Forgotten accomplices

With the coming 40th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986, three things are likely to be overlooked or swept under the rug. The first is that martial law was likely more popular than people want to admit. The second is that far too many were willing to help establish the dictatorship. The third, related to the first two, is how few stubbornly resisted it.

The Reader’s Digest-condensed version of martial law goes like this: Marcos proclaimed it, and with a stroke of the pen, abolished the vice presidency and padlocked Congress. Soon after, he rushed the completion of a draft Constitution, and had it approved by ignoring the rules and creating his own “barangay assemblies,” which a compliant Supreme Court went along with. This has become entrenched with the retelling, not least because, by blurring the details, the participation of some who later came to oppose the dictatorship in setting it up in the first place is obscured.

As I’ve pointed out before, Marcos’ legal fiction has detached the whole story from objective reality by fictionalizing the start. Sept. 21, 1972, came and went without a proclamation of martial law—or even if you believe the various versions of the planners, including Marcos himself—a signed document. The reason was that Marcos didn’t want to undertake his “autogolpe” or self-coup while Congress was in session, because it might hold a public session questioning and opposing his attempt. Congress was due to go on a recess that would stretch, as it always did, all the way to late January the next year, when it would convene to inaugurate a new session with the traditional State of the Nation Address (Sona).

On Sept. 22 and 23, hundreds were arrested, but only a few from the circles of Marcos and his peers. The media was controlled, curfews imposed, and travel restricted, but many of the powerful still felt they had a future under Marcos.

The best example is this. On Nov. 9, 1972, Constitutional Convention (ConCon) delegate Augusto Caesar Espiritu recorded in his diary a conversation with Col. Moy Buhain, military aide of Speaker Cornelio Villareal. Espiritu told the aide he’d heard Marcos wanted the new Constitution approved by mid-January to prevent Congress from convening as scheduled back when Sonas took place in January. He also said he’d heard Marcos was going to promise incumbent congressmen and senators they’d be automatic members of the new parliament, with Villareal being considered for the speakership of the new parliament. Espiritu also said it seemed likely then Vice President Fernando Lopez might become the new president, since Marcos intended to become prime minister and the presidency would become purely ceremonial.

On Sept. 25, 1972, Marcos was pleased his gamble had paid off: “There is nothing as successful as success!” he crowed; but preceded his bragging by detailing a plot by the Vice President to replace him, a topic he briefly returned to on Nov. 15 and again on the 20th, when Marcos wrote Eddie Figueras to confess being part of that plot to replace himself with Lopez. He was systematically plotting to pull the rug from those he hated, but who he still treated as allies even then.

On Dec. 1, 1972, Marcos recorded in his diary that the draft of the new Constitution was submitted to him in the morning, followed by his decreeing a plebiscite to be held on Jan. 16, 1973: “Tumult from the audience, which included the Vice President, senators, congressmen, ConCon delegates, Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, and others.” However, “Before that, I called the Vice President, Sen. Pres., Speaker, Chief Justice, Pres. Macapagal, Chairman Ferrer, Secretary Ponce Enrile, and Gen. Espino to my study to tell them of my plan of free debate and for the government to print the pros and cons of each innovation in the new Constitution for distribution, which then would be distributed to the people. Speaker Villareal demurred to this, but Chief Justice Concepcion supported me.” Marcos was now focused on his next priority, ensuring the Supreme Court wouldn’t be an obstacle.

See Also

Schools must never become killing grounds: This must end

On Jan. 17, Dante Vizmanos, a former military officer who’d become radicalized, attended the Supreme Court’s hearing on the petition questioning the so-called ratification of the new Constitution: “From their line of questioning it was clear they [the justices] were convinced by [Lorenzo] Tanada’s argument (that ‘citizens assemblies’ and ‘referendum’ were unconstitutional).” And then: “a messenger from Malacañang delivered the presidential proclamation to Chief Justice Concepcion declaring that the 1971 Constitution was already approved and in effect ‘in compliance with the will of the people.’” He then recorded, “After Chief Justice Concepcion finished reading the proclamation, there was complete silence in the SC chamber for more than one minute. The justices were speechless, Tañada was speechless, the newsmen were speechless, even the government solicitors were speechless.”

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Email: mlquezon3@gmail.com; Twitter: @mlq3