Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile: It's time to correct history. He is 95 years old and that span of time one can just imagine that he remembers former President Aguinaldo all they way to President Duterte. It is his advantage over most people in this land today because he has seen history from the time of the Americans all the way to now. According to him, history was totally distorted to favor one group.
Juan Ponce Enrile -- a Witness to History
Juan Ponce Enrile is the living witness of what had happened during the Marcos Regime. He is the most authoritative person who can testify the truth about behind the declaration of Martial Law in 1972. Now he wanted to correct the distorted history through re-aligning facts to millennials base from his personal knowledge and capacity to tell the truth to millennials who were born between the early 1980s and 1990s also include children born in the early 2000s regarding the proclamation of Martial Law.
The source of the idea and other information for this write-up were based from the One-on-One-Conversation between former Senator Bongbong Marcos and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. Watch the video for more details. And if possible, share this to your friends, friends of friends, to your family and children because I believe the millennials and our young children today need to know the real truth and to correct the distortions of history. Yes. Mr. Harry Truman once said, "There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know."
Time to Correct Distorted History
Below is a verbatim of the conversation between Bongbong Marcos and Juan Ponce Enrile recorded and published on YouTube on September 21, 2018 which I think can help educate the millennials and our young children of today who are continuously receiving distorted information regarding events happened during the Marcos time fed to them by the Dilawan from the time Mrs. Cory Aquino grabbed the presidency position in 1986 through the EDSA Revolt down to the administration of her son Noynoy Aquino until now.
JP Enrile: I'm 95 years old. So in that span of time , you can just imagine that I remember President Aguinaldo all the way to President Duterte. And that is my advantage over most people in this land today because I've seen history from the time of Americans all the way to now. History was totally distorted to favor one group.
Bongbong Marcos: And it is unfortunately continuing that is why exercises such as this are important.
JP Enrile: Little by little, the truth will come out. I'm glad that you have asked me to join this conversation so that at least we can somehow correct the distortions of history.
Bongbong Marcos: I'm very grateful to you.
JP Enrile: And I'm willing to challenge anybody here in this country to debate with me about the events.
Bongbong Marcos: We put this together, really because of the mail that I have been receiving in my social media and the millennials have a different approach - it seems to the events of history. The history of your lifetime for that matter and the millennials seem to want to know what it is behind the decision that my father and the members of his government made in his time - the time of the Marcos administration. And so, we thought the best, most authoritative person that we could find would be you as you were not only in the middle of the action, as it were but you were part of the decision-making process of many of the important events that occurred.
Truth about The 1972 Martial Law: Re-aligning Facts to Millennials
JP Enrile: During the first two years, three years of Martial Law, you can open your window, leave your house nobody will touch it. That's how peaceful the country was.
Bongbong Marcos: So it wasn't the typical country under military rule where you had tanks in the streets...
JP Enrile: No, no, no... People were free. Of course, in the beginning, we had curfew. We had to give grant passes.
Bongbong Marcos: So Tito, the account that you're giving as to the approach the build-up towards the declaration of martial Law and the actual implementation of it and the enforcement of the military rule is very different from what we are hearing. I heard it too but of course, you come from a different perspective. What is the biggest fallacy that young people now are being fed about the reasons behind and the actual events of Martial Law?
JP Enrile: They claim that we killed a lot of people. When I was interviewed by someone some time ago, I challenged her - name me one that we executed other than Sim Leng?
Bongbong Marcos: What was the accusation? Was it that they were summarily executed?
JP Enrile: That we had 70,000 arrested which was not true! Maybe if they include the people who violated curfew and jaywalkers, maybe you can reach that number. People could go out at night, they could go out to fish, they could go out to farm - they were free in fact. Of course, if you're a member of the rebel group or a warlord or someone who violated the criminal law, you had to be arrested whether you have Martial Law or not.
Bongbong Marcos: I'm mystified sometimes by the lack of understanding of the simple fact that if you attack the government, if you attack the state, the state needs to defend itself.
JP Enrile: Of course...
Bongbong Marcos: And that's why fighting would break out.
JP Enrile: Name me one person that was arrested because of political or religious belief during that period. None.
Bongbong Marcos: They were all for criminal acts.
JP Enrile: Name me one person that was arrested simply because he criticized President Marcos. None.
Bongbong Marcos: But there were a lot of critics still very vociferous and spreading out against him and his administration even during the Martial Law.
JP Enrile: Jovy Salonga for instance, he was involved in the "Light a Fire Movement" and many others. Very few were arrested. And they were released. They were an inconvenienced for a while but they were released. The late Pepe Diokno, he didn't want to be released. I told him, "Pepe just sign anything and just get out of here!" I told him.
Bongbong Marcos: All of that seem to have been lost in the accounts that we hear now.
