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Ferdinand Marcos was inaugurated to his first term as the 10th president of the Philippines on December 30, 1965. His inauguration marked the beginning of his two-decade long stay in power, even though the 1935 Philippine Constitution had set a limit of only two four-year terms of office. Marcos had won the Philippine presidential election of 1965 against the incumbent president, Diosdado Macapagal.
Before Marcos's Presidency, the Philippines was the second largest economy in Asia, behind only Japan. [1] He pursued an aggressive program of infrastructure development funded by foreign loans, [1] making him very popular throughout almost all of his first term and eventually making him the first and only President of the Third Philippine republic to win a second term, although it would also trigger an inflationary crisis which would lead to social unrest in his second term, and would eventually lead to his declaration of Martial Law in 1972. [2] [3]
Ferdinand Marcos always had the ambition to be the President of the Philippines. In his campaign for the 1949 elections, he declared that if he would be elected as congressman, he promise to have an Ilocano president in 20 years' time. [4] Marcos slowly ascended into power and then attempted to run as president in 1961, but he lost to Macapagal in the nominations. [5]
At the time of the 1965 elections, Marcos was a member of the Liberal Party (LP), becoming Senate President during Macapagal's term. Marcos found his ambitions to run for president blocked for a second time when Macapagal decided to run for a second term, so Marcos jumped from the LP to the Nacionalista Party (NP), eventually becoming the NP's candidate for president, winning against Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez in the NP nominations for the presidency. [6]
An acknowledged "master of populist imagery", Marcos projected a persona of youth and virility, having himself photographed by rice farmers in their fields. [7] He also cast himself as a war hero, claiming to be the "most decorated war hero of the Philippines" on the strength of 27 supposed war medals and decorations which were later revealed to be mostly propaganda, [8] being inaccurate or untrue. [9] [10] [11]
Marcos won the election with 51.94% of the vote, Macapagal having garnered 42.88% while Raul Manglapus of the Party for Philippine Progress got 5.17%. About 0.01%. of the votes went to nine other candidates who ran for the post under various independent parties. [12]
Upon winning the election, Marcos appointed a cabinet composed mostly of technocrats and intellectuals, most notably Executive Secretary Rafael Salas, Education Secretary Onofre Corpuz, Finance Secretary Cesar Virata, and National Economic and Development Authority Director General Gerardo Sicat. [7]
Marcos was inaugurated on Thursday, December 30, 1965 at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. [13] The inauguration marked the beginning of the first four-year term of Ferdinand Marcos as President and second four-year term of Fernando Lopez as Vice President. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines César Bengzon. Marcos swore his oath on two closed family Bibles, one owned by his father Mariano and another given by his wife Imelda. [14] One of the Bibles would later be used in the inauguration of his son Ferdinand Jr. in 2022. [15]
In an effort to strengthen the influence of the Office of the President and simultaneously weaken the strong patronage bonds which rural Filipinos had with their local leaders, Marcos created the Presidential Arm on Community Development (PACD), which would initiate development projects at the barrio level without going through the Barrio and Municipal governments. [7]
Marcos also took credit for the dramatic increase in rice production caused by the 1968 introduction of a new "miracle rice" variety, IR8, by the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna - although the IRRI program that developed the variety had started as early as 1962, during the Macapagal administration, and was the product of an International consortium, not the Philippine government. [16]
During this first term, Marcos also began systematically cultivating a group entrepreneurs and industrialists loyal to him, rather than the Philippines' ruling class of landowners, making these cronies richer and more powerful through what would later be called "behest loans", which funnelled foreign assistance and "soft loans" to their businesses on the pretense of spurring industrial development. [7]
One of Marcos's earliest initiatives upon becoming president was to significantly expand the Philippine Military. In an unprecedented move, Marcos chose to concurrently serve as his own Defense Secretary, allowing him to have a direct hand in running the Military. [7] He also significantly increased the budget of the armed forces, tapping them in civil projects such as the construction of schools. Generals loyal to Marcos were allowed to stay in their positions past their retirement age, or were rewarded with civilian government posts, leading Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. to accuse Marcos in 1968 of trying to establish "a garrison state." [17]
Under intense pressure from the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, [18] Marcos reversed his pre-presidency position of not sending Philippine forces to Vietnam War, [19] and consented to a limited involvement, [20] asking Congress to approve sending a combat engineer unit. Despite opposition to the new plan, the Marcos government gained Congressional approval and Philippine troops were sent from the middle of 1966 as the Philippines Civic Action Group (PHILCAG). PHILCAG reached a strength of some 1,600 troops in 1968 and between 1966 and 1970 over 10,000 Filipino soldiers served in South Vietnam, mainly being involved in civilian infrastructure projects. [21]
With an eye towards becoming the first president of the third republic to be reelected to a second term, the Marcos administration began taking up massive foreign loans to fund "rice, roads, and schoolbuildings" - the lynchpin slogan of his reelection campaign. The Omnibus Tax Law of 1969 was passed too late by congress to be useful to Marcos's publicity efforts, and at any rate, did not succeed in raising significant new funds. So it was foreign loans that funded the 70% increase in infrastructure spending from 1966 to 1970 (compared to the Macapagal administration's spending from 1961 to 1965) which included the North Luzon Expressway and the Maharlika Highway, and the construction of 58, 745 pre-fabricated and 38,705 regular schoolbuildings. The first Marcos administration's budget deficit was thus 72% higher than the Philippine government's annual deficit from 1961 to 1965. [7]
This began a pattern of loan-funded spending which the Marcos administration would continue until the Marcoses were deposed in 1986, resulting in economic instability still being felt today, and of debts that experts say the Philippines will have to keep paying well into 2025. The grandest infrastructure projects of Marcos's first term, especially the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex, also marked the beginning of what critics would call Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos's Edifice complex, with grand public infrastructures projects prioritized for public funding because of their propaganda value.
