Batas Militar / Martial Law
There are two prevailing narratives of the Martial Law period in the Philippines from 1972 to 1986.
Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No 1081, beginning eight years of Martial Law, justified by the need for military control and suspension of writ of habeus corpus to a control communist insurgency. Though it officially ended on January 17, 1981, Marcos retained essentially all of his authoritarian powers until he was ousted by the People Power Revolution in February 1986.
One narrative is that Batas Militar was a golden era of our country, one where an infrastructure was built, where the economy flourished, and our country enjoyed peace and prosperity, despite multiple data sources showing otherwise.
Another narrative is that Batas Militar was the darkest chapter in our history, where the opposition to dictatorial, military control and movement towards democracy resulted in mass human rights violations. Thousands of Filipinos were wrongfully arrested, detained, tortured and/or killed, and the press was silenced, still, many believe otherwise.
We collect the stories of Martial Law with the goal of acknowledging the to promote empathy and understanding among Filipinos at home and in the diaspora.
According to Amnesty International, under Ferdinand Marcos’ Proclamation 1081, where Writ of Habeas Corpus was suspended, 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 tortured, and over 3,200 killed.