The conditions that this development generated were filling up the streets with protesters – workers, peasants, students and intellectuals, and even sections of the business community.

Marcos assumed his first presidential term in 1965 amid a nascent political ferment. During his second term (starting 1969), nationalist dissent found its way into the corridors of the political establishment. Santos cites three major nationalist developments in the period 1969-1972:

“In 1969, Congress under pressure from a growing anti-imperialist public opinion, passed a Magna Carta that call(ed) for national industrialization against the dictates of the IMF. Then from 1971 to 1972, nationalists were gaining ground in gathering support for an anti-imperialist agenda in the Constitutional Convention. In 1972, the Supreme Court (SC) issued two decisions unfavorable to foreign monopolist corporations: one, in the Quasha case, which nullified all sales of private lands to American citizens after 1945, and (an)other rolled back oil price hikes by the oil cartel.”

Marcos’ very first act after the issuance of Proclamation No. 1081 was a reversal of the Quasha case. A report by the U.S. Congress would later admit that the martial law period was a time for the granting of greater privileges to foreign investment.

Human rights violations

Not only was Enrile the architect of martial law. As secretary of national defense, Enrile presided over the military establishment at a time when it was at the peak of its power. The military’s Martial Law record is fraught with human rights violations.

Based on data from military historian Alfred McCoy, there were a total of 35,000 political prisoners tortured during Martial Law. The torture methods ranged from electrocution of the genitals, “water cure,” and injection of mind-altering substances to threats of death to sexual molestation and even rape – of both women and men.

Data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) also show 759 persons as having involuntarily disappeared during Martial Law.

Likewise, data from various human rights groups place the number of victims of extrajudicial killings under Marcos’ rule at 1,500. Previous to their killings, the victims were all tagged by the Marcos regime as “subversives” – a euphemism which, as used by government at that time, is similar to today’s state usage of the term “terrorist.”

EDSA and after

In February 1986, in a press conference with then Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Fidel V. Ramos in which they announced their defection to the opposition, Enrile admitted that he had faked his own ambush in 1972 to provide a scare scenario that would justify the declaration of martial law shortly after.

On Feb. 25 that same year, Marcos was ousted in what is now known as the EDSA I uprising.

Enrile briefly served as defense secretary under the Corazon Aquino government until he was sacked for his alleged role in a coup attempt led by then Col. Gregorio Honasan. He won a Senate seat in 1987.

As a senator from 1987 to 1992, he briefly distinguished himself by being among the “Magnificent 12” senators who voted against the extension of the RP-U.S. Military Bases Treaty.

In 1992, he ran for and won a seat in the House of Representatives, representing his province of Cagayan. Three years later, he won in the senatorial elections amid accusations that he was a beneficiary of dagdag-bawas (vote-padding and vote-shaving) operations in a neck-to-neck race for the 12th seat against Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. – then his party-mate in the Lakas-Laban Coalition. In 1996 he filed the first Anti-Terrorism Bill, which never saw the light of day because of intense broad protest.

In 1998, Enrile ran for president – claiming in a television interview to be “the only one qualified to manage the country.” He figured poorly, however, and after the election returned to the Senate and promptly threw his support behind the winner, former actor Joseph Estrada.

When former First Lady Imelda Marcos celebrated her birthday in 1998, Enrile was among the well-wishers present. He was caught on TV getting a pat on the back from the former first lady, who said: “This man is actually a Marcos boy.”

He supported Estrada during the latter’s impeachment trial for bribery, graft and corrupt practices, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.

Estrada was ousted in January 2001 in what is now known as the EDSA II uprising.

Enrile ran again for senator in 2001, counting on his opposition to the unpopular Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). The EPIRA ushered in, among other things, the imposition of the Power Purchase Adjustment (PPA) which sent electric bills soaring. He lost, however, and had to wait another three years to win another Senate term – after which he aligned himself with the administration camp.

In 2006, Enrile as chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights led in propelling Senate Bill No. 2137 to passage. The bill was passed in February this year and is now known as the HSA or the Anti-Terrorism Law.(Bulatlat.com)

 Save as PDF