In March 1968 a Muslim man named Jibin Arula was fished out of the waters of Manila Bay, having been shot. He was brought to then-Cavite Governor Delfin N. Montano, to whom he recounted the story of the Jabidah Massacre, saying that numerous Moro army recruits had been executed en-masse by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on March 18, 1968. [22] This became the subject of a senate exposé by opposition Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. [23] [24]
Although the lack of living witnesses other than Arula severely hampered the probes on the incident, it became a major flashpoint that ignited the Moro insurgency in the Philippines. [25] Despite undergoing numerous trials and hearings, none of the officers implicated in the massacre were ever convicted, leading many Filipino Muslims to believe that the "Christian" government in Manila had little regard for them. [26] [27] This created a furor within the Muslim community in the Philippines, especially among the educated youth, [28] and among Muslim intellectuals, who had no discernible interest in politics prior to the incident. [25] Educated or not, the story of the Jabidah massacre led many Filipino Muslims to believe that all opportunities for integration and accommodation with the Christians were lost and further marginalised. [29]
This eventually led to the formation of the Mindanao Independence Movement in 1968, the Bangsamoro Liberation Organization (BMLO) in 1969, and the consolidation of these various forces into the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in October 1972. [30]
When the time came for the Philippine Presidential election of 1969, it was taken for granted that Ferdinand Marcos and Fernando Lopez would be unanimously nominated as the respective presidential and vice presidential candidates of the Nacionalista party. Nevertheless, the party's ruling junta met in Makati a week earlier before the July 1969 Nacionalista Party National Convention at the Manila Pavilion, in order to assure that the nomination would be unanimous. The duo went against the Liberal Party's candidates, Sergio Osmena, Jr and Genaro Magsaysay.
With his popularity already beefed up by debt-funded spending, Marcos's popularity made it very likely that he would win the election, but he decided, as National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin reported in the Philippines Free Press, "leave nothing to chance." Time and Newsweek would eventually call the 1969 election the "dirtiest, most violent and most corrupt" in Philippine modern history, with the term "Three Gs", meaning "guns, goons, and gold" [31] [32] coined [33] to describe administration's election tactics of vote-buying, terrorism and ballot snatching. [34]
Marcos used the military and the government bureaucracy for his campaign, [7] and also went on a campaign spending spree, initiating US$50 million worth in infrastructure projects meant to impress the electorate. [35]
The most infamous incidents of violence took place in Batanes, where Philippine Constabulary officers, paramilitary groups and hired guns essentially took over the island, and motorcycle-riding thugs rode around terrorizing voters and Comelec officials, and beating up opposition leaders. [7]
Rapid campaign spending was so massive that it would be responsible for the Balance of Payments Crisis of 1970. Marcos was reported to have spent PhP 100 for every PhP 1 that Osmena spent, using up PhP 24 Million in Cebu alone. [34] By the following year, however, the government would be unable to pay its debts, and would decide to enter into a debt rescheduling arrangement plan with the International Monetary Fund. The stabilization plan involved in the agreement included numerous macroeconomic interventions, such as significantly devaluating the Philippine Peso. However, the inflationary effect these interventions had on the local economy brought about the social unrest which motivated the proclamation of Martial Law in 1972. [2] [3] [36]
The 1969 elections were held on November 11, and Marcos won an unprecedented second full term as President of the Philippines. His running mate, incumbent Vice President Fernando Lopez was also elected to a third full term as Vice President of the Philippines.
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. was a Filipino politician, dictator and kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Marcos ruled the country under martial law from 1972 to 1981, and with vastly expanded powers under the 1973 Constitution until he was deposed by a nonviolent revolution in 1986. Marcos described his rule's philosophy as "constitutional authoritarianism" under his Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. One of the most controversial figures in Filipino history, Marcos's regime was infamous for its corruption, extravagance, and brutality.
Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was a Filipino politician who served as the eleventh President of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power Revolution, which ended the two-decade rule of President Ferdinand Marcos and led to the establishment of the current democratic Fifth Philippine Republic.
