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Ferdinand Marcos

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Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was the tenth president of the Philippines, serving from 1965 to 1986. In 1972, he declared martial law, which allowed him to stay in power until lifting it in 1981. He was elected the same year to another full term which was marred by personal health issues, political mismanagement and human rights violations by the military. In 1986, he was re-elected for the fourth time in a disputed snap election. As a result, that same year he was removed from office peacefully by the "People Power" EDSA Revolution.

He has the distinction of being the last Senate President to be elected to the presidency and being the first president to be elected to two consecutive full terms.

Contents

Early life

Ferdinand Marcos was born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte to Mariano Marcos, a lawyer who was an assemblyman for Ilocos Norte, and Josefa Quetulio Edralín, a teacher. He was the second of four children. His siblings were Pacífico, Elizabeth and Fortuna. He was of mixed Filipino (Ilocano), Chinese, and Japanese ancestry. He started his primary education in Sarrat Central School. He was transferred to Shamrock Elementary School (Laoag), and finally to the Ermita Elementary School (Manila) when his father was elected as an Assemblyman in the Philippine Congress. He completed his primary education in 1929.

He served as 3rd lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary (national police) Reserve in 1937. The same year, when he was still a law student at the University of the Philippines, Marcos was indicted for the assassination of Congressman Julio Nalundasan, one of his father's political rivals who was runniing against him in the upcomming election. Marcos was convicted in November 1939. He was offered a pardon by President Manuel Quezon, but he turned it down and voluntarily returned to the Laoag Provincial Jail where he spent time preparing his defense while studying to take the Bar examination. After graduating with cum laude honors in 1939, he became the only person in Philippine history to get 100% on the bar examination.

He was admitted to the Bar and granted permission to argue his own appeal, he argued his case before the Philippine Supreme Court and was acquitted the following year by then-Associate Justice Jose P. Laurel. In U.P., Marcos was a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi.

Military career

During World War II, Marcos served in the Philippine Armed Forces as the combat intelligence officer of the 21st Infantry Division. In mid-January of 1942, Lieutenant Marcos, accompanied by three 18 year old recruits, penetrated behind the Japanese lines, killed more than 50 of the enemy and destroyed the deadly mortars that pinned down General Mateo Capinpin’s 21st Division. He was later captured and tortured yet escaped to rally elements of various divisions in a six-day running battle on the banks of two Bataan rivers that threw the enemy back. For this he was promoted to the rank of captain and recommended for the Medal of Honor. Captured by the Japanese, he survived the Bataan Death March towards Central Luzon and then escaped.

He was awarded with medals as an officer though his biography written by Hartzell Spence greatly exaggerated the truth. Marcos' subsequent claims of being an important leader in the Filipino guerrilla resistance movement were a central factor in his later political success, but U.S. government archives later revealed that he actually played little or no part in anti-Japanese activities during the war. Marcos reportedly started out fighting with President Quezon's Own Guerrillas (PQOG) in southern Luzon.

Personal

In 1954, after a whirlwind super brief 11 day romance, he married Imelda Romualdez who later helped him in his successful campaigns for the presidency. They had 4 children: Imee Marcos (Ilocos Norte congresswoman), Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (aka "Bongbong" (Ilocos Norte governor), Irene Marcos (socialite) and adopted daughter, Aimee Marcos (entrepreneur and musician).

Early political career

From 1946 to 1947, Marcos was a technical assistant to President Manuel Roxas. In the 1949 national elections, Marcos famously declared "Elect me as your congressman today, and I promise an Ilocano president in twenty years." He served for three consecutive terms in the House of Representatives (1949-59) and two consecutive terms in the Senate (1959-65). He also became the president of the Senate from 1962 to 1965.

Marcos spent most of his early career as a member of the Liberal Party. He sought the Liberal nomination for president in 1965, but the party nominated incumbent Diosdado Macapagal instead. Marcos joined the Nacionalista Party and gained their nomination. He and his running mate, Fernando Lopez, defeated Macapagal and Gerardo Roxas in a landslide victory.

