A Brief History on Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s dictatorship

And why some Filipinos fear for another Marcos in power.

Ferdinand “BongBong” Marcos Jr. has won the presidential elections and is set to succeed the incumbent president Rodrigo Duterte. His win caused a divide among the nation as Filipinos who rallied for Leni Robredo, the incumbent Vice President, protested the election results - claiming he won through “voter fraud”. Although BongBong had been predicted to win (his vote count amounted to over 31 million, which is over 17 million more than the second winning candidate, Robredo), many Filipinos are still traumatized from his father’s administration in the 1970s.

BongBong’s father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., is infamous as the dictator who governed the Philippines for 20 years. In 1972, he declared martial law following a series of violent protests and a rising Muslim separatist movement (the Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF). Under the newly declared martial law regime, political oppositions were arrested (and, allegedly, tortured), urban crime went down, and Marcos tried to establish a new parliamentary system through a new constitution that simultaneously appointed him president and prime minister. Under Marcos Sr.’s administration, many people died, “disappeared”, or were tortured as a result of the oppressive nature of martial law.

The first half of Marcos Sr.’s presidency was a period of prosperity as he improved the economy, education, and agriculture. However, later in his administration, the Philippines fell into corruption, crime rates increased as there was a growing number of protests and guerrilla activity. Evidence unfolded that the Marcos’s and their close associates embezzled money from the Philippine government (some of which had funded Imelda’s 3,000 pairs of designer shoe collection), and evaded taxes, of which they were indicted and found guilty. Imelda, after her husband’s death, was acquitted and found guilty of corruption by the Philippine court.

The newly elected president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who goes by the childhood nickname “BongBong”, was only a child throughout Marcos Sr.’s government. His family name has been stained with corruption from the dark period of the Philippine history in the 70s and 80s, but Bong Bong is determined to “rewrite the family history” and asks to not be criticized or judge based on his father’s dark history.

As mentioned in my previous Substack article, there is an epidemic of misinformation and the weaponization of social media during the presidential campaigns - however, it’s also nothing new. Campaign smears, paid vloggers to spread “fake news”, and possible voters disenfranchisement, there have been alleged jabs to a fair and democratic election that have made some Filipinos question the stability of their democracy. Many Filipinos are still fighting against a Marcos-Duterte government, as demonstrated by a rally organized by Malaya Movement USA I went to outside the Philippine Consulate building in New York. They had a lineup of speakers to speak about their experiences of living in the Philippines during the Duterte administration, as well as a performance that showed the people who fought martial law that were killed, some if which includes Liliosa Hilao and Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino.

This election gives a similar gist to the 2016 elections, when the nation became divided when Hilary Clinton and former US President Donald Trump ran for president. The event saw an unfolding of scandals, including Trump’s sexist remarks outside an Access Hollywood bus, and Clinton’s emails. What strung along in the 2016 elections was a growing divide between left and right politics (often calling each other “liberal snowflakes” or “fascists” - a similar trend that I’ve noticed on social media during the Philippine elections), and accusations of a rigged election, one infamous one being the Russian interference in the presidential campaigns.

I’m not one to say what I think of the elections, seeing as I’m not a Filipino citizen, I’m ineligible to vote and I haven’t been back in the Philippines for over 10 years so I don’t know what the experience is like to live and have lived there. It’s difficult to form an opinion when I have little access (I can’t afford to travel to the Philippines to have experienced what the elections were truly like) and limited knowledge (for instance, I have yet to find and learn the perspectives of those who voted for Marcos-Duterte and why they support them).

Do you have any thoughts? Let’s start a conversation on the Philippine politics and see where it will head…

If you know anyone who may be of interest and willing to speak and share their thoughts, please email me or send them my email: nicoleabriam@gmail.com