Prelude to Martial Law (PDF)

Prelude to Martial Law Date Created @May 5, 2024 6:44 PM Sources: Abinales, Patricio, and Donna Amoroso — Marcos, 1965 — 1986 The Third Republic: What went wrong? What conditions allowed for the declaration of martial law in a newly established democracy? Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1972) Socio-Economic...

Prelude to Martial Law Date Created @May 5, 2024 6:44 PM Sources: Abinales, Patricio, and Donna Amoroso — Marcos, 1965 — 1986 The Third Republic: What went wrong? What conditions allowed for the declaration of martial law in a newly established democracy? Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1972) Socio-Economic Conditions Land was allocated for export crops at the expense of rice and other basic commodities The PH became a rice-importing country; The land tenure system continued to be oppressive to tenants and small farmers; The rural unemployed were pushed-off the land. So many of this came from farmers, but where will they go? To the cities Industry could not absorb the growing number of the unemployed; Remember, the PH is still a growing country with a growing economy Many of the farmers did not finish an education, so what kinds of jobs will they find? Construction working but it was not the most stable of jobs because it is contractual Employment was not enough to have a stable job so the farmers found themselves in slum areas Urban migrants found informal work and built informal settlements in Manila and its surrounding environs; Prelude to Martial Law 1 The youth, joined by farmers and laborers, continued to protest against American influence in education, politics, and economics The entry of a new wave of unskilled, unorganized labor into the market therefore brought wages down, and those workers contributed to the formation of a new urban proletarian underclass (Abinales and Amoroso 2017, 194) Marcos comes in and his campaign’s promise is “We shall make this nation, great again” Let’s take a few steps back Marcos before his presidency Marcos did not have the background like the other presidents, Osmena and Roxas were building their rapport even during the He fraudulently claimed to being a guerilla and a hero during the Japanese occupation and was given amnesty As a member of the Congress, Marcos drafted a law which required a license for the import of goods to the country. He then took control of the granting of these permits and enriched himself by charging $5,000 from every businessman who wanted to secure a permit His wealth allowed him to secure a beauty queen for a while, which helped boost his popularity More than love and romance, part of the political agenda was to differentiate himself from the other senators, Filipinos were very enamored by beauty queens Iginuhit ng Tadhana: Marcos biopic The point was to build the whole narrative was Marcos’ in power was a family destiny Prelude to Martial Law 2 Let the record show that For Every Tear a Victory, the book that won Ferdie the presidency of the PH, the book the two of you have always maintained no involvement with, will go down in history as the world’s most successful vanity publishing venture. — Leonard Saffir The book was forced to be written in NY and it contained Marcos’ history and narrative and his vision for the PH and was published just in time for the 1965 elections The general sentiment for Americans was that they liberated us, educated us, and gave us independence this lead to the boost in Marcos during the presidency 1965: Marcos wins the presidency A lot of what Marcos did were callbacks to what the presidents before him did Marcos then set out to do what Manuel Quezon had done a generation earlier — take advantage of public sentiment and the executive office to control Congress. The three instruments at his disposal were increased public spending, executive agencies staffed with “apolitical technocrats,” and use of the army to implement development programs (Abinales and Amoroso 2017) Programs Through Executive and Military Agencies Rural development and a “green revolution” opened the possibility for a return to rice self-sufficiency; Rural development meant the breaking of his campaign promise not to get involved in the Vietnam war — a battalion of military engineers was sent to South Vietnam on the side of the Americans 1967 Investment Incentives Act encouraged investors of foreign capital to participate in domestic industrial development and to use the country as a Prelude to Martial Law 3 base for export production; The economic plan of Marcos was not that different from Macapagal Marcos neutralized legislative opponents with the selective release of public funds and the exercise of his right to veto bills, particularly on government borrowing; Marcos controlled the legislative by holding the pork barrel funds against them Marcos revived the PIA and the PACD and filled these agencies with technocrats to pursue his development programs; These were already projects of Magsaysay and Macapagal He also deployed the AFP in development projects. Magsaysay did this as well A lot of the things that he did were not necessarily new but the point was that he wanted control over the executive The “Green Revolution” The different developmental projects were geared towards his campaign for his second term Many construction = many visible buildings or progress = many jobs for construction work Approaching 1969, rice was a major electoral issue; The “green revolution” led by the International Rice Institute promised to boost rice productivity through adoption of modern technologies (and “miracle seeds:) from international agribusinesses; This was funded by the USAID and in return we would support the US in the Vietnam war What happened here? We’re going to get more crops by investing in new technologies, fertilizer, pesticides, and miracle seeds (higher wielding seedlings) Prelude to Martial Law 4 This was also happening in the other ASEAN countries (Thailand and Vietnam) so US and Japan would develop technologies they would eventually sell in 3rd world countries Peasant populations were forced to adapt and invest on new technology; Small farmer credit program (Masagana 99); Resulted in increased rice productivity and rice exports (though inconsistent). Low during 1968-1969 because there was corruption within the rice industry and much of the money was diverted to elections spending 1969: Marcos wins 2nd term of office 1st term: A lot of construction projects, things were being built and people had jobs Charged… maximum use of Marcos of the power of his office through organized terrorism, massive vote-buying, and rampant fraud (Sergio Osmena Jr) - Resil Mojares, quote in Abinales and Amoroso, 2017 Reform or Radical Change? Things happened so fast and at present it felt like things were being developed, development was finally in front of me Economic growth was unsustainable and plunged the country into a debt crisis; Student protests in Manila campuses grew in frequency and intensity; Social activism spread in the Catholic Church; The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) renewed organizing for parliamentary struggle through the recruitment of students. The PKP, under the leadership of Jose Maria Sison (Kabataang Makabayan), was reestablished as the Communist Party of the Philippines Prelude to Martial Law 5 They wanted to actually start recruiting students but the older generation, those who were in the Huk, did not want to push for this The left started to divide Effects of the “Green Revolution” Rice productivity came at the expense of tenants and farmers who were pushed further indebtedness leading to landlessness; Many of the farmers could not pay it back to the point that farmers were being served warrants of arrest because they couldn’t pay their debt back Ultimately, the biggest beneficiaries were the rural elites (rice traders or middlemen) and the multinational business in farm technology The long term consequences of the different developmental projects Wielded no income to pay back that foreign debt When you have a government project, you do a bidding, and they would choose construction companies that were Marcos allies Marcos’s first term, developmentalist though it was, exhibited the self-serving corruption of his predecessors. Increased government involvement in agriculture led to overpriced rice in times of shortage, and in the infrastructure program, officials took kickbacks from construction companies owned by Marcos’ supporters, who built roads with inferior materials (Abinales and Amoroso 2017) First Quarter Storm (From January 1970) A series of protests led by students grew more violent and intense Students would be throwing stones at effigies of the president and the first lady The general were shocked at this but they were more shocked at… The president ordered police to kill the students or to retaliate in turn Prelude to Martial Law 6 Edgar Jopson: Atenean student leader Wanted Marcos to sign that he and any family member would not return to congress 1979, Jopson was arrested and 1982, he was shot Political Enemies Discarded Marcos allies, notably the Lopez and Laurel families, announced their sympathy for the revolution; They opened their media outlets to student radicals and became avenues to expose Marcos’ corruption; Television stations and newspapers featured demonstrations portraying Marcos as a US puppet This can be seen as Americans as well Marcos developed his own enemies Whatever was happening outside on the streets, it was also being replicated in institutional battles in Congress The Congress was trying to stop any Marcos to run again in office The constitutional battle inside comes together the plaza miranda bombing The intensification of political battles outside the state was paralleled by escalating institutional combat within. Congress had authorized a constitutional convention to update the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution, and the directly elected delegates included activists who sought to reshape the exercise of power. Anti-Marcos delegates also planned to prevent him (or any immediate family member) from seeking another term. (Abinales and Amoroso 2017, 202) Plaza Miranda Bombing (August 21, 1971) People started throwing bombs on stage Prelude to Martial Law 7 Enrile in September 22, 1972 claims that he was ambushed in his car and this became the rationale of declaring Martial Law In 1986, during the coup de tat, he admitted that he staged this ambush because they needed a cover story to start the Martial Law Conjugal Dictatorship: Admitted that a lot of times, they would be ordered to fabricate stories or exaggerate what happens in the protests In 2018, he then retracted his statement again as he was in campaign for senator, his interviewer this time was BBM Declaration of Martial Law (September 23, 1972) “All my enemies are working together and they are trying to oust me” He was not wrong but many of the stories were fake or misinformed Newspapers said that this was only a civilian measure The public then just accepted it because they would agree that the security situation of the country was terrible Prelude to Martial Law 8