Gerard Ivan Catapang

Yvan Luster Moreno

STEM11B7

“Tyrant President”

The martial law was started on September 22, 1972, and was longed in 1986 president Marcos was

announced that martial law is marked the beginning of one-man rule. The time when martial law was implemented

president Marcos has increased the size of the Philippines ' military and air forces. Ferdinand Marcos declared

martial law, because of violent civil chaos and when there's a major natural disaster. His purpose is to reduce the

civil strife and the threat of communist takeover to overthrow the government and violate the peaceful lives of

ordinary Filipino. One of the examples of why Marcos declared martial law is because of the Plaza Miranda

bombing in Manila. The most shocking event that rock in the nation.

Martial law is a law that is applied to an occupied territory by military authority and occupying power. Base

on its definition we can simply imagine what would be the life of the people with this type of law because this law

can suspend and take away civil rights or human rights. The people are forced to follow in every rules and decision

given and created by the military authority, the people not argue with them because they can kill them easily, just

like here in the Philippines there are thousands of people that have been killed through extrajudicial killing and

almost half of them are tortured and mutilated before their bodies dump in any various places so that the people can

see clearly what will happen to them if they defy the authority, and that was called "salvaging". That’s life during

martial law.

As we all know Martial Law is one of the most devastating events that happened in the history of the

Philippines, claiming hundreds of Filipino lives. A lot of Filipino had been traumatized and others are scarred for

life. Despite declaring Martial Law some Filipinos still praise the Marcos regime. Some may applaud him for

imposing such a system that results in a more discipline Filipino. But most of them who experienced Martial Law

may be considered it one of the most horrible memories of the past. Impressive at first, but on the latter part, it only

caused pain in the way that a leader betrayed his fellowmen. Marcos abuses his powers to overthrown the Human
Rights of every Filipino he had killed or tortured for no reason. Imprisoning, killing, and torturing the people who

disrespected him or against him and the people who protest about his abusive leadership. Authorities even catch the

people who are still roaming around the street after the curfew had passed. They also torture the activists that are

caught by the authorities.

Ferdinand Marcos is not only a tyrant leader but also a thief stealing the money of the people of the

Philippines. The money he stole goes to his wife’s cause. Imelda Marcos has a lot of luxurious things ranging from

shoes, jewelry, cars, and other expensive pieces of stuff. And Marcos holds the Guinness World Records for the

“Greatest robbery of a Government.” Some speculation that Marcos has taken the Yamashita Treasure. When it

comes to corruption the Government of the Philippines is number one to that topic. Many of the politics are corrupt

and abusive to their powers, just like Marcos. Pork Barrel is one example of corruption involving the Government.

According to a report of Philstar “This case is a model of a perfect crime. The perfect example of corruption and

malversation of government funds where every paperwork and trail has been studied with the right connections in

the different agencies to get the processed approved, released and shared to the hogs. Nothing can beat this case.

Nothing! No one will ever be convicted because there are no traces of evidence that corruption has taken place. It

is the greatest deal yet so far in the history of this country.” That alone can be a strong enough reason why many of

the politicians are not worth trusting. If Filipino voters still vote a corrupt politician the Philippines would still be a

third world country and will not increase the Economy of the country. Not only the country will suffer from loss of

Economy rate, but also the people will suffer from poverty.

There’s always positivity in every negative events that happens in our life just like the martial law, as we all

know the martial law declared by the past president Ferdinand Marcos is a very negative law, here in the

Philippines the negative effects also called as "The Darkest Chapter of Philippine History" because these affect the

people very bad, such as suspending the civil rights or the human rights, imposed the military authority throughout

the country, controlled the media, order to arrest the opposed organizations and leaders on the declaration of the

law. This brings fear to the people of the Philippines, during these times people think there’s no safety anymore.

While on its positive side there’s also good events that happen and they called this as "The Golden Years of the

Philippine History", wherein the economy of the Philippines goes 4 times higher than the usual, according to the

World Bank Data., also the number of crimes just like the murder and stealing are rarely done, because of the
active military armies that are visible anywhere, last is the whole country became disciplined. That’s some of the

positive effects of martial law here in the Philippines.

Marcos’ platform during his presidency was all about infrastructure. He built bridges, geothermal plants,

hydroelectric plants, universities, R&D in different sectors such as health and sciences, which we also enjoy today.

He all started these during his first term continuing until he left the Philippines. Despite this many infrastructures,

these projects are funded by loans that we are still paying for.

Ferdinand Marcos’ regimes should remember as one the tragic nightmare in the history of the Philippines.

But initially, he implemented beneficial policies and helped the people who required medical treatment by

constructing infrastructures like the Children's Medical Center. As time passed, the power got to his head, thus

losing focus and letting the Philippines down. He declared Martial Law to keep his power. From that event, he

abused the Philippines by taking away the people's rights and the wealth of every Filipino. Martial Law also took

away his people's freedom of speech and petition, which led to the People Power Revolution that forced him to

give up his presidency and leave the Philippines. At first, the Filipino people have trusted him because of his

positive responsible acts; but as time passed, he betrayed the Filipinos.