Ferdinand Marcos, in full Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, (born September 11,

1917, Sarrat, Philippines—died September 28, 1989, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.),

Philippine lawyer and politician who, as head of state from 1966 to 1986,
established an authoritarian regime in the Philippines that came
under criticismfor corruption and for its suppression of democratic processes.
Marcos attended school in Manila and studied law in the late 1930s at the
University of the Philippines, near that city. Tried for the assassination in 1933
of a political opponent of his politician father, Marcos was found guilty in
November 1939. But he argued his case on appeal to the Philippine Supreme
Court and won acquittal a year later. He became a trial lawyer in Manila.
During World War IIhe was an officer with the Philippine armed forces.
Marcos’s later claims of having been a leader in the Filipino guerrilla
resistance movement were a central factor in his political success, but U.S.
government archives revealed that he actually played little or no part in anti-
Japanese activities during 1942–45.

Philippines: Marcos regimeEvents in the Philippines under the regime of Ferdinand E. Marcos,
including the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino in 1983.Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film
Library

From 1946 to 1947 Marcos was a technical assistant to Manuel Roxas, the
first president of the independent Philippine republic. He was a member of the
House of Representatives (1949–59) and of the Senate (1959–65), serving as
Senate president (1963–65). In 1965 Marcos, who was a prominent member
of the Liberal Party founded by Roxas, broke with it after failing to get his
party’s nomination for president. He then ran as the Nationalist
Party candidate for president against the Liberal president, Diosdado
Macapagal. The campaign was expensive and bitter. Marcos won and was
inaugurated as president on December 30, 1965. In 1969 he was reelected,
becoming the first Philippine president to serve a second term. During his first
term he had made progress in agriculture, industry, and education. Yet his
administration was troubled by increasing student demonstrations and violent
urban guerrilla activities.
On September 21, 1972, Marcos imposed martial law on the Philippines.
Holding that communist and subversive forces had precipitated the crisis, he
acted swiftly; opposition politicians were jailed, and the armed forces became
an arm of the regime. Opposed by political leaders—notably Benigno Aquino,
Jr., who was jailed and held in detention for almost eight years—Marcos was
also criticized by church leaders and others. In the provinces Maoist
communists (New People’s Army) and Muslim separatists (notably of
the Moro National Liberation Front) undertook guerrilla activities intended to
bring down the central government. Under martial law the president assumed
extraordinary powers, including the ability to suspend the writ of habeas
corpus. Marcos announced the end of martial law in January 1981, but he
continued to rule in an authoritarian fashion under
various constitutionalformats. He won election to the newly created post of
president against token opposition in June 1981.

Philippine and U.S. dignitaries—(from left to right) Philippine Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo, U.S.
Ambassador Richard W. Murphy, Philippine Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos, Imelda Marcos, and U.S.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff David C. Jones—attending a ceremony at Clark Air Base in central
Luzon, Philippines, 1979.Al Ramones & Domie Quiazon//U.S. Department of Defense

Marcos’s wife from 1954 was Imelda Romuáldez Marcos, a former beauty
queen. Imelda became a powerful figure after the institution of martial law in
1972. She was often criticized for her appointments of relatives to lucrative
governmental and industrial positions while she held the posts of governor of
Metropolitan Manila (1975–86) and minister of human settlements and
ecology (1979–86).
Marcos’s later years in power were marred by rampant government
corruption, economic stagnation, the steady widening of economic inequalities
between the rich and the poor, and the steady growth of a communist guerrilla
insurgency active in the rural areas of the Philippines’ innumerable islands.

By 1983 Marcos’s health was beginning to fail, and opposition to his rule was
growing. Hoping to present an alternative to both Marcos and the increasingly
powerful New People’s Army, Benigno Aquino, Jr., returned to Manila
on August 21, 1983, only to be shot dead as he stepped off the airplane. The
assassination was seen as the work of the government and touched off
massive antigovernment protests. An independent commission appointed by
Marcos concluded in 1984 that high military officers were responsible for
Aquino’s assassination. To reassert his mandate, Marcos called for
presidential elections to be held in 1986. But a formidable political opponent
soon emerged in Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, who became the
presidential candidate of the opposition. It was widely asserted that Marcos
managed to defeat Aquino and retain the presidency in the election of
February 7, 1986, only through massive voting fraud on the part of his
supporters. Deeply discredited at home and abroad by his dubious electoral
victory, Marcos held fast to his presidency as the Philippine military split
between supporters of his and of Aquino’s legitimate right to the presidency. A
tense standoff that ensued between the two sides ended only when Marcos
fled the country on February 25, 1986, at U.S. urging. He went into exile
in Hawaii, where he remained until his death.
 


