How did the Philippine debt grow so much during

Ferdinand Marcos' presidency?

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2 Answers

Jose Marco Bisnar, studied at University of Mindanao

Updated Dec 24

The costs of managing the country from 1969 to 1986 was appalling at
best.Rebellions both left and religious are everywhere, massive infrastructure projects
every year costing hundreds of billions of pesos that would look like Duterte’s ‘Build Build
Build’ program look like a munchkin, preserving the public order, and lastly the corruption
in the government all contributed to the piling mountain of debt the Philippines is still
paying today.

The Martial Law era of 1972 to 1981, sometimes considered it ended at 1986, was a period of
national turmoil and civil war. Communist rebels number in the tens to hundreds of
thousands, and they also have millions of supporters most of whom were rural dwellers and
student activists in colleges and universities. Muslim separatists in Mindanao in the form of
Moro National Liberation Front and its later offshoots proved themselves just as capable as
the Philippine Army regulars. The Marcos government did the best by increasing the
number of servicemen in the Armed Forces, National Police and the Constabulary by a
several numerical factors. To augment it, they also bought expensive up-to-date military
hardware from abroad, in the form of small arms, artillery and aircraft mostly from the
United States and allies. Pay of the servicemen were also increased partly as incentive for
them not defecting or sympathizing to the rebels.

A Philippine Air Force F8 Crusader air superiority jet aircraft bought during the Marcos
administration, ca. 1978

The consequence of these is massive defense spending by the government, which incurred a
huge chunk of the debt borrowed from other countries. With the rebellions and street
protests all over the country still ongoing and still killing and maiming government
servicemen at horrendous numbers despite possessing the best equipment, and coupled by
a potential threat of invasion by communist China from the north either ideological or
subversive, the cost of national defense and the preservation of social order by the police
skyrocketed, and so did the debt.

National turmoil more or less discouraged foreign investors from doing business in the
country. The same could be said for local businessmen whose property were being
repeatedly invaded and raided by the rebels and student leftists for extortion or protest
purposes as well as temporary hideouts from government forces. The Marcos government’s
implementation of the 13th-month pay may have probably exacerbated this issue, as it
probably gave the already disparate businessmen a bit little incentive to make money and
pay taxes to the government, most of which at a neckbreaking rate.[1]

The Marcos administration was also the period of the most massive infrastructure and
public works building spree in the history of the Philippines. Highways, bridges and
hospitals were built on a scale never seen before in the country. Schools and tertiary
institutions were built and established in the numbers dwarfing all those built beyond the
year 1986, the year Marcos was ousted from power.

San Juanico Leyte-Samar Interisland Bridge, finished building in 1973. It remained

almost as it was. Although it suffered from typhoons in the past, it never suffered any
major structural failure.

Surprisingly and interestingly, many public works projects done during the Marcos
administration were of excellent quality that had stood the test of time and need not much
maintenance compared to the present public works projects that won’t even reach the
minimum shelf life before being given maintenance and replaced again and again.

Not content with all these, Marcos ensured that the country metamorphose from an
agrarian country into a newly-industrialized one, and only during his term. To that end, he
had 11 or so heavy industry projects, including steel and chemical factories, ordered to be
built at the same timeframe.[2]

All these were built to improve the national economy. To do all this, much money was
needed. Massive debt again comes into play, for without it these projects would be just hot
air at all. Ironically, these apparently helped ruin the national economy, as workers’ salaries
plummeted, the prices of basic goods skyrocketed and due to both the overall quality of life
in the country lessened and worsened.

Corruption, always endemic in the country, worsened during the Marcos administration.
Although I cannot say that Ferdinand Marcos himself is corrupt — he was already rich due
to his being a son of a Don who was already a respected politician back in Ilocos Norte as
well as head of a mining company which he inherited — he need not steal from the national
treasury just for himself, his wife certainly was. But it is fact that he tried to curry the favor
of politicians both ally and opponent alike by giving them insane amounts of money, likely
extracted from the national treasury. In the end, he failed, as his closest allies betrayed him
during the EDSA Revolution of 1986; those people are still in the government roster to this
day.

Ramos and Enrile, former Marcos lackeys, turned revolutionaries at EDSA I

All of the mentioned above factored why the so much debt Philippines incurred during the
Marcos administration.