Marcos Dictatorship

1. Why was the 1973 Constitution amended?
2. What is martial law?
3. Why did President Marcos declare martial law?
4. How did the people show their discontent during the Marcos administration?
5. What problems did the country confront during the Marcos dictatorship?

The 1973 Constitution basically changes the ‘presidential system’ of government into a ‘parliamentary system’ that puts the President into a purely symbolic statue. Therefore the president didn’t actually hold any power and wasn’t allowed to be in any political party. The president still existed but there would be a Prime Minister who was the head of the government and Commander-in-chief of the army; Marcos would take that position. In short term, the three branches of government would be foregone and Marcos would control both the army and the government. It is ironic that amendment was solely to continue to put Marcos in power. Prominent manipulation by Marcos gave him the executive power to himself and it did work described as a ‘authoritarian-run Presidential System’.

Martial law is imposition from the president due to from the crisis of the country in terms of order and security. It is usually imposed when civilian authorities and the government doesn’t function properly. As a result, the discontent public executes protests towards the government. It is controversial because it gives absolute power to the president; military forces are then deployed to maintain order. The three branches of government executive, legislation and judicial are removed thus having no power. It is a means to have control over the public and used to maintain law. Several rules come along with martial law such as curfews, stricter laws and the absence of civil rights. Simplified, that means the military can do anything and no action would be taken to have their actions justified. This leads to my next topic as to why Philippines were in a 21-year period as a president and 9 years in martial law.

Reports and claims have stated that Marcos is one of the world’s most corrupt leaders in history taking money from the Philippines accumulating to over five billion dollars. These facts are one of the few devastating things that President Marcos has brought upon the Philippines. Since the imposition of martial law (1972-1981), Philippine’s economy has steadily risen to become one of the most developed countries in Asia but Marcos has borrowed humongous amount of money offshore which rose Philippine’s external debt from $360 billon dollars in 1962 to $28.3 billion dollars. Through the approval of the government, Marcos loaned the money to his family and friends causing Philippines to be one of the most indebt countries in Asia written by economist and author James K. Boyce in his book ‘The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era’. In his book, it states that the countries tax still go into the payment of the interest of these loans. This introduction was to give an ide what Marcos’ regime has done to the economy of the Philippines it is in its current state. The massive debt Philippine has to pay continue to grow in addition to the influential corruption Marcos’ has undertaken. He might have been one of best president’s Philippines has ever had but his actions during his regime regime has lead to the turmoil of the Philippines.

The Philippine people were unhappy with Marcos’ second term in presidency, which has lead to civil unrest and violent protests against his presidency. In the same time period, Benigno Aquino was growing in favor of the public and was next in line for the president. Marcos’ unextend able term was coming to an end and due to his immense greed for power and wealth imposed martial law. Marcos has declared martial law as a justification or excuse, some would say, of the threat of a communist takeover along with the events of the attempted assassination of Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and the bombings in Manila. It was clear that the growing severity of the lawlessness and disorder existed; the public believed it was too exaggerated and essentially, it wasn’t needed. Suspicion arose that Marcos took advantage of this opportunity to self-proclaim his descending power to become absolute.

It began with protests mainly from students; dated in October 30, 1970 the first massive protest known as the First Quarter Storm due to Marcos’ degrading second term which was hit with economic turmoil, educational reform and rising crime rates. They were unhappy with Marcos’ policies (most notably the all public institutions had to carry a picture of Marcos) so the public responded with violence and disorder. To show that claim, students took over a campus of the University of the Philippines until the government reverted it back to its normal state. Before the imposition of the martial law, the rising threat from the communist element became imminent and Marcos was faced with a descending economy.

Once Marcos lifted martial law, the people called for a re-election between him and Cory Aquino. Through unfair schemes ballots have shown that Marcos had the higher number of votes by the public (Snap Elections of 1986). Thus caused by the outcry of the public, the EDSA revolution undertook for 3 days and that would completely change the political and economical standpoint in the Philippines. During his dictatorship, Marcos completely overwhelmed the public with aggravating rules such as curfew.

Sources: http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=IAL5Dx5SWy4C&pg=PA10&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false http://www.notablebiographies.com/Lo-Ma/Marcos-Ferdinand.html#b http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=1973_Constitution_of_the_Republic_of_the_Philippines