As president

Marcos' first term in office showed a lot of promise, building on the relatively robust economy by developing the country's infrastructure and intensifying tax collection. The unemployment rate shrank from 7.20% in 1966 to just 5.20% in 1971.

He liberalized trade with the free world, hastening the industrialization of the Philippines. He improved agricultural production to make the country self-sufficient in food, especially in rice. Marcos also tried to strengthen the foreign relations of the Philippines. He hosted a seven-nation summit conference on the crisis in South Vietnam in October, 1966. In support for the U.S. military efforts in South Vietnam, he agreed to send Filipino troops to that war zone.

He received a Doctor of Laws honoris causa degree from the University of Michigan on 19 September 1966.

October 23, 1966: Presidents Marcos and Lyndon Johnson during arrival ceremonies at the Manila International Airport
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October 23, 1966: Presidents Marcos and Lyndon Johnson during arrival ceremonies at the Manila International Airport
Throughout his 20-year tenure, Marcos maintained a close alliance with the United States and was a close friend of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. He launched major military campaigns against Communist New People's Army and Moro insurgents. He was an outspoken critic of communism. He sent forces to Vietnam to help the Americans, as well as medical teams to do humanitarian work.

He and Lopez were re-elected in 1969. Marcos was the first (and to date, only) president of the Republic of the Philippines to be elected to a full second term.

In 1971, Marcos called for a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of revising the 1935 Constitution. The Convention was composed of 321 elected delegates headed by former Presidents Carlos P. Garcia and Diosdado Macapagal. However, the Convention's image was tarnished by scandals which included the bribing of some delegates to "vote" against a proposal to prohibit Marcos from staying in power under a new constitution. Marcos himself advocated switching to a parliamentary system, which would allow him to remain in power as prime minister.

Marcos' second term was marked by increasing civil strife known as the "First Quarter Storm." After a series of bombings in Manila claimed to have been carried out by the New People's Army of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Marcos warned of imminent Communist takeover.

On September 21, 1972, by virtue of Proclamation No. 1081, he declared martial law over the entire country. This proclamation effectively suspended the 1935 Constitution, allowing Marcos to remain in power for the duration of martial law. He soon became a virtual dictator. Defending his right to rule by decree, if he chose, he asserted that otherwise "you will have Communists going back and forth, causing the dastardly ruin of our country, the killing of people and the rape of women." Years later, Juan Ponce Enrile, a longtime Marcos ally who later turned against him, revealed that he'd faked an attempt on his own life in order to provide Marcos with a pretext for declaring martial law.

In 1973, Marcos proclaimed a new constitution that instituted a parliamentary system. It allowed him to serve as both president and prime minister for the duration of martial law. In 1976, Marcos amended the constitution further, allowing the incumbent president--himself--to hold both posts until the election of an inteirm National Assembly.

Martial Law and the New Society

-->Marcos had a vision of  a "Bagong Lipunan (New Society)"—similar to the "New Order" that was imposed in Indonesia under dictator Suharto.  He used the martial law years to implement this vision.
According to Marcos' book "Notes on the New Society", it was a movement urging the poor and the privileged to work as one for the common goals of society, and to achieve the liberation of the Filipino people through self-realization. Marcos confiscated businesses owned by the oligarchy. More often than not, they were taken over by Marcos' family members and close personal friends, who used them as fronts to launder proceeds from institutionalized graft and corruption in the different national governmental agencies. In the end, some of Marcos' cronies used them as 'cash cows'. "Crony capitalism" was the term used to describe this phenomenon. This phenomenon was intended to have genuinely nationalistic motives by redistributing monopolies that were traditionally owned by Chinese and Mestizo oligarchs to Filipino businessmen. In practice, it led to graft and corruption via bribery, racketeering, and embezzlement. By waging an ideological war against the oligarchy, Marcos gained the support of the masses. Marcos also silenced the free press, making the state press the only legal one. He also seized privately-owned lands and distributed them to farmers. In this way, Marcos abolished the old oligarchy, only to create a new one in its place. Marcos, now free from day-to-day governance (which was left mostly to Enrile), also used his power to settle old scores against old rivals, such as the Lopezes, who were always opposed to the Marcos administration. This practice considerably alienated the support of the old social and economical elite, who criticized the Marcos administration endlessly.

