Joebert L.

Villafuerte Grade: 12-Chrome

Former President
Ferdinand E. Marcos

Ferdinand E. Marcos was born on September 11, 1917 in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. His parents, Mariano Marcos and
Josefa Edralin, were both teachers.From 1923 to 1929, he attended the Sarrat Central School, Shamrock Elementary
School in Laoag and the Ermita Elementary School in Manila. He finished high school and liberal arts course at the
University of the Philippines. While still a student, he was commissioned as third lieutenant (apprentice officer) in the
Philippine Constabulary Reserve after having been an ROTC battalion commander.

In 1935, Assemblyman Julio Nalundasan, a political rival of his father, was shot dead. Suspicion for the crime fell on
the Marcoses. Ferdinand Marcos who was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to murder, was tried, and found guilty in
1939. He argued his case on appeal to the Supreme Court, luckily winning an acquittal a year later.

In the summer of 1939 he received his bachelors degree, cum laude from the U.P. College of Law. He would have
been a class valedictorian and magna cum laude had he not been imprisoned for the Nalundasan murder. The case
prevented him from attending several weeks of classes. He reviewed for the bar examinations while in prison. He bailed
himself out in order to take the examination, where he emerged topnotcher in November of the same year. He became
trial lawyer in Manila.

During World War II, he served as an officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

As a lawyer and a master politician, Marcos led a most a interesting and controversial political career both before and
after his term as Senate President. He became Senator after he served as member of the House of Representatives for
three terms, then later as Minority Floor Leader before gaining the Senate Presidency. He is one of the legislators who
had established a record for having introduced a number of significant bills, many of which found their way into the
Republic statute books.

He was elected President of the Philippines in 1965 and was reelected in 1969. On September 21, 1972, Marcos
imposed martial law and he stayed in power until 1986, after the historic four-day “ People Power ” revolution at EDSA.

Marcos went on exile in Hawaii, where he died on September 28, 1989. He left behind his wife, Imelda and their
three children: Maria Imelda Josefa Trinidad (Imee), Ferdinand Jr. (Bongbong), and Irene Victoria.

Thus far, he is the last Senate President to become President of the Philippines.
 GOVERNMENT RECORD OF

FERDINAND EMMANUEL EDRALIN MARCOS SR.

