FOREIGN POLICY
Diplomacy is the
A country's foreign policy, also called foreign
relations or foreign affairs -policy, consists of
self-interest strategies chosen by the state to
safeguard its national interests and to achieve
goals within its international relations milieu. The
approaches are strategically employed to
interact with other countries. The study of such
strategies is called foreign policy analysis. In
recent times, due to the deepening level of
globalization and transnational activities, the
states will also have to interact with non-state
actors. The aforementioned interaction is
evaluated and monitored in attempts to
maximize benefits of multilateral international
cooperation. Since the national interests are
paramount, foreign policies are designed by the
government through high-level decision making
processes. National interests accomplishment
can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation
with other nations, or through exploitation.
Usually, creating foreign policy is the job of
the head of government and the foreign
minister (or equivalent). In some countries
the legislature also has considerable effects.
Foreign policies of countries have varying rates
of change and scopes of intent, which can be
affected by factors that change the perceived
national interests or even affect the stability of
the country itself. The foreign policy of one
country can have profound and lasting impact on
many other countries and on the course of
international relations as a whole, such as
the Monroe Doctrine conflicting with
the mercantilist policies of 19th century
European countries and the goals of
independence of newly formed Central
American and South American countries.
Foreign policy, General objectives that guide
the activities and relationships of one state in its
interactions with other states. The development
of foreign policy is influenced by domestic
considerations, the policies or behaviour of other
states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical
designs. Leopold von Ranke emphasized the
primacy of geography and external threats in
shaping foreign policy, but later writers
emphasized domestic factors.
tool of foreign policy, and war, alliances,
and international trade may all
be manifestations of it.
INTERNATIONAL LAW
International law is a set of generally accepted
and binding rules and principles that define
rights and obligations in relations between
subjects of international law. They originate from
customary international law and treaties. Some
rules are jus cogens and thus may not be
altered by states, while others are jus
dispositivum and may be altered by the mutual
agreement of states. The Charter of the United
Nations is the principal international legal
instrument setting out the fundamental principles
of international law, and provides the basic
framework for its development.
International law has no centralised legislative,
executive or judicial authority. Instead, states
develop rules through inter-state relations or
within international organisations, with the
intention of executing their obligations, but there
is no uniform system of sanctions for violations
of international law: sanctions derive from
treaties and customary international law.
International law comprises:
 public international law, and
 private international law.
Public international law governs international
relations and relationships between entities that
are considered subjects of international law in
various areas, while private international law
regulates disputed status, family, property and
other relations between natural persons, when
at least one party is not a national.
Furthermore, international law comprises
supranational law, known as the law of
supranational (regional) organisations, and the
law of war.
International law differs from national or internal
legal systems od states; it regulates relations
between entities that are subjects of
international law, states in particular. Many
international legal norms also effect the areas
usually governed by internal law.
In Slovenia, the relationship between
international and national law is established
under article 8 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Slovenia, which states that laws and
regulations must comply with the generally
accepted principles of international law and with
treaties that are binding on the Republic of
Slovenia. Ratified treaties apply directly. The
Constitution also determines the correlation
between the two legal orders.
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The history of the Republic of the Philippines
and that of the Department of Foreign Affairs
(DFA) are intertwined. The important events
marking the passage of the years at the
Department are also milestones in the rise of the
Philippines as an independent nation.
Over one hundred years ago, the DFA had its
auspicious beginnings when President Emilio
Aguinaldo appointed Apolinario Mabini as the
Republic's first Secretary of Foreign Affairs on
23 June 1898, eleven days after the declaration
of Philippine independence at Kawit, Cavite.
The DFA was among the first government
departments created following the establishment
of the First Philippine Republic. Realizing the
need for international recognition of the new
government, Aguinaldo assigned Mabini the
difficult task of establishing diplomatic relations
with friendly countries. Members of the Hong
Kong Junta, a group of Filipino exiles in Hong
Kong, served as the country's envoys for this
purpose.
The Philippines underwent colonial rule under
the United States from 1898 to 1946, and
Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1944. The
country regained independence, including full
control of foreign affairs and diplomatic matters,
on 4 July 1946. Commonwealth Act No. 732
was passed creating the Department of Foreign
Affairs. Shortly thereafter, President Manuel
Roxas issued on September 16 of that year
Executive Order No. 18 providing for the
organization and operation of the DFA and the
Foreign Service. The main tasks of the DFA
then were to assist in post-war rehabilitation,
formulate policies for investment promotion, and
establish diplomatic relations with other
countries.
The DFA led in the conclusion of the RP-U.S.
Mutual Defense Treaty, as well as in the Laurel-
Langley Agreement, thus paving the way for a
balanced yet robust trade and military relations
with the United States.
The DFA had a heyday during the post-war
years, with its increased participation in the
international arena. It became a founding
member of the United Nations and one of the
drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. It helped forge the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The country was
also an early proponent of decolonization and
global disarmament. The Philippines' dynamic
participation in global matters culminated in
Carlos P. Romulo's election as the first Asian
President of the UN General Assembly in 1952.
At that time, the international environment began
to change, requiring that new thrusts and
priorities in Philippine foreign policy be
determined. During the Cold War era, against
the backdrop of the Korean War and rising
communism in China, the Philippines pursued
an increasing internationalist foreign policy.
Realizing the importance of foreign relations,
President Elpidio Quirino in June 1952 pushed
for the passage of the Foreign Service Act of
1952, embodied in Republic Act No. 708.
During the post-war period, the DFA focused on
institution building, closer engagement with
Asian neighbors, and increasing Philippine
global linkages. When he became
Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs under the
Magsaysay Administration, Raul S. Manglapus
instituted the Foreign Service Officers’
Examinations to professionalize the foreign
service and to upgrade the recruitment and
selection of new foreign service officers.
The Marcos years, from 1965 to 1986, were
marked by policy innovations and then
difficulties brought about by the excesses of the
martial law regime. President Ferdinand Marcos
redefined foreign policy as the safeguarding of
territorial integrity and national dignity, and
emphasized increased regional cooperation and
collaboration. He stressed "Asianness" and
pursued a policy of constructive unity and co-
existence with other Asian states, regardless of
ideological persuasion. In 1967, the Philippines
launched a new initiative to form a regional
association with other Southeast Asian countries
called the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN). The Philippines also
normalized economic and diplomatic ties with
China and the USSR, which President Marcos
visited in 1975 and 1976, respectively. The
Philippines also opened embassies in the
eastern bloc countries, as well as a separate
mission to the European Common Market in
Brussels.
Throughout the 1970s, the DFA pursued the
promotion of trade and investments, played an
active role in hosting international meetings, and
participated in the meetings of the Non-Aligned
Movement. The Foreign Service Institute was
created in 1976 to provide in-house training to
Foreign Service personnel.
The EDSA Revolution in 1986 saw the re-
establishment of a democratic government
under President Corazon Aquino. During this
period, the DFA once again pursued
development diplomacy, in the active pursuit of
opportunities abroad in the vital areas of trade,
investment, finance, technology and aid. The
Philippines became one of the founding
members of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) in November 1989, and an
active player in regional efforts to establish the
ASEAN Free Trade Area. In the 1990s, more
diplomatic missions were established in the
Middle East to improve existing ties with Arab
states and to respond to the growing needs of
Overseas Filipino workers in the region.
In 1991, heeding the growing nationalist
sentiments among the public, the Philippine
Senate voted against the extension of the RP-
U.S. Military Bases Agreement, thus putting to a
close the decades-old presence of the U.S.
military at Subic Bay and Clark Field. Also in
1991, President Aquino signed into law the new
Foreign Service Act of 1991 (R.A. 7157), which
reorganized the Department along geographic
lines and strengthened the Foreign Service. It
instituted a Career Minister Eligibility
Examination as a requirement for promotion of
senior FSOs to the rank of Career Ministers,
thereby ensuring the professional selection of
those who would eventually rise to the level of
career ambassadors.
The Ramos administration from July 1992 to
June 1998 defined the four core priorities of
Philippine foreign policy namely: the
enhancement of national security, promotion of
economic diplomacy, protection of overseas
Filipino workers and Filipino nationals abroad,
and the projection of a good image of the
country abroad.
President Ramos boosted foreign trade,
investments and official development assistance
to the Philippines through his state visits and
summit meetings. In 1996, the Philippines
successfully hosted the APEC Leaders' Summit,
which resulted in the Manila Action Plan for
APEC 1996 (MAPA '96).
