Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for over 20 years as president, first being elected in 1965. While he initially brought some economic advances, over time his rule became increasingly autocratic as he imposed martial law and retained broad powers. Corruption grew rampant among Marcos and his associates as the economy stagnated compared to other Asian nations. The assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino in 1983 galvanized resistance to Marcos, which mounted until a military-backed popular uprising in 1986 forced Marcos into exile, ending his tumultuous rule.
Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for over 20 years as president, first being elected in 1965. While he initially brought some economic advances, over time his rule became increasingly autocratic as he imposed martial law and retained broad powers. Corruption grew rampant among Marcos and his associates as the economy stagnated compared to other Asian nations. The assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino in 1983 galvanized resistance to Marcos, which mounted until a military-backed popular uprising in 1986 forced Marcos into exile, ending his tumultuous rule.
Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for over 20 years as president, first being elected in 1965. While he initially brought some economic advances, over time his rule became increasingly autocratic as he imposed martial law and retained broad powers. Corruption grew rampant among Marcos and his associates as the economy stagnated compared to other Asian nations. The assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino in 1983 galvanized resistance to Marcos, which mounted until a military-backed popular uprising in 1986 forced Marcos into exile, ending his tumultuous rule.
Marcos's departure from the Philippines yesterday put
an end to an era - the tumultuous two decades he spent as the nation's President. Mr. Marcos, now an ailing 68 years old, made a name for himself as a brilliant, strong-willed lawyer, military man and Senator before he was first elected President in 1965, taking command of the Philippines' ramshackle but functioning democracy. ''Politics,'' he said early in his career, ''galvanizes into action all the beautiful hopes that a man can nurture in his heart for his country and for his nation. Politics is my life.'' Yet as his presidency unfolded, he imposed martial law in 1972 and managed to retain broad powers after lifting it in 1981, including the prerogative of governing by decree if he so desired. Even so, Mr. Marcos's imposing presence, his ringing orator's voice, his skilled sleight-of-hand with his Government, were not enough to keep his power from shriveling in recent years. His health and energy declined, the political opposition mounted and grew bolder, and a Communist guerrilla movement spread through the countryside. Economy Undermines Power His popularity and prestige were partly undermined late in his tenure by the Philippine economy, which appeared sputtering and dilapidated when compared with the prosperity of such other Asian countries as Singapore and Taiwan. During his years in power, his critics charge, Philippine economic development, despite some advances, fell far short of achieving the potential of the country's fertile landscape and its energetic and swiftly expanding population, now more than 50 million. One reason for the economic shortfall, the critics contend, is that his Government failed to plan effectively: it placed too much faith in large business concerns that proved inefficient, and it left the country too dependent on the production of basic commodities. These critics also charge that the economy was sapped and undercut by corruption on the part of Mr. Marcos and people close to him. Even before the Marcos era, Philippine politics were oligarchic and elitist, largely dominated by families whose influence went back for generations. Mr. Marcos was himself the son of a provincial political strongman, and in his own heyday he made power and privilege in his homeland even more dependent on personal ties. Reports of Enormous Riches Many of his associates grew richer and richer, profiting one way or another from Government and personal ties. He and his wife, Imelda, grew enormously rich, amassing, by some accounts, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate and antiques in the New York area alone. Yet besides buttressing Mr. Marcos's rule, the Filipino web of dynastic ties eventually helped bring him down. After the assassination of the main opposition leader, Benigno S. Aquino Jr., in 1983, his widow, Corazon C. Aquino - herself from a politically powerful family - galvanized and focused the opposition by opposing Mr. Marcos in the presidential election Feb. 7. The election was held after Mr. Marcos had suggested that it be scheduled early this year to give him, he said, a ''fresh mandate.'' That proved to be a politically fatal misstep. His Government asserted that he outpolled Mrs. Aquino, but it was widely accused of using fraud and violence to keep her from winning. During the campaign, as before, Marcos supporters were accused of bringing about the death of Mrs. Aquino's husband, and doubts were cast on Mr. Marcos's description of his own guerrilla heroism in World War II. Son of Former President Mrs. Aquino's running mate, former Senator Salvador H. Laurel, was himself heir to a powerful though controversial political heritage as the son of Jose P. Laurel, who was the Philippines' puppet President during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Juan Ponce Enrile, the former Defense Minister who became one of the two main leaders of the anti-Marcos rebellion that sprung up last weekend, was a longtime political and business associate of Mr. Marcos's entourage who had prospered in the coconut business. It was a purported assassination plot in 1972 against Mr. Enrile, then already his country's defense chief, that Mr. Marcos used as his reason for declaring martial law, which was a key step in enlarging his powers after he had been President for seven years. Mr. Enrile acknowledged last weekend that the plot had been faked. Mr. Marcos came to office in 1965 by defeating President Diosdado Macapagal in an bitterly fought election that was largely swayed by voters' resentment over high prices, agricultural problems and criminality in Philippine