What Does Martial Law Mean To Me?

A reflection paper on Martial Law

By: Gizella Marie E. Almeda

I was once told by my parents that I was lucky I’m not born under martial law. Before, that
statement is not really a big deal for me. During grade school and high school, my social science
teachers described what martial law is, and why it is needed in times of rebellion and terrorism. My
teachers made me believed that there’s nothing wrong with it, and as long as someone is not doing
anything against the government, he or she will not suffer under martial law. Nonetheless, today, I am
thankful that the university I entered in college taught me what really martial law is all about.

Martial law has two definitions in Merriam Webster dictionary. First, it is “the law applied in
occupied territory by the military authority of the occupying power”, and second, it is “the law
administered by military forces that is invoked by a government in an emergency when the civilian law
enforcement agencies are unable to maintain public order and safety”. With these definitions, it seems
that there is nothing wrong with martial law and is only meant to maintain order and safety. However,
in reality, is this really the reason of the president in imposing martial law? Have we experienced order
and safety during the martial law period?

In the Philippines, as per Article 7, Section 18 of the constitution, “the President shall be the
Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may
call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion.” But, how do
we know if this is really necessary?

It was September 21, 1972 when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial in the Philippines due to
the threats and attacks made by the communist groups. It was declared following the ambush of
former defence secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, which later found out to be a faked ambush.

I remember in college, we watched a documentary about Ferdinand Marcos. I was amazed to

know that he was able to top the bar exam while studying inside his cell. He was convicted for
murdering his father’s rival for the gubernatorial race. Then, he acted as his own lawyer and reversed
the murder case against him. I can’t help but admire how intellectual he is. But, his intellect had done
worst to the people, the Filipinos, whom he should have served.

Going back to the constitution, it is also mentioned that “...within forty-eight hours from the
proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the
President shall submit a report in person or in writing to the Congress.” With that being said, the
president along with the military can arrest a person in the absence of an arrest warrant. As a way of
protecting the rights of people and balance of power, the Congress may suspend or extend such
proclamation by a vote of atleast majority of its members, jointly.

The sole purpose of having a constitution is to protect our rights as citizens of the country.
However, it seems that when martial law is imposed, our freedom has been taken away. Aside from the
privilege of writ of habeas corpus, freedom of speech, expression, and right of the people to assemble
are all suspended. People are not supposed to make any negative statement about the government.
Media and press are under government’s control during the time of Marcos. News, stories, and
information were filtered and manipulated by the government. Marcos is indeed trying to hide the truth
from its people.

Lord Acton, a British historian, once said; “All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts
absolutely.” Given that martial law has given the police and military the power to arrest people without
warrant, human rights has been corrupted and violence has come to play. As cited in Rappler, a news
online site, “needles in your nail beds, electric wires attached to your genitals, and the barrel of a gun
thrust inside your mouth” are the modes of torture during that time.

During college, in our Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), we invited martial law victims to
tell their stories. One of the stories I remember was the one told by Susan Quimpo. During the martial
law period, seven out of her nine siblings were members of the revolutionary group. One has been
tortured and killed, one is still missing, three were imprisoned, and all of them experienced tortures in
different ways. She told us the instance where her brother’s military captors had soaked his brother’s
feet with water and tied a live wire to his penis to electrocute him. Aside from that, there are a lot of
other stories I’ve heard from different victims who were still alive up to this moment. Most of the
women victims experienced rape from policemen. Male victims were tortured and injured in different
ways. Their human rights were indeed violated during martial law. Given that I am aware of the actual
victim’s stories, I swear to myself, I will never support martial law.

Now that I’m taking my masters degree in another university where the culture and mindset is
different, I was shocked to know that many of my classmates will support martial law if ever
implemented here in Manila. Recently, President Rodrigo Duterte proclaimed martial law in Marawi,
Mindanao due to terrorism attacks. Indeed, it is his responsibility to decide and take action for what is
happening in Mindanao. However, for me, martial law is the solution.

The image of our president Rodrigo Duterte seems to be very masculine. He acts like the
modern FPJ of the country. I remember, during one presidential candidate debate, he was asked of
what he is going to do with the Chinese in the Scarborough Shoal. His answer was that he will go there
by his jet ski and stand the flag of Philippines in the island. He also said that he does not care if he’s
going to die, he will going to die as a hero anyway. Today, this man whom I thought will going to fight
against China, has accepted two warships from them, allied with them, and made them our partner for
national development. With his term, he started the war on drugs, violated human rights with
extrajudicial killings, appointed a girl dancer to be his PCOO assistant secretary, and proclaimed martial
law in Marawi. Indeed, I consider him as the macho president, who always want to show how masculine
he is, and very eager to exercise his power.

While Marcos has controlled the media during the first martial law, Duterte is now taking over
the social media. I have read in the newspaper, Philippine Star, that Duterte spent around P10 million
during his campaign to hire trolls to promote him as president, and target his opposition. No wonder,
until now he may use it to influence people that his decisions are great. Fake news and trolls are now
scattered over social media. Since, most Filipinos spent browsing through social media pages, and
posts and comments are being viral, social media greatly influence how most of us think and act. We
really need to carefully choose what information to believe and distinguish facts from lies.

For me, martial law is not really the mere solution to fight against terrorist attacks. It’s just a law
that gives absolute power to the president to govern. If I were the president, I will convince other
nations to be our allies in fighting, and build a strong military power. Maute which is allegedly part of
the ISIS group is indeed hard to fight especially when we do not have allies. I’m thankful that the US still
supported us in this battle despite the president’s negative attitude towards them. Proponents of
martial law argue that it is needed because Maute group is recruiting the citizens to be on their side. If
that’s the case, then it suggests that these citizens do not fear the consequences of engaging into
terrorism. That’s why we really need to have a strong military power, to build fear among the violators
of the constitution. We do not really need to lift the writ of habeas corpus, since it is clear that our
enemy is the Maute group.

Given that the president is fine with the extrajudicial killings on its war on drugs, for sure, same
thing is happening in Marawi. As of now, no report of any human rights violation is reported in Marawi.
What if information is again hidden from us? What if media and social media are being manipulated by
the government? And worse is, like the in the first martial law, what if these attacks were just planned?
Before we know it, it’s already history and many people already suffered. We had witnessed the same
scenario before, didn’t we learn from the past?