The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act
of 1995 (R.A. 8042) provided a framework for
stronger protection of Filipino workers abroad,
with the creation of the Legal Assistance Fund
and the Assistance-to-Nationals Fund, and the
designation in the DFA of a Legal Assistant for
Migrant Workers' Affairs, with the rank of
Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs.
Among the other significant events in foreign
affairs during the Ramos years were: the
adoption by ASEAN in 1992, upon Philippine
initiative, of the Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea aimed at
confidence-building and avoidance of conflict
among claimant states; the establishment of the
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines
(BIMP)-East Asia Growth area in 1994; the
establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF) in 1994 as the only multilateral security
dialogue in the Asia-Pacific region conducted at
the government level; and the signing between
the Philippine Government and the Moro
National Liberation Front on 2 September 1996
of the Mindanao Peace Agreement.
The DFA, during the Estrada administration,
hosted the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in July
1998, and undertook confidence-building
measures with China over the South China Sea
issue. President Estrada strengthened bilateral
ties with neighboring countries with visits to
Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan
and South Korea. The DFA played a major role
in the forging of a Visiting Forces Agreement
with the United States, which was concurred in
the Senate in 1999. The country also sent a
delegation of 108 observers to the Indonesian
parliamentary elections, and engaged in
cooperative activities in the areas of security,
defense, combating transnational crimes,
economy, culture, and the protection of OFWs
and Filipinos abroad.
At the start of its administration in 2001,
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pursued
foreign policy based on nine realities: (see
Philippine Foreign Policy).
Ø First, the dynamics of relations between
China, Japan and the United States determine
the security situation and economic evolution of
East Asia.
Ø Second, Philippine foreign policy decisions
are, increasingly, being made in the context of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).
Ø Third, Europe will continue to play a
significant role in promoting international
prosperity and stability.
Ø Fourth, the international Islamic community
remains crucial to the country's search for
lasting and permanent peace in Mindanao.
Ø Fifth, inter-regional organizations will
become increasingly influential in the global
context.
Ø Sixth, the protection of the environment,
natural resources and maritime territory.
Ø Seventh, the drive for foreign markets and
foreign direct investments will form a focal
concern of economic diplomacy efforts.
Ø Eighth, international tourism will be a major
driver of national growth.
Ø Ninth, overseas Filipinos play a critical role in
the country's economic and social stability.
The DFA is also guided by the three
fundamental pillars of Philippine foreign
policy. These are:
1. Preservation and enhancement of national
security;
2. Promotion and attainment of economic
security;
3. Protection of the rights and promotion of
the welfare and interest of Filipinos overseas.
As we enter the decade starting 2010, the DFA
welcomes the challenges and opportunities it will
face in the service of the Filipino people in an
increasingly globalized world.
MANUEL ROXAS
Manuel Acuña Roxas (born Manuel Roxas y
Acuña; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was
the fifth President of the Philippines who served
from 1946 until his death in 1948. He briefly
served as the third and last President of
the Commonwealth of the Philippines from May
28, 1946 to July 4, 1946, subsequently
becoming the first President of the
independent Third Philippine Republic after the
United States ceded its sovereignty over the
Philippines.
Domestic policies[edit]
Economy
No sooner had the fanfare of
the independence festivities ended that the
government and the people quickly put all hands
to work in the tasks of rescuing the country from
its dire economic straits. Reputed to be the most
bombed and destroyed country in the world, the
Philippines was in a sorry mess.
Only Stalingrad and Warsaw, for instance, could
compare with Manila in point of destruction. All
over the country more than a million people
were unaccounted for. The war casualties as
such could very well reach the two million mark.
Conservative estimates had it that
the Philippines had lost about two thirds of her
material wealth.[8]
The country was facing near
bankruptcy.[8] There was no national economy,
no export trade. Indeed, production for exports
had not been restored. On the other hand,
imports were to reach the amount of three
million dollars. There was need of immediate aid
from the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration. Something along
this line was obtained. Again, loans from the
United States, as well as some increase in the
national revenues, were to help the new
Republic.[8]
President Roxas, with bold steps, met the
situation with the same confidence he exuded in
his inaugural address, when he said: "The
system of free but guided enterprise is our
system". Among the main remedies proposed
was the establishment of the Philippine
Rehabilitation Finance Corporation. This entity
would be responsible for the construction of
twelve thousand houses and for the grant of
easy-term loans in the amount of 177,000,000
pesos. Another proposal was the creation of
the Central Bank of the Philippines to help
stabilize the Philippine dollar reserves and
coordinate and the nations banking activities
gearing them to the economic progress.
Concentrating on the sugar industry, President
Roxas would exert such efforts as to succeed in
increasing production from 13,000 tons at the
time of the Philippine liberation to an all-high of
one million tons.[8]
Reconstruction after the war[edit]
The postwar Philippines had burned cities and
towns, ruined farms and factories, blasted roads
and bridges, shattered industries and
commerce, and thousands of massacred
victims. The war had paralyzed the educational
system, where 80% of the school buildings, their
equipment, laboratories and furniture were
destroyed.[9] Numberless books, invaluable
documents and works of art, irreplaceable
historical relics and family heirlooms, hundreds
of churches and temples were burned. The
reconstruction of the damaged school buildings
alone cost more than Php 126,000,000,000.
The new Republic began to function on an
annual deficit of over Php 200,000,000 with little
prospect of a balanced budget for some years to
come.[10] Manila and other cities then were
infested with criminal gangs which used
techniques of American gangsters in some
activities–
bank holdups, kidnapping and burglaries. In
rural regions, especially the provinces of Central
Luzon and the Southern Tagalog regions,
the Hukbalahaps and brigands terrorized towns
and barrios.
Agrarian reform[edit]
See also: Land reform in the Philippines
In 1946, shortly after his induction to Presidency,
Manuel Roxas proclaimed the Rice Share
Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the
country.[11] However problems of land
tenure continued. In fact these became worse in
certain areas.[11] Among the remedial measures
enacted was Republic Act No. 1946 likewise
known as the Tenant Act which provided for a
70–30 sharing arrangements and regulated
share-tenancy contracts.[11] It was passed to
resolve the ongoing peasant unrest in Central
Luzon.[11]
Amnesty proclamation[edit]
President Roxas, on January 28, 1948, granted
full amnesty to all so-called Philippine
collaborators, many of whom were on trial or
awaiting to be tried, particularly former
President José P. Laurel (1943–1945).[8] The
Amnesty Proclamation did not apply to those
"collaborators", who were charged with the
commission of common crimes, such as murder,
rape, and arson. The presidential decision did
much[8] to heal a standing wound that somehow
threatened to divide the people's sentiments. It
was a much-called for measure to bring about a
closer unity in the trying times when such was
most needed for the progress of the nation.[8]
Huks outlawed[edit]
Disgusted with the crimes being committed
by Hukbó ng Bayan Laban sa Hapón (Nation's
Army Against the Japanese, also called "the
Huks") and possessing evidence of their
subversion, Roxas issued a proclamation
outlawing the Huk movement on March 6,
1948.[8] It had become an imperative in view of
the resurgence of Huk depredations, following
the unseating of the seven Communists, led by
Huk Supremo Luis Taruc through acts of
terrorism.[8]
Foreign policy[edit]
Treaty of General Relations[edit]
See also: Treaty of Manila (1946)
On August 5, 1946, the Congress of the
Philippines ratified the Treaty of General
Relations that had been entered into by and
between the Republic of the Philippines and the
United States on July 4, 1946.[8] Aside from
withdrawing her sovereignty from the Philippines
and recognizing her independence, the Treaty
reserved for the United States some bases for
the mutual protection of both countries;
consented that the United States represent the
Philippines in countries where the latter had not
yet established diplomatic representation; made
the Philippines assume all debts and obligations
of the former government in the Philippines; and
provided for the settlement of property rights of
the citizens of both countries.[8]
United States military bases[edit]
Although Roxas was successful in getting
rehabilitation funds from the United States after
independence, he was forced to concede
military bases (23 of which were leased for 99
years), trade restriction for the Philippine
citizens, and special privileges for U.S. property
owner and investor.[citation needed]
Party Rights Amendment[edit]
On March 11, 1947, Philippine voters, agreeing
with Roxas, ratified in a nationwide plebiscite the
"parity amendment" to the 1935 Constitution of
the Philippines, granting United States citizens
the right to dispose of and utilize Philippine
natural resources, or parity rights.
