The Martial Law Period

Excerpt from Proclamation 1081 titled “Proclaiming a State of Martial Law in the
Philippines” issued on September 21, 1972

The series of protests during the First Quarter Storm in 1970, the Diliman Commune
from February 1 to 9, 1971, and the Plaza Miranda bombing on August 21, 1971 were
among the most compelling reasons that led President Marcos to suspend the writ of
habeas corpus and, ultimately, to place the entire nation under Martial Law on
September 21, 1972. Through the latter, the president managed to obtain full control of
the government with the complete backing of the military. Moreover, the suspension - of
the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and the declaration of Martial Law became
vital tools for the president to silence all forms of opposition against his administration
and to establish his authoritarian rule over the nation.

Following is an excerpt from Proclamation No. 1081 which reiterated the state of
lawlessness in the country, primarily caused by the looming Communist insurgency. In
these passages from the proclamation, the president focused and expounded on the
important details which proved that the threat of Communism was imminent. President
Marcos cited specific data on successive Communist-led bombings in 1972 and the
growing number of recruits gained by the CPP and its military arm, the New Peoples
Army (NPA).

Primary Source

“WHEREAS, on the basis of carefully evaluated and verified information, it is definitely

established that lawless elements who are moved by a common or similar ideological
conviction, design, strategy and goal and enjoying the active moral and material support
of a foreign power and being guided and directed by intensely devoted, well trained,
determined and ruthless groups of men and seeking refuge under the protection of our
constitutional liberties to promote and attain, their ends, have entered into a conspiracy
and have in fact joined and banded their resources and forces together for the prime
purpose of, and in fact they have been and are actually staging, undertaking and
waging an armed insurrection and rebellion against the Government of the Republic of
the Philippines in order to forcibly seize political and state power in this country,
overthrow the duly constituted government, and supplant our existing political, social,
economic and legal order with an entirely new one whose form of government, whose
System of laws, whose conception of God and religion, whose notion of individual rights
and family relations, and whose political, social, economic, legal and moral precepts are
based on the Marxist Leninist-Maoist teachings and beliefs;

“WHEREAS, these lawless elements, acting in concert through seemingly innocent and
harmless, although actually destructive, front organizations which have been infiltrated
or deliberately formed by them, have continuously and systematically strengthened and
broadened their memberships through sustained and careful recruiting and enlistment
of new adherents from among our peasantry, laborers, professionals, intellectuals,
students, and mass media personnel, and through such sustained are careful
recruitment and enlistment have succeeded in spreading and expanding, their control
and influence over almost every segment and level of our society throughout the land in
their ceaseless effort to erode and weaken the political, social, economic, legal and
moral foundations of our existing government, and to influence, manipulate and move
peasant, labor, student and terroristic organizations under their influence or control to
commit, as in fact they have committed and still are committing, acts of violence,
depredations, sabotage and injuries against our duly constituted authorities, against the
members of our law enforcement agencies, and worst of all, against the peaceful
members of our society;

“WHEREAS, in the fanatical pursuit of their conspiracy and widespread acts of violence,
depredations, sabotage and injuries against our people, and in order to provide the
essential instrument to direct and carry out their criminal design and unlawful activities,
and to achieve their ultimate sinister objectives, these lawless elements have in fact
organized, established and are now maintaining a Central Committee, composed of
young and dedicated, radical students and intellectuals, which is charged with guiding
and directing the armed struggle and propaganda assaults against our duly constituted
government, and this Central Committee is now imposing its will and asserting its sham
authority on certain segments of our population, especially in the rural areas, through
varied means of subterfuge, deceit, coercion, threats, intimidations, machinations,
treachery, violence and other modes of terror, and has been and is illegally exacting
financial and other forms of tributes from our people to raise funds and material
resources to support its insurrectionary and propaganda activities against our duly
constituted government and against our peace-loving people; :

“WHEREAS, in order to carry out, as in fact they have carried out, their premeditated
plan to stage, undertake and wage a full scale armed insurrection and rebellion in this
country, these lawless elements have organized, established and are now maintaining a
well trained, well armed and highly indoctrinated and greatly expanded insurrectionary
force, popularly known as the “New People's Army”, which has since vigorously pursued
and still is vigorously pursuing 4 relentless and ruthless armed struggle against our duly
constituted government and whose unmitigated forays, raids, ambuscades, assaults,
and reign of terror and acts of lawlessness in the rural areas and in our urban centers
brought about the treacherous and cold-blooded assassination of innocent civilians,
military personnel of the government and local public officials in many parts of the
country, notably in the Cagayan Valley, in Central Luzon, in the Southern Tagalog
Region, in the Bicol Area, in the Visayas and in Mindanao, and whose daring and
wanton guerrilla activities have generated and sown fear and panic among our people;
have created a climate of chaos and disorder, produced a state of political, social,
psychological and economic instability in our land, ang have inflicted great suffering and
irreparable injury to persons and property in our society”;

