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The Marcos Years

January 1970 – A wave of rallies subsequently called the “First Quarter Storm” was staged by radical and moderate student groups throughout the country. The main object of the protest was the upcoming Constitutional Convention, which people feared then President Marcos would use to run for a third term.

Violence erupted on the streets as a result of the encounter between the riot police and protesters. In the “Battle of Mendiola,” students rammed a fire truck into the gates of Malacanang.

February 1971 – Students barricaded the University of the Philippines Campus and set up what would be later known as the “Diliman Commune.” The protest action lasted until February 9, when police forces stormed the campus and subdued student opposition.

June 1971 – The Constitutional Convention convened to replace the 1935 Constitution.

August 21, 1971 – Two hand grenades were hurled onto the stage during a Liberal Party rally at Plaza Miranda. Several politicians were injured, including then Senators Jovito Salonga, John Osmeña and Gerry Roxas. In response to the bombing, Marcos suspended the writ of habeas corpus.

November 8, 1971 – Senatorial elections were held. As a consequence of the Plaza Miranda bombings, Liberal Party candidates won five seats while only three were taken by Marcos’ Nacionalista Party.

September 1972 – Bombings of department stores and government offices besieged Metro Manila. Senator Ninoy Aquino bared “Oplan Sagittarius,” allegedly a covert scheme to establish martial rule in several areas in the country.

September 21, 1972 – President Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation 1081 placing the entire Philippines under martial law.

September 22, 1972 – The car of then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile was ambushed by unidentified gunmen; Mr. Enrile emerged unharmed, though his vehicle’s driver was killed. Martial law would take effect later that evening.

With the declaration of martial law, civil rights and press freedoms were revoked. Congress and media institutions were shut down, and leading opposition personalities and activists such as Ninoy Aquino and Jose Diokno were arrested.

January 1973 – Due to the closure of Congress, the 1973 Constitution was ratified not through a plebiscite but through the “viva voce” vote of alleged “citizen’s assemblies.”
April 7, 1978 – Elections for the Interim BatasangPambansa, whose referendum was ratified in 1976, were held. Marcos’ party, the KilusangBagongLipunan (KBL), won 186 seats, as against Lakasng Bayan’s (LABAN) 26.

Ninoy Aquino, head of LABAN, ran from his jail cell. Other party leaders such as Lorenzo Tanada, Francisco Rodrigo, Aquilino Pimentel and TeofistoGuingona were detained upon protesting the election results.

January 17, 1981 – Marcos lifted Martial Law in an effort to facilitate foreign relations with newly-elected Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. Nonetheless, he still retained various extralegal powers such as the ability to detain anyone suspected of subversion or rebellion.

June 16, 1981 – The first presidential elections since the declaration of martial law occurred. Opposition parties called for boycott of the elections. Marcos, who ran under his KBL Party, defeated retired General Alejo Santos of the Nationalista Party, who according to allegations was only put up by Marcos as a competitor to give credence to the elections. Amidst widespread criticisms of electoral cheating, Mr. Marcos won a third, six-year term.

August 21, 1983 – Ninoy Aquino, returning from the United States, was assassinated at the Manila International Airport. Military officials claimed that he had been murdered by Rolando Galman, a supposed New People’s Army, who were also killed by security forces immediately after shooting Aquino.

In response to the murder, massive protest actions broke out for the first time since before martial law.

May 14, 1984 – Elections were held for the Batasang Pambansa. Despite countless charges of fraud, opposition candidates of the United Nationalist Democratic Opposition (UNIDO) and the Pilipino Democratic Party—Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-LABAN) won 56 of the 183 seats. Cory Aquino, widow of slain Senator Ninoy Aquino, channeled her support behind opposition groups.

October 24, 1984 – The Agrava Commission implicated Armed Force of the Philippines Chief of Staff Fabian Ver in the assassination of Ninoy Aquino.

February 22, 1985 – Fabian Ver, 24 soldiers and one civilian were taken to Sandiganbayan to stand trial for Aquino’s murder. Ver and his co-accused would be acquitted of all charges on December 2, sparking widespread protest.

November 3, 1985 – On account of massive waves of protest, Marcos announced a presidential snap election to ensue in February 1986. The declaration was made after alleged pressure from Washington.

December 3, 1985 – Cory Aquino filed her candidacy for president under PDP-LABAN. Salvador Laurel, standard-bearer of UNIDO, ran as her vice-president.

February 7, 1986 – The presidential and vice-presidential snap elections were held, and there were widespread reports of fraud, violence and disenfranchisement.

February 9, 1986 – Thirty computer technicians manning the Commission on Election’s tabulation machines walked-out of the Philippine International Convention Center in protest of the calculated manipulation of electoral results in favor of Marcos.

February 16, 1986 – The opposition, in response to Marcos’ alleged victory, staged the Tagumpay ng Bayan (People’s Victory) rally at Luneta. Stirring up the crowd, Cory Aquino called for a nationwide civil disobedience in order to spark to push Marcos to resign.

The People Power of 1986

February 22, 1986, 6:30 pm – General Fidel Ramos and Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile held a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo to announce their resignation from Marcos’ cabinet, and to call for his ouster.

Having gathered three hundred rebel soldiers in the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), they entrenched themselves in Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame.

February 22, 1986, 9:00 pm – Cardinal Sin exhorted Filipinos to defend the rebel leaders by massing up at the thoroughfare between Camps Crame and Aguinaldo, along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or EDSA, to grant moral support and to provide other supplies. Filipinos accumulated in the thousands over the night.

