We don’t owe to Martial Law 50 years of freedom from the communist insurgency

Claim: We owe 50 years of freedom from the communist insurgency to the declaration of Martial Law on September 21, 1972.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The post has around 4,000 reactions, 310 comments, and 341 shares, as of writing.

The bottom line: Martial Law did not prevent the communist insurgency from taking over. The Communist Party of the Philippines was not close to taking over when Martial Law was declared on September 23, 1972. Nor is it a serious threat today.

Not a threat then: In a similar fact-check by Rappler last September 2021, it was shown that the CPP-NPA-NDF membership increased from a measly 60 to 25,000 nearing the end of Martial Law. Martial rule exacerbated the communist insurgency instead of quelling it.

Not a threat now: While the CPP-NPA-NDF persists, they remain at the peripherals unable to pose a significant threat to the government.

On September 22, a Manila Regional Trial Court junked the petition to declare the CPP-NPA-NDF as a terrorist organization. The decision said that while it recognized the threat the Communist Party can pose, it was “certainly far from reaching the ‘widespread’ or ‘extraordinary’ proportions sufficient to ‘coerce’ the government to give in to any demand, much less, an unlawful demand.” – Pola Regalario/Rappler.com

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