21/09/2026
On September 21, 2026, we mark 54 years since the declaration of Martial Law.
Despite operating on opposing sides of the Cold War, the regimes of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the Philippines and Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania shared a striking blueprint for authoritarian control: personalist rule, domestic surveillance, and elevated marital power structures.
References:
Abinales, P. N., & Amoroso, D. J. (2017). State and society in the Philippines (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.
Amnesty International. (2018). Philippines: Declaration of Martial Law (Public Statement ASA 35/9139/2018). Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/9139/2018/en/
Deletant, D. (1995). Ceaușescu and the Securitate: Coercion and dissent in Romania, 1965–1989. M.E. Sharpe.
Kligman, G. (1998). The politics of duplicity: Controlling reproduction in Ceaușescu's Romania. University of California Press.
McCoy, A. W. (2009). Policing America's empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the rise of the surveillance state. University of Wisconsin Press.
Roper, S. D. (2000). Romania: The unfinished revolution. Harwood Academic Publishers.
Siani-Davies, P. (2005). The Romanian Revolution of December 1989. Cornell University Press.
Thompson, M. R. (1995). The anti-Marcos struggle: Personalistic rule and democratic transition in the Philippines. Yale University Press.
