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MANILA, Philippines -- Former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad still insists that President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972 because of the alarming “communist threat” in the country.
As he puts it, the communists, through armed struggle, were out to displace the democratic government. We were also in the midst of a  “Cold War” and if we were to believe the “domino theory,” communists were out to take over Southeast Asia.
Kit, as he was popularly known even then, was also Mr. Marcos’ information minister during the martial law years. He says he learned that the President was serious in imposing martial law only a few days before Mr. Marcos indeed signed Proclamation 1081. The decision to proclaim martial law was then the sole authority of the commander-in-chief.
“It’s not that Marcos was planning (martial law). It’s the fact that the objective situation would require a solution and what was the solution available if you were studying the Constitution,” he says.
For one, Mr. Marcos had already suspended the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus after the August 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing, which the regime blamed on the communists, although the grenade blasts targeted the opposition Liberal Party’s political rally. Three months later, the opposition won a majority of the Senate seats. Only two Marcos candidates were elected.
In early June 1971, a Constitutional Convention, or “Con-con,” was convened to replace the 1935 charter, which would have barred Mr. Marcos from seeking another four-year term.
Tatad is quite candid in his recollection.
“I was in the Cabinet, and who would oppose martial law -- unless you are on the other side,” says Tatad, a diplomatic reporter for the Manila Bulletin, who at 29, was asked by Mr. Marcos to be his press secretary in 1969, the year he won a second term.
Tatad eventually resigned in 1981, the year Mr. Marcos lifted martial law while retaining its extra-legal and arbitrary powers, including the unwarranted arrests and continued detention of persons suspected of subversion or rebellion.
Tatad confides that it was a decision made by the strongman shortly before the Pope visited the country. By that time, there was already international outrage against Mr. Marcos’ strongman rule.
At first, Tatad maintained that being a journalist by training, he believed then that “we see things coming, so we write. “ And that was his analysis of the situation then.
Yet when prodded on why he eventually resigned, despite being the face that announced the promulgation of martial law, he later conceded that he felt there was, indeed, an abuse of power, not only by Mr. Marcos but more so by his subalterns.
‘Dramatic and sweeping’ changes 
If one were to believe Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, then Mr. Marcos’ defense chief, martial law “brought sweeping and dramatic changes.”
As he later wrote in his memoir, "as soon as it became clear to the general public that the country was under martial rule, law and order was restored to a great extent. People became more disciplined, peaceful and orderly. Their neighborhood and streets were safe. The citizenry worked together to clean their communities.”
He added in his book: “Political noises and wrangling were dissipated. Rallies and demonstrations disappeared from the street. Congress was closed. Schools, colleges and universities were also initially closed right after the declaration of martial law but after a month, classes resumed except in a number of colleges and universities. The radio airlines and television broadcasts were cleared of the incendiary and bombastic attacks of commentators. They were silenced.”
Not long after martial law was imposed, Enrile claimed that the economy had stabilized and flourished. The crime rate, he said, was almost zero. He even cited a US report -- which obviously provided Mr. Marcos the much-needed backing from Washington -- as Sen. Mike Mansfield submitted a report to the US Senate that despite media censorship, martial law was maintained “through the tradition of and training in civilian supremacy that the President maintains control over the military.”
Indeed, the defense chief was a civilian and martial law was maintained by the regular armed services standing in reserve. The military was reportedly “directly and heavily engaged only in the southern islands against the Moros. These tribal Moslems provide the principal resistance to the edict calling for a turn-in of weapons.”