Military history of the Philippines during the Marcos dictatorship

Patronage system in the Armed Forces President Ferdinand Marcos sought to have a strong personal influence over the Armed Forces as soon as he became president in 1965, holding on to the portfolio of defense secretary in the first thirteen months of his presidency to develop what scholars have noted to be "a patronage system within the defense establishment." The portfolio afforded him direct interaction with the AFP's leadership, and to have a hand in the AFP's day-to-day operationalization. He also immediately began a massive expansion of the Philippine military, with Ilocanos notably being given a preference for promotion to higher ranks. Marcos also immediately reversed Macapagal's position on keeping the AFP away from civic programs which could lead to the politicization of the military hierarchy. He instead gave the armed forces a central role in his economic development initiatives and gave the AFP significant training and resources to ease it into this expanded role. This had the effect of expanding the AFP's presence in the countryside, and also gave Marcos' central government the political benefit of weakening the influence of local politicians. Sacking of Commodore Ramon Alcaraz One of Marcos' early confrontations with an AFP officer who disagreed with him took place within the first year after he was first elected president. Marcos was alleged to have made a deal with smuggler-king Lino Bocalan to restrain the patrols of the Naval Operations Force (NOF) against Smuggling, which was under the command of Philippine Navy Commodore Ramon A. Alcaraz. In a radio broadcast on January 11, 1966, ==Beginnings of the New People's Army and Moro Conflicts==

The Marcos administration also marked the beginnings of at least two long-running conflicts that continued to plague later administrations: the Moro conflict and the New People's Army conflict. 1968 Jabidah Massacre and the 1972 birth of the Moro conflict The Moro conflict, began in earnest in 1968 when short-lived organizations such as the Muslim Independence Movement and the Bangsamoro Liberation Organization formed in reaction to news about the Jabidah Massacre, With the declaration of Martial Law, in September 1972, political parties, including the BMLO and the MIM, were dissolved. So when former MIM member Nur Misuari formed an armed secessionist group called the Moro National Liberation Front, he was quickly able to consolidate power. which they all soon lost in an encounter against the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The NPA tried to follow the Maoist military doctrine of "establishing stable base areas," but they took heavy casualties in Northern Luzon as a result, and abandoned the Maoist strategy in favor of dispersing their forces. The NPA was finally able to regain weaponry on December 29, 1970, when Philippine Military Academy instructor Lt. Victor Corpus defected to the CPP-NPA and led a raid on the PMA armory, timing the raid when most cadets were out on Christmas vacation and the PMA's senior officers including its Superintendent, General Ugalde had left the camp to meet President Ferdinand Marcos upon his scheduled arrival in nearby Baguio. Corpus, who was PMA's designated officer of the day (OOD), guided the NPA raiding team which managed to escape with Browning Automatic Rifles, carbines, machineguns, and various other weapons and ammunition. In 1971, AFP Chief of Staff Manuel T. Yan had prominently told media that the grounds for Marcos to either impose of martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus did not exist. One of the generals serving under General Fabian Ver of the National Intelligence and Security Authority later recalled that "Even when Martial Law was declared, the communists were not a real threat. The military could handle them." == Oplan Sagittarius==

A week before Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declare martial law in September 1972, copies of the plan for its implementation were distributed to key officials within the Armed Forces. As a way of assuring that any whistleblowers could be easily identified, the copies of the plan were distributed with codeword titles taken from the different signs of the Zodiac. The copy marked "Sagittarius" was given to General Marcos Soliman, who commanded the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency at the time. When Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. exposed the existence of "Oplan Sagittarius" a week before martial law was declared, other generals were able to deny that they had heard of any operation under the said code title, and it was easy for Marcos to pinpoint General Soliman as the whistleblower who gave the information to Aquino. Marcos then dissolved the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and put a powerful super-agency, the National Intelligence and Security Authority (NISA) in its place, with General Fabian Ver in command. == The AFP as "martial law implementor" ==

