Anti-Martial Law Movement

This twenty-second day of Filipino American History Month brings information on the anti-martial law movement (AMLM).

The period from 1965 to 1986 was characterized by a massive influx of Philippine immigrants as a result of changes in immigration law, and by unrest and division in the Philippines and in the United States of America over the government of the U.S.-backed President Ferdinand Marcos.

Ferdinand Marcos was elected President of the Philippines in 1965. Unrest over his leadership led to the launch of the First Quarter Storm on January 30, 1970, marked by anti-Marcos protests in the Philippines from January to March. This is typically seen as the start of the anti-U.S./anti-Marcos movement.

Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines, on September 21, 1972, sparking a massive protest movement among Filipinos in the USA and in the Philippines. Thousands flee the Philippines seeking political freedom. The USA maintained a position of staunch support of the Marcos government during this time.

In 1973, Ferdinand Marcos announced the Balikbayan program, which invited all overseas Filipinos to return to the Philippines to visit. The program was criticized as a pro-Marcos propaganda ploy, but several hundred Filipino Americans return. Tensions rose on May 18, 1973, when Marcos’ blacklist of U.S. residents is revealed in Los Angeles.

On July 28, 1973, the Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP), or Union of Democratic Filipinos, was founded in Santa Cruz, California. Other anti-Marcos organizations founded in the fall of that year included the Movement for a Free Philippines (September 22, 1973, in Washington DC) and the Friends of the Filipino People (October 20, 1973, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

On December 28-29, 1974, the first AMLM Unity Conference was held in Chicago, Illinois. The movement continued to grow and on November 2, 1975, the Anti-Martial Law Coalition was formed in New York, New York.

During the 1980s, the AMLM continued to politicize and polarize the Filipino American community. Even within the movement, ideological rifts plagued. When, on August 21, 1983, Senator and opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. returned to the Philippines and was assassinated at the Manila International Airport, the situation worsened. On November 3, 1985, Ferdinand Marcos announced a “snap election” for the Philippine presidency, to be held on January 17, 1986. However, the election was postponed to February 7, 1986.

On February 22, 1985, the EDSA ”People Power” movement, supported by a military coup, toppled the Marcos regime and elected Corazon Aquino President of the Philippines. Three days later, on February 25, 1986, President Ronald Reagan formally withdrew his support of the Marcos administration, and Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos left the Philippines for Hawaii.

The AMLM in the USA, made up of many groups and individuals, challenged Filipino Americans and the U.S. government of their support of the Marcos regime. It further demonstrated the inextricable connection between the Philippines and the USA. Today, while the time period continues to be a controversial one to discuss, more and more information and research is revealed about it.