A KOBOLD stalking the bowels of the bumbledom triggered a recent skull session over the term ‘Diktadurang Marcos’ in the Araling Panlipunan curriculum of Grade 6 students under the MATATAG curriculum.
Well, Ferdinand Edralin Marcos himself believed in “the novel idea of a new society under a ‘crisis government.’ Actually, this is a reform government under martial law.
“My belief is that the Transitory Provisions of the new Constitution should put to rest all doubts as to the constitutionality of all the powers I have exercised under the 1935 Constitution. They also confer upon me certain extraordinary powers not found in the old Constitution. In the exercise of these powers, I could choose not to convene as yet the interim National Assembly in view of the emergency situation. I have decided on this choice in accordance with the decision of the people voting in the plebiscite of January 1973.
“All interpretations of these provisions are that they constitute the best authority for what I call constitutional authoritarianism.
“Under the old Constitution, I exercised martial law powers to meet the national emergency; under the new Constitution I exercise extraordinary powers together with or even independently of martial law.” [The democratic revolution in the Philippines. NJ: Prentice-Hall International, 1974, pp. 2, 211]
‘If this was indeed a US-Marcos dictatorship, what was the analysis of the Americans?’
Constitutional authoritarianism. But for a journalist who was also an insider in the Marcos regime, it was “the evil rule of a home-grown tyrant with the same initials” as Ferdinand Magellan. A duumvirate “had availed of, to their personal advantage, an extreme measure provided for an actual emergency by the Constitution of the Philippines under the provisions of Article II, Section 10, paragraph (2).” The imposition of martial law in the Philippines was supposedly a temporary emergency measure “to save the Republic” from a Communist takeover. However: “What President Marcos is doing in the Philippines, it has now dawned on me, is in accordance with a long-studied, methodically prepared plan to take over an entire country politically and economically for himself, his family and his cronies, preparatory to setting up an empire.” [Primitivo Mijares. The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. 1976 Edition, pp. 13, 32]
The expose was done in the United States, pinning hopes on Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. In complete contrast was the view of Amado Guerrero: “US imperialism and the local ruling class, in response to sharpening social contradictions, have banished any pretense of democratic rule and foisted direct fascist control on the restive masses in the form of the Marcos martial-law dictatorship.” [Philippine Society and Revolution, 4th edition, p. 3]
Thus, the US-Marcos dictatorship. But another Communist group had a different analysis and strategy: “Upon the declaration of martial law, thousands were immediately rounded up and incarcerated (including members of the PKP and its mass organizations). Thousands of others answered the adventurist Maoist call to join the NPA, and were either decimated in unequal battles or were instrumental in militarizing and lording over local turfs in order to survive. While the hands of the Marcos regime are tainted with the blood of the victims of their repression, the hands of the Maoist leaders are also tainted with the blood of their own direct victims, as well as of those who perished while responding to their adventurist calls.
“While martial law saw the grave curtailment of civil and political rights, its early period also featured some positive developments and trends which were to later be of serious concern to imperialism. Among those were the takeover of the major companies of the old oligarchic blocs closely related to US businesses; the building up of the state sector in vital areas of the economy, particularly in industry; the institution of foreign trade and other business regulations; the opening of diplomatic, trade and other relations with the USSR and other socialist countries; and closer Philippine identification with the Non-Aligned Movement. Under this atmosphere, the party cautiously entered into negotiations initiated by Marcos for a political settlement to allow the party to legally exist and continue its communist advocacy.
“In November 1974, as a result of the negotiations, the PKP entered into a political settlement under which it renounced the armed struggle, dissolved the HMB and surrendered HMB weapons. The government in turn recognized the legal existence of the party, extended amnesty to party and HMB members, released party and HMB political prisoners, gave recognition to Hukbalahap veterans, and expanded agrarian reform in party-influenced areas. Aside from formalizing its renunciation of the armed struggle (which the party, even a decade earlier, had already deemed futile as a way of gaining political power), the political settlement of 1974 did not prevent or stop the party from criticizing the pro-imperialist positions of the Marcos regime.” [A Short History of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP-1930, the Philippine Communist Party), 2018] [https://www.marxists.org/history/philippines/pkp-1930/2018/short-history.htm]
If this was indeed a US-Marcos dictatorship, what was the analysis of the Americans? “The Philippines has often been described as the showcase of democracy in Asia…it has had an uninterrupted representative government since 1946, maintained even through the Huk rebellion of the 1950s.’ Now the tradition has been shattered by President Marcos’ use of the military to rule under martial law, and with amazingly little domestic reaction… Even with extraordinary powers, however, Marcos may not be able, or willing, to challenge the entrenched interest groups which have long controlled political and economic life in the country, and instead may have simply set in train a trend toward authoritarianism and increasing political instability – perhaps on the Latin American pattern.” [Central Intelligence Agency Office of National Estimates Memorandum “Martial Law in the Philippines: The Road Ahead” (29 November 1972)] [https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00875R002000120029-1.pdf]
“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.” – Hynkel, Dictator of Tomania [“The Great Dictator” (1940)]