"WHEREAS, these lawless elements, their cadres, fellow-travelers, friends,

sympathizers and supporters have for many years up to the present time been
mounting sustained, massive and destructive propaganda assaults against our duly
constituted government, its instrumentalities, agencies and officials, and also against
our social, political, economic and religious institutions, through the publications,
broadcasts and disseminations of deliberate slanted and overly exaggerated news
stories and news commentaries as well as false, vile foul and scurrilous statements
utterances, writings and pictures through the press-radio-television media and through
leaflets, college campus newspapers and some newspapers published and still being
published by these lawless elements, notably the “Ang Bayan", Pulang Bandila” and the
“Ang Komunista", all of which are clearly well-conceived, intended and calculated to
malign and discredit our duly constituted government. its instrumentalities, agencies,
and officials before our people making it appear to the people that our government has
become so weak and so impotent to perform and discharge its functions and
responsibilities in our society and to our people, and thus undermine and destroy the
faith and loyalty and allegiance of our people in and alienate their support for their duly
constituted government, its instrumentalities, agencies and officials, and thereby
gradually erode and weaken as in fact they have so eroded and weakened the will of
our people to sustain and defend our government and our democratic way of life;

[...]

“WHEREAS, in the unwavering prosecution of their revolutionary war against the

Filipino people and their duly constituted government, the aforesaid lawless elements
have, in the months of May, June and July, 1972, succeeded in bringing and introducing
into the country at Digoyo Point, Palanan, Isabela and at other undetermined points
along the Pacific coastline of Luzon, a substantial quantity of war material consisting of
M-1.4 rifles estimated to be some 3,500 pieces, several dozens of 40 mm rocket
launchers which are said to be Chicom copies of a Russian prototype rocket launcher,
large quantities of 80 mm rockets and ammunitions, and other combat paraphernalia, of
which war material some had been discovered and captured by government military
forces, and the bringing and introduction of such quantity and type of war material into
the country is a mute but eloquent proof of the sinister plan of the aforesaid lawless
elements to hasten the escalation of their present revolutionary war against the Filipino
people and their legitimate government;

[...]

“WHEREAS, in line with their “REGIONAL PROGRAM OF ACTION 1972”, the aforesaid
lawless elements have of late been conducting intensified acts of violence and
terrorisms during the current year in the Greater Manila area such as the bombing of the
Arca building: at Taft Avenue, Pasay City, on March 15; of the Filipinas Orient Airways
board room at Domestic Road, Pasay City on April 23; of the Vietnamese Embassy on
May 30; of the Court of Industrial Relations on June 23; of the Philippine Trust Company
branch office in Cubao, Quezon City on June 24; of the Philamlife building at United
Nations Avenue, Manila, on July 3; of the Tabacalera Cigar & Cigarette Factory
Compound at Marquez de Comilas, Manila on July 27; of the PLDT exchange office at
East Avenue, Quezon City, and of the Philippine Sugar Institute building at North
Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, both on August 15; of the : Department of Social Welfare
building at San Rafael Street, Sampaloc, Manila, on August 17; of a water main on
Aurora Boulevard and Madison Avenue, Quezon City on August 19; of the Philamlife
building again on August 30; this time causing severe destruction on the Far East Bank
and Trust Company building nearby; of the armored car and building of the Philippine
Banking Corporation as well as the buildings of the Investment Development Inc, and
the Dally Star Publications when another, explosion took place on Railroad Street, Port
Area, Manila also on August 30; of Joe's Department Store on Carriedo Street, Quiapo,
Manila, on September 5, causing death to one woman and injuries to some 38
individuals; and of the City Hall of Manila on September 8; of the watermains in San
Juan, Rizal on Sept, 12, of the San Miguel building on Makati, Rizal on September 14;
and of the Quezon City Hall on September 18, 1972, as well as the attempted bombing
of the Congress Building on July 18, when an unexploded bomb was found In the
Senate Publication Division and the attempted bombing of the Department of Foreign
Affairs on August 30,

[...]

