weapon to blunt what he called the “practices that ensured the dominance of multinational
corporations”
• One of the first acts – service contract in petroleum exploration

To attract foreign direct investments:

 The existing laws on investment was amended i.e., Investment Incentives Acts of
1968 and the Foreign Business Registration Act

 Launched an aggressive campaign to attract foreign capital into the mining, forest
and fisheries sectors
 Effects of the New Legislation
In the exploitation of natural resources, the efforts of the Marcos government initially paid off in
terms of foreign investments.

The Philippine Board of Investments registered the following increased:

Mining and mineral processing industries

 1973 - Php 37 million (new investments)
 1974 – the amount of foreign investments increased by 1,180%
- came up with a net domestic product of Php 32.38 billion compared with only
Php 20 billion ten years before/1964
- mining industry became one of the prime contributors to the country’s foreign
exchange earnings, exporting a total mineral value of US$1.19 billion in 1988
- employing 146,000 people in the mining and quarrying areas.
- top ten producers of gold, copper, nickel and chromites
Agro-based industries
 1974 – increased by 738% over that in 1970

Fishing Sectors

 1972 – Php70,526,887 export value of commercial fisheries

 1974 – Php130,483,404

Energy Sectors (gradually reduced the country’s dependence on

imported oil)
 1973 – 7.98% of the country’s total energy needs were locally
sourced from the exploitation
 1974 – 19.90% increased
 1975 – 20.41%
 1976 – 27.63%
 1985 – 45%
Upstream Oil Industry

Of the 36 service contracts signed – 24 were held by

foreign companies while the rest were joint ventures
of foreign companies with Filipino companies

Forestry Sectors
1973 – US$415.11 wood export went up
The Fall of Unconstitutional
Authoritarianism
1980 – economic machine began
to falter
Birth of crony capitalism

1981- announcement of lifting of

martial law
- Lifted the suspension of writ of
habeas corpus
- Won the election
- Diagnosed with lupus.
 1982 – speculations of his
serious conditions
- Power struggle began

1983 – Assasination of Benigno

Aquino

February 1986
peaceful revolution
 Emergence of
the Doctrine of Strict Liability
• “Polluter-pays” Principle

• Presidential Decrees issued:

P.D. No. 704 – pollution of waters was made a criminal
offense although with a minimal offense
P.D. No. 984, secs. 8 and 9 also known as “Pollution
Control Law” – imposed a strict liability for polluting air or
water
P.D. 979 “Marine Pollution Decree” – mandated strict
liability
P.D. 463 “The Mineral Lands Development Act” – also
adopted the strict liability regime with respect to dumping
or sludge or mine tailings.
• it shift the basis of liability in law from that based on fault to one
based on legally-imposed obligation.

• foundations of the present environmental laws

THANK YOU!!!