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was an autonomous region of the Philippines, located in the Mindanao island group of the Philippines, that consisted of five predominantly Muslim provinces: Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. It was the only region that had its own government. The region's de facto seat of government was Cotabato City, although this self-governing city was outside its jurisdiction.
This article covers the history of the current Philippine republican state following the 1986 People Power Revolution, known as the Fifth Philippine Republic.
The history of the Philippines, from 1965 to 1986, covers the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos. The Marcos era includes the final years of the Third Republic (1965–1972), the Philippines under martial law (1972–1981), and the majority of the Fourth Republic (1981–1986). By the end of the Marcos dictatorial era, the country was experiencing a debt crisis, extreme poverty, and severe underemployment.
Haroun al-Rashid Lucman was a Filipino legislator, journalist, World War II guerilla hero, and an early proponent of Moro independence or autonomy.
The Jabidah massacre on March 18, 1968, was the purported assassinations or executions of Moro army recruits who allegedly mutinied upon learning the true nature of their mission. It is acknowledged as a major flashpoint that ignited the Moro insurgency in the Philippines.
Junior Chamber International – Basilan Inc. (Philippines), otherwise known as the Basilan Jaycees, extended on January 11, 1949, by JCI Manila and JCI Zamboanga, registered under the Laws of the Republic of the Philippines with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the Junior Chamber of Basilan City, Inc. on August 26, 1965, is an affiliate of Junior Chamber International Philippines, Inc. (JCIP) and Junior Chamber International (JCI), A Worldwide Federation of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs.
The inauguration of the president of the Republic of the Philippines is a ceremony marking the commencement of the six-year term of a president of the Philippines, who is both head of state and head of government. The inauguration is performed on June 30, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution. Under the older 1935 Constitution, the date was December 30, which is also Rizal Day; the last inauguration held on the older date was Ferdinand Marcos' second one on December 30, 1969. The most recent public presidential inauguration ceremony was that of President Bongbong Marcos, who began his six-year term in office on Thursday, June 30, 2022.
Formal peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines and the various armed groups involved in the Moro conflict began in 1976 when the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front first met to negotiate towards the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, and most recently reached a major milestone in the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) through a plebiscite in 2018, leading to the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. However, conflicts with other smaller armed groups continue to exist.
Bangsamoro, officially the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, is an autonomous region in the Philippines, located in the southwestern portion of the island of Mindanao.
The Muslim Independence Movement (MIM) was a secessionist political organization in the Philippines.
The 1976 Tripoli Agreement was signed on December 23, 1976 in Tripoli, Libya by Carmelo Z. Barbero, representing the Government of the Philippines and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front. The agreement defined autonomous administrative divisions for Muslims in the southern Philippines, the establishment of an autonomous government, judicial system for Sharia law and special security forces, and the observance of a ceasefire. The autonomous region was to have its own economic system, including an Islamic bank.
The Jeddah Accord was signed on January 3–4, 1987 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by Aquilino Pimentel Jr., representing the Government of the Philippines and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front. The two panels agreed upon the continued discussion of the proposal of the grant of full autonomy to Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan subject to democratic processes.
At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under martial law, stating he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and the sectarian "rebellion" of the Muslim Independence Movement (MIM). Opposition figures of the time accused Marcos of exaggerating these threats and using them as an excuse to consolidate power and extend his tenure beyond the two presidential terms allowed by the 1935 constitution. Marcos's signed Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972, marking the beginning of a fourteen-year period of one-man rule which effectively lasted until Marcos was exiled from the country on February 25, 1986. Proclamation No. 1081 was formally lifted on January 17, 1981, although Marcos retained essentially all of his powers as dictator until he was ousted in February 1986.
The 21-year period of Philippine economic history during Ferdinand Marcos’ regime – from his election in 1965 until he was ousted by the People Power Revolution in 1986 – was a period of significant economic lows.
Early polities in what is now the Philippines were small entities known as barangays, although some larger states were established following the arrival of Hinduism and Islam through regional trade networks. The arrival of Spanish settlers began a period of Spanish expansion which led to the creation of the Captaincy General of the Philippines, governed out of Manila. While technically part of New Spain, the Philippines functioned mostly autonomously. The reliance on native leaders to help govern led to the creation of an elite class known as the principalia. Spanish control was never firmly established over much of its claimed territory, with some inland and Islamic regions remaining effectively independent.
Indigenous people’s resistance against the Marcos dictatorship varied from case to case among the various indigenous peoples of the Philippines. The most documented cases are the various resistance movements towards the Marcos administration’s appropriation of indigenous lands, particularly in the case of the Chico River Dam Project and the Manila Water Supply III project on the Kaliwa River watershed, and the birth of the various separatist groups and their coalescing into the Moro conflict in the wake of news about the Jabidah Massacre.
Rigoberto "Bobi" Dikit Tiglao is a Filipino activist and opinion columnist.
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