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73-697: By the early 1980s, there had been about a decade of conflict between the Martial Law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos and the New People's Army of the Marxist–Leninist-Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP was established during the time of Marcos' first term as president by remnants of an earlier Marxist–Leninist party which had effectively been defeated by prior Presidential administrations. Barred from running for

146-637: A Congress speech to denounce impending martial law, and Jose W. Diokno, who held a rally with 50,000 people from the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL) at Plaza Miranda on the same day. By dawn of the following day, many of the 400 individuals listed on the military's priority arrest list—journalists, members of the political opposition, constitutional convention delegates, outspoken lawyers, teachers, and students—had been detained. Media outlets were shuttered, although those linked with Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto were allowed to reopen within

219-919: A Member of 15 other Senate Committees. He was also the President of the Asian Regional Council Global Parliamentarians on Habitat, the Vice-President for Asia Global Parliamentarians on Habitat, the Co-chairperson of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD) and a member of the Commission on Appointments . Biazon ran for re-election under the K4 administration coalition in 2004 and won, narrowly beating incumbent Senator Robert Barbers by

292-739: A Post-World War II geopolitical framework. After gaining independence from the US after the war, the Philippines had retained strong economic, political and military ties to the United States, manifested in a Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), Military Assistance Agreement (MAA), a US Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG), and the physical presence of several Military Bases where the US Military could conduct " unhampered US military operations " for 99 years (later reduced to 50). Filipino presidents were very politically dependent on American support, and this did not change until

365-427: A brief period in which Proclamation No. 1081 was formally in place, but without the knowledge of the public. For most of the Philippines, therefore, martial law was thus properly implemented when it was announced on the evening of September 23, 1972. The implementation of martial law began sometime before midnight on September 22, with the arrest of the two main opposition leaders, Ninoy Aquino, who on September 21 held

438-600: A few days before Martial Law was announced on September 23, 1972. After Nixon, the Ford and Reagan administrations were similarly supportive of Marcos. While the Carter administration expressed diplomatic concerns over the human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship , it could not totally withdraw its support from Marcos in light of US foreign policy's need to have the lease on the US Bases in

511-1130: A laborer in the then Highway 54 (now EDSA ), this time to sustain his college education in FEATI where he took mechanical engineering . Biazon also attended other trainings or schooling which include the TOP Management Program at the Asian Institute of Management ; Command and General Staff Course in Quantico, Virginia , United States; Crisis Program in California , United States; Allied Combat Intelligence Course in Okinawa , Japan; Senior Officer Maintenance Course in Kentucky , United States; Amphibious Warfare Course in Quantico, Virginia, United States and, Military Instructors in Norfolk, Virginia , United States. Biazon entered

584-613: A loss of morale among the middle-ranks of the AFP, because it meant a significant slowdown in promotions and caused many officers to retire with ranks much lower than they would otherwise have earned. As a result, Security Affairs Professor Douglas J. Macdonald noted that "near the end of the dictatorship, the Military and the Intelligence organizations were badly polarized along generational lines, as they are today." In June 1970, Marcos authorized

657-513: A margin of 10,685 votes for the 12th place. Barbers filed an electoral protest but died within the year. Biazon continued filing numerous bills and resolution, many of them were passed into law, some of them including: Biazon was also one of the main proponents of the Reproductive Health Bill . Biazon ran for the open seat of his son, Ruffy in the lone district in 2010 as he was term-limited. Ruffy, also term-limited, ran instead for

730-711: A peace with the CPP, but rightwing elements in Aquino's government managed to create an atmosphere of distrust significant enough to create a permanent rift between Aquino and the Philippine left. In July 1987, the Aquino government created a concept called the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), an irregular auxiliary force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines focusing on anti-insurgency efforts in

803-466: A scale where 3 was the highest Defense condition. In 1971, AFP Chief of Staff Manuel T. Yan had prominently told media that the grounds for Marcos to either impose of martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus did not exist. One of the generals serving under General Fabian Ver of the National Intelligence and Security Authority later recalled that "Even when Martial Law

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876-477: A third term as president, Marcos managed to extend his hold in power beyond two constitutionally-allowed four year terms by putting the Philippines under martial law in September 1972, citing social unrest in the wake of the economic instability created by his own debt-driven government spending during his reelection campaign. Marcos played up the then still newly-formed Communist Party of the Philippines to help justify

