NARANJO, CASSANDRA ANGELICA R.

FERDINAND MARCOS SR.

Died At Age: 72
Spouse: Imelda Marcos
Father: Mariano Marcos
Mother: Josefa Edralin
Siblings: Elizabeth Marcos-Keon, Fortuna Marcos-Barba, Pacifico Marcos
Children: Aimee Marcos, Bongbong Marcos, Imee Marcos, Irene Marcos-
Araneta
Height: 5'7" (170 cm), 5'7" Males
Died On: September 28, 1989
Place Of Death: Honolulu
Diseases & Disabilities: Lupus
Founder/Co-Founder: Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, Cultural Center Of The
Philippines, Light Rail Transit Authority

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Senior was a Filipino

politician who went on to serve as the president of the country for twenty one
years. Marcos’ father was lawyer and politician in his own right and he
followed in his father’s footsteps both in terms of his choice of education as
well as career choice. Marcos had a brush with the law early on in his life
when he was accused of being involved in the murder of one of his father’s
political opponents but he managed to defend himself and was acquitted. He
served in the army during the Second World War and used that stint as
campaigning tools at the time of his first presidential campaign. Marcos
served as the president for two terms and during his second term he imposed
martial law in the country in order to quell the threats posed by protesting
groups and after lifting martial law, he won the presidential elections for the
third time.

Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was born to Mariano Marcos and his wife
Josefa Edralin in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, Philippines on 11 September 1917.
Marcos’ father was a qualified lawyer and also one of the leading politicians in
Philippines. Marcos studied at some of the best schools in the capital of
Philippines in Manila but the names of the schools are unknown. Later on, he
went on to study law, like his father, at the University of the Philippines at
some point in the latter part of the 1930s. He was excelled in extra-curricular
activities and revealed in boxing, swimming and debating. In 1933, one of his
father’s political rivals who had managed to defeat Mariano Marcos in an
election was murdered. Ferdinand Marcos was accused and prosecuted for
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having colluded in the murder. He was found guilty but he defended himself in
court. He was acquitted six years after the alleged murder took place.

Marcos joined the Philippine army after the commencement of the

Second World War and served as an officer for the duration of the war.
Following Philippines’ independence and the end of the Second World War,
Ferdinand Marcos joined politics. He entered the House of Representatives
from Ilocos Norte in 1949 and over the next ten years he was elected to the
house two more times. During that decade, he served in different important
capacities like the Chairman of House Committee on Commerce and Industry,
member of the defence committee and several other committees. In 1959,
Marcos became a member of the Philippine Senate and before long he
became the floor leader of the minority. Two years after getting into the
senate, the Liberal Party made him their executive vice president and two
years after that he became the Senate President. During his two year long
stint as the president of the Senate, Marcos was responsible for the
introduction of a number of new bills. In 1965, Marcos was elected as the
President of Philippines and during his campaign for the presidency, he
stressed on his past as a soldier and the campaign proved to be successful. A
year after assuming the presidency, Marcos sent Philippine soldiers to serve
in the Vietnam War where they served for four years.

Marcos became the president for a second term in 1969 and the very
next year he had to face opposition and protests from the left wing. The
protests, along with Islamic threats, were one of the main reasons why
Marcos imposed martial law in Philippines three years after beginning his 2nd
term and for the next nine years the country was under martial law as Marcos
tried to establish a ‘New Society’. Opposition leaders and left wing activists
were arrested, media was censored and even the Congress was closed
down.
Ferdinand Marcos became the Prime Minister of Philippines in 1978 and
made sure that he made the position as powerful as that of the president of
the country by transferring those powers to his office. Three years later,
martial law was suspended and presidential elections were called. Marcos
won the election by a big margin. Marcos’ third term as the president of
Philippines ran into trouble in 1985 when there was an attempt to impeach
him for stealing state assets to the tune of millions but a committee struck it
down. The same year, Marcos called for elections ahead of schedule and duly
won it, however there were allegations of electoral corruption. The failure of
the electoral process gave further power to the ‘People Power Movement’. A
year after the election, the opposition overtook the city and Marcos fled. He
found asylum in Hawaii.

Marcos got married to Imelda Romualdez in 1954. His wife Imelda also
went on to become a politician. The couple had four children named - Ma
Imelda Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Irene Marcos and Aimee Marcos.
Marcos died on 28 September 1989 in Honolulu after suffering from heart and
kidney problems.

A week before the actual declaration of Martial Law, a number of

people had already received information that Marcos had drawn up a plan to
completely take over the government and gain absolute rule. Senator Benigno
S. Aquino Jr., during a September 13, 1972 privilege speech, exposed what
was known as “Oplan Sagittarius.” The Senator said he had received a top-
secret military plan given by Marcos himself to place Metro Manila and
NARANJO, CASSANDRA ANGELICA R.

outlying areas under the control of the Philippine Constabulary as a prelude to

Martial Law. Marcos was going to use a series of bombings in Metro Manila,
including the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing, as a justification for his takeover
and subsequent authoritarian