In a bold and confident manner, Senator Robin Padilla claimed that former presidents Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Rodrigo Duterte are the only two presidents in the history of the Philippines who have fought communism.
This is fake news, disinformation, and historical distortion—or, if this is not Padilla’s intention, a ‘harebrained’ claim—since there is no factual or historical basis for Padilla’s irresponsible statement.
“Napaka-ironic lamang po na alam naman po nating lahat, batid nating lahat na dadalawang pangulo lang po ang lumaban sa komunista. Una, si Ferdinand Marcos Sr., ano po ang nangyari? Inalis natin sa bansa. Ang sumunod na lumaban po sa komunista ay si Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” Padilla said during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing concerning Duterte’s arrest on April 10.
Expert says
On September 23, 1972, then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. went live on television declaring Martial Law all over the Philippines, citing rebellion, lawlessness, and the threat of communism as reasons.
However, many historians have refuted this statement, suggesting otherwise: that Marcos declared Martial Law to stay in power since his second and final term was ending the next year.
Even the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in their reports, believed the same.
“President Marcos’ declaration of martial law was prompted by a mixture of motives, but the evidence indicates that it basically reflected his overwhelming determination to stay in power at any cost,” one of their reports stated.
“The President’s move followed a series of incidents—some real, some
obviously staged by the government—which had created a growing atmosphere of uncertainty and fear of subversion,” it added.
The report also stated that communists were not a serious threat at the time.
The CIA also reported that Marcos had been considering Martial Law for some time, along with less drastic options to retain power, such as delaying the November 1973 elections, placing his wife, Imelda Marcos or some protégé as a surrogate candidate, or adopting a parliamentary government and appointing himself as prime minister.
In addition, with the socio-political trends in the country and the growing public disgust with endemic crime and corruption, Marcos may have calculated that only drastic social and economic reform (Bagong Lipunan) would reverse the situation.
Thus, Marcos decided to declare Martial Law in hopes of restoring his own popular standing sufficiently to risk any type of popular vote.
Massive failure
“Indeed, although the communists do not now seriously threaten the Philippine government, they nonetheless have made significant gains in recent years, both in numbers and in broadening their geographic base.” CIA claimed.
While Martial Law was in effect, 3,240 were killed, 34,000 tortured, and 70,000 were arrested, according to Amnesty International and not all of these are communists, rebels, and criminals.
Marcos also allegedly stole an estimated total of $5–10 billion. In 2003, the Supreme Court declared $683 million of assets in various Swiss banks as ill-gotten.
Yet after two decades of abuse, plunder, and killings, the problem of Communism actually became worse.
Many reports said that during Martial Law, communists in the Philippines grew in numbers because of the systematic abuse of the Marcos government.
“When President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law in 1972, one justification he cited was the three-year-old Communist insurgency, which was then estimated to involve 500 men. When he left office in February after 14 years of warfare, the insurgency had grown to an organized nationwide movement of 16,000 or more, whose expanding influence contributed to his downfall,” The New York Times reported on September 14, 1986.
Some historians, like Leloy Claudio, put the numbers from 2,000 to 24,000.
Facts
Padilla claims that Marcos Sr. fought Communism, but history says “uhm…NO.”
What evidence suggests instead is that Marcos declared martial law to stay, or rather abuse power.
He did not crush communism despite having absolute power as dictator but instead was ‘ironically’ called ‘the best NPA recruiter’.
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