Philippines History

Martial law, "Philippine style", has mainly been criticized as the end of democracy in the Philippines. This attack has come primarily from the constitutionalists, civil libertarians and legalists. This conclusion is based mainly in the fusion in one-man of all powers of government, resulting in the destruction of the legal institutions and their underlying principles consistent with a democratic state.
Essential to their criterion of a democratic state is the existence of certain legal institutions. These are mainly, a constitution which outlines the structure of government and defines its power, a tripartite structure of government and a system of popular elections.
The theory underlying these institutions is that government exists for the people, their sovereign will embodied in a constitution, insuring that their representatives who are chosen through popular elections shall pursue their interests and keep within the limits set therein. Furthermore, that the governmental structure consisting of three co-equal departments co-exist under the principle of check and balance, seeing to it that each brand. does not exceed the bounds set by the fundamental law and by statutes.
The value of these legal institutions in any modern day society is without question. However, it is their ability to function in accordance to their avowed purpose under given socio-economic relations which is subject to serious examination.
Wittingly or unwittingly, the above view seriously implies that democracy was an existing fact previous to martial law. It tends to assert that martial law is an accident in our legal processes. That it is a reaction to the socio-political events of the 70's and the threat it posed upon the political power held by · a definite man or a group of men.

Obscured by the above view is the fact that these institutions are merely part of the state. The central power structure which throughout history has been dominated by society's economic elite. It has been the means by which their interests have been protected and expanded.
As "differences in property are also differences in power" 1 the state which stands on an economic base reflects the power relationships and inequalities of its base.
Therefore as long as the state and its legal institutions are under the control of a small group of economic, political or military elite, democracy is an illusion. It is a myth utilized to maintain the existing imbalance of power in society. A myth which is sustained by legal structures and processes. The exercise of emergency powers under the 1935 Philippine Constitution was an attempt in re-vitalizing the eroding belief of the Filipino people in the myth.
Mac Iver explains the nature and function of myths by saying that they are "value-impregnated beliefs and notions that men hold, that they live by or live for. Every society is held together by a myth-system, a complex of dominating thought-forms that determines and sustains all its activities." 2
Unfortunately, seven years of martial law has been a process of myth unmasking. It has become a concrete political education for our people on the true nature of the state and the interests it truly represents.
From a historical viewpoint, martial law is the final stage of a long drawn historical process of our people's struggle for political independence and economic development. It is a stage in the decolonization process where the prevailing neo-colonial interests are being exposed and are unable to peacefully pursue their economic interests vis-a-vis the rising forces of nationalism and liberation.