Upon the declaration of martial law in 1972, Marcos used the AFP as what the Davide Commission Report would later call his "martial law implementor," Arrest and detention of political prisoners Upon the announcement of Martial Law in 1972, one of their earliest tasks was that of quickly arresting and containing Marcos' political opponents, and Marcos' hold on power was effectively broken once enough of the Military withdrew their support from him in February 1986. Antonio Parlade notes that to get the military to ensure their cooperation, Marcos "had to expand the military organization and patronize the generals to buy their loyalty." Expansion of budget and takeover of civilian functions Since it was the "martial law implementor," He also increased the military budget from P880 million in 1972 to P4 billion in 1976. At its inception, the CHDF numbered 73,000 men, and became a notorious human rights violator. Reaction of the United States Marcos' declaration of Martial Law took place during the Presidency of Richard Nixon and in the middle of the Cold War. Marcos informed Nixon and sought his support. At the time, According to the US National Archives' copy of a Memorandum of Conversation between Nixon and US Ambassador to the Philippines Henry Byroade: After Nixon, the Ford and Reagan administrations were similarly supportive of Marcos. While the Carter administration expressed diplomatic concerns over the human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship, it could not totally withdraw its support from Marcos in light of US foreign policy's need to have the lease on the US Bases in the Philippines renewed by Marcos. == Human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship ==

Civilian and military Units often specifically cited in these reported incidents include the Metrocom Intelligence and Security Group (MISG), and the 5th Constabulary Security Unit (5CSU) of the Philippine Constabulary, as well as the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP). The Presidential Security Unit and the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) were also accused of aiding these activities. Aside from human rights abuses, these units were also accused of hounding media entities, corporate management, and opposition groups with threats, intimidation, and violence. "Detention centers" Military camps throughout the country were used as sites for "detention centers" in which political prisoners were kept. Writer Ricky Lee, who was one of the detainees at Ipil Detention Center in Fort Bonifacio, explains that Marcos forces preferred the use "detainee" instead of "prisoner," As the headquarters of the Philippine Constabulary, Camp Crame became the site of five of the Marcos regime's most infamous detention facilities for political prisoners: the Men's Detention Center; the Women's Detention Center, the PC (Philippine Constabulary) Stockade; the MetroCom (Metropolitan Command) Detention Area; and the CIS (Criminal Investigation Service) Detention Area. Meanwhile, Fort Bonifacio became the host of three detention centers full of political prisoners - the Ipil Reception Center (sometimes called the Ipil Detention Center), a higher security facility called the Youth Rehabilitation Center (YRC), and the Maximum Security Unit where Senators Jose W. Diokno and Benigno Aquino Jr. were detained. Other AFP facilities which hosted detention centers included Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Camp Olivas in Pampanga, Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, and Camp Allen in Baguio. Non-military sites with detention centers include the Sampaguita Rehabilitation Center in Bicutan within the New Bilibid Prison compound. Torture Various forms of torture were used on detainees during Martial Law, including sexual assaults including rape and degradation; non-sexual physical tortures including variants of electrocution, waterboarding, suffocation, burning, and beating; and various forms of psychological torture. The 1976 Amnesty International Mission Report lists 88 government torturers by their initials, with ranks as junior as Sergeant and as high as Brigadier General. However, the reports of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the World Council of Churches, etc., all assert the fact that the torture happened as a policy of state, meant to stifle opposition, demonstrate the power of the ruling regime, and terrify the population into inaction. In their 1984 report on "Torture in the 80s", Amnesty International expounds: "''Torture does not occur simply because individual torturers are sadistic, even if testimonies verify that they often are. Torture is usually part of the state-controlled machinery to suppress dissent. it is most often used as an integral part of a government's security strategy. Concentrated in the torturer's electrode or syringe is the power and responsibility of the state.'' == Early resistance within the AFP ==

Marcos' efforts to ingratiate himself with the leadership of the AFP did not gain him support from the military, however. Even at the very beginning of Marcos' term he had seen resistance such as that of Commodore Ramon Alcaraz (of PMA class 1940) who concluded that Marcos' orders had spring from a deal with criminal elements; Marcos was also not successful at stuffing the leadership of the AFP with his loyal generals, and several expressed objections to Marcos' declaration if Martial Law within what they thought to be the limits of their office. Brigadier General Rafael Ileto (of PMA class 1943) vocally opposed Martial Law when it was still being planned, and was immediately sent away to an overseas diplomatic function as concurrent envoy to Iran and Turkey, and later Laos and Thailand. He would later be remembered for sending naval ships to the Jolo Pier and being the "prime mover" of stranded Joloanos to safety. Military Intelligence Service Lt. Col. Bonifacio Gillego spoke up against the Human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship, and was forced to flee into exile in the United States, where he committed himself to political organizing against the regime. == Rapid growth of the NPA under martial law ==

