Marian Torralba

11 - Nakpil

BATAS MILITAR DOCUMENTARY POSITION PAPER

The documentary entitled “Batas Militar” tackles about the state of the Philippines during

Marcos’ regime in the government. Marcos was described as one of the most intelligent man

here in the Philippines. During his 20s when he was still in law school, he was involved in a

crime concerned with his father’s defeat against Julio Nalundasan in elections. He was then

proved guilty and sent to jail, but still continued to review inside the prison for his bar exam.

Despite his condition, he passed the exam and was hailed top-notcher. He also defended

himself in the Supreme Court without a lawyer, and because of this, President Laurel

commanded Marcos to be released because of his intelligence.

On January 2, 1966, Marcos was elected as the president of the Philippines. It is said

that a president is only allowed to serve the country for 2 terms. Marcos wasn’t allowed to run

for the presidential position at 1973. “Don’t you think 2 terms is enough for any man?”, said by

Marcos. Because of this, he constructed 2 plans for his power to remain in the government. The

first one is to make the government a parliamentary system, and the second one is to declare

Martial Law. Sen. Benigno Aquino was in opposition of Marcos’ regime. He stated that under

Marcos’ system, the country would turn into a “garrison state”. Marcos then created the “Oplan

Sagittarius”, a program to make the country under Martial Law. The Philippines at the time was

already under the parliamentary system. There was also support of the Rolex 12 included, in

which the 12 important people were given a Rolex watch for their aid to Marcos’ declaration of

Martial Law. Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the members of Rolex 12, got his car ambushed,

although it was all staged. He and Marcos planned this and wanted to make it look real. After

that day, on September 23, 1972, Marcos declared Martial Law in the Philippines.
 Nowadays, people still have different opinions and stands whether the events happened

during the Martial Law are beneficial to our country’s development or not. But for me, I stand for

the victims, including our country, of the harmful effects done by their government at the time.

Based on the documentary, it showed how the citizens of our country during that time suffered

under the system. It was indeed the start of a dark era. During Martial Law, the “Writ of Habeas

Corpus” was suspended. It gave the military officers the power to invade people’s homes

without them having to face the court. This proves how inhuman the system was, and knowing

that there were multiple deaths caused by this. Under Marcos regimen, there were 70,000

jailed, 44,000 tortured, and 3,240 killed. Indeed, there were various establishments built by

Marcos’ wife and former First Lady, Imelda Marcos that the people benefit from. It just irks me

how throughout the documentary, she kept telling us that the freedom of speech and human

rights of people was prominent and how our country benefits from undergoing Martial Law. One

of my rebuttals for this is Primitivo Mijare’s disappearance. Primitivo Mijares was the author of

the book entitled “Conjugal Dictatorship”. The book was about how Marcos ruled the

government unwisely and his affair with another woman. After the book was published, Primitivo

Mijares disappeared, and up until today, no one still knows where Mijares was. Around 2 weeks

later, his son, Boyet Mijares, was now found brutally tortured and dead. It was said that Boyet

received a phone call that his father was going to see him. After that, he now faced his

unreasonable death. Another one is the Plaza Miranda Bombing. The Liberal Party who was

against the Marcos’ regime was campaigning for the elections. Suddenly, the area was bombed

by someone unknown. During that time there were also some military officials who oppose the

government removed from their position. Some of the news companies were forced to shut

down, and only the only the ones owned by Marcos remained. At around 1970, people

protested because of price hike of gas and other resources, how the other foreign countries

control the Philippines’ economy, and the devaluation of Peso in the currency market. By 1980,

our country’s debt grew by 10 Billion Pesos. After Martial Law, we lost almost 20 years of
development. We missed the opportunity to become one of the “East Asian Miracle”. And now,

people still believed that Marcos still did a good job on “fixing” our country. When in fact, if he

would just give up his pride in taking power in the government, our country’s recent state would

be the same as Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc. How is this, the vicious happenings of that era

caused by Marcos, produces a good effect on the country?

As a student who never encountered this gruesome system, I should be more educated

and enlighten people of these happenings. Yes, it didn’t happen to us but we cannot deny the

fact that it DID happen. People of that time should be given justice. Let us prove to them that we

can fight for what is right. We cannot change the past, but we are given the opportunity to

change the future. We are given the right to stand for what we believe is true, and we must use

it wisely. We all wanted a clean and just system. One way to attain this is to elect good

politicians who deserve the position. And in that way, slowly our country will grow. Let us use

this piece of knowledge to prevent this history to happen again. In conclusion, we should

continue to rise and continue to fight for the betterment of our country.