949-452: A week before martial law was declared, other generals were able to deny that they had heard of any operation under the said code title, and it was easy for Marcos to pinpoint Soliman as the whistleblower who gave the information to Aquino. Not long after the declaration of martial law, the controlled press reported that Soliman had died of a heart attack, but his family believed that Marcos had ordered that he be killed. Marcos then dissolved

1022-510: Is called on December 3, 1961. They had three children, Rita Rosanna (first runner-up at Binibining Pilipinas 1985), Rino Rudiyardo and Rozzano "Ruffy" Rufino (incumbent Muntinlupa mayor). Biazon was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 2022. He later caught pneumonia twice in 2023, with the second being more severe. On May 21, 2023, he was hospitalised for pneumonia and was intubated the next day until June 3. Biazon died on June 12, 2023, during

1095-450: Is limited to the period in which he exercised dictatorial powers under martial law, and the period where he continued to wield those powers despite lifting the proclamation in 1981. Numerous explanations have been put forward as reasons for Marcos to declare martial law in September 1972, some of which were presented by the Marcos administration as official justifications, and some of which were dissenting perspectives put forward by either

1168-409: Is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of human rights abuses , particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on the documentation of Amnesty International , Task Force Detainees of the Philippines , and similar human rights monitoring entities, historians believe that

1241-521: The July 1972 MV Karagatan incident in which a secret arms shipment from China, meant for Communist Party forces, sank just off Digoyo Point in Palanan, Isabela. Numerous other incidents cited by Marcos as rationalizations for his declaration of Martial Law have either been discredited or disputed, in light of Marcos's known tactic of undertaking false flag operations as a propaganda technique. This includes:

1314-619: The Philippine Congress and shut down media establishments critical of his Administration. This period in Philippine history is remembered for numerous human rights abuses , targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against Marcos - including 3,257 known extrajudicial killings , 35,000 documented tortures, 759 "disappeared", and 70,000 incarcerations documented by international human rights organizations. During 1982, Marcos' forces gained several significant victories against

1387-664: The Philippine Military Academy in 1957, although he applied and passed for the US Navy . He was the class goat of PMA Class 1961 yet this did not prevent him from achieving his goal. As a Philippine Marine, he attained the following posts: Superintendent of PMA in 1986–87, Commandant of the Philippine Marines (PMC) in 1987–1989, Commanding General of the NCR Defense Command in 1988–1990, Armed Forces of

1460-471: The Plaza Miranda bombing and the alleged assassination attempt on Defense Secretary Enrile – the groundwork for its implementation had been laid down much earlier. Marcos's aide-turned whistleblower Primitivo Mijares noted that "The beginning infrastructure for martial law was actually laid down as early as the first day of his assumption of the Philippine presidency on December 30, 1965." Most notably, by

1533-528: The Representative of Muntinlupa from 2010 to 2016. Biazon was born on April 14, 1935, in Batac , Ilocos Norte . His father Rufino Biazon, was a doughmaker then, while his mother Juliana Gaspar, was a clotheswasher. His father died and left him along with his mother and three younger sisters when he was seven years old. At a young age of eight, he and his sisters had already experienced hardship, especially during

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1606-513: The Senate but was unsuccessful. He faced former broadcaster Dong Puno . He was elected with 46% of the vote. His term started on June 30, 2010. He was then reelected in 2013 , defeating four opponents. He decided not to seek reelection in 2016 . Biazon met Monserrat Narag Bunoan as a classmate in the Philippine Military Academy . Eight months after his graduation in the Philippine Military Academy , he eventually married Monserrat or "Monchie" as she

1679-658: The " Anti-Subversion Act of 1957 ", which made mere membership in any communist party illegal. The Philippines would take three and a half decades to repeal it, through Republic Act 7636, in 1992. RA No. 1700 was originally meant to counter the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and its armed force, the Hukbalahap (also called the "Huks"). The campaign against the PKP and the Huks was bloody, but it had basically ended by 1954. Throughout

1752-497: The "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the sectarian "rebellion" of the Muslim Independence Movement (MIM). Opposition figures of the time (such as Lorenzo Tañada , Jose W. Diokno , and Jovito Salonga ) accused Marcos of exaggerating these threats and using them as an excuse to consolidate power and extend his tenure beyond the two presidential terms allowed by

1825-698: The 125th Independence Day , at Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Alabang , Muntinlupa . He was 88. His wake was held on June 13–16 at Heritage Park in Taguig. Necrological services for him were later held at the Muntinlupa City Hall on June 18 and at the Senate on June 19. His remains were then transferred to the Philippine Marine Corps headquarters in Taguig on June 19–20, before being finally interred at