The Communist Party of the Philippines underwent rapid growth from 1972 during the period of martial law under Ferdinand Marcos. Radicalization of Moderates Other watershed events that would later radicalize many otherwise "moderate" opposition members include the February 1971 Diliman Commune; the August 1971 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the wake of the Plaza Miranda bombing; the September 1972 declaration of Martial Law; the 1980 murder of Macli-ing Dulag; and the August 1983 assassination of Ninoy Aquino. This radicalization led to a significant growth of the CPP and of the New People's Army under the Marcos administration. Although they are also accused of having participated in the Plaza Miranda bombing in 1971, the NPA's first acknowledged tactical operation took place in 1974. This took place in Calbiga, Samar, where the NPA ambushed an Army scout patrol and seized a number of their weapons. == Escalation of the Moro conflict under Martial law ==

Establishment of the MNLF While groups calling for the secession of the Moro provinces from the Philippines existed before the declaration of Martial Law, it was the declaration of Martial Law in September 1972 that allowed the groups to coalesce under the flag of a single armed group. Martial Law disbanded political parties including the BMLO and the MIM, and so when Nur Misuari formed a new armed force named called the Moro National Liberation Front on October 21, 1972, it was quickly able to consolidate power The culpability of military forces involved in the Battle of Jolo, led by the 14th Infantry Battalion, has been the subject of controversy, worsened by the news blackout imposed by Marcos at the time. But most civilian accounts and that of the Municipality of Jolo prominently recognized the efforts of the Philippine Navy under the command of Rear Admiral Romulo Espaldon, which compassionately assisted in the evacuation of civilians and the eventual efforts to rehabilitate the devastated island. Establishment of the MILF In 1978, Sheikh Salamat Hashim established the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter group of the MNLF. Conflicts between these armed groups and the Armed Forces of the Philippines continued until the end of President Marcos' regime. From 1972 to 1980, at least 50,000 people were killed in the conflict, one million people were internally displaced, and more than 100,000 Philippine Muslims fled by boat to Malaysia. == Reshuffle of AFP officers ==

Marcos carried out the "largest reshuffle in the history of the armed forces" when he forcibly retired fourteen of the AFP's twenty-five flag officers, including the AFP Chief of Staff, the AFP Vice Chief of Staff, the commanding general of the Philippine Army, the Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, the commanders of all four Constabulary Zones, and one third of all Provincial Commanders of the PC. Other key officers critical of Marcos were compelled to leave the service. In their place, Marcos appointed officers from his home region, the Ilocos, the most significant of whom had familial connections to Marcos – ensuring their familial and regionalistic loyalties to him. This led to a loss of morale among the middle-ranks of the AFP, because it meant a significant slowdown in promotions and caused many officers to retire with ranks much lower than they would otherwise have earned. == The AFP Self Reliance Defense Posture (SRDP) program ==

In late 1971, the Marcos administration had begun conceiving of the AFP Self Reliance Defense Posture (SRDP) program. The proposed program would continue an initiative first put into law in the Flag Law (Commonwealth Act No. 138) of 1936 and implemented through the establishment of a military Research and Development Center in 1948, but a renewed need to push for independent Philippine foreign policy in light of the geopolitics of the 1970s motivated cabinet members - notably Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor, National Science Development Board (NSDB) chairman Florencio Medina, and AFP Chief of Staff General Manuel Yan - to champion a program which would allow the Armed Forces of the Philippines to develop its own weapons and logistics materiel locally instead of having to buy from foreign sources. As a result of this early advocacy, Secretary Melchor was later referred to in the international military press as the “father of the Philippine rocket program.” Conversations with Dr. Max Goldberger, the physicist husband of a niece of close Marcos ally Congressman Antonio Raquiza, in December 1971 convinced President Marcos to provide research and intelligence funds for Dr. Goldberger's rocket research and experiments, an initiative which would later be known as Project Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, ongoing expansion of the Government Armory funded by Japanese reparations negotiated during the Garcia and Macapagal administrations led to an initiative which would see M161A automatic rifles manufuactured locally by Manuel Elizalde Jr.'s Elisco Tool Manufacturing Corporation (Elitool)and Squires Bingham Manufacturing (now the Arms Corporation of the Philippines, Armscor) in Marikina. Both initiatives were integrated into the Self Reliance Defense Posture (SRDP) program created through Presidential Decree no. 415 in 1974, which was gave the initiative a ₱100 million annual budget.. By the late 1970s, however, foreign funding for the SRDP program began to dry up as results of the various research initiatives proved disappointing, and the continuation of the research was deemed expensive and wasteful, and the SRDP had effectively wound down many years prior to Marcos' ultimate ouster during the People Power Revolution of 1986. == Birth of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement ==