JP Enrile: Well, I cannot blame the so-called millennials, they were born in 1980s. They did not know anything. What they know is what they read or heard and they read somethings hard on inaccurate facts. During Martial Law, there were no massacres like what happened in Mendiola - during the supposed democratic government of Cory Aquino.
The Mendiola massacres: "In January 22, 1987, Cory Aquino's state security forces violently dispersed a farmer's march to Malacanang - who were in protest of the lack of government action on land reform."
Bongbong Marcos: Maybe you can explain to these young people, the approach that you took to governance. I remember when I was young, I would listen to my father's speeches and lagi kong naririnig the phrase "Nation Building" and I have not heard that phrase since 1986. It does not seem to be the priority or the guiding principle in governance anymore.
President Marcos' Nation Building
JP Enrile: You mentioned about Nation Building which was the battle cry of the Marcos government.
Bongbong Marcos: That's right...
JP Enrile: That was included in the national plan that was prepared by the brain clast of your Dad and that covers infrastructure, agriculture, energy and education and that's why when we started with agriculture, he established irrigation canals, especially in the North and in many parts of the country.
And then he went into electrification - the national electrification that we have started with your father. He started the geothermal sources of energy in the country today which is helping the economy - later on as a part of his national plan - education of the people and that's why he created the system of state universities that expanded the educational system in the country and made education cheaper for the people and so many others.
He introduced land reform that's why he was very conscious of the sale of Hacienda Luisita during the Garcia administration because it was part of his Land Reform Program. Proposed the establishment of the Nuclear plant which was derailed by Cory Aquino because of her anger and revenge against the Marcos administration.
The Roles of Oligarchs
Bongbong Marcos: Tito, you mentioned the lobbying of the big landowners - the hacienda owners for the exemptions from the land reform. I think the term around that time was we were beginning to hear my father speaking out against the group of oligarchs.
JP Enrile: Correct...
Bongbong Marcos: That were controlling many segments of the economy.
JP Enrile: Correct...
Bongbong Marcos: And were not helping or supporting the national programs.
JP Enrile: Oligarchies existed during the time of your Dad and even before that and even now - they are still around. They controlled the economy. They controlled agriculture - all the haciendas. They controlled communication. They want to control even government. We all remember you had to talk to interest groups to be able to run for public office in those days - they controlled Meralco. They controlled the Media. They controlled the newspapers, the radio and many facets of industry - the industrialization of the country were controlled by these so-called oligarchs of the land.
Bongbong Marcos: so this is one of the elements that pushed the government towards the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.
JP Enrile: Yes. Apart from the fact that indeed there was a need of it because what was the social condition of the land at this point - we were dealing with separatism in Mindanao, we were dealing with a very strong communist party. We were dealing with the onset of drug menace in the country. We were dealing with the warlords over the land and high criminality in the land. And what was our instrument of power at that point? We had only less than 50,000 in the armed services that included the Constabulary, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Coastguards and our weapons were carbines and garrands of World War 2 Vintage against the Belgian Fals, the Kalashnikov or AK-47s of our adversaries.
Bongbong Marcos: I think nakakalimutan Tito the extent of this warlordism and the size of the private armies.
JP Enrile: The size of the firearms within the civilian population were much more than the capacity of the Armed forces of the Philippines and the Constabulary. When Martial Law was declared - we harvested about 600,000 guns all over the country of all kinds.
Bongbong Marcos: As opposed to our 50,000...
JP Enrile: Less than 50,000 to be exact. I think we only had about 48,000.
Bongbong Marcos: Uniformed services! People do not realize the extent of the warlordism because I don't think we have the modern equivalent.
The Largest Security Problem: Communist Insurgency
JP Enrile: Yeah...apart from these factors that I told you. There are political organizations. The political organization of the communist party of the Philippines was extensive. They had a united front that was very strong. Until now that united front is operating through the NDF. They covered labor, the universities academe, farmers, fishermen, women, teachers all over. They infiltrated even the church. We did not only because the armed elements of the communist party and the separatists. We had the Christian Liberation Army, even the church was involved.
Bongbong Marcos: So in that time the government assessed that the largest security problem was the communist insurgency?
JP Enrile: Correct...
Bongbong Marcos: And that's why Martial Law was really a response.
Working Coalition Between Liberal Party and NPA
JP Enrile: Correct. One of the reasons President Marcos finally declared Martial Law - very few people will remember this now was because there was already a "working coalition" between the Liberal Party and the New People Army. The new Communist Party of the Philippines headed by Maria Sison at this point. And President Marcos realized that the country was too fragile with very limited capability to contain the problem.
Bongbong Marcos: But this is something new Tito. I did know there was a formal agreement!
JP Enrile: Yeah...
Bongbong Marcos: Between a political...
JP Enrile: Ninoy Aquino and I met in the house of Ramon Silay in Urdaneta Village - he was my neighbor. Paul Aquino is still alive - he was present in that meeting. He was the one who reported to me that he had a meeting with the leadership of the Communist Party. They were discussing a coalition government.
