Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under martial law, stating he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Party of the Philippines, and the sectarian "rebellion" of the Muslim Independence Movement. Opposition figures of the time accused Marcos of exaggerating these threats and using them as an excuse to consolidate power and extend his tenure beyond the two presidential terms allowed by the 1935 constitution. Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972, marking the beginning of a fourteen-year period of one-man rule, which effectively lasted until Marcos was exiled from the country on February 25, 1986. Proclamation No. 1081 was formally lifted on January 17, 1981 by Proclamation No. 2045, although Marcos retained essentially all of his powers as dictator until he was ousted in February 1986.
This nine-year period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on the documentation of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, and similar human rights monitoring entities, historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 737 enforced disappearances, and 70,000 incarcerations. After Marcos was ousted, government investigators discovered that the declaration of martial law had also allowed the Marcoses to hide secret stashes of unexplained wealth that various courts later determined to be "of criminal origin".
While Marcos's presidency began in late 1965, this article is limited to the period in which he exercised dictatorial powers under martial law, and the period where he continued to wield those powers despite lifting the proclamation in 1981.

Administration and cabinet

Explanations for the declaration of martial law

Numerous explanations have been put forward as reasons for Marcos to declare martial law in September 1972, some of which were presented by the Marcos administration as official justifications, and some of which were dissenting perspectives put forward by either the mainstream political opposition or by analysts studying the political economy of the decision.

Official justifications

In his 1987 treatise, Dictatorship & Martial Law: Philippine Authoritarianism in 1972, University of the Philippines public administration professor Alex Brillantes Jr. identifies three reasons expressed by the Marcos administration, saying that martial law:

was a response to various leftist and rightist plots against the Marcos administration;
was just the consequence of political decay after American-style democracy failed to take root in Philippine society; and
was a reflection of Filipino society's history of authoritarianism and supposed need for iron-fisted leadership.

The first two justifications were explicitly stated in Proclamation 1081, which cited two explicit justifications: "to save the republic" ; and "to reform society". The third rationalization arose from the administration's propaganda, which portrayed Marcos as a hypermasculine or ultranationalist figure able to compel the obedience of supposedly "spoiled" Filipinos.

Dissenting perspectives

Political mainstream

Opposition to Marcos's declaration of martial law ran the whole gamut of Philippine society – ranging from impoverished peasants whom the administration tried to chase out of their homes; to the Philippines' political old-guard, whom Marcos had tried to displace from power; to academics and economists who disagreed with the specifics of Marcos's martial law policies. All of these, regardless of their social position or policy beliefs, subscribed to the interpretation that Marcos declared martial law:

as a strategy to enable Ferdinand Marcos to stay in power past the two Presidential terms allowed him under Philippine Constitution of 1935; and
as a technique for covering up the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos, his family, and his cronies.
Economic interpretations

In addition, some critics who ascribe an economic component to Marcos's motivations, suggesting that martial law:

was an acquiescence to the global market system, which required tight control of sociopolitical systems so that the country's resources could be exploited efficiently;
was a product of the infighting among the families that formed the upper socioeconomic class of Philippine society; and
was a connivance between the state powers and the upper-class families to keep the members of the country's lower classes from becoming too powerful.
Planning and preparation for martial law

Although Marcos initially claimed that he had declared martial law in response to violent acts that took place in 1971–72 – such as the Plaza Miranda bombing and the alleged assassination attempt on Defense Secretary Enrile – the groundwork for its implementation had been laid down much earlier. Marcos's aide-turned whistleblower Primitivo Mijares noted that "The beginning infrastructure for martial law was actually laid down as early as the first day of his assumption of the Philippine presidency on December 30, 1965."
Most notably, by the time Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, he had:

assured the loyalty of state institutions – especially the Armed Forces – to himself;
appointed 8 out of 11 justices of the Philippines' Supreme Court;
gained the support of the Nixon administration; and
carefully crafted a public relations environment that ensured that the majority of Filipino citizens would at least initially accept martial law.
Controlling the armed forces and police

