<P> Rumors of coup d'etat were also brewing . A report of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that shortly after the Philippine presidential election, 1969, a group composed mostly of retired colonels and generals organized a revolutionary junta with the aim of first discrediting President Marcos and then killing him . The group was headed by Eleuterio Adevoso, an official of the opposition Liberal party . As described in a document given to the committee by Philippine Government official, key figures in the plot were Vice President Fernando Lopez and Sergio Osmena Jr., whom Marcos defeated in the 1969 election . Marcos even went to the U.S. embassy to dispel rumors that the U.S. embassy is supporting a coup d'etat which the opposition liberal party was spreading . While the report obtained by the NY Times speculated saying that story could be used by Marcos to justify Martial Law, as early as December 1969 in a message from the U.S. Ambassador to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador said that most of the talk about revolution and even assassination has been coming from the defeated opposition, of which Adevoso (of the Liberal Party) is a leading activist . He also said that the information he has on the assassination plans are' hard' or well - sourced and he has to make sure that it reached President Marcos . </P> <P> In light of the crisis, Marcos wrote an entry in his diary in January 1970: "I have several options . One of them is to abort the subversive plan now by the sudden arrest of the plotters . But this would not be accepted by the people . Nor could we get the Huks (Communists), their legal cadres and support . Nor the MIM (Maoist International Movement) and other subversive (or front) organizations, nor those underground . We could allow the situation to develop naturally then after massive terrorism, wanton killings and an attempt at my assassination and a coup d'etat, then declare martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus--and arrest all including the legal cadres . Right now I am inclined towards the latter ." </P> <P> At the height of armed communist insurgency in the Philippines, Philippine Military Academy instructor Lt. Victor Corpuz led New People's Army rebels in a raid on the PMA armory, capturing rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, a bazooka and thousands of rounds of ammunition in 1970 . In 1972, China, which was then actively supporting and arming communist insurgencies in Asia as part of Mao Zedong's People's War Doctrine, transported 1,200 M - 14 and AK - 47 rifles for the NPA to speed up NPA's campaign to defeat the government . Prior to the 1975, the Philippine government maintained a close relationship with the Kuomintang - ruled Chinese government which fled to Taiwan (Republic of China), despite the Chinese Communist Victory in 1949, and saw Communist China (People's Republic of China) as a security threat due to China's financial and military support of Communist rebels in the country . In a speech in February 2017 at the Methodist Protestants' Cosmopolitan Church in Manila, Enrile said: "The most significant event that made President Marcos decide to declare martial law was the MV Karagatan incident in July 1972 . It was the turning point . The MV Karagatan involved the infiltration of high powered rifles, ammunition, 40 - millimeter rocket launchers, rocket projectiles, communications equipment, and other assorted war materials by the CPP - NPA - NDF on the Pacific side of Isabela in Cagayan Valley . The CPP - NPA - NDF attempted a second effort--their MV Andrea project--but they failed . The MV Andrea sank in the West Philippine Sea on its way to the country ." Those who opposed President Marcos, including The Conjugal Dictatorship author Primitivo Mijares, the Liberal Party, as well as the Lópezes' Manila Chronicle, called the MV Karagatan incident as "show' or "a hoax". </P> <P> In a speech before Senate, Benigno Aquino, Jr. warned the public of the possible establishment of a "garrison state" by President Ferdinand Marcos . President Marcos imposed martial law on the nation from 1972 to 1981 to suppress increasing civil strife and the threat of a communist takeover following a series of bombings in Manila . Aquino himself had contact with leaders of Communist Party of the Philippines--first with founder Jose Maria Sison, and later with Rodolfo Salas, CPP chair at the height of Martial Law . In an interview with Ateneo De Manila University Professor Lisandro Claudio, Salas said not only did he bring wounded New People's Army (NPA) soldiers to Aquino's houses, but he received guns and cash from Aquino himself . In another communication to the State Department dated September 21, the US Embassy sheds further light on what Ninoy told the American officials . On September 12, Ninoy had a "lengthy luncheon conversation" with two embassy officers about the "growing strength of Communist dissidence in the Philippines ." In this luncheon, the senator "readily admitted his past ties with the several Communist factions in the Philippines ." He claimed that maintaining links with Huk rebels was a "fact of life" for a Tarlac politician . In the Philippine parliamentary election, 1978, the first parliamentary election during Martial Law, Ninoy fielded in his Lakas ng Bayan party Alex Boncayao, who was associated with Filipino communist death squad Alex Boncayao Brigade . All of the party's 21 candidates, including Ninoy, lost in the election . </P>

When was martial law declared in the philippines