The declaration of martial law was initially very well received, given the social turmoil the Philippines was experiencing. Crime rates plunged dramatically after dusk curfews were implemented. The country would enjoy economic prosperity throughout the 1970's in the midst of growing dissent to his strong-willed rule towards the end of martial law. Political opponents were given the opportunity to go into exile. However, public dissent on the streets was not tolerated and leaders of such protests were promptly arrested and detained. Communist leaders as well as sympathizers were forced to flee from the cities to the countrysides, where they multiplied. Lim Seng, a feared drug lord, was arrested and executed in Luneta in 1972. As martial law dragged on for the next nine years, human rights violations as well as graft and corruption by the military emerged, as made manifest by the Rolex 12.

Over the years, Marcos' hand was strengthened by the support of the armed forces, whose size he tripled, to 200,000 troops, after declaring martial law in 1972. The forces included some first-rate units as well as thousands of unruly and ill-equipped personnel of the civilian home defense forces and other paramilitary organizations.

Enrile, Chief of Staff of the Philippine Constabulary Fidel Ramos, and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Fabian Ver, were the chief administrators of martial law from 1972 to 1981, and the three remained President Marcos' closest advisors until his ouster in 1986.

Return of formal elections and the end of martial law

On April 7, 1978, the first formal election (instead of referenda) in the Philippines since martial law was called by Marcos for the Interim Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly). The Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (New Society Movement), headed by First Lady Imelda Marcos, won 151 of the 161 seats available. None of the members of Ninoy Aquino's LABAN party were elected. Only two regional opposition political parties gained elective seats in the 1978 election: the Pusyon Bisaya of Francisco Tatad which gained 13 elective seats and the Mindanao Alliance of Homobono Adaza, Ruben Canoy and Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. which gained only one seat. As a result, LABAN denounced the administration, alleging massive cheating. Predictably, the National Assembly elected Marcos as intierm president and prime minister.

LABAN boycotted the 1980 local elections. LABAN, along with other political parties, would also boycott the 1981 legislative elections. Marcos himself served two concurrent posts from this period until the lifting of martial law in 1981 which was both President and interim Prime Minister.

On January 17, 1981, martial law was formally lifted by virtue of Proclamation No. 2045, as a precondition for the visit of Pope John Paul II. Although this paved the way for a more open democracy, Marcos amended the constitution again, enabling him to rule with a firm hand. He stepped down as prime minister and ran for election as the first president of the Fourth Republic of the Philippines. The outcome was never in real doubt, as none of the major opposition parties fielded a candidate. This included Ninoy Aquino's LABAN, the largest opposition party during that time. Only the Nacionalista Party, Marcos' former party, fielded a candidate--retired general Alejo Santos--and only then under duress. Marcos handily won 91.4% of the vote while Santos only got 8.6%. Marcos won by a margin of over 16 million votes, the largest to date in a Philippine presidential election. Cesar Virata was elected as Prime Minister by the Batasang Pambansa.

Economic changes under the Marcos administration

President Marcos tries out a payloader at Camp Aguinaldo
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President Marcos tries out a payloader at Camp Aguinaldo
To hasten economic development, President Marcos implemented a number of economic programs. These programs helped the country to enjoy the period of economic growth from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s. The farmers were given technical and financial aid and other incentives such as "price support". With the incentives given to the farmers, the country's agricultural sector grew. As a result, the Philippines became self-sufficient in rice in 1976 and even became a rice exporter.

