The philippines (a fooled nation)

[missingyouso]

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well, dili pud ma-deny that in the earlier Marcos administration, our country was at its most prosperous. He did something right. It may be better to celebrate the good, rather than the bad. Learn from both. Basin makatabang pa nato karon para mo-prosperous ta balik. And really, Marcos was not responsible for all the bad that happened. It was a whole team of people at the top.

Apila na lang pud ang mga gagmayng taw who felt cheated and struggled for what they could get as well. Dili ra dagkong pulitiko ang kurakot. Look at the lowly employee at the PNP, LTO, etc., nga mangutong. they're not as powerful as politicians pero kurakot gihapon in the same essence of the word. (my experience - nagpahimo ko affidavit sa police kay gikawat akong bag. gamiton nako para pagkuha bag-ong ATM cards, IDs, etc. nangutana ang police unsa akong trabaho. nangayo kwarta ) the whole society is sick

[Renz8]

Fan pud ka ni FM TS

[endymioun]

Marcos was no great leader, much less a hero. His 20-year rule was in fact a failure. The Philippines he left behind in 1986 was worse off than in 1965 when he first took office. The last years of his term (1983-85) saw the country’s economy shrink by over 10 percent. It took a decade thereafter for the economy to recover back to the GDP level of 1982.

When Marcos fled in 1986, 60 percent of all Filipinos were reduced to poverty earning less than $1 per person per day. By 1985, the international debt of the Philippines had risen ten-fold during his 20-year tenure to $28 billion. This debt would have been acceptable had it been spent for productive assets. Instead, a good part of it was used for such non-performing non-assets as the overpriced, never-used Bataan nuclear power plant.

In 20 years of Marcos rule, corruption at the highest level siphoned off billions of dollars from public coffers into the private pockets of Marcos and his cronies. In 20 years of Marcos rule, the Philippines went from being the second strongest economy in Asia to being a laggard.
This is not a trajectory that would have made this country a new “Singapore,” as the son of Marcos ignorantly claims would have happened. It is a trajectory going in the wrong direction.

Marcos turned this country into a private company—an expense account for himself, his family and his cronies at the expense of all Filipinos. And he created the mechanisms and laws to institutionalize this. The last straw was the 1986 snap elections when he tried to steal the presidency despite his failing health.

This was the reason behind the Edsa People Power revolution: To regain our democracy, to kick out an ailing despot, to take back the economy from cronies and to restore basic human rights for all.

After Edsa, we passed a law making plunder a crime. The Bill of Rights was restored in the Constitution. We re-established Congress to stand as true representatives of the people (while Marcos abolished Congress and took over legislation through the infamous Amendment 6). We reconstructed a Supreme Court to take charge over a decrepit judicial system that deferred to Marcos on major decisions (notably, Javellana v. Executive Secretary). All of these to correct the failings of Marcos.


Read more: Do not bury Marcos in the Libingan | Inquirer Opinion

[Zeratul_]

Main reason I will not vote this year. Wala gihapon gamit ang pag botar!! Wala na jd ni pag-asa ning pilipinas..

[<SMILE>]

But we do have a future for our own,
who knows if each and everyone of us would strive
and achieve prosperity, our nation will go along with it as well.

[machinecult]

Taking it with a grain of salt. Too many "Americans did it" that the whole thing starts to make no sense. This was a time where South Korea and the Philippines were very important allies in Asia and to be betrayed by Americans whilst the rest of Asia is being encroached by Communism is geopolitical suicide. Sure Reagan asked for Marcos to step down but I don't see why Chung-hee's assassination is anything else but localized antagonism by someone who saw him as a dictator.