February 23, 1986, 3:00 am – AFP Commander Fabian Ver gathered troops in Fort Bonifacio and tasked Josephus Ramas to direct a military crackdown on Camps Aguinaldo and Crame. Meanwhile, Cardinal Sin appealed on air for Marcos and Ver to prevent the use of violence.

February 23, 1986, 5:30 am – Loyalist soldiers attacked and demolished the Radio Veritas transmitter in Bulacan. The radio station’s reach had thus been limited to the Luzon vicinity.

February 23, 1986, 11:00 am – Cory Aquino held a press conference from Cebu, and beseeched Filipinos to lend support to the military rebels. Marcos was once more called upon to relinquish the presidency.

February 23, 1986, 1:30 pm – Metropolitan Police Head Alfredo Lim was ordered to conduct dispersal operations of the throng at EDSA but was unable to do so. All efforts of the Philippine National Police to scatter the crowd failed.

February 23, 1986, 2:20 pm – Cory Aquino arrived in Manila from Cebu. She proceeded to her sister’s residence in San Juan.

February 23, 1986, 2:30 pm – A crowd numbering at least 300,000 to 400,000 heeded Cardinal Sin’s summons and massed up at EDSA.
In the midst of a protective wall made by the people, Ramos and Enrile consolidated RAM’s forces, enabling Enrile to cross from Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Crame.

February 23, 1986, 3:00 pm – A long standoff began between those located at the corner of Ortigas avenue and EDSA and columns of oncoming tanks. Protesters refused to give way to the vehicles.

February 23, 1986, 4:00 pm – Enrile and Marcos exchanged words by phone. Marcos offered an absolute pardon. Enrile responded by requesting the withdrawal of the tanks, to which Marcos responded negatively.

February 23, 1986, 6:30 pm – Radio Veritas was forced to shut down after an emergency transmitter malfunction.

February 23, 1986, 7:00 pm – Marcos was given a letter from Pope John Paul II, who called for a peaceful end to the standoff. Meanwhile, Washington released a statement questioning the integrity and legitimacy of the Marcos regime.

February 23, 1986, 11:30 pm – Staff of Radio Veritas secretly relocated to dzRJ facilities to continue broadcasting. More key officials from the military, the police, the government and the diplomatic corps withdrew support from Marcos.

February 24, 1986, 12:20 am – June Keithley began airing news and commentary from dzRJ station, renamed Radyo Bandido (rebel radio) in order to maintain secrecy of location.

February 24, 1986, 4:00 am – US President Ronald Reagan, while not immediately calling for Marcos’ resignation, extended asylum to the president and his family. Marcos rejected the offer.

February 24, 1986, 5:00 am – AFP Chief of Staff Ver and Army Commander Ramas issued the order for a full-scale attack on EDSA. The first serious encounter with government troops ensued. Loyalist marines hurled tear gas on demonstrators.

Three thousand marines entered Camp Aguinaldo and established themselves at the eastern golf course.

February 24, 1986, 6:00 am – Seven armed Sikorsky helicopters landed within Camp Aguinaldo amidst rising tensions. However, the personnel of the choppers, led by Col. Antonio Sotelo of the Air Force 15th Strike Wing, ended up defecting.

February 24, 1986, 6:30 am -Radyo Bandido alleged that Marcos had left Malacañang Palace, but Marcos appeared on government-owned Channel 4 hours later to dispel the report and to insist that he was not stepping down. A nationwide state of emergency was instead declared.

Rebel soldiers recaptured Channel 4 in the midst of his delivery, cutting his press conference short.

February 24, 1986, 12:30 pm – On account of miscommunication and of strategic attacks on Malacañang and Villamor Airbase, the loyalist marines in Camp Aguinaldo retreated. More defections soon followed.

February 24, 1986, 4:30 pm – As more and more gathered along EDSA, Ver and Ramas made plans to launch a final assault; Marcos vetoed the plans. Meanwhile, Cory Aquino briefly addressed the crowd from atop a makeshift podium in front of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency.

February 24, 1986, 6:00 pm – President Ronald Reagan finally demanded Marcos’ resignation. The United States shifted alliances and backed up the Aquino government.

February 24, 1986, 8:10 pm – Ferdinand Marcos and his family appeared on television, calling for loyalists to amass at Mendiola. Citizens were enjoined to obey only his orders as the “duly constituted authority.”

February 24, 1986, 9:00 pm – Plans were drawn between the Aquino and Ramos-Enrile camps to inaugurate Cory Aquino as president the following morning. Still more officials turned sides and began calling for Marcos to step down.

February 25, 1986, 10:30 am – Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as the seventh president of the Republic of the Philippines, and Salvador Laurel, the vice-president of the Philippines. They were sworn in by Senior Justice Claudio Teehankee in Club Filipino.

An hour after Mrs. Aquino’s inauguration, Marcos also took his oath as president, with the ceremony being broadcasted by IBC-13 and GMA-7. However, coverage of the event was interrupted by skirmishes started by rebel soldiers in the respective television stations.

February 25, 1986, 9:52 pm – Radio dzRH made the famous announcement: “The Marcoses have left the country.” The US Air Force TV Station FEN confirmed the Marcos’ departure.

February 25, 1986, 11:30 pm – The gates of Malacañang are wrenched open by those who had massed around the premises. Remaining Marcos loyalists fled, as many saw the interiors of Malacañang for the first time in decades. Looting and vandalism ensued until Ramos’ men entered the scene and secured the palace.