Turtle and Mangsee Islands[edit]
See also: Philippine Turtle Islands § How the
islands came under Philippine administration
On 19 September 1946 the Republic of the
Philippines notified the United Kingdom that it
wished to take over the administration of the
Turtle Islands and the Mangesse Islands.
Pursuant to a supplemental international
agreement, the transfer of administration
became effective on 16 October 1947.[12][13]
Assassination attempt[edit]
The night before the plebiscite, Roxas narrowly
escaped assassination by Julio Guillen, a
disgruntled barber from Tondo, Manila, who
hurled a grenade at the platform on Plaza
Miranda immediately after Roxas had addressed
a rally.[14]
Controversies[edit]
His administration was marred by graft and
corruption; moreover, the abuses of the
provincial military police contributed to the rise of
the left-wing (Huk) movement in the countryside.
His heavy-handed attempts to crush the Huks
led to widespread peasant disaffection.
The good record of Roxas administration was
marred by two failures: the failure to curb graft
and corruption in the government, as evidenced
by the Surplus War Property scandal,
the Chinese immigration scandal and the School
supplies scandal; and the failure to check and
stop the communist Hukbalahap movement.
Roxas did not finish his full four-year term. On
the morning of April 15, 1948 Roxas delivered a
speech before the United States Thirteenth Air
Force. After the speech, he felt dizzy and was
brought to the residence of Major General E.L.
Eubank at Clark Field, Pampanga. He died later
that night of a heart attack.[15][16] Roxas' term as
President is thus the third shortest, lasting one
year, ten months, and 18 days.
On April 17, 1948, two days after Roxas' death,
Vice-President Elpidio Quirino took the oath of
office as President of the Philippines.
ELPIDIO QUIRINO
Elpidio Rivera Quirino (born Elpidio Quirino y
Rivera; November 16, 1890 – February 29,
1956) was a Filipino politician of
ethnic Ilocano descent who served as the
sixth President of the Philippines from 1948 to
1953.
A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered politics
when he became a representative of Ilocos
Sur from 1919 to 1925. He was then elected as
senator from 1925–1931. In 1934, he became a
member of the Philippine independence
commission that was sent to Washington, D.C.,
which secured the passage of Tydings–McDuffie
Act to American Congress. In 1935, he was also
elected to the convention that drafted the 1935
constitution for the newly
established Commonwealth. In the new
government, he served as secretary of the
interior and finance under President Manuel
Quezon's cabinet.
After World War II, Quirino was elected vice-
president in the 1946 election, consequently the
second and last for the Commonwealth and first
for the third republic. After the death of the
incumbent president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he
succeeded the presidency. He won the
president's office under Liberal Party ticket,
defeating Nacionalista vice president and former
president José P. Laurel as well as
fellow Liberalista and former Senate
President José Avelino.
The Quirino administration was generally
challenged by the Hukbalahaps, who ransacked
towns and barrios. Quirino ran for president
again in the 1953 presidential election, but was
defeated by Nacionalista Ramon Magsaysay.
After his term, he retired to his new country
home in Novaliches, Quezon City, where he
died of a heart attack on February 29, 1956.
First term (1948–1949)[edit]
Accession[edit]
Quirino assumed the presidency on April 17,
1948, taking his oath of office two days after the
death of Manuel Roxas. His first official act as
the President was the proclamation of a state
mourning throughout the country for Roxas'
death. Since Quirino was a widower, his
surviving daughter Victoria Quirino Gonzalez
[Vicky] would serve as the official hostess and
perform the functions traditionally ascribed to
the First Lady.
New capital city[edit]
On July 17, 1948, the Congress approved
Republic Act No. 333, amending Commonwealth
Act No. 502, declaring Quezon City the capital of
the Philippines in place
of Manila.[2] Nevertheless, pending the official
transfer of the government offices to the new
capital site, Manila remained to be such for all
effective purposes.[2]
HukBaLaHap[edit]
The term HukBaLaHap was a contraction
of Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapones (in
English: The Nation's Army Against the
Japanese Soldiers), members of which were
commonly referred to as Huks.
With the expiration of the Amnesty deadline on
August 15, 1948, the government found out that
the Huks had not lived up to the terms of the
Quirino-Taruc agreement. Indeed, after having
been seated in Congress and collecting his back
pay allowance.[2] Luis Taruc surreptitiously fled
away from Manila, even as a number of his
followers had either submitted themselves to the
conditions of the Amnesty proclamation or
surrendered their arms. In the face of
countercharges from the Huk to the effect that
the government had not satisfied the agreed
conditions, President Quirino ordered a stepped-
up campaign against dissidents, restoring once
more an aggressive policy in view of the failure
of the friendly attitude previously adopted.[2]
Fireside chats[edit]
To bring the government closer to the people, he
revived President Quezon's "fireside chats", in
which he enlightened the people on the activities
of the Republic by the periodic radio broadcasts
from Malacañan Palace.
Impeachment attempt[edit]
Riding on the crest of the growing wave of
resentment against the Liberal Party, a move
was next hatched to indict President Quirino
himself.[2] Led by Representative Agripino
Escareal, a committee composed of seven
members of the House of Representatives
prepared a five-count accusation ranging
from nepotism to gross
expenditures. Speaker Eugenio Pérez appointed
a committee of seven, headed by
Representative Lorenzo Sumulong to look into
the charges preparatory to their filing with
the Senate, acting as an impeachment
body. Solicitor General Felix Angelo Bautista
entered his appearance as defense counsel for
the chief executive.[2] Following several
hearings, on April 19, 1949, after a rather
turbulent session that lasted all night, the
congressional committee reached a verdict
completely exonerating the President.
Romulo becomes President of the UN
General Assembly[edit]
Great honor[2] was paid the Philippines when, in
September 1949, the Fourth General Assembly
of the United Nations elected delegate Carlos P.
Romulo as its President. The first[2] Oriental to
hold the position, Romulo was strongly
supported[2] by the Anglo-Saxon bloc, as well as
by the group of Spanish-speaking nations,[2] thus
underscoring the hybrid nature of the Filipino
people's culture and upringing.[2]
1949 Presidential election[edit]
Main article: Philippine presidential election,
1949
Incumbent President Elpidio Quirino won a full
term as President of the Philippines after the
untimely death of President Manuel Roxas in
1948. His running mate, Senator Fernando
López won as Vice President. Despite factions
created in the administration party, Quirino won
a satisfactory vote from the public. It was the
only time in Philippine history where the duly
elected president, vice president and senators
all came from the same party, the Liberal Party.
Second term (1949–1953)[edit]
Baguio Conference[edit]
In May 1950, upon the invitation of President
Qurino, through the insistent suggestion of
United Nations President Carlos P. Romulo,
official representatives of India,
Pakistan, Ceylon, Thailand, Indonesia, and
Australia met in the city of Baguio for a regional
conference sponsored by
the Philippines.[2] China and Korea did not
attend the conference because the latter did not
contemplate the formation of a military union of
the Southeast Asian nations. On the other hand,
Japan, Indonesia, China, and others were not
invited because, at the time, they were not free
and independent states. Due to the request of
India and Indonesia, no political questions were
taken up the conference.[2] Instead, the
delegates discussed economic and, most of all,
cultural, problems confronting their respective
countries. Strangely enough however, the
Baguio Conference ended with an
official communiqué in which the nations
attending the same expressed their united
agreement in supporting the right to self-
determination of all peoples the world over. This
initial regional meet held much promise of a
future alliance of these neighboring nations for
common protection and aid.[2]
HukBaLaHap continued re-insurgence[edit]
Quirino's administration faced a serious threat in
the form of the
communist HukBaLaHap movement. Though
the Huks originally had been an anti-Japanese
guerrilla army in Luzon, communists steadily
gained control over the leadership, and when
Quirino's negotiation with Huk commander Luis
Taruc broke down in 1948, Taruc openly
declared himself a Communist and called for the
overthrow of the government.
