First Quarter Storm

First Quarter Storm
Date 1970 Location Manila Result Unknown
Belligerents
Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas Communist Party of the Philippines New Peoples Army Soviet Union(supporting the PKP) China (allegedly supporting CPP-NPA)	Philippine Army Philippine Constabulary Presidential Security Group
Commanders and leaders
Jose Maria Sison Bernabe Buscayano Francisco Nemenzo Nilo Tayag Edgar Jopson

The First Quarter Storm was a period of leftist unrest in the Philippines, composed of a series of heavy demonstrations, protests, and marches against the government from January to March 1970, or the first quarter of 1970. It was one of the factors leading to the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.

The movement was led by the student leaders of the University of the Philippines, echoing recent student demonstrations all around the world before 1970. But then, the Moderate demonstration turned into a Radical one, led by the Kabataang Makabayan founder Jose Maria Sison as well as the leader of the New People's Army Bernabe "Dante" Buscayno. Laborers also took part, protesting against graft and corruption in government, and the decline in the economy caused by high oil prices. Some sources stated that the unrest is the plan to overthrow the government through communist as well as socialist support to the masses, as well as students and workers who facilitated the storm. Most of the activists carried Molotov cocktails and pillbox bombs to counter the policemen attacks at Malacañang Palace.

The storm ended violently when the police used tear gas and arms to quell the demonstrators. Students tried to counter using Molotov cocktails and pillbox bombs while retreating. Those who were slow enough were beaten with rifle butts and fists of the police. The storm extended to Divisoria district in Tondo, Manila. After the failed protest, some of the surviving radical students, mostly from the University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and the University of the East, became avowed Marxists, and took up arms, engaging in guerrilla and urban warfare.

The First Quarter Storm was one of the factors that led President Ferdinand Marcos to declare Martial Law two years later in 1972.

See also

Attempts at regime change in the Philippines (1970–2007)
Civil unrest (1970) People Power (1986) 1986-87 plots Honasan's Second (1989) Fall of Estrada (2001) May 1 riots (2001) Oakwood mutiny (2003) State of emergency (2006) Manila Peninsula rebellion (2007)

• German student movement, late 1960s communist student movement
• May 1968, general strike in 1968 France
• Tlatelolco massacre, violent student protests in 1968 Mexico just before the Summer Olympics held in Mexico City

External links

• gmanews.tv/story, activists to reclaim Mendiola on Jan 26
• Inquirer.net, First Quarter Storm commemorated