To help finance a number of economic development projects, such as infrastructure, the government engaged in borrowing money. Foreign capital was invited to invest in certain industrial projects. They were offered incentives including tax exemption privileges and the privilege of bringing out their profits in foreign currencies. One of the most important economic programs in the 1980s was the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran (Movement for Livelihood and Progress). This program was started in September 1981. Its aim was to promote the economic development of the barangays by encouraging the barangay residents to engage in their own livelihood projects. The government's efforts resulted in the increase of the nation's economic growth rate to an average of six percent to seven percent from 1970 to 1980. The rate was only less than 5% in the previous decade.

The Gross National Product rose from P55 billion in 1972 to P193 billion in 1980. Tourism rose, contributing to the economy's growth. The number of tourists visiting the Philippine rose to one million by 1980 from less than 200,000 in previous years. The country earned 26 billion pesos. A big portion of the tourist group was composed of Filipino balikbayans (returnees) under the Ministry of Tourism's Balikbayan Program which was launched in 1973.

Another major source of economic growth of the country was the remittances of overseas Filipino workers. Thousands of Filipino workers found employment in the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong. These overseas Filipino workers not only helped ease the country's unemployment problem but also earned much-needed foreign exchange for the Philippines. A big portion of the annual earning of the country was allocated to the payment of annual interest on loans.

The Philippine economy suffered a great decline after the Aquino assassination in August 1983. The wave of anti-Marcos demonstrations in the country that followed scared off tourists. The political troubles also hindered the entry of foreign investments, and foreign banks stopped granting loans to the Philippine government.

In an attempt to launch a national economic recovery program, Marcos negotiated with foreign creditors including the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for a restructuring of the country's foreign debts – to give the Philippines more time to pay the loans. Marcos ordered a cut in government expenditures and used a portion of the savings to finance the Sariling Sikap (Self-Reliance), a livelihood program he established in 1984.

However, the economy experienced negative economic growth beginning in 1984 and continued to decline despite the government's recovery efforts. The recovery program's failure was caused by civil unrest, rampant graft and corruption within the government and by Marcos' lack of credibility. Marcos himself diverted large sums of government money to the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan’s campaign funds. The unemployment rate ballooned from 6.30% in 1972 to 12.55% in 1985.

Downfall of Marcos

During these years, his regime was marred by widespread corruption and political mismanagement by his cronies, which culminated with the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr.. Marcos can be considered the quintessential kleptocrat, having supposedly looted billions of dollars from the Filipino treasury. Much of the lost sum has yet to be accounted for, but $684 million has been recovered and returned to the government. He was also a notorious nepotist, appointing family members and close friends to high positions in his government. This practice led to unchecked, widespread political mismanagement especially during the 1980's, when Marcos was mortally ill with lupus and was in and out of office. Perhaps the most prominent example is the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a multi-billion dollar project that turned out to be a white elephant that allegedly provided huge kickbacks to Marcos and businessman Herminio Disini, who spearheaded the project. The reactor, which turned out to be based on old, costly design and built on an earthquake fault, has still to produce a watt of electricity but the national government has continued to pay interest for its staggering cost. A Mount Rushmore-esque bust of himself, commissioned by Tourism Minister Jose Aspiras as an act of friendship, was carved into a hillside, and was subsequently destroyed by communist rebels.

During his third term, Marcos's health deteriorated due to kidney ailments. He was absent for weeks at a time for treatment, with no one to assume command. Many people questioned whether he still had capacity to govern, due to his grave illness and the ballooning political unrest. With Marcos ailing, his long powerful wife, Imelda, emerged as the government's main public figure. Marcos dismissed speculation of his ailing health, being an avid golfer and fitness buff who liked showing off his physique. In light of these growing problems, the assassination of Aquino in 1983 would later prove to be the catalyst that led to the overthrow of Marcos. Many Filipinos came to believe that Marcos, a shrewd political tactician, had no hand in the killing of Aquino but that he was involved in cover-up measures. The opposition blamed Marcos, who was convalescing in the Kidney Center of the Philippines, for the assassination while others blamed the military and his wife, Imelda. The 1985 acquittals of Gen. Fabian Ver as well as other high-ranking military officers for the assassination were widely seen as a miscarriage of justice. By 1984, his close personal friend, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, started distancing himself from the Marcos regime that he and previous American presidents, save for President Jimmy Carter, had strongly supported even after he declared martial law. The leftist movement peaked to about 20,000 armed fighters by 1985, and had numerous assertive and anti-American allies in the legislature.

