Lesson 2

• Primary sources


  Firsthand information or data generated by witnesses or participants in past events
• Types of primary sources

  • Novels, plays, poems
  • Television shows, movies, or videos
  • Paintings or photographs
  • Newspapers
  • Chronicles or historical accounts
  • Essays and speeches
  • Memoirs, diaries, journals, and letters
  • Philosophical treaties or manifestos
  • Census records
  • Obituaries
  • Biographies and Autobiographies
  • Maps and atlases
  • Statistics
  • City directories
  • Archives
• History heavily relies on primary sources
• Historian: 'Primary sources are absolutely fundamental to history'
• Secondary sources


  Documents that relate to information that originated elsewhere and often interpret primary sources
• Examples of secondary sources

  • Textbooks
  • Articles
  • Reference books
  • Bibliographies
  • Biographical works
  • Dictionaries
  • Encyclopedias
  • Atlases
  • Articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers
• Anniversary of the declaration of martial law


  September 23
• Headline of the Sunday Express: "FM Declares Martial Law"


  September 24, 1972
• President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Proclamation No.1081, placing the Philippines under Martial Law


  September 21, 1972
• Marcos built up the cult of September 21 as National Thanksgiving Day
• Many Filipinos misapprehend that martial law was proclaimed on September 21, 1972
• Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. exposed "Oplan Sagittarius" a week before the declaration of Martial Law
• Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr.: 'During a September 13, 1972 privilege speech, exposed what was known as “Oplan Sagittarius.”'
• Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. received a top-secret military plan from Marcos himself to place Metro Manila and outlying areas under the control of the Philippine Constabulary as a prelude to Martial Law
• Marcos was going to use a series of bombings in Metro Manila, including the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing, as a justification for his takeover and subsequent authoritarian rule
• Marcos wrote in his diary on September 14, 1972, that he informed the military that he would proceed with proclaiming Martial Law
• The U.S. Embassy in Manila knew as early as September 17, 1972, about Marcos’ plan to proclaim Martial Law
• Marcos hinted at the declaration of Martial Law as early as May 17, 1969, when he addressed the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association
• Marcos instructed then Justice Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile in December 1969 to study the powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief under the provisions of the 1935 Constitution
• Marcos also instructed Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor and Jose Almonte to study how Martial Law was implemented in different parts of the world and the consequences of declaring Martial Law
• Enrile submitted a confidential report on the legal nature and extent of Martial Law to Marcos by the end of January 1970
• Marcos met with business leaders, intellectuals, and the military in January 1971 to lay the groundwork for extreme measures in the future
• On May 8, 1972, Marcos instructed the military to update its plans, including the list of personalities to be arrested, and met with Enrile to finalize the legal paperwork required
• On August 1, 1972, Marcos met with Enrile and military commanders to discuss tentative dates for the declaration of Martial Law, considering dates that ended in seven or were divisible by seven as his lucky number