The AFP: Corruption and Betrayal During Martial Law

It was the process of corruption and narrow self-serving commitment of personal and institutional loyalty that led to the AFP's betrayal of the Filipino people by allowing itself to be used as the principal instrument of repression and suppression of all opposition to the dictatorship.

By Danilo P. Vizmanos
Bulatlat.com

Would it have been possible for Ferdinand Marcos to impose martial law in 1972 wthout the support of two major pillars of local power politics - the AFP and U.S. Embassy?

The answer is a definite NO!

The composition of the cabal of architects of martial law known as the "Rolex 12" – 10 ranking military officers and two civilian cronies --reflects the dominance of the military in state affairs even before and during the period of martial rule. Mao Zedong's famous aphorism, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," was usurped and distorted as guiding principle of the Marcos dictatorship throughout its 14 years of existence.

U.S. backing of martial law was a negation of its avowed respect for democratic institutions. It was sheer national interest, i.e., U.S. military bases, economic interests, and the imperatives of global and regional power politics that dictated its support for the Marcos dictatorship.

But first the question: How was Marcos able to effectively control an army of 60,000 when he imposed martial law?

The story begins earlier than September 1972. Marcos knew that the colonial-oriented Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was beholden to the U.S. This defined his first task, i.e., to secure the backing of the superpower through histrionic incantation of anti-Communist rhetoric backed by sustained and unrelenting counterinsurgency campaigns.

Next was securing the military's loyalty by catering to the pecuniary, material and ego-satisfying needs of the military hierarchy. Application of political leverage as President enabled the strongman to secure appropriations for increases in pay, allowances and perks of military personnel; liberal promotion of trusted and reliable officers; hefty increases in the military budget and corresponding expansion and revitalization of military organizations.

Pampering process

It was this pampering process that endeared Marcos to a grateful military institution. Even then he left nothing to chance. In addition to such subtle form of buying the military's loyalty, Marcos not only tolerated but even abetted corruption at the highest levels of command for effective control and manipulation of the military establishment. Dossiers of corrupt generals and senior officers were maintained by Fabian Ver's NISA (National Intelligence and Security Authority) for blackmail purposes to ensure that the top hierarchy behaved properly, obediently and with fidelity before the commander-in- chief.

"Power sharing" was also part of the strongman's strategy to appease the top brass and prevent them from entertaining dangerous ideas, e.g., coup d'etat, military takeover, putsch, military junta. Of course the shrewd manipulator made sure he was always on top of the situation through Machiavellian divide-and-rule tactics by pitting rival factions against one another.

It was this process of corruption and narrow self-serving commitment of personal and institutional loyalty that led to the AFP's betrayal of the Filipino people by allowing itself to be used as the principal instrument of repression and suppression of all opposition to the dictatorship.

Military impositions, intrusions, intervention and surveillance in all branches of government and all sectors of society became the order of the day, everyday, throughout 14 years of martial rule.

The reign of terror reached new heights when Marcos gave license to the military, especially the sadists in the intelligence service, to commit atrocities and human rights violations with impunity without fear of criminal prosecution. No better proof can be presented than the verdict of the Federal District Court of Hawaii holding Marcos liable for "crimes against humanity" for the torture, summary execution and involuntary disappearance of 9,539 martial law victims perpetrated by his henchmen in the military establishment.

Absolute power

Wherever Marcos exercised absolute power, which was everywhere, the military was always there either as major or minor functionaries to do the bidding of the strongman. Marcos was the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch all rolled into one power entity. In such a milieu the military brass exploited every delegated authority in keeping with the martial law dictum of "military supremacy over the civilian population."

The military even acted as jurists with the creation of military tribunals whose verdicts were subject to review not by the Supreme Court but solely by the commander-in-chief.

Military authorities had the civilian population at their mercy especially where it pertained to violation of human and civil rights, privacy of abode, and right of expression and assembly. Abuse of authority was so blatant that even after the ouster of Marcos, military factions thought they still had the prerogative to change succeeding regimes through extra-legal means.

The abuses and excesses of martial rule eventually generated popular resistance. Limited at the early stages of martial law, the people's struggle eventually expanded and intensified in all forms --legal, extra-legal and armed --culminating in the "people power" uprising at EDSA that toppled the U.S.-backed Marcos dictatorship in February 1986.

Cory Aquino who became the nation's president through "people power" referred to her newly established regime as a "revolutionary government." One may ask how it can be revolutionary when it availed of the same coercive and punitive armed forces that betrayed the people during the Marcos dictatorship. Adding the word "New" to make it appear as a remolded product of the "revolution," the "New Armed Forces of the Philippines” hardly changed its reactionary, mercenary and oppressive character under a new dispensation. But this is another story. Bulatlat.com

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