“My countrymen, as of the twenty-first of this month, I signed Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire Philippines under Martial Law.” – Ferdinand Marcos, Sept. 21, 1972
IT WAS 46 years ago to this day and the memories remain – some good, some bad.
I was a college freshman when President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. I don’t wear it in my sleeve but moi was a victim of Martial Law. I never expected that being a member of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines would warrant me an invitation by the Philippine Constabulary – or PC as they were more popularly known – to the stockades in Fort San Pedro or Camp Delgado as it is known today.
The invitation for a supposedly interview on my involvement in campus journalism lasted for a few months until I was finally allowed to go home to continue my studies.
But enough of me, I’ve always believed that for a true journalist it’s always about the story and never about the storyteller.
Let me put it this way, “Martial Law”? I have paid my dues.
The day after, the city was eerily quiet. Not a soul was stirring. All you can see were military and police vehicles going around. All of a sudden it was fashionable to be a soldier and strut your stuff in full combat gear. Now you know why a certain congressman likes to wear camouflage and combat boots; he’s just reminiscing the Martial Law days.
The military imposed a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, so that pretty much killed the nightlife. All radio stations were closed and there was a rumor that rock music would be banned. When the radio stations were finally allowed to open all you could hear besides the government propaganda were wholesome music and eventually a new genre that came to be known as OPM or Original Pilipino Music, so I guess there was truth to the rumor about rock music.
Eventually, things sort of normalized and rock music went back to the airwaves. Curfew, if my memory serves me right, was set at a more “civilized” time from 12 midnight to 5 a.m. Likewise, all television stations were closed except for the government station much to the dismay of the kids as “Voltes 5”, that Japanese cartoon on robots. was banned for what reason I really don’t know to this day.
There were checkpoints everywhere and the PC manned them. They were also guarding the gates of all schools.
These PC constables in their zealousness to implement Martial Law, considering their lack of sophistication and limited education, started abusing their authority. The PC implemented their own version of discipline as they liked to call it; those who were guarding the gates of the schools refused entry to male students with long hair and female students wearing mini-skirts. When questioned about what this had got to do with Martial Law, well they had guns and that said it all.
Let’s just say that without a doubt majority of all the abuses and atrocities committed during Martial Law were done by the constables of the PC.
And the PC was under the command of a certain General Fidel Ramos, you know, the guy who became President.
Probably one good thing that came out of this curfew was the emergence of “stay-in” parties, since if you’re out in streets during curfew you’ll be arrested so once the party started nobody went home till 5 a.m. Remember this was the ‘70s and marijuana was only criminalized by Presidential Decree 1708 which took effect in 1980.
With that, just imagine what the “stay-in” parties were like and the ‘70s was the era of “free love.” AIDS and herpes were non-existent yet. As Joe Cocker would say, “Let’s get high.”
Martial Law and curfew also gave birth to what was probably the coolest and most decadent place in the country, Club Coco Banana on Remedios Circle, Malate. The club was the brainchild of its owner designer Ernest Santiago.
How do I describe Coco Banana? It was a nightclub, a watering hole and an avant-garde performance theater. In its heyday Coco Banana would make New York’s Studio 54 “look like a ‘Book of the Month Club.’”
At the end of the day, comparing the administration of President Marcos in his peak with the administration of the two Aquinos, Cory and her son Noynoy, I’d take Marcos any day. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