The history of the Philippines, from 1965–1986, covers the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, also known
as Ferdinand Marcos Administration. The Marcos era includes the final years of the Third Republic (1965–72),
the Philippines under martial law (1972–81), and the majority of the Fourth Republic (1981–86). By its end, the
country was experiencing a debt crisis, extreme poverty, and severe underemployment. In 1965, Ferdinand
Marcos won the presidential election and became the 10th President of the Philippines. His first term was
marked with increased industrialization and the creation of solid infrastructure nationwide, such as the North
Luzon Expresswayand the Maharlika Highway. Marcos did this by appointing a cabinet composed mostly
of technocrats and intellectuals, by increasing funding to the Armed Forces, and mobilizing them to help in
construction. Marcos also established schools and learning institutions nationwide, more than the combined
total of those established by his predecessors. In 1968, Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. warned that Marcos was
on the road to establishing "a garrison state" by "ballooning the armed forces budget", saddling the defense
establishment with "overstaying generals" and "militarizing our civilian government offices". These were
prescient comments in the light of events that would happen in the following decade.[3] Marcos also sent 10,450
Filipino soldiers to Vietnam during his term, under the PHILCAG (Philippine Civic Action Group). Fidel
Ramos, who was later to become the 12th President of the Philippines in 1992, was a part of this expeditionary
force. In 1969, Marcos ran for a second term (allowable under the 1935 constitution then in effect), and won
against 11 other candidates. Marcos' second term was marked by economic turmoil brought about by factors
both external and internal, a restless student body who demanded educational reforms, a rising crime rate, and a
growing Communist insurgency, among other things. At one point, student activists took over the Diliman
campus of the University of the Philippines and declared it a free commune, which lasted for a while before the
government dissolved it. Violent protesting continued over the next few years until the declaration of martial
law in 1972. The event was popularly known as the First Quarter Storm. During the First Quarter Storm in 1970
the line between leftist activists and communists became increasingly blurred, as a significant number
of Kabataang Makabayan ('KM') advanced activists joined the party of the Communist Party also founded
by Jose Maria Sison. KM members protested in front of Congress, throwing a coffin, a stuffed alligator, and
stones at Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos after his State of the Nation Address. On the presidential palace,
activists rammed the gate with a fire truck and once the gate broke and gave way, the activists charged into the
Palace grounds tossing rocks, pillboxes, Molotov cocktails. In front of the US embassy, protesters vandalized,
arsoned and damaged the embassy lobby resulting to a strong protest from the U.S. Ambassador. The KM
protests ranged from 50,000 to 100,000 in number per weekly mass action. In the aftermath of the January 1970
riots, at least two activists were confirmed dead and several were injured by the police. The mayor of Manila at
the time, Antonio Villegas, commended the Manila Police District for their "exemplary behavior and courage"
and protecting the First Couple long after they have left. The death of the activists was seized by the Lopez
controlled Manila Times and Manila Chronicle, blaming Marcos and added fire to the weekly protests. Students
declared a week-long boycott of classes and instead met to organize protest rallies. umors of coup d'état were
also brewing. A report of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that shortly after the 1969
Philippine presidential election, a group composed mostly of retired colonels and generals organized a
revolutionary junta with the aim of first discrediting President Marcos and then killing him. As described in a
document given to the committee by Philippine Government official, key figures in the plot were Vice President
Fernando Lopez and Sergio Osmena Jr., whom Marcos defeated in the 1969 election. Marcos even went to the
U.S. embassy to dispel rumors that the U.S. embassy is supporting a coup d'état which the opposition liberal
party was spreading.[8] While the report obtained by the NY Times speculated saying that story could be used
by Marcos to justify Martial Law, as early as December 1969 in a message from the U.S. Ambassador to the
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, the U.S. Ambassador said that most of the talk about revolution and even
assassination has been coming from the defeated opposition, of which Adevoso (of the Liberal Party) is a
leading activist. He also said that the information he has on the assassination plans are 'hard' or well-sourced
and he has to make sure that it reached President Marcos. In light of the crisis, Marcos wrote an entry in his
diary in January 1970: "I have several options. One of them is to abort the subversive plan now by the sudden
arrest of the plotters. But this would not be accepted by the people. Nor could we get the Huks (Communists),
their legal cadres and support. Nor the MIM (Maoist International Movement) and other subversive [or front]
organizations, nor those underground. We could allow the situation to develop naturally then after massive
terrorism, wanton killings and an attempt at my assassination and a coup d’etat, then declare martial law or
suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus – and arrest all including the legal cadres. Right now I am
inclined towards the latter.
 POLITICAL IDEAS AND

