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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-22/marcos-martial-law-2.avif" alt="Marcos General Order #1" loading="lazy" />
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(President Ferdinand E. Marcos meets the top brass of the military, sometime in 1972)
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The order states that martial law was declared due to the wanton destruction of lives and property, widespread lawlessness and anarchy, chaos and disorder prevailing throughout the country. These conditions were attributed to groups of men actively engaged in a conspiracy to seize political and state power in the Philippines in order to take over the Government by force and violence.
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In response to this situation, President Marcos deemed it imperative to assume greater and more effective control over the entire Government, to have the broadest latitude and discretion in dealing with the affairs of the nation, and to exercise extraordinary powers in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
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September 22, 1972: Marcos signed General Order No. 1, in the wake of the declaration of Martial Law