2 If allowed to complete its task, the ConCon would probably have produced a document that opened up government to new social forces on a permanent basis. The rising political violence after 1969 was to a considerable degree the creation of Marcos himself, first in trying to get himself re-elected and then in preparing a justification for martial law.Īnd the legislation as well as the Constitutional Convention elections during the same period gave new opportunities to the under-privileged and under-represented to put their mark on political processes and government programmes. Filipino democratic institutions did not break down, either in the sense of an inability to maintain order or a failure to respond to changes within the society. ![]() ![]() Some writers, including Marcos and his apologists, have described what happened in the early 1970’s as the “failure of Philippine democracy.” But that is a distortion of the realities of that period. Though a majority of the Supreme Court regarded this ratification as invalid, there was nota majority to declare the new “Constitution not in force.” 1 That document was drafted in the Presidential palace, adopted by the Constitutional Convention under duress, and “ratified” by voice vote in village assemblies where armed soldiers and policemen were in prominent attendance. He has clung to power beyond that term by utilizing for purposes of gaining legitimacy the transitory provisions of the 1973 Constitution. Martial law was declared by President Marcos on September 21, 1972, more than halfway through his second, and constitutionally final, four-year term. Because the Filipino citizenry had a longer experience in the uses of competitive elections, a free press and an independent judiciary than did the other peoples of the region, the demise of such institutions holds a special fascination for the scholar and is regarded as a special tragedy by all those who love freedom. ![]() The Philippines was the latest of the colonially inspired experiments in constitutional democracy within Southeast Asia to succumb to a palace coup.
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