{"id":7529,"date":"2019-02-03T04:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=7529"},"modified":"2019-01-23T13:41:43","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T21:41:43","slug":"living-under-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/vanuatu\/vanuatu-vanuatu\/living-under-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Living under Martial Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Life goes on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When martial law was declared that September day, I had only a vague idea what the implications would be and how it would affect our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’d moved to the Philippines the previous September, and I’d spent the year getting acquainted with one new thing after another. Now I was about to find out what it was like to live under martial law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soldiers with Guns<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Driving from our house to the bank, traffic looked a little lighter than usual. Other than that, the gleaming high rise buildings that lined Ayala Avenue in Makati’s financial district looked normal. It had been only a few days since the declaration of martial law. The transition from a democratically elected government to a de facto<\/em> dictatorship had occurred without bloodshed, without tanks in the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what’s to worry about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I parked and walked around to the front of the bank building. Oh-oh, I thought, sucking in my breath. There on either side of the entrance stood two soldiers with assault rifles. I plucked up my courage and scurried between them and through the door, careful not to meet their eyes or brush up against their elbows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following months, I encountered armed soldiers in other unexpected places. I got used to it. Almost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Eugene and girls at Rizal Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The exception was the day I took our three young daughters to Rizal Park. We walked around and then settled in the children’s section of the park. They ran to monkey bars and I turned my attention to the soldier with an M-16 who didn’t look old enough to drive a car. Though I was uneasy, I let the children continue playing until the soldier handed his assault rifle to a child who couldn’t have been more than nine years old. Predictably, the boy immediately pointed the rifle this way and that, pretending to shoot people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when we left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Curfew<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One aspect of martial law that applied to absolutely everyone was the curfew. The proclamation of martial law stated: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People outside their homes from 12mn to 4am will be summarily arrested and held in the nearest military camp overnight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, authorities would decide whether or not to throw them in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The dinner parties we attended usually started at 7:30 with drinks, snacks, and conversation. Dinner itself was leisurely, followed by after-dinner drinks. We should have been able to make it home by midnight. And yet, sometimes we found ourselves rushing to beat the curfew. Fortunately we never were caught out on the highways after midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Media<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before the declaration<\/a>, we were able to choose between 7 TV stations, 16 daily papers, 11 weekly magazines, and hundreds of radio stations. After September 23, 1972, the only outlets allowed to operate were those associated with one Marcos crony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We subscribed to that one approved newspaper for a while. But a steady diet of propaganda will rot your brain. Besides, it was deadly boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did our best to find ways around the media shutdown. My husband and his colleagues brought news and newspapers home from their travels, and we read Stars and Stripes<\/em>, the US military paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Real Cost of Martial Law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ordinary people and expatriates could adjust to all these things. We could find ways to carry on with our regular lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so for the country itself and for thousands of Filipinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress was disbanded. And after Marcos disposed of his opponents, a new constitution was written by his supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights abuses during Marcos’ 14-year-dictatorship have been documented. According to historians:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Marcos’ dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 ‘disappeared’, and 70,000 incarcerations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

During the time of Marcos’ presidency, poverty grew from 41% to 59%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When martial law was declared that September day, I had only a vague idea what the implications would be and how it would affect our lives. We’d moved to the Philippines the previous September, and I’d spent the year getting acquainted with one new thing after another. 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It was my husband\u2019s secretary. \u201cTurn on the radio,\u201d she said. \u201cMarcos just declared martial law.\u201d That\u2019s how it happens, without warning. 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As he spoke, his answers sounded curt and serious. \"Who was it?\" I asked when he hung up. \"Bing.\" His secretary, a Filipina who, I came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Eugene-me-and-the-girls-001.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5863,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/philippines\/an-assassination-martial-law-and-a-revolution-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":7529,"position":3},"title":"An Assassination, Martial Law, and a Revolution, Part 1","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"March 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 In 1983, when Senator Benigno Aquino was assassinated, we were there\u2014not at the Manila International Airport where thousands of supporters waited to welcome their hero back from exile in the United States, but at our home in Manila, watching the sad spectacle over and over and over again on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"book reviews","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/ninoy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4147,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/bruce-lee-and-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":7529,"position":4},"title":"Bruce Lee and Me","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"September 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Bruce Lee was just down the hill from me. 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