Martial Law

What started the martial law?

It all started from bombing in Plaza Miranda. The 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing occurred during a political campaign rally of the Liberal Party at Plaza Miranda in the district of Quiapo, Manila on August 21, 1971. It caused nine deaths and injured 95 others. The injured Party's campaign rally was held to proclaim the candidacies of eight Senatorial bets as well as the candidate for the Mayoralty race in Manila. As a crowd of about 4,000 gathered to hear speeches. Two hand grenades were reportedly tossed on stage. Among those killed instantly were a 5 year old child and The Manila Times photographer Ben Roxas. Almost everyone on stage was injured, including incumbent Senator Jovito Salonga (Liberal Party), President Gerardo Roxas and Sergio Osmeña, Jr., (son of former President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Sergio Osmeña).
The election was cancelled because of the bombing in plaza Miranda. Which made President Ferdinand Marcos to declare Martial Law and continue to rule Philippines.

The Martial Law

By definition, Martial Law is the temporary superimposition of military government over civil government. This military-run government is put into place in the event of war or serious national emergencies. During such times, the military and its accompanying superiors take over the executive, legislative and judicial functions normally delegated to the civil government by virtue of its constitution. As a consequence, the writhabeas corpus, or the right of an individual in custody to be brought to court to determine whether such incarceration or imprisonment is lawful, may be suspended indefinitely. This suspension of individual rights denies the person due process of law.

My Reflection:

When we speak of Martial Law, the first thing that comes to our mind is the former President who installed it, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. In truth, we blame this person for the failure that was martial law. Still, there are some who stand steadfast in defending martial law as the best thing that ever happened to the country.

It's been 41 years since former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081, placing the entire Philippines under Martial Law. According to my reading and understanding, he did it to save the Republic and to create what he called a "New Society. In other words, Martial Law is the ultimate solution to curves growing problems in criminality. For me, Martial Law wasn't the best thing in the world that happened to the Philippines. Martial Law during the time of Marcos wasn't declared to restore peace and order. Nor was it declared to do good for the country. Money and power is the only thing that can be heard. Nobody can be respected! Marcos used several events to justify Martial Law.

I also disagree that Martial Law was ultimate solution to curve growing problems on criminality. There is criminality due to poverty. And it just seems that crimes could be minimized if not eradicated or being eliminated during Martial Law because there is no press freedom, no due process, and etc. It may not solved poverty but yes, it does “minimized” criminality. The only problem of having Martial Law was the people in authority are the ones abuse their power to implement the rules of law. Whether we have or we don't have Martial Law, the corruptions will remains and the poverty will keep growing because the population keeps booming. Some people say that Martial Law was imposed for the good of the Marcoses and their cronies, just to keep them in wealth. Cronies started to get richer and richer. What the cronies want, the cronies get. Imagine what more the case of what Imelda wants, Imelda gets. And the military started it’s countless cases of human rights abuses, military cruelty and oppression was at its finest hours.

Martial Law that time was like this, anybody could be picked up at anytime for any reason by the military or the police. If you protested against the government, you were labeled as "communist" and you were summarily arrested. People that time was afraid to speak out. There are lots of people who suffered human rights violations that saw thousands of life damaged, destroyed, or lost. Some of them were the victims of salvaging. (Filipinos who just disappeared from the face of the earth). With Martial Law, those hardheaded people that doesn't want to follow the rules of law will hide themselves and only those in the military has a power to do what ever they want. Coming up with the idea of every Filipinos who will join the military in order for them to have a safety net incase there well be war among them. It seems so funny, but that's the reality.

For me, the advantages of Martial Law during Marcos time is the people were disciplined when he declared Martial, less car accidents at night because of the curfew, there was law and order during the martial law,

Disadvantages, is the death of democracy. Marcos used several events to justify Martial Law. The declaration had made people be mute for a moment. Suspended the civil rights and imposed military authority in the country. There is no freedom of the press. The rights of the people to speak and share their opinion in that current situation was totally denied and deprived. Stronger military power, which cause harm to the civilians. Tens of thousands were arrested and imprisoned without court charges, thousands were tortured and hundreds summarily executed. What with everybody scared that complaining to the courts would not do anything to help. People were dying and justice is nowhere to be found.disappear. Disregarded all rights of the people. Life itself has no value during the Martial Law, people started to be missing, missing people turning up dead. Institutions and businesses that are owned by oppositions are confiscated, no matter how many generations of the same families have owned them.

But the spirit of justice had been awakened in the Filipino people once more. Like their forefathers or ancestors before them who rallied against the tyranny of the Spanish rulers, the people united in a common cause. Once again, the Filipino people united against insurmountable odds to overthrow the dictator Marcos. The revolution had been realized. The power of the Filipinos is not in physical form, it is a binding spirit which unites them for a common cause.

My generalization, as the time goes by, Martial Law remains a permanent scar in our collective consciousness as a people. Martial Law? It will never do good for this country. I say it because the Philippines cannot have a leader without selfish people around with selfish interest at the back of their minds . Yes, we can probably say that the leader may have good intentions, but the people around him, his relatives, his friends, his cronies may have other interests in mind.
If martial law is declared right now, I do not believe the country can do anything to prevent it, much less oppose it! But i am sure Filipinos will not live everyday living a life run by a dictator.