1898-514: The 1935 constitution. Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972, marking the beginning of a fourteen-year period of one-man rule , which effectively lasted until Marcos was exiled from the country on February 25, 1986. Proclamation No. 1081 was formally lifted on January 17, 1981, although Marcos retained essentially all of his powers as dictator until he was ousted in February 1986 . This nine-year period in Philippine history

1971-414: The 60s, the remnants of the PKP pursued "a course of peaceful action" while working to rebuild their organisation, but, this was later challenged by a youth-based Maoist group within the organization created by University Professor Jose Maria Sison , who joined the PKP in 1962. Clashing with the PKP party leaders' view that armed struggle was an exercise in futility, Sison and his group were expelled from

2044-448: The AFP's leaders, and a hand in the military's day-to-day operationalization. Singaporean author and political science professor Terence Lee notes that this had the effect of "develop[ing] a patronage system within the defense establishment." Professor Albert Celoza, in his 1997 book on the political economy of authoritarianism in the Philippines, notes that: "It was alleged that a plan of action had existed as early as 1965...no one opposed

2117-608: The Armed Forces. As a way of assuring that any whistleblowers would be easily accounted for, the copies of the plan were distributed with codeword titles taken from the signs of the Zodiac. The copy marked "Sagittarius" was given to General Marcos "Mark" Soliman who commanded the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency . Thus, when Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. exposed the existence of "Oplan Sagittarius"

2190-467: The August 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing ; the 1972 Manila bombings from March to September of that year; and the alleged September 1972 ambush of Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile . The social unrest of 1969 to 1970, and the violent dispersal of the resulting " First Quarter Storm " protests were among the early watershed events in which large numbers of Filipino students of the 1970s were radicalized against

2263-485: The CPP allied with Huk commander Bernabe Buscayno to create the nascent New People's Army . Although the CPP-NPA was only a small force at the time, the AFP hyped up its formation, partly because doing so was good for building up the AFP budget. As a result, notes security specialist Richard J. Kessler , "the AFP mythologized the group, investing it with a revolutionary aura that only attracted more supporters." Even in

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2336-655: The CPP in Mindanao, notably the death of prominent party thinker and idealogue Edgar Jopson in September. But from 1983 onwards, various major events led to many Mindanaoans being radicalized and joining the NPA's ranks. The 1983 Philippine economic nosedive and the Assassination of Ninoy Aquino a few months later saw the New People's Army grow to seven fronts (Battalion sized units), In order to keep its large number of cadres supplied,

2409-743: The Ilocos, the most significant of whom had familial connections to Marcos – ensuring their familial and regionalistic loyalties to him. The practice was so pervasive that it quickly earned a moniker: "Ilocanization". The most important of these appointments included Juan Ponce Enrile as Secretary of Defense, and Fidel Ramos as Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff, who were both related to Marcos; and Fabian Ver, Marcos's townmate from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, as Armed Forces Chief of Staff. In tandem with this "Ilocanization", generals loyal to Marcos were allowed to stay in their positions past their supposed retirement age, or were rewarded with civilian government posts. This led to

2482-543: The Japanese regime. Living in a makeshift shanty in Cavite , they had to peddle food, collected bottles and newspapers, which were later sold in order to earn a living for the family. In spite of their condition, it did not stop him from obtaining his education. Biazon enrolled as a Grade One student at the age of eleven in 1946. In order to support his education, and at the same time look for ways to earn money, so he went to school in

2555-410: The Marcos administration. Due to these dispersals, many students who had previously held "moderate" positions (i.e., calling for legislative reforms) became convinced that they had no choice but to call for more radical social change. Other watershed events that would later radicalize many otherwise "moderate" opposition members include the February 1971 Diliman Commune ; the August 1971 suspension of

2628-510: The Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings , 35,000 documented tortures, 737 "disappeared", and 70,000 incarcerations. After Marcos was ousted, government investigators discovered that the declaration of martial law had also allowed the Marcoses to hide secret stashes of unexplained wealth that various courts later determined to be "of criminal origin". While Marcos's presidency began in late 1965 , this article

2701-402: The NPA depended heavily on local citizens for supplies, increasing the incidences of abusive behavior, and reducing support for their cause. This coincided with a decision to experiment with strategies like urban insurrectionism. Severe violence began with assassinations of corrupt officials and policemen, but mid-1984 and August 1985 also saw 16 journalists killed where only six had been killed in

