Martial Law

Lesaca, Patrick Joshua F.
PSC1101-LEC-SEC1-MN-ACO
The Double-Edged Leadership
As a student and as a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines, I took

considerations on reminiscing the history of our country way back from 1965, a great
president took over the country. Ferdinand Marcos ruled the presidency for three (3)
terms and is infamous for corruption, violation of human rights, and the martial law. As
people would view the president these days, he is considered as the most controversial
regime in the history of the Philippines. As my point of view in his presidency, there were
indeed a lot of gruesome events that happened but as a person who believes in equality,
I believe that he did a great job with the country’s innovation in terms of economy,
infrastructure, agriculture, biology and, public works (Bajala, n.d.).
Unfortunately, people linger bad memories instead of happy or good memories.

Studies show that negative emotions like fear will more likely be remembered than having
those good examples and memories that had been experienced in the past (Warner,
2007). Regardless of those bad memories that were written in history, the works of
President Marcos still amazes me as a student and as an aspiring legal worker. He was
imprisoned while studying for the board exams but still managed to top the exam. He
even managed to defend himself in court and was successful in legally setting himself
free (Killen, 1968). The president made sure that the republic of the Philippines is in good
shape. Before the infamous martial law was imposed, he completed projects for
infrastructure, power generators and, development. He was able to finish the projects for
the roads, and the public transportation within. The economy growth also helped many
Filipino citizens. Agriculture was one of the top priorities in the Marcos regime. These
infrastructures, projects, and works of the late President Marcos are being used in today’s
era and serving its purpose. The projects of President Ferdinand Marcos currently are a
big help for the Filipino people and is currently still functional from this day onwards.
Hospitals built during the term of Marcos are being used and helping people.
The public transportation project of president Marcos like the public trains of LRT-1, LRT-
2 AND MRT-3 are currently being used by not only thousands of citizens but millions of
people per year. Also, the Philippine National Railway functions as of now connecting
from northern NCR to the province of Laguna (Samonte, 2015). Although operations from
the provinces of Quezon are postponed, improvements and repairs are now ongoing.
Nonetheless, it’s still functional and is a big sentimental value to the Filipino citizens to
remember.
With the huge proportion of the money spent by President Marcos, people made
assumptions and made a protest to the President. Ferdinand Marcos issued the order to
implement martial law which removed some of the human rights for the Filipino people.
President Ferdinand Marcos gave a lot of power and authority to the Philippine police and
army to propagate and implement the martial law. No one was able to fight him at that
time. Communist and opposing forces were put into jail. Martial law was prevailed in order
to survive the communist people and the rebels (Museum, n.d.). The Filipino people were
living peacefully until the authorities abused the power that has been given to them
making the situation more tensed and worst (Baizas, 2019). Fortunate enough for the
people who are craving for revolution and rights, they have succeeded in terms of kicking
Ferdinand Marcos from his position as the president of the Philippines. It was good for
people to have their rights and democracy back. It simply means that with teamwork and
ideology, fighting the dictatorial leadership of the late President Marcos would put it to an
end (Porio, 2009).
Being able to know the history of the past era of the Philippines is such a big right and
privilege. Studying and evaluating the works of the previous Presidents in our country
would lead to bigger and better innovation. Having to learn the previous ways and
mistakes of the late President can prevent more disastrous moments with the help of us,
the citizens of the Philippines. Although it was very outstanding that the late President
Ferdinand Marcos is successful and being useful at this current era is efficient for us
Filipinos now, the double-edged sword has done its job by putting us in massive debts
which we can hardly pay now. Debts that have been controversial because of accusations
that it was stolen by the Marcos family (Tadem, 2018).
Funds that are stolen during the era of martial law. Unfortunately, President Marcos was
unstoppable at that time but fortunately, the dictatorialism has come to an end and, that
is thanks to those people who have helped to claim freedom and democracy and also
used this for their own agenda. For now, taking good care of the projects done by the late
President Ferdinand Marcos will serve as a big respect not only for Mr. Marcos but also
to the sacrifices made by the people from the past. We should continue studying the
legacy and we must not and never forget the history made by President Ferdinand
Marcos.
References
Baizas, G. (2019, September 21). Martial law 'peaceful'? Netizens debate severity of
Marcos regime. Rappler. Retrieved from https://www.rappler.com/nation/240633-
martial-law-2019-social-media-reactions
Bajala, B. (n.d.). Dictatorship: The Filipino Style. Oropher17. Retrieved October 04,
2019, from https://www.scribd.com/doc/60383488/PolSci-Martial-Law-Reaction-
Paper?fbclid=IwAR2ks45P8c18z8bEVYHLZNIk3FYLr5fuRmBKWiztz8ogz2ere0jq
HGWc5Og
Killen, P. J. (1968). Marcos overcame murder conviction. UPI ARCHIVES. Retrieved

from https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/02/02/Marcos-overcame-murder-
conviction/7964507704400/
Museum, M. L. (n.d.). Martial Law 101. Retrieved October 04, 2019, from
https://martiallawmuseum.ph/magaral/martial-law-101/
Porio, E. (2009). Shifting spaces of power in Metro Manila. analysis of urban trends,
culture, theory, policy, action, 13(1). doi:10.1080/13604810902726301
Samonte, J. (2015, February 24). Infrastructures Built During Marcos' Time. HOPPLER
MAGAZINE. Retrieved from
https://www.hoppler.com.ph/blog/lifestyle/infrastructures-built-during-marcos-time
Tadem, E. C. (2018, November 05). Philippines: The Marcos debt. Retrieved from
http://www.cadtm.org/Philippines-The-Marcos-debt
Warner, J. (2007, August 29). Bad Memories Easier to Remember . Brain % Nervous
System - News. Retrieved from
https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20070829/bad-memories-easier-to-
remember

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Lesaca, Patrick Joshua F.

The Double-Edged Leadership

As a student and as a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines, I took

Unfortunately, people linger bad memories instead of happy or good memories.

Killen, P. J. (1968). Marcos overcame murder conviction. UPI ARCHIVES. Retrieved

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