Ferdinand Marcos waving, 1983.A1C Virgil C. Zurbruegg//U.S. Department of Defense
Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos meeting with U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Stephen W. Bosworth,
1984.SSGT Marvin D. Lynchard/U.S. Department of Defense

Evidence emerged that during his years in power Marcos, his family, and his
close associates had looted the Philippines’ economy of billions of dollars
through embezzlements and other corrupt practices. Marcos and his wife
were subsequently indicted by the U.S. government on racketeering charges,
but in 1990 (after Marcos’s death) Imelda was acquitted of all charges by a
federal court. She was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991, and in
1993 a Philippine court found her guilty of corruption (the conviction was
overturned in 1998).
Si Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos (11 Setyembre 1917 – 28 Setyembre 1989) ay ang
ika-10 Pangulo ng Republika ng Pilipinas mula 30 Disyembre 1965 – 25 Pebrero 1986. Siya ay
isang abogado at nagsilbing kasapi ng Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas mula 1949
hanggang 1959 at kasapi ng Senado ng Pilipinas mula 1959 hanggang 1965 bago naging Pangulo
ng Pilipinas noong 1965 para sa apat na taong termino. Sa kanyang unang termino, sinimulan ni
Marcos ang paggugol sa mga gawaing pampubliko kabilang ang pagtatayo ng mga lansangan,
tulay, mga health center at mga eskwela. Kanyang napanatili ang kanyang kasikatan sa kanyang
unang termino at noong 1969 ay muling nahalal bilang pangulo para sa ikalawang 4 na taong
termino. Gayunpaman, ang kasikatan ni Marcos bilang pangulo ay bumagsak sa kanyang
ikalawang termino.
Ang pagbatikos kay Marcos sa kanyang ikalawang termino ay nagmula sa panlilinlang sa
kanyang 1969 kampanya at talamak na korupsiyon sa pamahalaan.[1] Nagkaroon din ng isang
pangkalahatang kawalang kasiyahan ng mga mamamayan dahil ang populasyon ay patuloy na
mabilis na lumalago kesa sa ekonomiya na nagsanhi ng mas mataas na kahirapan at karahasan.
Ang NPA ay nabuo noong 1969 at ang MNLF ay nakipaglaban para sa pakikipaghiwalay sa
Pilipinas ng Muslim Mindanao. Sinamantala ni Marcos ang mga ito at ang ibang mga insidente
gaya ng mga pagpoprotesta ng mga manggagawa at mga estudyante at pambobomba sa mga iba't
ibang lugar sa bansa upang lumikha ng isang kapaligiran ng krisis at takot na kanyang kalaunang
ginamit upang pangatwiranan ang kanyang pagpapataw ng Batas Militar o Martial Law. Sa
panahong ito, ang popularidad ni Senador Benigno Aquino Jr. at ng oposisyong Partido
Liberal ay mabilis na lumago.
Sinisi ni Marcos ang mga komunista para sa nakakahinalang pambobomba ng rally ng partido
Liberal sa Plaza Miranda noong 21 Agosto 1971. Ang isang isinagawang pagtatangkang
pagpaslang sa kalihim ng pagtatanggol ni Marcos na si Juan Ponce Enrile ang isang dahilang
ibinigay ni Marcos upang ipataw ang Martial Law ngunit ito ay kalaunang inamin ni Enrile na
peke. Noong 23 Setyembre 1972 ay idineklara ni Ferdinand Marcos ang Batas Militar o Martial
Law at binuwag ang Kongreso ng Pilipinas na nag-aalis ng tungkulin sa mga senador at
kinatawan. Sa ilalim ng Batas Militar, nagkaroon ng kapangyarihang lehislatibo o paggawa ng
batas si Marcos. Noong 1973, pinalitan ang Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas ng 1935 ng isang bagong
Saligang Batas at si Marcos ay nagmungkahi ng mga amiyenda sa bagong Saligang Batas na
pinagtibay noong 1976 na nagbibigay sa kanya ng kapangyarihan na magpapatuloy na magsanay