2774-491: The NPA itself, caused the NPA in Mindanao to launch a hunt for deep penetration agents among their ranks and had the effect of reducing NPA presence in Davao. Meanwhile, Alsa Masa itself was documented to be committing human rights violations. Most Davao residents remained staunchly against violence from either extreme. However, these peaceful citizens lacked the political clout to influence the situation. One stabilizing element during

2847-706: The National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and put a powerful super-agency, the National Intelligence and Security Authority (NISA) in its place, with steadfast Marcos follower General Fabian Ver in command. By 1971, Marcos had reached out to US Ambassador to the Philippines Henry Byroade, with the question of whether the United States, then under the administration of President Richard Nixon, would support him should he choose to proclaim Martial Law. Byroade brought

2920-686: The PC. One prominent early example of an officer forced to resign his commission was Navy Commodore Ramon Alcaraz – a World War II hero who would eventually be dubbed the "father of the Philippine Marines" and have a Philippine Navy ship named after him. Alcaraz was forced to resign from the Armed Forces because his success in the Navy's anti-smuggling operations had come into conflict with Marcos's accommodations with alleged "smuggler-king" Lino Bocalan. In their place, Marcos appointed officers from his home region,

2993-470: The PKP in 1967, and on December 26, 1968 founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) along Maoist lines. While the PKP sought to marginalize this new group, it soon became the leading communist party in the Philippines. When Marcos became president in 1965, the PKP was a weakened organization, and the Hukbalahap reduced to "what amounted to banditry." But Marcos immediately made noise about

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3066-736: The Philippine Marine Corps, he quelled an attempted coup by the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), led by Col. Gringo Honasan . He led the Marines and the officers and men of the AFP NCR Defense Command in foiling the coup attempt. In early 1990, Viva Films began to plan a film based on Gen. Biazon's life, with Eddie Garcia cast as Biazon and Manuel "Fyke" Cinco to direct, though it did not come to fruition. Gen. Biazon

3139-587: The Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff in 1990-91 and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff in 1991. Biazon was assigned in Davao in 1983 during the Marcos administration. It was the time when the trust and confidence of the civilians in the military were returned as he took the initiative to do so. During his tenure both as the Commanding General of the AFP NCR Defense Command and Commandant of

3212-649: The Philippines renewed by Marcos. Of the various threats cited in the Proclamation 1081 document as rationalizations for declaration of Martial Law, the most extensively described was the threat supposedly posed by Communist insurgents – specifically the newly formed Communist Party of the Philippines , a Maoist organization which had only recently broken off from the Marxist–Leninist Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas . When Marcos became president in 1965, Philippine policy and politics functioned under

3285-623: The administration tried to chase out of their homes; to the Philippines' political old-guard, whom Marcos had tried to displace from power; to academics and economists who disagreed with the specifics of Marcos's martial law policies. All of these, regardless of their social position or policy beliefs, subscribed to the interpretation that Marcos declared martial law: In addition, some critics who ascribe an economic component to Marcos's motivations, suggesting that martial law: Although Marcos initially claimed that he had declared martial law in response to violent acts that took place in 1971–72 – such as

3358-468: The countryside. Many of Alsa Masa's members were later recruited into the CAFGU. Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos Presidency Family Unexplained wealth Legacy Related [REDACTED] At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under martial law , stating he had done so in response to

3431-572: The creation of civil militias called "Barangay Self Defense Units", which would be renamed the Civilian Home Defense Forces in 1977 through Presidential Decree 1016. At its inception, the CHDF numbered 73,000 men, and it earned a reputation as the perpetrators of the worst human rights violations during martial law. When Marcos was ready to declare martial law, copies of the plan for its implementation were distributed to key officials within

3504-399: The day. Soon after, Congress was abolished, mass activities were prohibited, political parties were outlawed, a curfew was put in place, and civil and political rights were suspended. Rodolfo Biazon Rodolfo "Pong" Gaspar Biazon ( Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈbjason] , April 14, 1935 – October 15, 2023) was a Filipino politician and Philippine Marine Corps general . He

3577-634: The days immediately before Marcos's declaration of Martial Law on September 23, 1972, the Philippine National Security Council did not consider the two communist movements to represent a sizeable threat. At around that time, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations received notice that as of September 19, 1972, the Philippine Council had set their threat assessment at "between 'normal' and 'Internal Defense Condition 1'" on

