In a 2014 interview with GMA News Online, Marcos Jr. recounted that the day his father issued Proclamation 1081 (the decree that placed the entire Philippines under Martial Law), he was at school in England. “The person who called me was the ambassador to the Court of St. James, it was Jaime Zobel. He called me at school and said, ‘Your father declared Martial Law.’ That’s it.”
Marcos Jr. had just turned 15 at the time, a fact he confirmed in a Facebook post from 2012. He explained that he was neither consulted nor involved in the planning and declaration of Martial Law in the country.
Unsurprisingly, the strongman’s son recalled how “people [were] saying how thankful they were for the relative peace and order that followed Martial Law,” and that the main reason it was declared, per his understanding, “was the imminent danger posed to the state by the twin insurgencies waged by the armed communists and the secessionists in the south.”
He has also stated that numerous avenues exist for those seeking justice for the abuses committed during the Marcos years (via GMA News Online). That said, Marcos Jr. also stated in his Facebook post that he does not believe Martial Law is “something to be considered in today’s context.”
