Martial Law and The Fourth Republic (1972-1986)
On September 22, 1972, former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile was reportedly ambushed by communists while his staff car was driving in San Juan, killing his driver but leaving him unscathed. The assassination attempt, along with the growing threat of the New People's Army and citizen unrest, gave Marcos enough reason to declare Proclamation No. 1081, which he signed on September 17 (postdated to September 21), the same day. Marcos, who henceforth ruled by decree, curtailed press freedom and other civil liberties, abolished Congress, shut down media establishments, and ordered the arrest of opposition leaders and militant activists.
The first years of Martial Law saw an increase in military hardware and personnel in the Philippines, giving a precursor to reduce military dependence on American personnel to police the country. In 1984, American lease on Philippines military bases were extended only by 5 years, as compared to 25 years' extension in 1959. Agricultural production, especially in rice production (which increased 42% in 8 years), was increased to decrease dependence on food importation. Philippine culture and arts were promoted with the establishment of institutions such as the National Arts Center. However, to help finance a number of economic development projects, the Marcos government borrowed large amounts of money from international lenders. Thus, proving that the country was not yet fully independent economically. The Philippines' external debt rose from $360 million (US) in 1962 to $28.3 billion in 1986, making the Philippines one of the most indebted countries in Asia.
Read more about this topic: Filipino Nationalism
Famous quotes containing the words martial, law, fourth and/or republic:
“The country in the town. [Rus in urbe.]”
—Marcus Valerius Martial (c. 40–104)
“From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
—Charles Darwin (1809–1882)
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: A day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.”
—Frederick Douglass (c.1817–1895)
“I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man’s virtues the means of deceiving him.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)