
Originally Posted by
æRLO
Because Marcos fought off the First Quarter storm with Martial Law. At the time when communism was BEGINNING to swell its ranks in the Philippines, he used the Martial Law to stop it in its tracks. Before communist doctrines got a hold of the majority of proletariat masses, he had significantly weakened it. Look what happened to Indonesia, look what happened to Vietnam, and Cambodia--the leaders during the 50s up to the 60s did not act fast enough to contain the spread. Vietnam had to go through partition and war, Cambodia ended up under Khmer Rouge regime, and Indonesia, though they've resisted communism, had undergone one of the biggest purge and mass-murder at that time. All because their leaders were being reactive instead of proactive. You can't merely fight insurgencies conventionally in a battlefield, you have to strangle it out of the insurgents by strict policing.