September marks three dates connected with Ferdinand E. Marcos: His birthday, Sept. 11; his death anniversary, Sept. 28; and the proclamation of martial law on Sept. 23, though signed on Sept. 22 and backdated to Sept. 21.

President Marcos had hand-written diaries written with an eye for posterity, usually on palace stationery. I have copies of some of them, given to me one day by a colleague some years ago, and I thought the best commemoration would be to reproduce extracts from those diaries. President Marcos himself told historians he signed the proclamation of martial law on Sept. 17, 1972. His diaries say otherwise.

Sept. 7, 1972 Thursday 9:10 pm:

...This afternoon I spent in finishing all papers needed for a possible proclamation of martial law, just in case it is necessary to do so.

Sept. 9, 1972, Saturday, 12:35 pm:

...Sec. Ponce Enrile and I finished the material for any possible proclamation of martial law...

Sept. 10, 1972, Sunday, 12:30 pm:

It is now my birthday. I am 55. And I feel more physically and mentally robust than in the past decade and have acquired valuable experience to boot.

Energy and wisdom — the philosopher’s heaven.

Sep. 13, Wednesday, at 11:00 pm:

...So I met with Johnny Ponce Enrile, Gen. Tom Diaz, Col. Montoya, Col. Romy Gatan, and Danding Cojuangco this evening at Pangarap and we agreed to set the 21st of this month as the deadline.

In the meantime Sen. Aquino in a privilege speech, today, claims we have an OPLAN Sagitarrius, which allegedly includes placing Greater Manila under PC Control preparatory to proclaiming martial law.

This is nothing but the contingency plan for the coordination of the local police forces and the Armed Forces in case of insurgency.

It is ridiculous to ascribe it to the plan of martial law since it refers to calling out the troops to quell a disorder.

But of course the media will give it all kind of meaning.

But, again, perhaps it is best that the political opposition start a debate that will get the people used to the idea of emergency powers.

Sept. 14, 1972, Thursday, at 11:50 pm:

After golf, at 9:00 am at my room at Pangarap while taking breakfast, I told the SND, C of S, Major Service Commanders (Gen. Ramos, PC, Gen. Zagala, PA, Romando, PAF and Commodore Ruiz, PN) Gen. Ver and Gen. Paranis that I intend to declare martial law to liquidate the communist apparatus, reform our government and society, then have the Concon ratify our acts and the people can confirm it by plebiscite and return to constitutional processes; but that I needed at least one year and two months; that this would be a legitimate exercise of my emergency powers under the constitution as clarified by the Habeas Corpus case by the Supreme Court last January; that we need to cure the ills of our society by radical means (I mentioned corruption, tax evasion, criminality, smuggling, lack of discipline, unequal opportunities) so we must keep our moves clean and submerge self-interest.

I asked for any objection to the plan and there was none except for the observation of Gen. Ramos that the closing of the media should be done by a civilian minister supported by the military, and Gen. Romando who wanted missions definitely assigned to each branch of the service.

Sep. 17, 1972 Sunday 10:00 pm (at “The Big Antique” or “Ang Maharlika”)

We escaped the loneliness of the palace for this old Antillan house now known as Ang Maharlika, the State Guest House several blocks from the palace. It has been restored beautifully by Imelda and is a symbol of Philippine culture in the last century. Almost all our antique valuables have been transferred here.

The departure of our children has made the palace a ghostly unbearable place.

I took a long nap (4:30-7:30 pm) in the room of Bongbong which has the worst bed [illegible] and the lumpiest mattress.

And after an early simple dinner of sardines and pancit, I was able to browse in the library where to my delight I discovered the books I have been wanting to read for some time...

Sep. 18, 1972, Monday, at 12:50 pm:

...We finalized the plans for the proclamation of martial law at 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm with the SND, the Chief of Staff, major service commanders, J-2, Gen. Paz, 1st PC Zone Commander, Gen. Diaz and Metrocom commander, Co. Montoya, with Gen. Ver in attendance.

They all agreed the earlier we do it the better because the media is waging a propaganda campaign that distorts and twists the facts...