Bongbong Marcos: But this was together with the Liberal Party at that time?
JP Enrile: He was a member of the Liberal Party.
Bongbong Marcos: But the Liberal Party hierarchy was part of this agreement?
JP Enrile: When President Marcos finally confronted them with information - they refused to talk to President Marcos.
President Marcos Asked Legislature to Pass a Law Proclaiming Martial Law
President Marcos on Martial Law declaration: "I did not proclaim Martial Law alone. It was made to appear as if...I just signed a degree and said, I impose Martial Law to each and everyone of you. No...I asked the Legislature, to please pass a law proclaiming Martial Law because there was anarchy in the country. Now let me say this - the opposition was strong, there were member of the security council and somehow they adopted the resolution which required that there be a unanimous vote for the Armed Forces to be able to move and so the Armed Forces were immobilized at the same time, I asked the opposition party to come and join me in the coalition government. I offered one half of the cabinet and of course, they laughed at me and said, Why should we join you? We're gonna take over the government - by the time we are through with the exercise - you are dead!"
Bongbong Marcos: How was the evolution of the thinking within the administration to finally come to the decision that my father declared Martial Law?
Jabidah: The Invented Massacre of Montano and Ninoy Aquino
JP Enrile: It started when they invented the Jabidah massacre. I say invented because until now I have not heard of any who complained about anybody being massacred in corregidor. No one - the only one who appeared as a member of the supposed training in corregidor was the fellow who swam across corregidor to Cavite which was the invention of Montano and Ninoy Aquino because of that political outburst of Ninoy - we lost Sabah and then that Jabidah massacre injured the political stature of the Marcos regime followed by the Plaza Miranda grenading in 1971. And because of the Plaza Miranda, I was a victim. I was a candidate afterwards for senator and I lost because we were blamed for Plaza Miranda although that was the handy work of the Communist Party.
The disorder that was brought about by the left was too much to bear by the country at that point. As a Secretary of Defense, I had to fight both the Muslims in Mindanao and the Christians and the same time there were also Datus who rose against the government. The group of the MNLF were sponsored by Malaysians. Because of the limitations imposed by the government by the political situation in the country before Martial Law. The hands of the president were limited. So, he finally decided after he was re-elected to impose Martial Law. He asked me to study his powers under Commander in Chief provisions. I was secretary of Justice at that time.
Bongbong Marcos: The declaration and the implementation on the very first days - I was not here. I was abroad studying and I remembered that I got the news from a phone call, my father have mentioned it previously and he said that things are getting pretty bad and he had spoken about the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus and after that he was talking about he had hoped not to declare Martial Law.
JP Enrile: Your Dad asked me to prepare the study in December of 1969 because he was anticipating that he will have finally face the music. When we finished the study on January 1970, at this point the president have transferred me to the Department of National Defense and then he waited from 1970 to 1971. He allowed the election of 1971 to go through while the nation was experiencing violence and disorder. He did not want to declare it. He was hesitating to use his Commander in Chief powers until finally in 1972 he decided.
Proclamation No. 1081
President Marcos declaration: My countrymen - as of the 21st of this month (February), I signed Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire Philippines under Martial Law.
Bongbong Marcos: It's not remembered very well or it is not well documented or at least not well disseminated about how large and how severe the problem was of the Communist uprising and we still see the fighting in Mindanao but it is over a different ideology.
JP Enrile: We were able to arrest all of the leaders including Jose Maria Sison, Juliet the wife and the several of the leading commanders of the Communist Party and emasculated the organization. Until later on after EDSA - Cory restored the problem. She released all the leaders of the Communist Party including Father Balweg of the Cordilleras and then brought back Misuari from exile to revive the MNLF problem.
Bongbong Marcos: And was there a reason stated why?
JP Enrile: That is where I parted ways with Cory.
Bongbong Marcos: In the face of all of this, I think we have come to the question - How did you think Cory did as president? Wala kami dito eh. So di namin masyado alam mga detalye.
Cory did not know about Governance
JP Enrile: You know Bongbong - having been involved in the cabinet of President Marcos and I am not saying this to denigrate anybody. I was dismayed in my first cabinet meeting with Cory. She did not make any decision. I am sorry to say this, but I realized in that first meeting that I had in that cabinet that the president that succeeded your Dad did not know anything about governance!
***Nothing Follows***
Nawa'y itong conversation between Bongbong Marcos and Juan Ponce Enrile ay magbigay ng liwanag sa mga millennials - those Pinoy born between the early 1980s and 1990s including those who were born in the early 2000s who were being fed with distorted records of history by the Dilawan groups of company.
Source of idea and other info: One-on-One Conversation Between Bongbong Marcos and Juan Ponce Enrile
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