To facilitate Marcos' grip on power within the AFP, its officers were promoted and reshuffled, and top commanders were kept on their posts past their retirement ages, based on their expressed allegiances with Ferdinand Marcos. This led to low morale among junior officers who were unable to get promotions in the AFP. Several cabals of dissatisfied officers eventually formed among the middle-ranks of the AFP, most notably the Reform the Armed Forces Movement in the early 1980s. == Failed February 1986 RAM coup d'état plot ==

The Enrile-RAM plan and its failure When revelations of cheating during 1986 Philippine presidential election came out in February 1982, RAM forces under the leadership of Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile wanted to take advantage of the social instability and plotted to unseat Ferdinand Marcos and take Malacañang Palace by force. The goal of the RAM coup d'état, planned by Colonels Gregorio Honasan and Red Kapunan, was to overthrow Marcos and turn power over to military junta which would include Enrile. Of the personalities expected to be part of the junta, only Enrile was aware of the plan. The other four people whom the RAM wanted to be part of the junta - Ambassador and retired Lieutenant General Rafael Ileto; former Marcos Executive Secretary Rafael Salas; opposition leader Cory Aquino; and Cardinal Sin - did not know about the plot or of their place in the planned junta. (Some accounts say that Fidel Ramos and opposition businessman Jaime Ongpin were also supposed to be part of the junta, Ramos defection At about Mid-afternoon on February 22 Enrile left his house in Makati where he and the RAM forces had been planning the coup, and moved to his offices in Camp Aguinaldo. He sought support from Philippine Constabulary chief Fidel V. Ramos who defected and withdrew support from Marcos. Both Enrile and Ramos reached out to Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin to ask for help. Ramos reached out to Major Gen. Prospero Olivas of the Philippine Constabulary Metropolitan Command (MetroCom) and Philippine Navy Commodore Tagumpay Jardiniano, receiving their support. However, even with their combined forces, Enrile and Ramos were cornered in Camps Aguinaldo and Crame on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA). == People Power Revolution ==

Civilian demonstrations and attack orders With Enrile and Ramos' forces still trapped in camps Aguinaldo and Crame respectively on the evening of February 22, Cardinal Sin called on private citizens, already planning protests connected to cheating during the elections, to help protect Enrile and Ramos' forces by forming a human barricade on the stretch of EDSA between the two camps. Large masses of people began to gather around EDSA around midnight and through the early hours of February 23. Marcos issued Military orders to attack Enrile and Ramos' forces while publicly pretending to issue contrary orders. AFP forces attempted to implement these orders but initially could not get close to the camps due to the crowds of civilians. AFP units and commanders eventually rejected these order began defecting to the Enrile and Ramos faction instead. The Sotelo landing A strategically significant turning point was the "Sotelo landing" which took place in the early morning hours of Monday, February 24, 1986. Col. Antonio Sotelo defected with the entirety of the 15th Strike Wing, Philippine Air Force, bringing along 6 gunships, 2 Sikorsky rescue helicopters, and a utility BC-105, and then later flew back to Villamor Air Base to disable six remaining UH-1 'Huey' helicopters which Marcos' forces could have used to attack Aguinaldo and Crame. The Sotelo landing is recognized as the moment when Marcos lost control of the Philippine Air Force, Balbas was given orders to fire on Crame four times, but stalled each time, saying they were "still positioning the cannons." This refusal to fire is identified by historians as the moment when Marcos lost control of the Philippine Marine Corps. End of the dictatorship On February 25, 1986, Corazon Aquino was sworn in as president by Senior Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee, although Marcos tried to stage his own inauguration an hour later. Enrile wanted Corazon Aquino to hold her inauguration as new president in Camp Crame, but Aquino refused, emphasizing that the People Power Revolution was a civilian victory by the Filipino people, not by a rebel military faction. == Prominent officers who publicly disagreed with Marcos ==

