Comparative Study of Martial Law and Post-EDSA Armed Forces of the Philippines

Abstract

This comparative study about the Armed Forces of the Philippines of the martial law years and of the post-EDSA years attempts to present these two periods in there political, economic, social and historical contexts. Basically, this comparison traces the history of the present AFP; the political-economic characteristics of the AFP during martial law and during the different administrations after the post-EDSA Uprising; the characteristics of the AFP at this two particular periods; the internal issues and problems within the AFP, how it affected societal affairs and how it was affected by the existing social situation of that time; the role of the United States to the formation, development and the eventual prevalent relational status quo between the U.S. military and Philippine military; and most especially, the impact of these two periods of the AFP towards society and the Filipino people. The researcher gathered secondary data from several textual resources and conducted several interviews to key personalities related to the study. Dialectical and historical materialism or DHM is the theoretical framework of this study while the conceptual framework is based on the application of DHM to Philippine society, the Philippine revolution and the Filipino people. The conclusion of this study confirms the truth of the posed hypothesis, that the AFP, as an institution, does not serve the democratic interests of the Filipino masses composed in majority by peasants and workers. Instead, it upholds, protects — in a violent manner — the interests of the very few, the foreign monopoly capitalists and its local minions.