So after the bombing of the Concon, we agreed on the 21st without any postponement.

We finalized the target personalities, the assignments, and the procedures.

Sept. 19, 1972, Tuesday:

Released the report of Sec. Ponce Enrile of Sept. 8, 1972 where he reported that Sen. Aquino had met with Jose Maria Sison of the Communist Party and had talked about a link-up of the Liberal Party and the Communist Party... So since I invited Sen. Pres. Puyat, Speaker Villareal... I explained to the media which was covering us that when I invited the leaders of the Liberal Party I had wanted a private conference where we could, as Filipinos and for the welfare of our people, agree that neither party (Nacionalista or Liberal) would “link-up” with the Communist Party but their refusal to attend indicated that the Liberals were in on the deal to “link-up” with the Communists through Sen. Aquino...

Sept. 20, 1972, 10:40 pm:

...This afternoon General Staff with the SND and the Chiefs of the major services came to see us to submit the Assessment of Public Order wherein they recommend the use of “other forms of countering subversion/insurgency should be considered.” This means they recommend the use of Emergency Powers including Martial Law, formally.

Sept. 21, 1972, Thursday (Sept. 22nd at 1:45 am.)

Delayed by the hurried visit of Joe Aspiras and Nating Barbers who came from the Northern bloc of congressmen and senators who want to know if there is going to be Martial Law in 48 hours as predicted by Ninoy Aquino.

Of course Imelda and I denied it.

But Johnny Ponce Enrile, Gen. Paz, Gen. Nanadiego, Kits Tatad and I with Piciong Tagmani doing the typing finished all the papers (the proclamation and the orders) today at 8:00 pm.

[U.S.] Amb. Byroade came to see me at 11:15 pm and was apparently interested to know whether there would be Martial Law. He seemed to favor it when I explained it is intended to primarily reform our society and eliminate the communist threat. But he suggested that a proclamation before the American elections may be used by McGovern, the Democratic presidential candidate, as proof of the failure of the foreign policy of the present president.

Sept. 22, 1972, Friday, 9:55 p.m.:

Sec. Juan Ponce Enrile was ambushed near Wack-Wack at about 8:00 pm tonight. It was a good thing he was riding in his security car as a protective measure...

This makes the martial law proclamation a necessity.

Sept. 23, 1972, Saturday, 12:20 pm:

Things moved according to plan although out of the total 200 target personalities in the plan only 52 have been arrested, including the three senators, Aquino, Diokno and Mitra and Chino Roces and Teddy Locsin.

At 7:15 pm I finally appeared on a nationwide TV and Radio broadcast to announce the proclamation of martial law, the general orders and instruction...

I was supposed to broadcast at 12:00 p.m. but technical difficulties prevented it. We had closed all TV stations. We have to clear KBS which broadcast it live. VOP and PBS broadcast it by radio nationwide.

Sep. 24, 1972, Sunday, (1:25 am Sept. 25):

Diokno, Chino Roces, Max Soliven etc. have filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the Supreme Court.

I asked Justices Claudio Teehangkee, Antonio Barredo, Felix Macasiar and Felix Antonio to see us. They insisted that the government should submit to the Supreme Court for the Court to review the constitutionality of the proclamation of martial law, Proclamation No. 1081.

So I told them in the presence of Secs. Ponce Enrile and Vicente Abad Santo as well as Sol. Gen. Estelito Mendoza that if necessary I would formally declare the establishment of a revolutionary government so that I can formally disregard the actions of the Supreme Court.

They insisted that we retain a color of constitutionality for everything that we do.

But I feel that they are still image-building and do not understand that a new day has dawned. While they claim to be for a reformed society, they are not too motivated but are too bound by technical legalism.

Sep. 25, 1972, Monday, 12:15 pm:

...The public reaction throughout the Philippines is a welcome to martial law because of the smooth, peaceful reestablishment of peace and order and the hope of a reformed society. In fact most everyone now says, this should have been done earlier...

...It is indeed gratifying that everyone now finds or discovers I am some kind of a hero!

There is nothing as successful as success!