FERDINAND E. Marcos was born on September 11, 1917, in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. When he was running for congressman in 1949, he said, “Elect me now and I promise you an Ilocano president in twenty years.” It did happen.
He earned his law degree at the University of the Philippines. He graduated cum laude. He got medals in boxing, wrestling, swimming, oratory, forensics, and an Avancena cup for scholarship in law, and the President’s medal for the best thesis. He was topnotch in the 1939 bar examinations (the highest grades in bar history).
The Sarrat boy was involved in the Nalundasan case. He was tagged as a murderer. He defended himself at the trial and was acquitted. When war broke out in 1941, he enlisted in the Philippine Army and served as a lieutenant in combat intelligence.
When Bataan fell, he tried to escape together with fellow officers but he was hit by shrapnel.
Marcos was captured by the Japanese and was made to join the Death March to Capas in Tarlac. He was able to escape the death line, and as alleged, he organized the Maharlika guerillas.
In the movie, “Iginuhit ng Tadhana,” Ferdinand was featured like Rambo.
Later, he joined the 14th Infantry of the USAFFE in northern Luzon.
In 1948 (no more war), Atty. Ferdinand Marcos was encouraged by President Manuel Roxas (the father of Mar), to run as congressman of Ilocos Norte.
He won for three consecutive terms. To fulfill what he promised to the Ilocanos, he ran as president on November 5, 1965, and won. His battle cry is, “This nation can be great again.”
Marcos won reelection in 1969, declared Martial law in 1972, changed the constitution in 1973, “won” a six-year term in the 1981 election, and ousted and exited in 1986.
For his country, he wanted self-sufficiency and self-improvement. In his early years in office, he was on the redistribution of natural resources for the social and economic benefits of the Filipinos. Other good projects followed.
His Martial Law was aimed to “save the republic” and gave birth to the 1973 Constitution that created a “rubber stamp” Batasang Pambansa (Legislature).
Thousands of anti-Marcos Filipinos and activists were arrested and confined in military stockades. Many political prisoners disappeared. The media was placed under military control.
Marcos established a parliamentary form of government according to his imagination with a prime minister as the head of the government and a president as a ceremonial head.
All these were revised again under the 1973 constitution. In his government, there was a high degree of poverty and corruption. Ferdinand and Imelda are the leaders of conjugal dictatorship.
They considered themselves as “Malakas” and “Maganda.” The Philippines has become their property.
Nepotism and crony capitalism were elevated to the highest level. In Negros, there was a sugar czar assisted by the gods of the sugar industry. That unrest gave rise to insurgency. (To be continued)