FERDINAND E.

MARCOS
President 1965 - 1986

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Quick Facts
Born

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos

September 11, 1917
Sarrat, Ilocos Norte

Died

September 28, 1989 (72 yo)

Honolulu, Hawaii, US

Resting
Place

Marcos Museum and Mausoleum, Batac,

Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Spouse

Imelda Romualdez

Alma
mater

University of the Philippines

Profession

Politician

Religion

Roman Catholic

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Personal Life
He was married to Imelda RomualdezMarcos, on May 1, 1954 and the marriage
produced three children:
1. Maria Imelda "Imee" Marcos (born 12
November 1955), Governor of Ilocos
Norte
2. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. (born
13 September 1957), Senator of the
Philippines
3. Irene Marcos (born 16 September 1960)

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Wartime Activities
Marcos emerged from World War II with a reputation as the greatest
Filipino resistance leader of the war and the most decorated soldier
in the U.S. armed forces. However, he appeared to have spent the
war on both sides, lending support to both the Japanese and the
United States. In early 1943 in Manila (the capital of the
Philippines), Marcos created a "secret" resistance organization
called Ang Mga Maharlika that he claimed consisted of agents
working against the Japanese. In fact, the group consisted of many
criminalsforgers, pickpockets, gunmen, and gangstershoping to
make money in the wartime climate.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Wartime Activities
At the war's end, Marcos took up the practice of law again. He often
filed false claims in Washington, D.C., on behalf of Filipino veterans
seeking back pay (wages owed) and benefits. Encouraged by his
success with these claims, he filed a $595 thousand claim on his
own behalf, stating that the U.S. Army had taken over two thousand
head of cattle from Mariano Marcos's ranch. In fact, this ranch never
existed, which made Washington conclude that the cattle never
existed.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
In December 1948 a magazine editor
published four articles on Marcos's war
experiences, causing Marcos's reputation to
grow. In 1949, campaigning on promises to
get veterans' benefits for two million Filipinos,
Marcos ran as a Liberal Party candidate for a
seat
in
the
Philippine
House
of
Representatives.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
He won with 70 percent of the vote. In less
than a year he was worth a million dollars,
mostly because of his American tobacco
subsidies (financial assistance to grow
tobacco), a huge cigarette smuggling
operation, and his practice of pressuring
Chinese businesses to cooperate with him. In
1954 he formally met Imelda Romualdez
(1929) and married her.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
Marcos was reelected twice, and in 1959 he
was elected to the Philippine Senate. He was
also the Liberal Party's vice-president from
1954 to 1961, when he successfully managed
Diosdado Macapagal's (19111997) run for
the Philippine presidency. As part of his
arrangement with Marcos, Macapagal was
supposed to step aside after one term to allow
Marcos to run for the presidency.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
When Macapagal did not do this, Marcos
joined the opposition Nationalist Party and
became their candidate in the 1965 election
against Macapagal and easily won. Marcos
was now president of the Philippines.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
In 1969 Marcos became the first Philippine
president to win a second term. However, not
all Filipinos were happy with his presidency,
and the month following his reelection
included
the
most
violent
public
demonstrations in the history of the country.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
Three years later, facing growing student
protest and a crumbling economy, Marcos
declared martial law, a state of emergency in
which
military
authorities
are
given
extraordinary powers to maintain order.
Marcos's excuse for declaring martial law was
the growing revolutionary movement of the
Communist New People's Army, which
opposed his government.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Political Career
During the next nine years of martial law,
Marcos tripled the armed forces to some two
hundred thousand troops, guaranteeing his
grip on government. When martial law was
lifted in 1981, he kept all the power he had
been granted under martial law to himself.
Meanwhile the economy continued to crumble
while Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos became
one of the richest couples in the world. As
Marcos's health began to fail and U.S. support
for him lessened, opposition to Marcos grew
in the Philippine middle class.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Final Years
The Marcos regime began to collapse after the
August 1983 assassination (political killing) of
Benigno S. Aquino Jr. (19331983), who had
been Marcos's main political rival. Aquino was
shot and killed when he arrived at the Manila
airport after three years in the United States.
The killing enraged Filipinos, as did authorities'
claim that the murder was the work of a single
gunman.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Final Years
A year later, a civilian investigation brought
charges against a number of soldiers and
government officials, but in 1985 none of them
were found guilty. Nevertheless, most Filipinos
believe that Marcos was involved in Aquino's
killing.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Final Years
Marcos next called for a "snap [sudden]
election" to be held early in 1986. In that
election, which was marked by violence and
charges of fraud, Marcos's opponent was
Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino. When the
Philippine National Assembly announced that
Marcos was the winner, a rebellion in the
Philippine military, supported by hundreds of
thousands of Filipinos marching in the streets,
forced Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos to flee the
country.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Final Years
Marcos asked for U.S. aid but was given
nothing more than an air force jet, which flew
him and Imelda to Hawaii. He remained there
until his death on September 28, 1989. The
Marcoses had taken with them more than
twenty-eight million cash in Philippine currency.
President Aquino's administration said this was
only a small part of the Marcoses' illegally
gained wealth.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Death

Marcos died in Honolulu on the morning of September 28, 1989, of

kidney, heart, and lung ailments.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Death

Marcos was interred in a private mausoleum at Byodo-In Temple on

the island of Oahu where his remains were visited daily by the Marcos
family, political allies and friends.

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
Death

As of 2015 his remains were interred inside a refrigerated crypt in

Ilocos Norte, where his son, Ferdinand, Jr., and eldest daughter, Imee
have since become the local governor and congressional
representative, respectively. A large bust of Ferdinand Marcos
(inspired by Mount Rushmore) was commissioned by the tourism
minister, Jose Aspiras, and carved into a hillside in Benguet. It was
subsequently destroyed; suspects included left-wing activists,
members of a local tribe who had been displaced by construction of
the monument, and looters hunting for the legendary Yamashita
treasure

FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President 1965 - 1986

Emilio Aguinaldo
President
Ferdinand Marcos

Lawyer
Former Senate

Leader
Revolutionary
Politician
Soldier
President
Dictator

Leader
Rebel
Teacher