President José P. Laurel of the Second Philippine Republic placed the Philippines under martial law in 1944 by Proclamation No. 29 of September 21. Martial law came into effect on September 22, 1944. The next day, Proclamation No. 30 was issued, declaring the existence of a state of war between the Philippines and the United States and Britain. It entered into force on 23 September 1944. Under martial law, the regime was able to reduce violent urban crime, collect unregistered firearms, and suppress communist uprisings in some areas. At the same time, a number of important new concessions were made to foreign investors, including a ban on strikes by organized workers and a land reform program. In January 1973, Marcos announced the ratification of a new constitution based on the parliamentary system, with himself as president and prime minister.
However, it did not convene the transitional legislation requested in that document. In September 1972, Marcos declared martial law, claiming it was the last defense against growing disorder caused by increasingly violent student protests, alleged threats of a communist uprising by the new Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Muslim separatist movement Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). One of his first acts was the arrest of opposition politicians in Congress and the Constitutional Convention. The initial public reaction to martial law was overwhelmingly positive, except in the southern Muslim areas, where a separatist rebellion led by the MNLF broke out in 1973. Despite half-hearted attempts to broker a ceasefire, the rebellion continued to claim thousands of military and civilian casualties. The communist uprising spread with the formation of the National Democratic Front (NDF), an organization that included the CPP and other communist groups. As Ferdinand Marcos Jr. prepares to take office, what`s in store for the Philippines? Given the negative effects that martial law can have on a country and its citizens, the imposition of martial law is a last resort, reserved for situations in which law and order deteriorate rapidly. For example, the governor of Idaho declared martial law in 1892 after a group of rebellious miners blew up a mill, razing a four-story building and killing several people. The imposition of martial law has been criticized as a planned precursor to the extension of Marcos` term, which is limited to two terms of four years each or a maximum of eight years under the 1935 constitution. [60] Rigoberto Tiglao, a former press officer and former communist imprisoned during martial law,[61] countered that the liberal and communist parties had provoked the imposition of martial law. [62] With Marcos Jr.
becoming president in June 2022, many questions remain unanswered. Will it give Filipinos a better life and unite a polarized country? Can it allay growing fears of a return to dictatorship and guarantee the protection of human rights and the primacy of democracy? Will he ensure that the country`s sovereignty and national interests are not compromised by concerns over Chinese aggression? Can he restore confidence and assure the country`s external partners, particularly the United States and Japan, of the Philippines` commitment to a rules-based international order? With many more questions, time will tell if Marcos Jr. will rise to the occasion. The civilian government and the civilian judicial authorities will continue to act in all matters that are part of their remit and do not concern public order, and this last case on all that the military allows them to allow or delegate to them, each demanding to give to the other any news that comes to its attention. When he declared martial law in 1972, Marcos claimed he had done so in response to the “communist threat” posed by the newly formed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the sectarian “rebellion” of the Movement for the Independence of Mindanao (MIM). Opposition figures such as Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Diokno and Jovito Salonga accused Marcos of exaggerating these threats, using them as a convenient excuse to consolidate power and extend his rule beyond the president`s two terms allowed by the 1935 constitution. Did I stage and simulate my ambush to justify the imposition of martial law? I said, “No! I didn`t do it! I didn`t need to do that to justify the imposition of martial law. No other facts were necessary to justify the imposition of martial law.
Proclamation No. 1081[84] of September 21, 1972 reproduced all the facts that President Marcos needed and used to justify the imposition of martial law in the country.