home > the beginning > the marcos regime : martial law and the new society

Ideally, a government is assembled to cater to the needs of the people. They are institutions put together to determine the common good. Be it small organization, or a massive setting such as a nation, the purpose of a governing body is chiefly to provide service. This service should manifest itself in the form of the achievement and implementation of programs. These are programs that benefit and strengthen the welfare of the citizenry.

Sadly, there are instances when the bodies created to serve become bodies that are served instead. These are unfortunate circumstances when the fulfillment of tasks becomes the concern of the people instead of the concern of the government. It is during these tragic instances that the need for change is demanded. It is during this failure in the institution that the need for reform surfaces. These are the times that give birth to revolution.

Such was the situation of the Marcos Era. What started as a government elected to better the situation of the Filipino became an institution that ended up perpetrating hideous abuses. The protector itself being the criminal, abusing and maltreating the people responsible for its creation in the first place. It’s leader, a man put in power to oversee the welfare of the people became a mad dictator concerned only with self-empowerment.

The many injustices perpetrated during that period of time called many citizens into action. These people worked to improve the relationship of the citizenry and the government through the pushing of reforms. However, the corruption of the institution was too great. Soon the valiant warriors of democracy were struck down. Their dreams for a better society cast down by the greed and avarice of a single man.

Sooner or later, eyes if the citizenry were awakened to the abuses, the corruption that for so long it had been acting blind to.

The spirit of justice had been awakened in the Filipino people once more. Like their forefathers before them who rallied against the tyranny of the Spanish rulers, the people united in a common cause. Once again, the Filipino people united against insurmountable odds to overthrow the dictator Marcos. The revolution had been realized.

Revolution comes when change is resisted. Change comes when the existing system becomes inadequate to suit the needs of its beneficiaries. When the inevitable factor of change is resisted, drastic measures are taken.

In systems such as the government institutions, there are only two directions to tread, the way of the people, or the way to corruption. When the latter is chosen, there can be evolution, where the people move on to a better government, or revolution, where the said drastic measures are taken to ensure change. Such measures can insure growth of a nation’s people and insure that atrocities perpetrated by the whims of madmen are not repeated to a younger generation.