Peace campaign[edit]
With the Communist organization estimated to
still have more than 40,000 duly registered
members by March 1951, the government went
on with its sustained campaign to cope with the
worsening peace and order problem.[2] The 1951
budget included the use of a residue fund for the
land resettlement program in favor of the
surrendered HUKS. The money helped maintain
the Economic Development Corps (EDCOR),
with its settlements of 6,500 hectares in
Kapatagan (Lanao) and 25,000 hectares in
Buldon (Cotabato). In each group taken to these
places there was a nucleus of former Army
personnel and their families, who became a
stabilizing factor and ensured the success of the
program. Indeed, less than ten percent of the
Huks who settled down gave up this new lease
in life offered them by the government.[2]
To promote the smooth restructuring of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military
were made to undergo a
reorganization.[2] Battalion combat teams of
1,000 men each were established. Each
operated independently of the High Command,
except for overall coordination in operational
plans. A total of 26 Battalion Combat Teams
were put up. New army units were also
established, such was the first Airborne Unit,
the Scout Rangers, the Canine Unit, and
the Cavalry Unit. These units all showed
considerable ability.[2]
1951 midterm election[edit]
Main article: Philippine general election, 1951
After a sweep by the Liberals in 1949, many
Filipinos doubted the election result. This
brought a sweep by the Nacionalistas in the
1951 elections. There was a special election for
the vacated senate seat of Fernando Lopez,
who won as Vice President in 1949. The
Liberals won no seats in the senate.
1953 Presidential election[edit]
Main article: Philippine presidential election,
1953
Quirino ran for re-election to the presidency
with José Yulo as vice president in 1953 despite
his ill health. His defense secretary Ramon
Magsaysay, resigned his office and joined
the Nacionalista Party. Other
prominent Liberalists, like Vice
President Fernando López, Ambassador Carlos
P. Romulo, Senators Tomás Cabili and Juan
Sumulong, also bolted Quirino's party.
On August 22,
1953, Nacionalista and Democratic
Parties formed a coalition to ensure Quirino's full
defeat. On the election day, Quirino was
defeated by Ramon Magsaysay with a majority
vote of 1.5 million.
Domestic policies[edit]
Economy[edit]
Upon assuming the reins of government, Quirino
announced two main objectives of his
administration: first, the economic
reconstruction of the nation and second, the
restoration of the faith and confidence of the
people in the government. In connection to the
first agenda, he created the President's Action
Committee on Social Amelioration or PACSA to
mitigate the sufferings of indigent families, the
Labor Management Advisory Board to advise
him on labor matters, the Agricultural Credit
Cooperatives Financing Administration or
ACCFA to help the farmers market their crops
and save them from loan sharks, and the Rural
Banks of the Philippines to facilitate credit
utilities in rural areas.
Social program[edit]
Enhancing President Manuel Roxas' policy of
social justice to alleviate the lot of the common
mass, President Quirino, almost immediately
after assuming office, started a series of steps
calculated to effectively ameliorate the economic
condition of the people.[2] After periodic surprise
visits to the slums of Manila and other backward
regions of the country, President Quirino
officially made public a seven-point program for
social security, to wit:[2]
1. Unemployment insurance
2. Old-age insurance
3. Accident and permanent disability
insurance
4. Health insurance
5. Maternity insurance
6. State relief
7. Labor opportunity
President Quirino also created the Social
Security Commission, making Social Welfare
Commissioner Asuncion Perez chairman of the
same.[2] This was followed by the creation of the
President's Action Committee on Social
Amelioration, charges with extending aid, loans,
and relief to the less fortunate citizens. Both the
policy and its implementation were hailed by the
people as harbingers of great benefits.[2]
Agrarian reform[edit]
See also: Land reform in the Philippines
As part of his Agrarian Reform agenda,
President Quirino issued on October 23, 1950
Executive Order No. 355 which replaced the
National Land Settlement Administration with
Land Settlement Development Corporation
(LASEDECO) which takes over the
responsibilities of the Agricultural Machinery
Equipment Corporation and the Rice and Corn
Production Administration.[3]
Integrity Board[edit]
To cope with the insistent clamor for government
improvement, President Quirino created the
Integrity Board to probe into reports of graft and
corruption in high government places. Vice-
President Fernando Lopez was most
instrumental, through his courageous exposes,
in securing such a decision from President
Quirino.[2]
Foreign policies[edit]
Quirino's administration excelled in diplomacy,
impressing foreign heads of states and world
statesmen by his intelligence and culture. In his
official travels to the United States, European
countries, and Southeast Asia, he represented
the Philippines with flying colors. During his six
years of administration, he with his Foreign
Secretary Helen Cutaran Bennett was able to
negotiate treaties and agreements with other
nations of the Free World. Two Asian heads of
state visited Philippines–President Chiang Kai-
shek of the Republic of China in July 1949 and
President Achmed Sukarno of Indonesia in
January 1951.
In 1950, at the onset of the Korean War, Quirino
authorized the deployment of over 7,450 Filipino
soldiers to Korea, under the designation of
the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea or
PEFTOK.
“ Government, signed an agreement by virtue of
While I recognise the United States as a great builder in this country, I have
never surrendered the sovereignty, much less the dignity and future of our
country.
Korean War[edit]
On June 25, 1950, the world was astonished to
hear the North Korean aggression against the
independent South Korea. The United Nations
immediately took up this challenge to the
security of this part of the world. Carlos P.
Romulo soon stood out as the most effective
spokesman for the South Korean cause.[2] On
behalf of our government, Romulo offered to
send a Philippine military contingent to be under
the overall command of General Douglas
MacArthur, who had been named United
Nations Supreme Commander for the punitive
expedition. The Philippines, thus, became the
first country to join the United States in the offer
of military assistance to beleaguered South
Korea.[2]
President Quirino took the necessary steps to
make the Philippine offer. On a purely voluntary
basis, the first contingent – the Tenth Battalion
Combat Team – was formed under Col. Azurin,
and dispatched to Korea, where its members
quickly won much renown for their military skill
and bravery. The name of Captain Jose Artiaga,
Jr., heroically killed in action, stands out as a
symbol of our country's contribution to the cause
of freedom outside native shores. Other
Philippine Combat Teams successively replaced
the first contingent sent, and they all built a
name for discipline, tenacity, and courage, until
the truce that brought the conflict to a halt.[2]
Quirino-Foster Agreement[edit]
By the time of the creation of the integrity board,
moreover, the Bell Mission, led by Daniel W.
Bell, an American banker, and composed of five
members, with a staff of twenty workers,
following their period of stay in the Philippines,
beginning in July 1950, finally submitted its
report on October of the same year.[2] The
Report made several proposals, most
noteworthy, of which were that the United States
on, President Quirino gamely and
patriotically,[2] took in the recommendations and
sought to implement them. Thus in November
1950, President Quirino and William Chapman
Foster, representing the United States
which the former pledged to obtain the
necessary Philippine legislation,” in keeping with
the Bell Mission Report, while envoy Foster
promised the necessary by the same Report.[2]
— Elpidio Quirino[4]
However, much as he tried to become a good
president, Quirino failed to win the people's
affection. Several factors caused the
unpopularity of his administration, namely:[5]
 Failure of government to check
the Huk menace which made travel in the
provinces unsafe, as evidenced by the
killing of former First Lady Aurora
Quezon and her companions on April 28,
1949 by the Huks on the Bongabong-Baler
road, Baler, Tayabas (now part of Aurora
province);
 Economic distress of the times, aggravated
by rising unemployment rate, soaring prices
of commodities, and unfavorable balance of
trade.
Post-presidency and death[edit]
Following his failed bid for re-election, Quirino
retired from politics to private life in 1953. He
offered his dedication to serve the Filipino
people, becoming the "Father of Foreign
Service" in the Republic of the Philippines.
Qurino died of a heart attack during the leap
year day of February 29, 1956. He was buried
at Manila South Cemetery in Makati. On
February 29, 2016, Quirino's remains were
relocated and reinterred at a special tomb site in
the Heroes' Cemetery in Taguig, in time for the
former President's 60th death anniversary.
RAMON MAGSAYSAY
Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, Sr. (August 31,
1907 – March 17, 1957) was the
seventh President of the Republic of the
Philippines, serving from December 30, 1953
until his death in an aircraft disaster. An
automobile mechanic, Magsaysay was
appointed military governor of Zambales after
his outstanding service as a guerilla leader
during the Pacific War. He then served two
terms as Liberal Party congressman
for Zambales before being appointed as
Secretary of National Defense by
President Elpidio Quirino. He was elected
President under the banner of the Nacionalista
Party.
He was the first Philippine President born during
the 20th century and the first to be born
after Spanish colonial era.
Domestic policies[edit]
President's Inauguration Day[edit]
Ushering a new era in Philippine government,
President Magsaysay placed emphasis upon
service to the people by bringing the
government closer to the former.[2] This was
symbollically seen when, on inauguration day,
President Magsaysay ordered the gates
of Malacañan Palace open to all and sundry,
who were allowed to freely visit all the
dependencies of the presidential mansion. Later,
this was regulated to allow weekly visitation.[2]
True[2] to his electoral promise, President
Magsaysay created the Presidential Complaints
and Action Committee.[2] This body immediately
proceeded to hear grievances and recommend
remedial action. Headed by soft-spoken, but
active and tireless, Manuel Manahan, this
committee would come to hear nearly 60,000
complaints in a year, of which more than 30,000
would be settled by direct action and a little
more than 25,000 would be referred to
government agencies for appropriate follow-up.