A number of notable officers disagreed with various decisions of Marcos and his top military appointees - some in the years before the declaration of Martial Law; some with regard to specific orders given during the authoritarian years of Martial Law and the Fourth Republic; some as part of the failed RAM coup of 1986; and many more in support of the civilian People Power Revolution which removed Marcos from power. Before the Martial Law declaration Notable examples of officers who disagreed with Marcos in the years leading up to Martial Law include: • Commodore Ramon A. Alcaraz of the Philippine Navy - forced to resign when he refused to go easy on smugglers, one year into Marcos' first presidential term. • General Manuel T. Yan (ret), Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff - disagreed with the 1972 declaration of Martial Law 1971 suspension of the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, prominently telling international media that the conditions for either "did not exist." Retired so that he would not have to participate in the implementation of Martial Law. • General Marcos Soliman, Commanding General of the Philippine Army, and later chief of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency - was supposed to be one of the key implementors of Martial Law, but instead leaked plans for its implementation to the Philippine Senate. During the Marcos Dictatorship Notable examples of officers who left the military and became activists against the Marcos dictatorship include: • Captain Danilo Vizmanos of the Philippine Navy - questioned Marcos' decision to break ties with Taiwan and establish relations with the Mao's People's Republic of China, resigned upon the declaration of Martial Law, and was later arrested and tortured for his beliefs. • Colonel Bonifacio Gillego - Former intelligence officer who spoke against abuses by AFP officers, exiled to the US where he worked to eventually expose the fake medals in Ferdinand Marcos' supposed military record. Notable examples of officers who objected to specific orders given during the dictatorship include: • Rear Admiral Romulo M. Espaldon of the Philippine Navy - noted for his strong objection to the scorched earth tactics used by the AFP in the 1974 Battle of Jolo, and later played a key role in rehabilitation efforts on the island. Participants in the Aborted RAM coup d'état of February 1986 • Colonel Gregorio Honasan - Leader and co-founder of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement and one of only two people who had knowledge of the whole tactical plan for the planned coup d'état. • Colonel Eduardo Kapunan - co-founder of the RAM, assigned to lead the group which would attack Malacañang from across the Pasig River • Lt. Colonel Victor Batac - co-founder of the RAM, tasked with manning the RAM command post at Nichols Field alongside Col. Almonte. • Lieutenant Benjamin Magalong, Philippine Constabulary commander in Buguias, Benguet - was the first officer in the Cordilleras to defect to the Ramos and Enrile faction. He left a skeletal force in command of their post in Northern Benguet and left for Baguio City on the evening of February 23, going to the Baguio City Police station where he disarmed the station personnel to prevent any untoward incident while massive protests were occurring at the Baguio Cathedral and Session Road area, with Baguio citizens expressing support of events happening in Crame and Aguinaldo. • Cadet Corps, Philippine Military Academy - took a vote and decided as a body to support the Enrile and Ramos camps Notable examples of officers who refused or questioned Malacañang's orders during the People Power Revolution without immediately defecting include: • Brigadier General Artemio Tadiar, Marine commandant - refused to ram through civilians on the afternoon of February 23 despite orders from Gen. Ramas; allowed Col. Balbas to "use his discretion" on the morning of February 23 when Balbas received orders from Ramas to fire on Camp Crame despite likely civilian casualties • Colonel Braulio Balbas, Commander of the Fourth Marine brigade - refused orders to fire on Camp Crame during the People Power Revolution because civilians would be killed if his men did so. • Colonel Rodolfo Biazon, Davao City Marine commander - gave protection to Corazon Aquino in her civil disobedience campaign in the city, without announcing any defection == Need for security sector reform after Marcos ==

The Marcos administration is considered to have marked a decline for AFP in terms of its traditional values of civilian supremacy and professionalism, leading to a need for security sector reform during later administrations, Steps the AFP sought to take towards professionalization under the Philippine Defense Reform Program from 2003 to 2016 included the development of "integrity development programs", programmatic efforts to improve the quality of service performance, continuing development programs for commanders and staff, and reforms in the recruitment of enlisted personnel. Alongside capability development, "professionalization of all ranks" is one of two strategic priorities identified by the 15 year AFP Transformation Roadmap initiated during the Duterte administration. == See also ==