3650-405: The decade between 1975 and 1984. Agdao, the urban poor barangay from which of the NPA got much of its support, began to be known as "Nicaragdao," in reference to the ongoing Nicaraguan civil war , while the foreign press began labelling Davao the Philippines "Murder Capital" and the "Killing Fields". The NPA's experiments with urban insurrectionism led all of Mindanao to be labeled "the laboratory of

3723-423: The declaration of Martial Law, but this had the effect of mythologizing the group and making it easier to recruit Filipinos fleeing the administration's political suppression, or angered by the regime's numerous human rights abuses. Marcos had taken full control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines , abolished freedom of speech and the freedom of the press , as well as many other civil liberties . He dissolved

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3796-483: The differences in the accounts: "Whether they conflict or not, all accounts indicate that Marcos's obsession with numerology (particularly the number seven) necessitated that Proclamation No. 1081 be officially signed on a date that was divisible by seven. Thus, September 21, 1972 became the official date that martial law was established and the day that the Marcos dictatorship began. This also allowed Marcos to control history on his own terms." September 22, 1972, marked

3869-533: The end of the Cold War in 1989, and the termination of the 1947 US Military Bases Treaty, in 1992. With its close ties to the US, the Philippines was ideologically caught up in the anticommunist scare perpetuated by the US during the Cold War. The government was not yet strongly-established, and it was "fearful of being swept away by [communism]'s rising tide", so in 1957, it passed Republic Act (RA) No. 1700, known as

3942-448: The late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. , to run for office. He ran for senator in 1992 under Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino . He was successful, placing 20th to become a senator in the 9th Congress from 1992 to 1995. In 1993, he engaged in a series of dialogues with squatters in Pasay about their resettlement to the province of Cavite . He ran for re-election in 1995 under the Lakas–Laban Coalition , but lost, placing 14th. After

4015-421: The loss, he ran again for Senator in 1998 under Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino and won, resulting to a six-year term. He was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security and Committee on Urban Planning , Housing and Resettlement. Aside from this, he held the following positions in the Senate: Vice-Chair of the Committees on Agriculture and Food and Foreign Relations , and

4088-495: The mainstream political opposition or by analysts studying the political economy of the decision. In his 1987 treatise, Dictatorship & Martial Law: Philippine Authoritarianism in 1972 , University of the Philippines public administration professor Alex Brillantes Jr. identifies three reasons expressed by the Marcos administration, saying that martial law: The first two justifications were explicitly stated in Proclamation 1081, which cited two explicit justifications: "to save

4161-431: The matter up with Nixon in a conversation in January 1971. According to the US National Archives' copy of the Memorandum of Conversation between Nixon and Byroade: The president declared that we would "absolutely" back Marcos up, and "to the hilt" so long as what he was doing was to preserve the system against those who would destroy it in the name of liberty. The President indicated that... we would not support anyone who

4234-426: The mid-1980s was the designation of then-Colonel Rodolfo Biazon as commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade assigned to Davao. In what the international press dubbed "the most sophisticated approach" to addressing the insurgency, Biazon eschewed the aggressive stance preferred by the Philippine Constabulary and instead focused on outreach and community engagement, particularly visiting schools and communities, and assuring

4307-536: The morning and worked in the afternoon. He would collect seashells in Manila Bay which were in turn sold at the market. He studied at Jose Rizal Elementary School in Pasay (then in Rizal ) for his primary education where he graduated salutatorian . He continued working, washing clothes for other people in order to sustain his high school education at the Arellano University – Jose Abad Santos High School, also in Pasay, in 1955. He also graduated from this school with honors. He stopped doing laundry and instead worked as

4380-401: The physical Proclamation No. 1081 document, which placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. Whichever the case, the document was formally dated September 21 because of his superstitions and numerological beliefs concerning the number seven. The Official Gazette of the republic of the Philippines, in a retrospective article on Marcos's proclamation of martial law, comments on

4453-478: The plan because no one was certain that the plan would be carried out." Marcos soon carried out the "largest reshuffle in the history of the armed forces" when he forcibly retired fourteen of the AFP's twenty-five flag officers, including the AFP Chief of Staff, the AFP Vice Chief of Staff, the commanding general of the Philippine Army, the Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, the commanders of all four Constabulary Zones, and one third of all Provincial Commanders of