Defense secretary portfolio

Marcos began increasing his influence over the armed forces of the Philippines as soon as he became president in 1965 by following President Ramon Magsaysay's precedent of concurrently hold the portfolio of defense secretary in the first thirteen months of his presidency. American defense analyst Donald Berlin notes that this gave Marcos an opportunity for direct interaction with the AFP's leaders, and a hand in the military's day-to-day operationalization. Singaporean author and political science professor Terence Lee notes that this had the effect of "develop a patronage system within the defense establishment." Professor Albert Celoza, in his 1997 book on the political economy of authoritarianism in the Philippines, notes that: "It was alleged that a plan of action had existed as early as 1965...no one opposed the plan because no one was certain that the plan would be carried out."

Armed Forces of the Philippines reshuffle

Marcos soon carried out the "largest reshuffle in the history of the armed forces" when he forcibly retired fourteen of the AFP's twenty-five flag officers, including the AFP Chief of Staff, the AFP Vice Chief of Staff, the commanding general of the Philippine Army, the Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, the commanders of all four Constabulary Zones, and one third of all Provincial Commanders of the PC.
One prominent early example of an officer forced to resign his commission was Navy Commodore Ramon Alcaraz – a World War II hero who would eventually be dubbed the "father of the Philippine Marines" and have a Philippine Navy ship named after him. Alcaraz was forced to resign from the Armed Forces because his success in the Navy's anti-smuggling operations had come into conflict with Marcos's accommodations with alleged "smuggler-king" Lino Bocalan.
In their place, Marcos appointed officers from his home region, the Ilocos, the most significant of whom had familial connections to Marcos – ensuring their familial and regionalistic loyalties to him. The practice was so pervasive that it quickly earned a moniker: "Ilocanization". The most important of these appointments included Juan Ponce Enrile as Secretary of Defense, and Fidel Ramos as Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff, who were both related to Marcos; and Fabian Ver, Marcos's townmate from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, as Armed Forces Chief of Staff.
In tandem with this "Ilocanization", generals loyal to Marcos were allowed to stay in their positions past their supposed retirement age, or were rewarded with civilian government posts. This led to a loss of morale among the middle-ranks of the AFP, because it meant a significant slowdown in promotions and caused many officers to retire with ranks much lower than they would otherwise have earned.
As a result, Security Affairs Professor Douglas J. Macdonald noted that "near the end of the dictatorship, the Military and the Intelligence organizations were badly polarized along generational lines, as they are today."

Barangay Self Defense Units and Civilian Home Defense Forces

In June 1970, Marcos authorized the creation of civil militias called "Barangay Self Defense Units", which would be renamed the Civilian Home Defense Forces in 1977 through Presidential Decree 1016. At its inception, the CHDF numbered 73,000 men, and it earned a reputation as the perpetrators of the worst human rights violations during martial law.

The "Oplan Sagittarius" expose

When Marcos was ready to declare martial law, copies of the plan for its implementation were distributed to key officials within the Armed Forces. As a way of assuring that any whistleblowers would be easily accounted for, the copies of the plan were distributed with codeword titles taken from the signs of the Zodiac. The copy marked "Sagittarius" was given to General Marcos "Mark" Soliman who commanded the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. Thus, when Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. exposed the existence of "Oplan Sagittarius" a week before martial law was declared, other generals were able to deny that they had heard of any operation under the said code title, and it was easy for Marcos to pinpoint Soliman as the whistleblower who gave the information to Aquino.
Not long after the declaration of martial law, the controlled press reported that Soliman had died of a heart attack, but his family believed that Marcos had ordered that he be killed. Marcos then dissolved the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and put a powerful super-agency, the National Intelligence and Security Authority in its place, with steadfast Marcos follower General Fabian Ver in command.