This new entity, composed of youthful
personnel, all loyal to the President, proved to
be a highly successful morale booster restoring
the people's confidence in their own
government.[2]
President Ramon F. Magsaysay was the first
president who regularly wore the Barong
Tagalog (national costume). He set an example
of humility by insisting that he be called "Mr.
President" and not "His Excellency". (Ryan A.
Gragasin)
Agrarian reform[edit]
See also: Land reform in the Philippines
To amplify and stabilize the functions of the
Economic Development Corps (EDCOR),
President Magsaysay worked[2] for the
establishment of the National Resettlement and
Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA).[2] This
body took over from the EDCOR and helped in
the giving some sixty-five thousand acres to
three thousand indigent families for settlement
purposes.[2] Again, it allocated some other
twenty-five thousand to a little more than one
thousand five hundred landless families, who
subsequently became farmers.[2]
As further aid to the rural people,[2] the president
established the Agricultural Credit and
Cooperative Financing Administration (ACCFA).
The idea was for this entity to make available
rural credits. Records show that it did grant, in
this wise, almost ten million dollars. This
administration body next devoted its attention to
cooperative marketing.[2]
Along this line of help to the rural areas,
President Magsaysay initiated in all earnestness
the artesian wells campaign. A group-movement
known as the Liberty Wells Association was
formed and in record time managed to raise a
considerable sum for the construction of as
many artesian wells as possible. The socio-
economic value of the same could not be
gainsaid and the people were profuse in their
gratitude.[2]
Finally, vast irrigation projects, as well as
enhancement of the Ambuklao Power plant and
other similar ones, went a long way towards
bringing to reality the rural improvement
program advocated by President Magsaysay.[2]
President Ramon Magsaysay enacted the
following laws as part of his Agrarian Reform
Program:
 Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954—Abolished
the LASEDECO and established the
National Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Administration (NARRA) to resettle
dissidents and landless farmers. It was
particularly aimed at rebel returnees
 providing home lots and farmlands in
Palawan and Mindanao.
 Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy
Act of 1954) – governed the relationship
between landowners and tenant farmers by
organizing share-tenancy and leasehold
system. The law provided the security of
tenure of tenants. It also created the Court
of Agrarian Relations.
 Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of
1955) – Created the Land Tenure
Administration (LTA) which was responsible
for the acquisition and distribution of large
tenanted rice and corn lands over 200
hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for
corporations.
 Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of
Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing
Administration) – Provided small farmers
and share tenants loans with low interest
rates of six to eight percent.[12]
HUKBALAHAP[edit]
In early 1954, Benigno Aquino, Jr. was
appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay to
act as personal emissary to Luís Taruc, leader
of the rebel group, Hukbalahap. Also in 1954, Lt.
Col. Laureño Maraña, the former head of Force
X of the 16th PC Company, assumed command
of the 7th BCT, which had become one of the
most mobile striking forces of the Philippine
ground forces against the Huks, from Colonel
Valeriano. Force X employed psychological
warfare through combat intelligence and
infiltration that relied on secrecy in planning,
training, and execution of attack. The lessons
learned from Force X and Nenita were combined
in the 7th BCT.
With the all out anti-dissidence campaigns
against the Huks, they numbered less than
2,000 by 1954 and without the protection and
support of local supporters, active Huk
resistance no longer presented a serious threat
to Philippine security. From February to mid-
September 1954, the largest anti-Huk operation,
"Operation Thunder-Lightning" was conducted
that resulted in the surrender of Luis Taruc on
17 May. Further cleanup operations of the
remaining guerillas lasted throughout 1955,
diminishing its number to less than 1,000 by
year's end.[13]
Foreign policies[edit]
SEATO[edit]
The administration of President Magsaysay was
active in the fight against the expansion of
communism in the Asian region. He made the
Philippines a member of the Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization (SEATO), which was
established in Pepe Land on September 8, 1954
during the "Manila Conference".[14] Members of
SEATO were alarmed at the possible victory
of North Vietnam over South Vietnam, which
could spread communist ideology to other
countries in the region. The possibility that a
communist state can influence or cause other
countries to adopt the same system of
government is called the domino theory.[15]
The active coordination of the Magsaysay
administration with the Japanese government
led to the Reparation Agreement. This was an
agreement between the two countries, obligating
the Japanese government to pay $550 million as
reparation for war damages in the Philippines.[15]
Defense Council[edit]
Taking the advantage of the presence of U.S.
Secretary John Foster Dulles in Manila to attend
the SEATO Conference, the Philippine
government took steps to broach with him the
establishment of a Joint Defense Council. Vice-
President and Secretary of Foreign
Affairs Carlos P. Garcia held the opportune
conversations with Secretary Dulles for this
purpose. Agreement was reached thereon and
the first meeting of the Joint United States-
Philippines Defense Council was held in Manila
following the end of the Manila Conference.
Thus were the terms of the Mutual Defense Pact
between the Philippines and the United States
duly implemented.[2]
Laurel-Langley Agreement[edit]
The Magsaysay administration negotiated the
Laurel-Langley Agreement which was a trade
agreement between the Philippines and the
United States which was signed in 1955 and
expired in 1974. Although it proved deficient, the
final agreement satisfied nearly all of the diverse
Filipino economic interests. While some have
seen the Laurel-Langley agreement as a
continuation of the 1946 trade act, Jose P.
Laurel and other Philippine leaders recognized
that the agreement substantially gave the
country greater freedom to industrialize while
continuing to receive privileged access to US
markets.[16]
The agreement replaced the unpopular Bell
Trade Act, which tied the economy of the
Philippines to that of United States economy.
Bandung Conference[edit]
Billed as an all-Oriental meet to promote Afro-
Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to
oppose colonialism orneocolonialism by either
the United States or the Soviet Union in the Cold
War, or any other imperialistic nations,
the Asian–African Conference was held
in Bandung (Java) in April 1955, upon invitation
extended by the Prime Ministers of India,
Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, and Indonesia. The
conference is commonly known as the Bandung
Conference. Although, at first, the Magsaysay
Government seemed reluctant to send any
delegation. Later, however, upon advise of
Ambassador Carlos P. Rómulo, it was decided
to have the Philippines participate in the
conference. Rómulo was asked to head the
Philippine delegation.[2] At the very outset
indications were to the effect that the conference
would promote the cause of neutralism as a third
position in the current cold war between the
capitalist bloc and the communist group. John
Kotelawala, Prime Minister of Ceylon, however,
broke the ice against neutralism.[2] He was
immediately joined by Rómulo, who categorically
stated that his delegation believed that "a puppet
is a puppet",[2] no matter whether under a
Western Power or an Oriental state.[2]
At one time in the course of the conference,
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru acidly
spoke against the SEATO. Quick to draw,
Ambassador Rómulo delivered a stinging,
eloquent retort that prompted Prime Minister
Nehru to publicly apologize to the Philippine
delegation.[2]
Records had it that the Philippine delegation
ably represented the interests of the Philippines
and, in the ultimate analysis, succeeded in
turning the Bandung Conference into a victory
against the plans of its socialist and neutralist
delegates.[2]
Reparation agreement[edit]
Following the reservations made by
Ambassador Romulo, on the Philippines behalf,
upon signing the Japanese Peace Treaty in San
Francisco on September 8, 1951, for several
years of series of negotiations were conducted
by the Philippine government and that of Japan.
In the face of adamant claims of the Japanese
government that it found impossible to meet the
demand for the payment of eight billion dollars
by the way of reparations, president Magsaysay,
during a so-called "cooling off"[2] period, sent a
Philippine Reparations Survey Committee,
headed by Finance Secretary Jaime Hernandez,
to Japan for an "on the spot" study of that
country's possibilities.[2]
When the Committee reported that Japan was in
a position to pay, Ambassador Felino Neri,
appointed chief negotiator, went to Tokyo. On
May 31, 1955, Ambassador Neri reached a
compromise agreement with Japanese Minister
Takazaki, the main terms of which consisted in
the following: The Japanese government would
pay eight hundred million dollars as reparations.