ng mga kapangyarihan sa ilalim ng 1935 Saligang Batas at ng lahat ng mga kapangyarihang
ipinagkaloob sa Pangulo at Punong Ministro ng 1973 Saligang Batas gayundin ng mga
kapangyarihang paggawa ng batas hanggang sa iangat ang Batas Militar.
Sa ilalim ng Batas Militar ipinabilanggo ni Marcos ang mga 30,000 politikong oposisyon, mga
bumabatikos na mamamahayag at mga aktibista kabilang si Senador Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino.
Mula 1973, ginawang pag-aari ng pamahalaan ni Marcos ang mga pribadong negosyo at naging
pag-aari ni Marcos o ibinigay sa kanyang mga crony o kamag-anak.[2] Itinatag ni Marcos
ang kapitalismong crony at mga monopolyo sa mga mahahalagang industriya gaya ng buko,
tabako, saging, pagmamanupaktura, asukal at iba pa na nagbigay ng malaking pakinabang sa
kanyang mga crony. Si Marcos ay mabigat na umutang sa dayuhan na umabot ng 28 bilyong
dolyar noong mapatalsik si Marcos noong Pebrero 1986 mula kaunti sa 2 bilyong dolyar noong
maluklok si Marcos bilang pangulo noong 1965.[3][4] Kanyang hinirang ang mga opiser ng militar
upang mangasiwa sa ilang mga korporasyon at inutos niyang kontrolin ng militar ang lahat ng
mga pampublikong utilidad at media.[2]
Ang mga hukumang sibilyan ay inalisan ni Marcos ng kapangyarihan at autonomiya.[2] Ang mga
sahod ng mamamayan ay nangalahati at ang pambansang sahod ng Pilipinas na hinahawakan
lamang ng pinakamayamang 10 porsiyento ng populasyon ng Pilipinas ay tumaas mula 27 % to
37%.[2] Ang kritiko ni Marcos na si Benigno Aquino, Jr. ay natagpuang nagkasala ng hukumang
militar ng pagpapabagsak ng pamahalaan ni Marcos noong 1977 at hinatulan ng parusang
kamatayan. Nagkaroon ng sakit sa puso si Aquino habang nakabilanggo at pinili ni Aquino na
tumungo sa Estados Unidos sa halip na gamutin ng mga doktor na nag-atubiling masangkot sa
kontrobersiya. Upang makamit ni Marcos ang pag-endorso ng Papa na dumalaw noong Pebrero
1981 at Simbahang Katoliko sa kanyang rehime, inangat ni Marcos ang Martial law noong 17
Enero 1981 bagaman ang lahat ng mga kautusan at atas na inilabas noong Martial Law ay
nanatiling may bisa.
Ang isang bagong halalan ay idinaos noong 1981 kung saan nanalo si Marcos ng isa pang anim
na taong termino bilang pangulo. Pagkatapos ng tatlong taon, bumalik si Ninoy Aquino sa
Pilipinas noong 21 Agosto 1983 kung saan siya pinaslang sa ng paliparan na kalaunang tinawag
na Ninoy Aquino Intenational Airport. Natagpuan ng komisyong hinirang ni Marcos na ang
sabawatang militar ang nasa likod ng pagpaslang kay Ninoy ngunit mga nasangkot na kasapi ng
militar kasama si Fabian Ver ay pinawalang sala sa isang paglilitis ng pamahalaan ni Marcos.
Ang kamatayan ni Aquino ang nagtulak sa kanyang balong si Corazon Aquino na tumakbo
sa 1986 snap election laban kay Marcos. Ang mga iniulat na pandaraya ng kampo ni Marcos sa
1986 halalan at mga karahasan ay humantong sa pagbibitiw ng kalihim ng pagtatanggol na si
Juan Ponce Enrile at military vice-chief of staff Fidel Ramos. Ito ay humantong sa Himagsikang
People Power na nilahukan ng mula isang milyon hanggang 3 milyong katao noong 1986 dahil
sa kawalan ng pagtitiwala ng mga mamamayan sa pamumuno ni Marcos. Ito ay nagtulak kay
Ferdinand Marcos at kanyang pamilya na lumikas sa Hawaii, Estados Unidos kung saan siya
namatay noong 1989. Sinasabing mula 5 bilyon hanggang 10 bilyong dolyar ang nakamkam ni
Marcos mula sa kabang yaman ng Pilipinas sa 20 taon niyang panunungkulan.[5][6] Ang mga 4
bilyong dolyar lamang ang nagawang mabawi ng pamahalaan ng Pilipinas kabilang ang $684
milyon na itinago ni Marcos sa mga Swiss bank account.[7]