In the face of escalating public discontent and under pressure from foreign allies, Marcos called a snap presidential election for 1986, with more than a year left in his term. He selected Arturo Tolentino as his running mate. The opposition united behind Aquino's widow, Corazon and her running mate, Salvador Laurel.

The final tally of the National Movement for Free Elections, an accredited poll watcher, showed Aquino winning by almost 800,000 votes. However, the official tally showed Marcos winning by almost 1.6 million votes. This appearance of blatant fraud by Marcos led the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the United States Senate to condemn the elections. Both Marcos and Aquino traded accusations of vote-rigging. Popular sentiment sided with Aquino, leading to a massive, multisectoral congregation of protesters, and the gradual defection of the military to Aquino led by Enrile and Ramos. It must be noted that prior to Enrile's defection, his arrest for graft and corruption was about to be served.#redirect [[Template:Fact]] This so-called "People Power movement" drove Marcos into exile, and installed Corazon Aquino as president. However, he maintained that he was duly elected and proclaimed President for a fourth term.

see full article about 1986 EDSA Revolution

The Marcos family and their associates went into exile in Hawaii and were later indicted for embezzlement in the United States. Marcos died in Honolulu on September 28,1989 of kidney, heart and lung ailments. He was interred in a private mausoleum at Byodo-In Temple on the island of Oahu, visited daily by the Marcos family, political allies and friends. The late strongman's remains are currently interred inside a refrigerated crypt in Ilocos Norte, where his only son, Ferdinand, Jr., and eldest daughter, Imee, have since become the local governor and representative, respectively. The youngest daughter, Irene, is not involved in politics. While his adopted daughter, Aimee is an entrepreneur and a musician. One of his grandsons, Borgy Manotoc, is a popular ramp and commercial model. Imelda Marcos was acquitted of embezzlement by a U.S. court in 1990, but is still facing a few hundred additional graft charges in a Philippine court in 2006.

Legacy

October 24, 1966: President Marcos presiding over a meeting of the Manila Conference of SEATO nations on the Vietnam War.
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October 24, 1966: President Marcos presiding over a meeting of the Manila Conference of SEATO nations on the Vietnam War.
Prior to Marcos, Philippine presidents had followed the "traditional politics" path of using the position to help along their friends and allies before stepping down for the next "player." Marcos essentially destroyed this setup through military rule, which allowed him to rewrite the rules of the game so they favored the Marcoses and their allies.

His practice of using the politics of patronage in his want to be the "amo" or godfather of not just the people, but the judiciary, legislature and administrative branches of the government ensured his downfall, no matter how Marcos justified it according to his own philosophy of the "politics of achievement". This practice entailed bribery, racketeering, and embezzlement to gain the support of the aforementioned sectors. The 14 years of his dictatorship, according to critics, have warped the legislative, judiciary and the military [link] and [link].

Another, his family and cronies looted so much wealth from the country that up to now investigators have a difficult time determining precisely how many billions of dollars have been salted away. The Swiss government has also returned US$684 million in allegedly ill-gotten Marcos wealth [link]and [link].

Apologists claim Marcos was a good president gone bad. His supporters claim that Marcos was a man of rare gifts, being a brilliant lawyer, politician and keen legal analyst with a ruthless streak and a flair for leadership in him. Marcos also had a very rare opportunity to lead the Philippines toward prosperity, with massive infrastructure he put in place as well as an economy on the rise.