Payment was to be made in this wise: Twenty
million dollars would be paid in cash in
Philippine currency; thirty million dollars, in
services; five million dollars, in capital goods;
and two hundred and fifty million dollars, in long-
term industrial loans.[2]
On August 12, 1955, President Magsaysay
informed the Japanese government, through
Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, that the
Philippines accepted the Neri-Takazaki
agreement.[2] In view of political developments in
Japan, the Japanese Prime Minister could only
inform the Philippine government of the
Japanese acceptance of said agreement on
March 15, 1956. The official Reparations
agreement between the two government was
finally signed at Malacañang Palace on May 9,
1956, thus bringing to a rather satisfactory
conclusion this long drawn controversy between
the two countries.[2]
Death[edit]
Magsaysay's term, which was to end on
December 30, 1957, was cut short by a plane
crash. On March 16, 1957, Magsaysay left
Manila for Cebu City where he spoke at three
educational institutions. That same night, at
about 1 am, he boarded the presidential plane
"Mt. Pinatubo", a C-47, heading back to Manila.
In the early morning hours of March 17, the
plane was reported missing. By late afternoon,
newspapers had reported the airplane had
crashed on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu, and that 36
of the 56 aboard were killed. The actual number
on board was 25, including Magsaysay. Only
newspaperman Néstor Mata survived. Vice-
President Carlos García, who was on an official
visit to Australia at the time, assumed the
presidency to serve out the last eight months of
Magsaysay's term.
An estimated 2 million people attended
Magsaysay's state funeral on March 31,
1957.[17][18][19] He was posthumously referred to
as the "Idol of the Masses".
Honors[edit]
National Honor
 : Golden Heart Presidential Award -
posthumous (March 17, 1958)[20]
Foreign Honors
 Thailand: Knight Grand Cordon of The
Most Exalted Order of the White
Elephant (April 1955)
 Cambodia: Grand Cross of the Royal
Order of Cambodia (January 1956)
1ST AND 2ND ARAB ISRAELI WAR
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War or the First Arab–
Israeli War was fought between the State of
Israel and a military coalition of Arab states,
forming the second stage of the 1948 Palestine
war.
There had been tension and conflict between
the Arabs and the Jews, and between each of
them and the British forces, ever since the
1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 creation
of the British Mandate of Palestine. British
policies dissatisfied both Arabs and Jews. The
Arabs' opposition developed into the 1936–1939
Arab revolt in Palestine, while the Jewish
resistance developed into the Jewish insurgency
in Palestine (1944–1947). In 1947 these ongoing
tensions erupted into civil war, following the 29
November 1947 adoption of the United Nations
Partition Plan for Palestine which planned to
divide Palestine into three areas: an Arab state,
a Jewish state and the Special International
Regime for the cities of Jerusalem and
Bethlehem.
On 15 May 1948 the ongoing civil war
transformed into an inter-state conflict between
Israel and the Arab states, following the Israeli
Declaration of Independence the previous day.
A combined invasion by Egypt, Jordan and
Syria, together with expeditionary forces from
Iraq, entered Palestine – Jordan having declared
privately to Yishuv emissaries on 2 May it would
abide by a decision not to attack the Jewish
state.[12] The invading forces took control of the
Arab areas and immediately attacked Israeli
forces and several Jewish
settlements.[13][14][15] The 10 months of fighting,
interrupted by several truce periods, took place
mostly on the former territory of the British
Mandate and for a short time also in the Sinai
Peninsula and southern Lebanon.[16]
As a result of the war the State of Israel retained
the area that the UN General Assembly
Resolution 181 had recommended for the
proposed Jewish state as well as almost 60% of
the area of Arab state proposed by the 1948
Partition Plan,[17]including
the Jaffa, Lydda and Ramle area, Galilee, some
parts of the Negev, a wide strip along the Tel-
Aviv-Jerusalem road, West Jerusalem, and
some territories in the West Bank. Transjordan
took control of the remainder of the former
British mandate, which it annexed, and
the Egyptian military took control of the Gaza
Strip. At the Jericho Conference on 1 December
1948, 2,000 Palestinian delegates called for
unification of Palestine and Transjordan as a
step toward full Arab unity."[18] No state was
created for the Palestinian Arabs.
The conflict triggered significant demographic
change throughout the Middle East. Around
700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were
expelled from their homes in the area that
became Israel and they became Palestinian
refugees[19] in what they refer to as Al-
Nakba ("the catastrophe"). In the three years
following the war, about 700,000 Jews
immigrated to Israel with many of them
having been expelled from their previous
countries of residence in the Middle East.
Following World War II, the surrounding Arab
nations were emerging
from mandatory rule. Transjordan, under
the Hashemite ruler Abdullah I, gained
independence from Britain in 1946 and was
called Jordan in 1949, but it remained under
heavy British influence. Egypt gained nominal
independence in 1922, but Britain continued to
exert a strong influence on the country until
the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 which limited
Britain’s presence to a garrison of troops on
the Suez Canal until 1945. Lebanon became an
independent state in 1943, but French troops
would not withdraw until 1946, the same year
that Syria won its independence from France.
In 1945, at British prompting, Egypt, Iraq,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan,
and Yemen formed the Arab League to
coordinate policy between the Arab states. Iraq
and Transjordan coordinated policies closely,
signing a mutual defence treaty, while Egypt,
Syria, and Saudi Arabia feared that Transjordan
would annex part or all of Palestine, and use it
as a steppingstone to attack or undermine Syria,
Lebanon, and the Hijaz.[21]
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted a resolution
recommending the adoption and implementation
of a plan to partition the British Mandate of
Palestine into two states, one Arab and one
Jewish, and the City of Jerusalem.[22]
The General Assembly resolution on Partition
was greeted with overwhelming joy in Jewish
communities and widespread outrage in the
Arab world. In Palestine, violence erupted
almost immediately, feeding into a spiral of
reprisals and counter-reprisals. The British
refrained from intervening as tensions boiled
over into a low-level conflict that quickly
escalated into a full-scale civil
war.[23][24][25][26][27][28]
From January onwards, operations became
increasingly militarized, with the intervention of a
number of Arab Liberation Army regiments
inside Palestine, each active in a variety of
distinct sectors around the different coastal
towns. They consolidated their presence
in Galilee and Samaria.[29] Abd al-Qadir al-
Husayni came from Egypt with several hundred
men of the Army of the Holy War. Having
recruited a few thousand volunteers, al-Husayni
organized the blockade of the 100,000 Jewish
residents of Jerusalem.[30] To counter this,
the Yishuv authorities tried to supply the city with
convoys of up to 100 armoured vehicles, but the
operation became more and more impractical as
the number of casualties in the relief convoys
surged. By March, Al-Hussayni's tactic had paid
off. Almost all of Haganah's armoured vehicles
had been destroyed, the blockade was in full
operation, and hundreds of Haganah members
who had tried to bring supplies into the city were
killed.[31] The situation for those who dwelt in the
Jewish settlements in the highly
isolated Negev and North of Galilee was even
more critical.
While the Jewish population had received strict
orders requiring them to hold their ground
everywhere at all costs,[32] the Arab population
was more affected by the general conditions of
insecurity to which the country was exposed. Up
to 100,000 Arabs, from the urban upper and
middle classes in Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, or
Jewish-dominated areas, evacuated abroad or
to Arab centres eastwards.[33]
This situation caused the US to withdraw their
support for the Partition plan, thus encouraging
the Arab League to believe that the Palestinian
Arabs, reinforced by the Arab Liberation Army,
could put an end to the plan for partition. The
British, on the other hand, decided on 7
February 1948, to support the annexation of the
Arab part of Palestine by Transjordan.[34]
Although a certain level of doubt took hold
among Yishuv supporters, their apparent
defeats were due more to their wait-and-see
policy than to weakness. David Ben-
Gurion reorganized Haganah and made
conscription obligatory. Every Jewish man and
woman in the country had to receive military
training. Thanks to funds raised by Golda
Meir from sympathisers in the United States,
and Stalin's decision to support
the Zionist cause, the Jewish representatives of
Palestine were able to sign very important
armament contracts in the East. Other Haganah
agents recuperated stockpiles from the Second
World War, which helped improve the army's
equipment and logistics. Operation
Balak allowed arms and other equipment to be
transported for the first time by the end of
March.
.
