During the Fourth Republic, the 1973 Constitution introduced by Ferdinand Marcos created a parliamentary system that split the Executive into two, with the prime minister retaining the office of commander-in-chief and the president reduced to a mere figurehead. The wording of Article VII, Section 9 in the previous constitution enabled Marcos as commander-in-chief to declare Martial Law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus on 21 September 1972. Marcos also issued an edict, conferring the rank of five-star general in the military to the president, as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. He consequently sat as both president and prime minister until 1981, when martial law was lifted and Cesar Virata succeeded him to the latter office and amendments were made to the 1973 Constitution to turn it into a strong president semi-presidential system in which the office of commander-in-chief was officially returned to the president. Salvador Laurel was the country's last prime minister when the office was abolished after the 1986 People Power Revolution, and the position's powers were again merged with the Presidency.