Charter change and armed struggle

ON Sept. 21, 1972, martial law was declared in the Philippines, supposedly to check the growing menace of communism. But most political observers of that time were unconvinced. The level of the communist resurgence did not justify the government resorting to such an extreme measure as declaring martial rule. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was barely in its infancy. Its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), was composed mostly of poorly armed, ill-trained handful of students, too small even to be considered a viable armed band of outlaws.

Months before the declaration of martial law, major countries were experiencing waves of populist protests by their youth. In the Philippines, thousands of mostly young people were already marching in major cities demanding societal reforms. The vast majority of these marchers were equally militant, daring, and loud, but definitely not communists.