Ben-Gurion invested Yigael Yadin with the
responsibility to come up with a plan of offense
whose timing was related to the foreseeable
evacuation of British forces. This strategy, called
Plan Dalet, was readied by March and
implemented towards the end of April.[35] A
separate plan, Operation Nachshon, was
devised to lift the siege of Jerusalem.[36] 1500
men from Haganah's Givati brigade
and Palmach's Harel brigade conducted sorties
to free up the route to the city between 5 and 20
April. Both sides acted offensively in defiance of
the Partition Plan, which foresaw Jerusalem as
a corpus separatum, under neither Jewish nor
Arab jurisdiction. The Arabs did not accept the
Plan, while the Jews were determined to oppose
the internationalization of the city, and secure it
as part of the Jewish state.[37]The operation was
successful, and enough foodstuffs to last two
months were trucked into to Jerusalem for
distribution to the Jewish population.[38] The
success of the operation was assisted by the
death of al-Hasayni in combat. During this time,
and independently of Haganah or the framework
of Plan Dalet, irregular fighters
from Irgun and Lehi formations massacred a
substantial number of Arabs at Deir Yassin, an
event that, though publicly deplored and
criticized by the principal Jewish authorities, had
a deep impact on the morale of the Arab
population and contributed to generate
the exode of the Arab population.
At the same time, the first large-scale operation
of the Arab Liberation Army ended in a debacle,
having been roundly defeated at Mishmar
HaEmek,[39] coinciding with the loss of
their Druze allies through defection.[40]
Within the framework of the establishment of
Jewish territorial continuity foreseen by Plan
Dalet, the forces of Haganah, Palmach and
Irgun intended to conquer mixed zones. The
Palestinian Arab society was
shaken. Tiberias, Haifa, Safed, Beisan, Jaffa an
d Acre fell, resulting in the flight of more than
250,000 Palestinian Arabs.[41]
The British had, at that time, essentially
withdrawn their troops. The situation pushed the
leaders of the neighbouring Arab states to
intervene, but their preparation was not finalized,
and they could not assemble sufficient forces to
turn the tide of the war. The majority of
Palestinian Arab hopes lay with the Arab
Legion of Transjordan's monarch, King Abdullah
I, but he had no intention of creating a
Palestinian Arab-run state, since he hoped to
annexe as much of the territory of the British
Mandate for Palestine as he could. He was
playing a double-game, being just as much in
contact with the Jewish authorities as with the
Arab League.
In preparation for the offensive, Haganah
successfully launched Operations Yiftah[42] and
Ben-'Ami[43] to secure the Jewish settlements
of Galilee, and Operation Kilshon, which created
a united front around Jerusalem. The
inconclusive meeting between Golda Meir and
Abdullah I, followed by the Kfar Etzion
massacre on 13 May by the Arab Legion led to
predictions that the battle for Jerusalem would
be merciless.
On 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared
the establishment of the State of Israel and
the 1948 Palestine war entered its second
phase with the intervention of the Arab state
armies and the beginning of the 1948 Arab–
Israeli War.
CHIANG KAI SHEK
Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5,
1975), also romanized as Jiang Jieshi and
known as Jiang Zhongzheng, was a Chinese
political and military leader who served as
the leader of the Republic of China between
1928 and 1975. Chiang was an influential
member of the Kuomintang (KMT), the Chinese
Nationalist Party, and was a close ally of Sun
Yat-sen's. He became the Commandant of the
Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and
took Sun's place as leader of the KMT, following
the Canton Coup in early 1926. Having
neutralized the party's left wing, Chiang then led
Sun's long-postponed Northern Expedition,
conquering or reaching accommodations with
China's many warlords.[3]
From 1928 to 1948, he served as chairman of
the National Military Council of the Nationalist
Government of the Republic of China (ROC).
Chiang Kai-shek was socially conservative,
promoting traditional Chinese culture in the New
Life Movement, and rejecting both western
democracy and Sun's nationalist democratic
socialism in favour of an authoritarian
government. Unable to maintain Sun's good
relations with the Communists, he purged them
in a massacre at Shanghai and repression of
uprisings at Guangzhou and elsewhere.
At the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War,
which later became the Chinese theater
of World War II, Zhang Xueliang kidnapped
Chiang and obliged him to establish a Second
United Front with the Communists. After the
defeat of the Japanese, the American-
sponsored Marshall Mission, an attempt to
negotiate a coalition government, failed in 1946.
The Chinese Civil War resumed, with the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) defeating the
Nationalists and declaring the People's Republic
of China in 1949. Chiang's government and
army retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang
imposed martial law and persecuted people
critical of his rule in a period known as the
"White Terror". After evacuating to Taiwan,
Chiang's government continued to declare its
intention to retake mainland China. Chiang ruled
Taiwan securely as President of the Republic of
China and General of the Kuomintang until his
death in 1975.
FERDINAND MARCOS (1965-1969)
Presidency
First term (1965-1969)
Marcos defeated Macapagal and was sworn in
as the sixth President of the Republic on
December 30, 1965.
In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA),
President Marcos revealed his plans for
economic development and good government.
President Marcos wanted the immediate
construction of roads, bridges and public works
which includes 16,000 kilometers of feeder
roads, some 30,000 lineal meters of permanent
bridges, a generator with an electric power
capacity of on million kilowatts (1,000,000 kW),
water services to eight regions and 38 localities.
He also urged the revitalization of the Judiciary,
the national defense posture and the fight
against smuggling, criminality, and graft and
corruption in the government.
To accomplish his goals “President Marcos
mobilized the manpower and resources of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for action
to complement civilian agencies in such
activities as infrastructure construction;
economic planning and program execution;
regional and industrial site planning and
development; community development and
others.”[2] The President, likewise, hired
technocrats and highly educated persons to
form part of the Cabinet and staff.
It was during his first term that the North
Diversion Road (now, North Luzon Expressway)
(initially from Balintawak to Tabang, Guiguinto,
Bulacan) was constructed with the help of the
AFP engineering construction battalion.
Aside from infrastructure development, the
following were some of the notable
achievements of the first four years of the
Marcos administration:
1. Successful drive against smuggling. In 1966,
more than 100 important smugglers were
arrested; in three years 1966-1968 the arrests
totaled 5,000. Military men involved in smuggling
were forced to retire.[3]
2. Greater production of rice by promoting the
cultivation of IR-8 hybrid rice. In 1968 the
Philippines became self-sufficient in rice, the first
time in history since the American period. In
addition, the Philippines exported rice worth
US$7 million.
3. Land reform was given an impetus during the
first term of President Marcos. 3,739 hectares of
lands in Central Luzon were distributed to the
farmers.
4. In the field of foreign relations, the Philippines
hosted the summit of seven heads of state (the
United States, South [Vietnam]], South
Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and the
Philippines) to discuss the worsening problem in
Vietnam and the containment of communism in
the region.
Likewise, President Marcos initiated, together
with the other four heads of state of Southeast
Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand
and Singapore), the formation of a regional
organization to combat the communist threat in
the region – the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
5. Government finances were stabilized by
higher revenue collections and loans from
treasury bonds, foreign lending institutions and
foreign governments.
6. Peace and order substantially improved in
most provinces however situations in Manila and
some provinces continued to deteriorate until the
imposition of martial law in 1972.
Second term (1969-1972)
In 1969, President Marcos was reelected for an
unprecedented second term because of his
impressive performance or, as his critics
claimed, because of massive vote-buying and
electoral frauds.
The second term proved to be a daunting
challenge to the President: an economic crisis
brought by external and internal forces; a restive
and radicalized studentry demanding reforms in
the educational system; rising tide of criminality
and subversion by the re-organized Communist
movement; and secessionism in the South.
Economic situation - Overspending in the 1969
elections led to higher inflation and the
devaluation of the Philippine peso. Further, the
decision of the oil-producing Arab countries to
cut back oil production, in response to Western
military aid to Israel in the Arab-Israeli Conflict,
resulted to higher fuel prices worldwide. In
addition, the frequent visits of natural calamities
brought havoc to infrastructures and agricultural
crops and livestock. The combined external and
internal economic forces led to uncontrolled
increase in the prices of prime commodities.
A restive studentry– The last years of the
1960s and the first two years of the 1970s
witnessed the radicalization of student
population. Students in various colleges and
universities held massive rallies and
demonstrations to express their frustrations and
resentments. "On January 30, 1970,
demonstrators numbering about 50,000 students
and laborers stormed the Malacañang Palace,
burning part of the Medical building, crashing
through Gate 4 with a fire truck that had been
forcibly commandeered by some laborers and
students...The Metropolitan Command
(Metrocom) of the Philippine Constabulary (PC)
repulsed them, pushing them towards Mendiola
Bridge, where in an exchange of gunfire, hours
later, four persons were killed and scores from
both sides injured. Tear gas grenades finally
dispersed the crowd. ”[4]. The event was known
today as the First Quarter Storm.