CONVICTION OF

FERDINAND EDRALIN MARCOS

In Seagrave's book The Marcos Dynasty, he mentioned that Marcos possessed a phenomenal memory and
exhibited this by memorizing complicated texts and reciting them forward and backward, even such as the
1935 Constitution of the Philippines. Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, in an interview with the Philippine
Star on March 25, 2012, shared her experience as a speech writer to President Marcos: "One time, the Secretary
of Justice forgot to tell me that the President had requested him to draft a speech that the President was going to
deliver before graduates of the law school. And then, on the day the President was to deliver the speech, he
suddenly remembered because Malacañang was asking for the speech, so he said, 'This is an emergency. You
just have to produce something.' And I just dictated the speech. He liked long speeches. I think that was 20 or
25 pages. And then, in the evening, I was there, of course. President Marcos recited the speech from memory. In
December 1938, Ferdinand Marcos was prosecuted for the murder of Julio Nalundasan. He was not the only
accused from the Marcos clan; also accused was his father, Mariano, his brother, Pio, and his brother-in-law
Quirino Lizardo. Nalundasan, one of the elder Marcos' political rivals, had been shot and killed in his house
in Batac on September 21, 1935 – the day after he had defeated Mariano Marcos a second time for a seat in
the National Assembly. According to two witnesses, the four had conspired to assassinate Nalundasan, with
Ferdinand Marcos eventually pulling the trigger. In late January 1939, they were finally denied bail and later in
the year, they were convicted. Ferdinand and Lizardo received the death penalty for premeditated murder, while
Mariano and Pio were found guilty of contempt of court. The Marcos family took their appeal to the Supreme
Court of the Philippines, which overturned the lower court's decision on 22 October 1940, acquitting them of all
charges except contempt. Marcos' military service during World War II has been the subject of debate and
controversy, both in the Philippines and in international military circles. Marcos, who had received ROTC
training, was activated for service in the US Armed Forces in the Philippines (USAFIP) after the attack on Pearl
Harbor. He served as a 3rd lieutenant during the mobilization in the summer and fall of 1941, continuing until
April 1942, after which he was taken prisoner. According to Marcos' account, he was released from prison by
the Japanese on August 4, 1942 and US Military records show that he rejoined USAFIP forces in December
1944.] Marcos' Military service then formally ended with his discharge as a Major in the 14th Infantry, US
Armed Forces in the Philippines Northern Luzon, in May 1945. Controversies regarding Marcos' military
service revolve around: the reason for his release from the Japanese POW camp; his actions between release
from prison in August 1942 and return to the USAFIP in December 1944; his supposed rank upon discharge
from USAFIP; and his claims to being the recipient of numerous military decorations, most of which were
proven to be fraudulent. Documents uncovered by the Washington Post in 1986 suggested that Marcos' release
in August 1942 happened because his father, former congressman and provincial governor Mariano Marcos,
"cooperated with the Japanese military authorities" as publicist. fter his release, Marcos claims that he spent
much of the period between his August 1942 release and his December 1944 return to USAFIP as the leader of
a guerilla organization called Ang Mga Mahárlika (Tagalog, "The Freemen") in Northern Luzon. According to
Marcos' claim, this force had a strength of 9,000 men. His account of events was later cast into doubt after a
United States military investigation exposed many of his claims as either false or inaccurate. Another
controversy arose in 1947, when Marcos began signing communications with the rank of Lt. Col., instead of
Major. This prompted US officials to note that Marcos was only "recognized as a major in the roster of the 14th
Infantry USAFIP, NL as of 12 December 1944 to his date of discharge. The biggest controversy arising from
Marcos' service during World War II, however, would concern his claims during the 1962 Senatorial Campaign
of being "most decorated war hero of the Philippines" He claimed to have been the recipient of 33 war medals
and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor, but researchers later found
that stories about the wartime exploits of Marcos were mostly propaganda, being inaccurate or untrue. Only two
of the supposed 33 awards - the Gold Cross and the Distinguished Service Star - were given during the war, and
both had been contested by Marcos' superiors. Expressing opposition to the Marcos' policies and citing rising
discontent over wide inequalities in society, critics of Marcos began campaigning in 1967 to initiate
a constitutional convention which would revise change the 1935 Constitution of the Philippines. On March 16
of that year, the Philippine Congress constituted itself into a Constituent Assembly and passed Resolution No.
2, which called for a Constitutional Convention to change the 1935 Constitution. Marcos surprised his critics by
endorsing the move, but historians later noted that the resulting Constitutional Convention would lay the
foundation for the legal justifications Marcos would use to extend his term past the two four-year terms
allowable under the 1935 Constitution. A special election was held on November 10, 1970 to elect the delegates
of the convention. Once the winners had been determined, the convention was convened on June 1, 1971 at the
newly completed Quezon City Hall. A total of 320 delegates were elected to the convention, the most prominent
being former Senators Raul Manglapus and Roseller T. Lim. Other delegates would become influential political
figures, including Hilario Davide, Jr., Marcelo Fernan, Sotero Laurel, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Teofisto
Guingona, Jr., Raul Roco, Edgardo Angara, Richard Gordon, Margarito Teves, and Federico Dela Plana. By
1972 the convention had already been bogged down by politicking and delays, when its credibility took a severe
blow in May 1972 when a delegate exposed a bribery scheme in which delegates were paid to vote in favor of
the Marcoses – with First Lady Imelda Marcos herself implicated in the alleged payola scheme. The
investigation on the scheme was effectively shelved when Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, and
had 11 opposition delegates arrested. The remaining opposition delegates were forced to go either into exile or
hiding. Within two months, an entirely new draft of the constitution was created from scratch by a special
committee. The 1973 constitutional plebiscite was called to ratify the new constitution, but the validity of the
ratification was brought to question because Marcos replaced the method of voting through secret ballot with a
system of viva voce voting by "citizen's assemblies". The ratification of the constitution was challenged in what
came to be known as the Ratification Cases. On December 29, 1970, Philippine Military Academy instructor Lt
Victor Corpuz led New People's Army rebels in a raid on the PMA armory, capturing rifles, machine guns,
grenade launchers, a bazooka and thousands of rounds of ammunition in 1970. In 1972, China, which was then
actively supporting and arming communist insurgencies in Asia as part of Mao Zedong's People's War Doctrine,
transported 1,200 M-14 and AK-47 rifles for the NPA to speed up NPA's campaign to defeat the government.