However, he put these talents to work to build a regime that he apparently intended to perpetuate as a dynasty. A former aide of Marcos said that "Nobody will ever know what a remarkable president he could have made. That's the saddest part". Among the many documents he left behind in the Palace after he fled in 1986 was one appointing his wife as his successor.

Opponents state that the evidence suggests that he used the communist threat as a pretext for seizing power. On the other hand, the communist insurgency was at its peak during the late 60's to early 70's when it was found out that the People's Republic of China was shipping arms to support the communist cause in the Philippines after the interception of a vessel containing loads of firearms. After he was overthrown, former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile stated that certain incidents had been contrived to justify the imposition of Martial Law [link] and [link], such as Enrile's ambush.

The Martial Law dictatorship may have helped boost the communist insurgency's strength and numbers, but not to the point that could have led to the overthrow of the elected government. Marcos' regime was crucial in the United States' fight against communism and its influences, with Marcos himself being a staunch anti-communist. Marcos however had an ironically mild streak to his "strongman" image, and as much as possible avoided bloodshed and confrontation compared to other US-backed regimes such as Duvalier's, Franco's and Pinochet's, as evidenced by his restraint in unleashing military might against the so-called "People Power" demonstrations, which to most was his last act of statesmanship that ultimately led to his ouster.

Another, the human rights violations that occurred during his 20-year regime was small compared to aforementioned regimes. It is said that Marcos was serious about Martial Law and had genuine concern for reforming the society as evidenced by his actions during the period, up until his cronies, whom he entirely trusted, had firmly entrenched themselves in the government. By then, Marcos was too ill and too dependent on them to do something about it. The same has been said about his relationship with his wife Imelda, who became the government's main public figure in light of his illness, by then wielding perhaps more power than Marcos himself.

It is important to note that many laws written by Marcos are still in force and in effect. Out of thousands of proclamations, decrees and executive orders, only a few were repealed, revoked, modified or amended [link]. Marcos promoted Filipino culture, built more schools, hospitals and infrastructure than any of his predecessors. Few credit Marcos' regime for imposing order and reducing crime due to strict implementation of the law as well as giving the Philippines an international identity. The relative economic success that the Philippines enjoyed during the initial part of the Marcos regime is hard to dispel. Supporters say that that Marcos was the most productive president the Philippines ever had. Many of Marcos' accomplishments were overlooked after the so-called "People Power" EDSA Revolution, but the Marcos era inevitably changed Philippine society for better or for worse.

A journalist said that "The Marcoses were the best of us, and they were the worst of us. That's why we say we hate them so much."

According to Transparency International, Marcos is the second most corrupt head of government ever, after Suharto. [link]. Even so, according to a recent survey, many Filipinos prefer Marcos' rule due to the shape of the country after adminstrations after his. [link] Many admire his autocratic, willful style of government, saying that his style of leadership is sorely missed and needed in the post-EDSA Philippines where too much democracy has ruined the body politic, with fractious standoffs in Congress, endless so-called "People Power" demonstrations, deadlocks in the Senate and actors as well as traditional politicians being elected into public office. Many are nostalgic for the Marcos era, where the government was well-organized and laws were strictly followed by civilians, leading to a relatively disciplined populace.

On the other hand, many absolutely despise his regime, his silencing the free press, his curtailing of civil liberties such as the right to peaceably assemble, as well his dictatorial control over the government. There is no middle ground. It is quite evident that the EDSA Revolution that led to Marcos' ouster left the Philippine society polarized, perhaps beyond repair. Nostalgia remains high in parts of the populace for the Marcos era due to the downward spiral the Philippines fell into after Marcos' ouster. It can be said that the Marcos regime's public image has been significantly rehabilitated after worsening political and social problems that have hounded his regime's successors. The Marcos Era's legacy, polarizing as it is, remains deeply embedded in the Philippines today.

Orders and Decorations

Works by Ferdinand E. Marcos

Quotations

External links

References

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