“WHEREAS, in cases of invasion, insurrection or rebellion or imminent danger thereof,

|, as President of the Philippines, have, under the Constitution, three courses of action
open to me, namely: (a) call out the armed forces to suppress the present lawless
violence; (b) suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus to make the arrest and
apprehension of these lawless elements easier and more effective; or (c) place the
Philippines or any part thereof under martial law;

"WHEREAS,I have already utilized the first two courses of action, first, by calling upon
the armed forces to suppress the aforesaid lawless violence, committing to that specific
job almost 50% of the entire armed forces of the country and creating several task
forces for that purpose such as Task Force Saranay, Task Force Palanan, Task Force
Isarog, Task Force Pagkakaisa and Task Force Lancaf, and, second, by suspending the
privilege of the writ of habeas corpus on August 21, 1971 up to January 11, 1972, but
inspite of all that, both courses of action were found inadequate and ineffective to
contain, much less solve, the present rebellion and lawlessness in the country as shown
by the fact that:

1. That radical left-has increased the number and area of operation of its front
organizations and has intensified the recruitment and training of new adherents
in the urban and rural areas especially from among the youth;

2. The Kabataang Makabayan (KM), the most militant and outspoken front
organization of the radical left, has increased the number of its chapters from 200
as of the end of 1970 to 317 as of July 31, 1972 and its membership from 10,000
as of the end of 1970 to 15,000 as of the end of July, 1972, showing very clearly
the rapid growth of the Communist movement in this country;

3. The Samahang Demokratiko Ng Kabataan (SDK), another militant and

outspoken front organization of the radical left, has also increased the number of
its chapters from an insignificant number at the end of 1970 to 159 as of the end
of July, 1972 and has now a membership of some 1,495 highly indoctrinated,
intensely committed and almost fanatically devoted individuals;

4. The New People's Army, the most active and the most violent and ruthless
military arm of the radical left, has increased its total strength from an estimated
6,500 (composed of 560 regulars, 1,500 combat support and 4,400 service
support) as of January 1, 1972 to about 7,900 (composed of 1,028 regulars,
1,800 combat support and 5,025 service support) as of July 31, 1972, showing a
marked increase in its regular troops of over 100% in such a short period of six
months;

5. The establishment of sanctuaries for the insurgents in Isabela, in Zambales, in

Camarines Sur, and in some parts of Mindanao, a development heretofore
unknown in our campaign against subversion and insurgency in this country;

6. The disappearance and dropping out of school of some 3,000 high school and
college students and who are reported to have joined with the insurgents for
training in the handling of firearms and explosives;

7. The bringing and introduction into the country of substantial war material
consisting of military hardware and supplies through the MV Karagatan at Digoyo
Point, Palanan, Isabela, and the fact that many of these military hardware and
supplies are now in the hands of the insurgents and are being used against our
government troops;

8. The infiltration and control of the media by persons who are sympathetic to the
insurgents and the consequent intensification of their propaganda assault against
the government and the military establishment of the government;

9. The formation of the grass-root level of “political power organs”, heretofore

unknown in the history of the Communist movement in this country, composed of
Barrio Organizing Committees (BOCs) to mobilize the barrio people for active
involvement in the revolution; the Barrio Revolutionary Committees (BRCs) to act
as “local government” in barrios considered as CPP/NPA bailiwicks; the Workers
Organizing Committees (WOCs) to organize workers from all sectors; the School
Organizing Committees (SOCs) to conduct agitation and propaganda activities
and help in the expansion of front groups among the studentry; and the
Community Organizing Committees (COCs) which operate in the urban areas in
the same manner as the BOCs.

“WHEREAS, the rebellion and armed action undertaken by these lawless elements of
the communist and other armed aggrupations organized to overthrow the Republic of
the Philippines by armed violence and force have assumed the magnitude of an actual
state of war against our people and the Republic of Philippines;
[...]

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by

virtue of the powers vested upon-me by Article VIl, Section 10, Paragraph (2) of the
Constitution, do hereby place the entire Philippines as ‘defined in, Article I, Section 1 of
the Constitution under martial law and, in my capacity -as their commander-in-chief, do
hereby command the armed forces of the Philippines, to maintain law and order
throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well as
any act of insurrection or rebellion and to enforce obedience to all the laws and decrees,
orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction.

In addition, I do hereby order that all persons presently detained, as well as all others
who may hereafter be similarly detained for the crimes of insurrection or rebellion, and
all other crimes and offenses committed in furtherance or on the occasion thereof, or
incident thereto, or in connection therewith, for crimes against national security and the
law of nations, crimes against public order, crimes involving usurpation of authority,
rank, title and improper use of names, uniforms and insignia, crimes committed by
public officers, and for such other crimes as will be enumerated in Orders that I shall
subsequently promulgate, as well as crimes as a consequence of any violation of any
decree, order or regulation promulgated by me personally or promulgated upon my
direction shall be kept under detention until otherwise ordered released by me or by my
duly designated representative.

“IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

“Done in the City of Manila, this 21st day of September, in the year of Our Lord,
nineteen hundred and seventy-two.”

Source: Proclamation No. 1081, s. 1972