Ferdinand Marcos Administration

My Sample Lesson Plan

The Philippines Under Ferdinand Marcos

   Objectives:

                    1. To recall the achievements of Ferdinand Marcos.

                    2. To identify the contributions of Marcos during his administration.                                  3. To share insights about his Presidency.

    Reference:

                    

                               Philippine History by: Maria Cristine Halili (pages 265-279)

• Let's tackle first our lesson for today...

          ... For more than 20 years (Dec. 30, 1965 – Feb. 25, 1986) Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines. He promised to make the nation great again in his inaugural speech of December 30, 1965.
His political venture began with his election to the House of Representatives in 1949 as a Congressman from Ilocos. He became Senate President in 1963. He was married to Imelda Romualdez from Leyte.

He ran for President as Nacionalista in 1965 election and won over Macapagal. Elected with Marcos as Vice-President was his NP running mate Fernando Lopez.

THE FIRST MARCOS TERM (1965 – 1969)

In his first term Marcos tried to stabilize the financial position of the government through an intensified tax collection. He also borrowed heavily from international financing institutions to support a large-scale infrastructure works projects were built. 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.

THE SECOND TERM OF MARCOS (1969 – 1972) In November 1969 Ferdinand Marcos and Fernando Lopez were re-elected. They defeated the Liberal Party ticket of Sergio Osmeña, Jr. and Senator Genaro Magsaysay. In winning the election, Marcos achieved the political distinction of being the first President of the Republic to be re-elected.

The most important developments during the second term of Marcos were the following:

The 1971 Constitutional Convention The Congress of the Philippines called for a Constitutional Convention on June 1, 1971 to review and rewrite the 1935 Constitution. Three-hundred twenty delegates were elected. The convention was headed first by former President Carlos P. Garcia and later by former President Diosdado Macapagal.

The Convention's image was tarnished by scandals which included the bribing of some delegates to make them "vote" against a proposal to prohibit Marcos from continuing in power under a new constitution. This scandal was exposed by Delegate Eduardo Quintero. For exposing the bribery attempt, Quintero found himself harassed by the government.

The first Papal Visit to the Philippines On November 27, 1970, Pope Paul VI visited the Philippines. It was the first time that the Pope had visited the only Catholic nation in Asia. Huge crowds met the Pope wherever he went in Metro Manila. The Pope left on November 29.




THE RISE IN ACTS OF VIOLENCE

In the early 1970's many of the acts of violence were inspired by the communists. Some, however, were believed to have been planned by pro-Marcos and other terrorist incidents rocked Metro Manila. The bloodiest was the Plaza Miranda Bombing on the night of August 1, 1971 where the Liberal Party had a political rally. Eight persons were killed and over 100 others were injure. Among the senatorial candidates injured were Eva Estrada Kalaw and several of its top officials.

Marcos blamed the communists for the tragic incident. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus to maintain peace and other. The suspension was lifted on January 11, 1972. Hundred of suspected subversives among the ranks of students, workers and professionals were picked up and detained by the government.

THE PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW

On September 21, 1972, Marcos declared Martial Law. This marked the beginning of the Marcos dictatorship. Proclamation 1081 placed the entire country under the military. It was signed on September 21, 1972 and announced to the nation in the evening of September 23, 1972. His main reason for declaring Martial Law as "to save the Republic" and "to reform society". He explained that the growing violence in the nation, caused by the leftists and the rightists elements had come to certain magnitude that required martial law.

It was believed that the true reason why Marcos declared martial was to perpetuate his rule over the Philippines. The 1935 Constitution limited the term of the President to no more than eight consecutive years in office.

The constitution did not say how long martial law should last. The constitution left much about martial law to the President's own judgment.

Marcos extended the period of Martial Law beyond the end of his term in 1973. He abolished the Congress of the Philippines and over its legislative powers. Thus, Marcos became a one-man ruler, a dictator. Marcos described his martial law government as a "constitutional authoritarianism".

Although the courts remained in the judiciary, the judges of all courts, from the Supreme Court down to the lowest courts, became "casuals". Their stay in office depended on the wishes of the dictator.

Under the martial law Marcos disregarded the constitution. For instance, he violated the provision which guaranteed the Bill of Rights (Article III). Upon his orders, the military picked up and detained thousands of Filipinos suspected of subversion. Among them were his critics and political opponents namely Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., Francisco "Soc"Rodrigo, Jose W. Diokno and Jovita R. Salonga. Hundreds of detainees were tortured by their captors. Some disappeared and were never found again. Many were held in military detention camps for years without trial.

As a result of the foregoing measured, the crime rate in the country was reduced significantly. People became law-abiding. But these good gains did not last long. After a year of martial law, crime rates started to soar. By the time Marcos was removed from power, the peace and order situation in the country had become worse.

This communist insurgency problem did not stop when Marcos declared Martial law. A government report in 1986 showed that the NPAs already numbered over 16,000 heavily-armed guerillas. The NPAs waged a vigorous war against government forces They staged ambuscades and engaged in terrorist activities such as assassination of local officials who were known to be engaged in corrupt activities. The NPA killer squads were called Sparrow Units. They were feared in the areas under their control. They also imposed taxed in their territories.

To fight the growing NPA threat, Marcos increased the armed forces to over 200,000 men. He also organized Civilian Home Defense Forces in the rural areas threatened by the NPAs . Several NPA leaders were captured like Jose Ma. Sison, alleged founder of the communist Party in the Philippines; Bernabe Buscayno, the NPA chief, and Victor Corpus, a renegade PC lieutenant.

The rampant violation of human rights of the people in the rural areas suspected of being NPA sympathizers, the injustices committed by some government officials and powerful and influential persons, and the continuing poverty of the people were used as propaganda of the NPA in attracting idealistic young people. Even priests and nuns who were witnesses to the oppression of the Marcos dictatorship join the NPAs. One of the priests who joined the NPA was Father Conrado Balweg of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). He became a rebel folk hero to the ethnic tribes in the Cordilleras in Northern Luzon. As of July 1993, Balweg claimed to reports: "I am still in charge".

 SHORT FILM VIEWING...

Take note the important details/events of this video..

     LET'S HAVE A SHORT QUIZ:

     1. Give or list down the contributions of Ferdinand Marcos during his first term.

           

     2. Give or list down the contributions of Ferdinand Marcos during his second term.

     

     ASSIGNMENT: For your assignment, watch this video and write your insights about the speech of Ferdinand Marcos in one whole sheet of paper.

THE END!!

:)