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Philippines - Martial law

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In September 1972 Marcos declared martial law, claiming that it

was the last defense against the rising disorder caused by
increasingly violent student demonstrations, the alleged threats of
communist insurgency by the new Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP), and the Muslim separatist movement of the
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). One of his first actions was
to arrest opposition politicians in Congress and the Constitutional
Convention. Initial public reaction to martial law was mostly
favourable except in Muslim areas of the south, where a separatist
rebellion, led by the MNLF, broke out in 1973. Despite halfhearted
attempts to negotiate a cease-fire, the rebellion continued to claim
thousands of military and civilian casualties. Communist insurgency
expanded with the creation of the National Democratic Front (NDF),
an organization embracing the CPP and other communist groups.

Ferdinand E. Marcos, 1972.Slim Aarons/Getty Images

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Under martial law the regime was able to reduce violent urban
crime, collect unregistered firearms, and suppress communist
insurgency in some areas. At the same time, a series of important
new concessions were given to foreign investors, including a
prohibition on strikes by organized labour, and a land-reform
program was launched. In January 1973 Marcos proclaimed the
ratification of a new constitution based on the parliamentary
system, with himself as both president and prime minister. He did
not, however, convene the interim legislature that was called for in
that document.

General disillusionment with martial law and with the consolidation

of political and economic control by Marcos, his family, and close
associates grew during the 1970s. Despite growth in the country’s
gross national product, workers’ real income dropped, few farmers
benefited from land reform, and the sugar industry was in
confusion. The precipitous drop in sugar prices in the early 1980s
coupled with lower prices and less demand for coconuts and
coconut products—traditionally the most important export
commodity—added to the country’s economic woes; the
government was forced to borrow large sums from the international
banking community. Also troubling to the regime, reports of
widespread corruption began to surface with increasing frequency.

Elections for an interim National Assembly were finally held in

1978. The opposition—of which the primary group was led by the
jailed former senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr.—produced such a bold
and popular campaign that the official results, which gave Marcos’s
opposition virtually no seats, were widely believed to have been
illegally altered. In 1980 Aquino was allowed to go into exile in the
United States, and the following year, after announcing the
suspension of martial law, Marcos won a virtually uncontested
election for a new six-year term.

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Ferdinand Marcos waving, 1983.A1C Virgil C. Zurbruegg//U.S.

Department of Defense

The downfall of Marcos and return of democratic

government

The assassination of Benigno Aquino as he returned to Manila in

August 1983 was generally thought to have been the work of the
military; it became the focal point of a renewed and more heavily
supported opposition to Marcos’s rule. By late 1985 Marcos, under
mounting pressure both inside and outside the Philippines, called a
snap presidential election for February 1986. Corazon C. Aquino,
Benigno’s widow, became the candidate of a coalition of opposition
parties. Marcos was declared the official winner, but strong public
outcry over the election results precipitated a revolt that by the end
of the month had driven Marcos from power. Aquino then assumed
the presidency.

Corazon AquinoCorazon Aquino (right), 1986.Gerald B.

Johnson/U.S. Department of Defense

Aquino’s great personal popularity and widespread international

support were instrumental in establishing the new government.

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Shortly after taking office, she abolished the constitution of 1973

and began ruling by decree. A new constitution was drafted and
was ratified in February 1987 in a general referendum; legislative
elections in May 1987 and the convening of a new bicameral
congress in July marked the return of the form of government that
had been present before the imposition of martial law in 1972.

Euphoria over the ouster of Marcos proved to be short-lived,

however. The new government had inherited an enormous external
debt, a severely depleted economy, and a growing threat from Moro
and communist insurgents. The Aquino administration also had to
weather considerable internal dissension, repeated coup attempts,
and such natural disasters as a major earthquake and the 1991
eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The resumption of active partisan
politics, moreover, was the beginning of the end of the coalition that
had brought Aquino to power. Pro-Aquino candidates had won a
sweeping victory in the 1987 legislative elections, but there was
less support for her among those elected to provincial and local
offices in early 1988. By the early 1990s the criticisms against her
administration—i.e., charges of weak leadership, corruption, and
human rights abuses—had begun to stick.

Clark Air BaseBuildings and vegetation at Clark Air Base,

Philippines, destroyed by a thick, wet layer of ash following the
gigantic explosion of Mount Pinatubo on June 15, 1991.Willie
Scott/U.S. Geological Survey

Gregorio C. Borlaza

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