JPE says LP-CPP alliance prompted Marcos to declare Martial Law; 'Fake news' says Tañada

The alliance between the Liberal Party (LP) and the communists in 1972 had prompted then-President Ferdinand Marcos to put the entire country under Martial Law, according to former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. A party official, however, dismissed this as "fake news."

Interviewed by Marcos' son, former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., Enrile said he learned about the "coalition government" being planned by the two parties from then Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr, a leading opposition figure that time.

"One of the reasons why President Marcos declared Martial Law is there was a working coalition between the Liberal party and the New Peoples Army-Communist Party of the Philippines led by [Jose Maria] Sison at this point," Enrile said in the interview, the video of which was posted on Bongbong's Facebook account on Thursday.

"The President realized that the country was too fragile, and that it has very limited capability to contain the problem."

Asked if it was a formal agreement, Enrile said, “Yes. I met with Ninoy Aquino in the house of Ramon Silay. Paul Aquino is still alive. He was the one who reported that to me."

'Lie', 'fake news'

LP denied that such an agreement with the communist rebels took place, saying it was a "lie" that Marcos used to justify "justify his desire to perpetuate himself in power."

"That was the lie peddled by Marcos to justify his desire to perpetuate himself in power to include the staging of the fake ambush of Enrile which he himself admitted to during the onset of the EDSA People Power Revolution," said Sen. Francis Pangilinan, current LP president, in a text message to GMA News Online.

Interviewed on News To Go, former Quezon Representative Erin Tañada,  LP's vice president for external affairs, said it is unfair for Enrile to make such allegation since most of the people supposedly involved in the negotiation are all dead.

"We can't verify such statement," he said. "Kung sa amin 'yan, baka fake news 'yan. Kailangan maglabas sila ng ebidensiya."

Meeting

According to Enrile, Paul Aquino — Ninoy's brother and father of incumbent Senator Bam Aquino — discussed the forming of a coalition government with CPP leaders during a meeting.

"He (Paul) was a member of the Liberal Party," Enrile said.

GMA News Online has contacted Sen. Aquino for his comment, but he has yet to respond as of posting time.

Enrile, who was defense minister in 1972, said martial law was also declared due to the prevailing condition of the country at that time — rebellion in Mindanao, onset of drug menace, very strong communist movement, presence of political warlords, and high incidents of crime.

"At that time, we only had 50,000 armed forces, including the Philippine Constabulary. The size of the firearms in the hands of the civilians is much more than the capacity of the armed forces,” he said.

He added that through martial law, the government "harvested" some 600,000 guns from across the country.

Historians said about 3,000 people were killed while 70,000 others were arrested during the Martial Law years. The names of the heroes and martyrs under the Marcos regime and dictatorship are etched in the Bantayong ng mga Bayani memorial in Quezon City. —KBK, GMA News