2o IS AA S

152 Pages·2015·6.3 MB·English

THE EMERGENCE OF A FILIPINO AMERICAN ANTI-MARTIAL LAW
MOVEMENT, 1972-1974
As A thesis submitted to the faculty of
San Francisco State University
3G
In partial fulfillment of
2o IS
the requirements for
AA S the Degree
• C s H
Master of Arts
In
Asian American Studies
by
Joemar Nillo Clemente
San Francisco, California
Summer 2015
Copyright by
JoemarNillo Clemente
2015
CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL
I certify that I have read The Emergence of A Filipino American Anti-Martial Law
Movement, 1972-1974 by Joemar Nillo Clemente, and that in my opinion this work meets
the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
the degree Master of Arts in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.
Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales
Professor
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
THE EMERGENCE OF A FILIPINO AMERICAN ANTI-MARTIAL LAW
MOVEMENT, 1972-1974
Joemar Nillo Clemente
San Francisco, California
2015
This thesis is fundamentally interested in the effects of the Anti-Martial Law Movement
on Filipino American community life. It examines and unravels the complex series of
events that led to the rise and growth of a Filipino American Anti-Martial Law
Movement from the proclamation of Martial Law in the Philippines on September 21,
1972 until the emergence of a fragile solidarity among competing movement
organizations in early 1974. Focusing on the role of three organizations: the Katipunan
Ng Mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP); the National Committee for the Restoration of
Civil Liberties in the Philippines (NCRCLP); and the Movement for a Free Philippines
(MFP), it traces the events in both the U.S. and the Philippines that catalyzed the early
formation and growth of the movement. Despite the political differences between these
competing Anti-Martial Law organizations, Filipino Americans built institutions that
strengthened community bonds, spurred Filipino American engagement in American
politics, and engendered a growing awareness of events in the Philippine homeland.
I certify that the abstract is a correct representation of the content of this Master’s Thesis
if/r
Date
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis was written under the unwavering support of members of my thesis
committee: Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales and Dawn Mabalon. Daniel Phil Gonzales also
served as an unofficial, yet indispensible, advisor to this thesis. I am indebted to the
numerous individuals who sat for or merely entertained requests to sit for an oral history
interview. Although not all of the interviews made it to this final thesis draft, they will be
instrumental in developing my future research. I received tremendous support in writing
this thesis, but its errors, its shortcomings, and its real (not imagined) provocations are
mine alone.
A Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and a summer fellowship through UC Irvine’s
Graduate Division financially supported the production of this thesis. Finally, this work
would not have been possible without the countless community activists who lived the
Anti-Martial Law Movement, and the numerous scholars who made it possible for this
movement to be an important subject of historical inquiry.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures........................................................................................................................viii
List of Appendices.................................................................................................................ix
Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................................1
American Colonialism.................................................................................................3
Genesis & Growth of Filipino America......................................................................5
“Independence” & Post-World War II U.S. Neo-Colony......................................10
Post-War Filipino America & the Seeds of a Movement......................................19
Brief Historiography of the Anti-Martial Law Movement....................................22
Thesis Overview.......................................................................................................31
Chapter 2: Martial Law & Transpacific Reverberations.....................................................35
Martial Law’s Immediate Aftermath in the Philippines........................................43
Mixed Reception Stateside......................................................................................49
Youth Reaction.........................................................................................................51
NCRCLP’s Early Organizational Structure............................................................56
NCRCLP Growth & Continuity..............................................................................58
Chapter 3: Rising Tide of Opposition.................................................................................68
U.S. Press Criticism.................................................................................................78
Defecting Diplomat..................................................................................................80
NCRCLP Transitions to KDP..................................................................................86
Baliao’s “Disengagement” with NCRCLP.............................................................90
Genesis of the Movement for a Free Philippines...................................................94
July 1973 Referendum.............................................................................................97
Princeton’s Imee Opposition....................................................................................101
Conclusion................................................................................................................110
Chapter 4: Conclusion: A Fleeting Point of Unity..............................................................112
FFF & its December Ultimatum.............................................................................114
FFF’s “Counter-Intelligence” ..................................................................................117
Coda: A Fleeting Point of Unity..............................................................................122
List of Acronyms..................................................................................................................124
References..............................................................................................................................125
viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
1. KDP Anti-Martial Law Spheres of Influence........................................................90
ix
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix
1. List of Acronyms
1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Although the story of the Anti-Martial Law Movement is the subject of numerous
scholarly inquiries—particularly since Marcos’s ouster is one of the most well
documented “peaceful” democratic transitions in the last century—the scholarship on the
movement remains rather uneven and as diverse as those who participated in the struggle
to topple Marcos’s dictatorship.1 Studies on the Anti-Martial Law Movement, however,
ignore movement organizing within the United States. Although there is no way for
certain to determine or fully ascertain if Anti-Martial Law activities in the United States
ultimately contributed to regime change in the Philippines, the Filipino American Anti-
Martial Law Movement arguably helped sort out Filipino American relations with their
homeland with under interrogated consequences for today. In the process of organizing
against Martial Law in their homeland, I argue Filipino Americans built community
institutions that strengthened community bonds, despite their political differences, that
spurred Filipino American political engagement in the U.S. and a growing awareness of
events in the Philippines albeit heavily reliant on Marcos’s tight control of information.
In the United States various groups composed of exiled political elites,
professional class and working class immigrants, students, and Filipino Americans born
to earlier immigrants generations worked in conflicting and shifting coalitions to
challenge Marcos’s military dictatorship from the United States. One of the major U.S.-
based groups organizing against Philippine Martial Law included the Movement for a
1 Mark. R. Thompson, The Anti-Marcos Struggle: Personalistic Rule and Democratic Transition in the
Philippines, (New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1995), 68-70.