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4526-464: The public that erring Marines would be disciplined for any abuses. In February 1986, the Marcos regime was overthrown by the civilian-led People Power revolution , to which the people of Davao, organized into groups such as the Yellow Friday Movement of Soledad Duterte, contributed. Marcos' opponent Corazon Aquino replaced Marcos as President, and Duterte's son Rodrigo became Mayor of Davao. There were initially hopes that Aquino would be able to forge

4599-450: The republic" (from various plots); and "to reform society" (after the failure of American-style democracy). The third rationalization arose from the administration's propaganda, which portrayed Marcos as a hypermasculine or ultranationalist figure able to compel the obedience of supposedly "spoiled" Filipinos. Opposition to Marcos's declaration of martial law ran the whole gamut of Philippine society – ranging from impoverished peasants whom

4672-402: The revolution." In 1984, rightwing vigilantes headed by Marcos supporter and barangay chairman of Agdao, Wilfredo “Baby” Aquino formed the armed group "Alsa Masa" (lit. "People's Uprising") to counter them. This move made Baby Aquino a sort of “political overlord” in Agdao, with the Alsa Masa becoming “notorious for its own lawless activities, including liquidations of suspected rebels.” Aquino

4745-414: The supposed "communist threat" – drawing on images of the bloody Huk encounters of the 1950s, and courting the Johnson administration's political support in light of the U.S.' recent entry into the Vietnam war . Marcos continued using communism as a bogeyman after 1968, as the PKP faded into obscurity and the nascent CPP became more prominent. The Armed Forces of the Philippines did likewise in 1969, when

4818-452: The time Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, he had: Marcos began increasing his influence over the armed forces of the Philippines as soon as he became president in 1965 by following President Ramon Magsaysay 's precedent of concurrently hold the portfolio of defense secretary in the first thirteen months of his presidency. American defense analyst Donald Berlin notes that this gave Marcos an opportunity for direct interaction with

4891-413: The writ of habeas corpus in the wake of the Plaza Miranda bombing; the September 1972 declaration of Martial Law ; the 1980 murder of Macli-ing Dulag ; and the August 1983 assassination of Ninoy Aquino . This radicalization led to a significant growth of the Communist Party of the Philippines under the Marcos administration. Writer and peace advocate Gus Miclat cites the example of Mindanao: " There

4964-563: Was assassinated in November 1985. The group's spokesperson was Jun Pala , who later denounced the movement for its failure to solve the underlying causes of the insurgency and for allegedly recruiting "hoodlums, snatchers, holdup men” and other people with criminal records" with the approval of the military. He was assassinated in 2003. The Alsa Masa was then reconstituted in 1986 with the support of Philippine Constabulary Davao City Metropolitan Command commander Lt. Colonel Franco Calida. The Alsa Masa's efforts, coinciding with infighting within

5037-409: Was chosen to be the third Armed Forces Chief of Staff of the 5th Republic, after Fidel V. Ramos and Renato de Villa , and the first one to come from the ranks of the PMC in 1991. Prior to that, he served then also as the Vice Chief of Staff of the AFP under De Villa. He is the first and only AFP Chief of Staff from the Philippine Marine Corps . Biazon was convinced by Paul Aquino, the brother of

5110-471: Was declared, the communists were not a real threat. The military could handle them." Despite historical consensus that the Marcos administration willfully exaggerated the capabilities and actions of the Communist Party of the Philippines , a few of the incidents cited by Marcos have been confirmed as genuine activities of the CPP. These included: the December 1970 raid on the Philippine Military Academy 's armory by defecting army officer Victor Corpus ; and

5183-426: Was not one NPA cadre in Mindanao in 1972. Yes, there were activists, there were some firebrands... but there were no armed rebels then except for those that eventually formed the Moro National Liberation Front. When Marcos fled in 1986, the NPA was virtually in all Mindanao provinces, enjoying even a tacit alliance with the MNLF. " Several conflicting accounts about exist regarding the exact date on which Marcos signed

5256-457: Was the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in early 1991 and then served as a Senator from 1992 to 1995 and from 1998 to 2010. During his time in the military, he served as superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps, Vice Chief of Staff, and finally Chief of Staff of the AFP. After his stints in the senate, he served as

5329-517: Was trying to set himself up as military dictator, but we would do everything we can to back a man who was trying to make the system work and to preserve order. Of course, we understood that Marcos would not be entirely motivated by national interests, but this was something which we had come to expect from Asian leaders. Marcos informed the US Ambassador to the Philippines about his intent to declare Martial Law plan as early as September 17, 1972, just

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