life. Called Murderer and Thief He won although President Macapagal called him a murderer - he had earlier won acquittal in the murder of a political foe of his father - as well as ''a thief, a swindler, a forger and a threat to the country.'' As President, Mr. Marcos promised ''with the help of the masses to make this country great again.'' He energetically set about slashing the Government payroll, enhancing the rice supply and increasing the construction of schools, highways, medical centers and the like. He liked to speak of what he called the enterprising, diligent ''new Filipino.'' ''In all this part of the world,'' he said in those days, ''where will democratic ways work if they fail here?'' Exhorting his followers, he once said, ''Our nation can be great only according to the scale of our own labors, our dedication, our self-abnegation.'' In the presidential election of 1969 -after which, as after numerous elections down the years, there were various charges of cheating - Mr. Marcos won 60 percent of the vote. He thereby became the first President of the Philippines to win re-election since the country gained its independence from the United States in 1946. Protests and Insurgencies Yet as his second term went on, he was beset by problems. Agricultural issues festered; the sprawling capital, Manila, was racked by student protests; Moslem rebels and other insurgents prowled parts of the countryside. Then, in late 1972, Mr. Marcos, after asserting that the Government was not functioning properly, and after the purported attempt on Mr. Enrile's life, declared martial law throughout the country. Numbers of his political rivals and critics - including young people and journalists - were arrested. Properties of his opponents, including newspapers, television stations and business concerns, were seized. He also moved in other ways to build up his power, and in doing so he later said he had been ''guided by God.'' He suspended the Philippine Congress, built up the military establishment - a key prop for his rule - and designated himself Prime Minister under a new Constitution. Arrests continued in the succeeding years. So effective were these measures that, in the later 1970's, when he and his wife sat in public on matching high-backed gold throne chairs, the chairs were widely seen as a symbol of the martial-law Government. Charges of Vote Fraud He repeatedly won high percentages of the vote in referendums he called during martial law, but many Filipinos believed that the number of votes cast for him had been fraudulently exaggerated. On the internal-security front, he quelled the street demonstrations and did away with numerous gangs and private armies by seizing their weapons. In the economic sphere, he went forward with public-works construction in addition to land redistribution, and logged some other gains. But critics reported that the business interests of members of the Marcos circle flowered during martial law. A Marcos golf partner, Herminio Disini, who was related by marriage to Mrs. Marcos, advanced in five years from a tobacco-company post to the proprietorship of a conglomerate with assets worth more than $500 million. In 1981, the year that Mr. Marcos ended martial law, he also stepped down as Prime Minister and won re-election as President for the second time in a vote that was boycotted by his leading political foes. The next Presidential election was scheduled to come in 1987, until Mr. Marcos moved to have it this year instead. In 1981, he also made himself the head of his political party, the New Society Movement, succeeding his wife. An Exile Is Killed Nonetheless, as the 1980's went on, Mr. Marcos's rule was increasingly buffeted by accusations and opposition. A turning point came in 1983 with the slaying of Mr. Aquino - by a bullet to the head - as he came back to Manila after spending years of self- exile in the United States. The killing, widely ascribed to the Marcos camp, touched off anti- Marcos rioting that in turn shook the economy, alarming business executives. In 1984, the opposition achieved gains in elections to the National Assembly. Another potent factor working against Mr. Marcos was opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, led by the influential Jaime Cardinal Sin. All the while, the Marcos Government's weaknesses were underscored by the growth of the Communist insurgent movement, which fed on mounting popular discontent - although leftist leaders boycotted the presidential election earlier this month. The Communist New People's Army is said to have as many as 30,000 members according to some estimates, far more people, spread far more widely across the country, than it had when Mr. Marcos took office. As President, Mr. Marcos argued that his rule was necessary to confront the Communist insurgents, but his critics abroad as well as at home came to contend that, to prevent further Communist inroads, his tenure must be brought to an end. Verdict in Aquino Slaying Mr. Marcos's grip on his country was already too much weakened by December 1985 to benefit from a court verdict in that month that, after a protracted trial, found a score of defendants, mainly military men, not guilty in Mr. Aquino's slaying. The verdict struck many Filipinos as unjust and fueled popular discontent. Late in 1985 the presidential campaign gave a forum for ringing denunciations of Mr. Marcos's Government, with Mrs. Aquino promising her supporters that she would gain justice for all of the people she called the Government's victims, including her husband. Then, after Mr. Marcos claimed victory in the election Feb. 7, his grip was broken at last by a wave of outrage and disapproval that had repercussions that swiftly brought him down. Before long, the Reagan Administration accused Mr. Marcos of fraud and called for his departure - despite the fact that the United States had earlier showered him with support and compliments, including praise by Vice President Bush at Mr. Marcos's last inauguration in June 1981 for his ''adherence to democratic principles.'' Meanwhile, Mr. Enrile and Lieut. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, the former deputy Chief of Staff of the armed services, had mounted their rebellion, which sent hundreds of thousands of ordinary Filipinos surging into Manila's boulevards to support the rebels and underscore demands that the Marcos era, at long last, must end.