Ferdinand Marcos

Ferdinand Marcos governed the Philippines for more than twenty years, first as an elected president from 1965 and then, after declaring martial law in 1972, as a dictator. His rule combined heavy foreign borrowing, large public works, the persecution of opponents and the enrichment of his family and allies. Accused of stealing an election, he was driven from power by the People Power Revolution of February 1986 and died in exile in Hawaii.

Born on 11 September 1917 in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, Marcos was the son of a lawyer and congressman. He studied law at the University of the Philippines. While still a student he and relatives were convicted of murdering his father's political rival, Julio Nalundasan, but the Supreme Court acquitted him in October 1940. During World War II he served with US Army forces against the Japanese invasion, was captured in April 1942 and survived the Bataan Death March. His later claims to have led a large guerrilla force and to be the country's most decorated war hero were largely untrue, as US Army investigators and later researchers found.

Using his war record, Marcos won a House seat for Ilocos Norte in 1949, entered the Senate in 1959 and led the Senate as its president from 1963. In 1965 he switched to the Nacionalista Party and was elected president. His first term brought roads, schools, hospitals and cultural centres, paid for largely with foreign loans, and a close alliance with the United States during the Cold War, including a Philippine engineering contingent of up to 1,600 troops sent to the Vietnam War. He won re-election in 1969, but overspending triggered a balance-of-payments crisis the same year.

Student protests, the rise of the Maoist Communist Party and its New People's Army, and a growing Muslim insurgency in the south marked his second term. A series of bombings in 1971–72, which Marcos blamed on communists but which some historians attribute to his own side, served as justification. On 23 September 1972 he declared martial law, extending his rule beyond the two-term limit. He governed by decree, closed Congress, censored the press and jailed opponents such as Senator Ninoy Aquino. The armed forces grew from 65,000 to 270,000 between 1972 and 1976, and his wife Imelda became one of the most powerful figures in the state.

Political opponents, students, farmers, journalists and clergy were detained without charge, tortured or killed. Estimates generally count roughly 1,500 to 4,000 documented extrajudicial killings or disappearances, tens of thousands imprisoned or tortured, and many thousands more killed in the conflict with Muslim rebels. A government commission later estimated that Marcos took between $5 billion and $10 billion. Foreign debt climbed from $360 million in 1962 to $17.2 billion in 1980, and when interest rates rose the economy fell into deep recession, contracting by 7.3 per cent in both 1984 and 1985.

Marcos formally lifted martial law in January 1981 but kept his powers. On 21 August 1983 Ninoy Aquino was shot dead at Manila airport as he returned from exile, a killing for which military personnel were later convicted. Facing mounting pressure, Marcos called a snap election for 7 February 1986 against Aquino's widow, Corazon. The official count gave him victory, but observers reported widespread fraud. When a military faction under Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos broke with him, huge crowds gathered on EDSA avenue in Manila to protect them. Soldiers refused orders to fire, the administration of Ronald Reagan withdrew its support, and on 25 February 1986 the Marcos family was flown out to Hawaii.

Marcos faced lawsuits in American courts and died in Honolulu on 28 September 1989. In 2016 his remains were reburied in the Libingan ng mga Bayani, the national heroes' cemetery, a decision that prompted protests. His family returned to politics, and his son Bongbong became president in 2022; the family denies the abuses attributed to his rule.

Our 1960 map shows the independent Philippines before his presidency, and the 1985 map shows the country in the final year of his rule.