Violent students protests however did not stop.
In October 1970, a series of violence occurred in
numerous campuses in the Greater Manila Area:
“an explosion of pillboxes in at least two schools.
The University of the Philippines was not spared
when 18,000 students boycotted their classes to
demand academic and non-academic reforms in
the State University resulting in the ‘occupation’
of the office of the President of the University by
student leaders. Other schools which were
scenes of violent student demonstrations were
San Sebastian College, University of the East,
Letran College, Mapua Institute of Technology,
University of Sto. Tomas and Feati University.
Student demonstrators even succeeded in
“occupying the office of the Secretary of Justice
Vicente Abad Santos for at least seven
hours.”[5] The President described the brief
“communization” of the University of the
Philippines and the violent demonstrations of the
Left-leaning students as an “act of insurrection."
Martial law and the New Society
Proclamation of martial law
The spate of bombings and subversive activities
led President Marcos to declare that ‘there is
throughout the land a state of anarchy and
lawlessness, chaos and disorder, turmoil and
destruction of a magnitude equivalent to an
actual war between the forces of our duly
constituted government and the New People’s
Army and their satellite organizations…and that
public order and safety and security of the nation
demand that immediate, swift, decisive and
effective action be taken to protect and insure
the peace, order and security of the country and
its population and to maintain the authority of the
government.[6] On September 21, 1972
President Marcos issued Presidential
Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire
country under martial law but it was announced
only two days later. In proclaiming martial law,
President Marcos assured the public that “the
proclamation of martial law is not a military
takeover”[7]and that civilian government still
functions.
Initial measures - In his first address to the
nation after issuing Proclamation No. 1081,
President Marcos said that martial law has two
objectives: (1) to save the republic, and (2) to
“reform the social, economic and political
institutions in our country.”
In accordance with the two objectives, President
Marcos issued general orders and letters of
instruction to that effect. A list of people were to
be arrested, he would rule by Presidentail
decree, the media would be controlled by his
government, a curfew from midnight until 4:00
A.M. was to be observed, carrying of fire-arms
except by military and secuirty personnel was
banned, as were strikes and demonstrations.
The 1973 Constitution
The 1973 Constitution – On March 16, 1967, the
Philippine Congress passed Resolution No. 2
calling for a Constitutional Convention to change
the Constitution. Election of the delegates to the
Convention were held on November 20, 1970
pursuant to Republic Act No. 6132, otherwise
known as the “1970 Constitutional Convention
Act.”
The Constitutional Convention formally began
on June 1, 1971. Former President Carlos P.
Garcia, a delegate from Bohol, was elected
President. Unfortunately he died on June 14,
1971 and was succeeded by another former
President, Diosadado Macapagal of Pampanga.
Before the Convention could finish its work,
martial law was proclaimed. Several delegates
were placed under detention and others went
into hiding or voluntary exile. The martial law
declaration affected the final outcome of the
convention. In fact, it was said, that the
President dictated some provisions of the
Constitution.[8]. On November 29, 1972, the
Convention approved its Proposed Constitution
of the Philippines.
On November 30, 1972, the President issued
Presidential Decree No.73 setting the date of the
plebiscite on January 15, 1973 for the ratification
or rejection of the proposed Constitution. On
January 7, 1973, however, the President issued
General Order No. 20 postponing indefinitely the
plebiscite scheduled on January 15.
On January 10-15, 1973 Plebiscite, the Citizen
Assemblies voted for (1) ratification of the 1973
Constitution, (2) the suspension of the
convening of the Interim National Assembly, (3)
the continuation of martial law, and (4)
moratorium on elections for a period of at least
seven years. On January 17, 1973 the President
issued Proclamation No. 1102 announcing that
the proposed Constitution had been ratified by
an overwhelming vote of the members of the
Citizen Assemblies, organized by Marcos
himself through Presidential Decree No. 86
Various legal petitions were filed with the
Supreme Court assailing the validity of the
ratification of the 1973 Constitution. On March
30, 1973, a divided Supreme Court ruled in
Javellana vs. Executive Secretary (6 SCRA
1048) that “there is no further obstacle to the
new Constitution being considered in force and
effect.”
The 1973 Constitution would have established in
the Philippines a parliamentary government, with
the President as a ceremonial head of state and
a Prime Minister as the head of government.
This was not implemented as a result of the
referendum-plebiscite held on January 10-15,
1972 through the Citizen Assemblies whereby
an overwhelming majority rejected the
convening of a National Assembly. From 1972
until the convening of the Interim Batasang
Pambansa in 1978, the President exercised
absolute legislative power.
1976 Amendments to the Constitution
On October 16-17, 1976 majority of barangay
voters (Citizen Assemblies) approved that
martial law should be continued and ratified the
amendments to the Constitution proposed by
President Marcos.[9]
The 1976 Amendments were: an Interim
Batasang Pambansa (IBP) substituting for the
Interim National Assembly, the President would
also become the Prime Minister and he would
continue to exercise legislative powers until
martial law should have been lifted. The Sixth
Amendment authorized the President to
legislate:
Whenever in the judgment of the President there
exists a grave emergency or a threat or
imminence thereof, or whenever the Interim
Batasang Pambansa or the regular National
Assembly fails or is unable to act adequately on
any matter for any reason that in his judgment
requires immediate action, he may, in order to
meet the exigency, issue the necessary
decrees, orders or letters of instructions, which
shall form part of the law of the land.
The Batasang Bayan
The Interim Batasang Pambansa was not
immediately convened. Instead, President
Marcos created the Batasang Bayan through
Presidential Decree No. 995 on September 21,
1976. The Batasang Bayan is a 128-member
legislature that advised the President on
important legislature measures it served as the
transitory legislature until convening of the
Interim Batasang Pambansa in 1978[10] The
Batasang Bayan was one of two temporary
legislative bodies before the convening of the
Regular Batasang Pambansa in 1984.
First national election under martial law
On April 7, 1978, the first national election under
martial law was held. The election for 165-
members of the Interim Batasang Pambansa
resulted to the massive victory of the
administration coalition party, the “Kilusang
Bagong Lipunan ng Nagkakaisang
Nacionalista, Liberal, at iba pa” or KBL. First
Lady Imelda Marcos, KBL Chairman for NCR,
won the highest number of votes in Metro
Manila. Only 15 opposition candidates in other
parts of the country won. Among them were:
Francisco Tatad (former Secretary of Public
Information to Pres. Marcos), Reuben Canoy
(Mindanao Alliance), Homobono Adaza (MA),
and Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. None of the members
of Laban ng Bayan of former Senator Benigno
Aquino, Jr. were elected. The Opposition
denounced the massive votebuying and
cheating in that elections. The opposition Liberal
Party boycotted the elections as a futile
exercise.
On April 21, 1978, the election of 14 sectoral
representatives (agricultural, labor, and youth)
was held.
On June 12, 1978 the Interim Batasang
Pambansa was convened with Ferdinand E.
Marcos as President-Prime Minister and
Querube Makalintal as Speaker.
1980 and 1981 amendments to the
Constitution
The 1973 Constitution was further amended in
1980 and 1981. In the 1980 Amendment, the
retirement age of the members of the Judiciary
was extended to 70 years. In the 1981
Amendments, the parliamentary system was
modified: executive power was restored to the
President; direct election of the President was
restored; an Executive Committee composed of
the Prime Minister and not more than fourteen
members was created to “assist the President in
the exercise of his powers and functions and in
the performance of his duties as he may
prescribe;” and the Prime Minister was a mere
head of the Cabinet. Further, the amendments
instituted electoral reforms and provided that a
natural born citizen of the Philippines who has
lost his citizenship may be a transferee of
private land for use by him as his residence.
Lifting of martial law
After putting in force amendments to the
Constitution and legislations securing his
sweeping powers and with the Batasan under
his control, President Marcos lifted martial law
on January 17, 1981. However, the suspension
of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
continued in the autonomous regions of Western
Mindanao and Central Mindanao. The
Opposition dubbed the lifting of martial law as a
mere "face lifting" as a precondition to the visit
of Pope John Paul II.
1981 presidential election and the Fourth
Republic
On June 16, 1981, six months after the lifting of
martial law, the first presidential election in
twelve years was held. As to be expected,
President Marcos run and won a massive victory
over the other candidates – Alejo Santos of the
Nacionalista Party (Roy Wing) and Cebu
Assemblyman Bartolome Cabangbang of the
Federal Party. The major opposition parties,
Unido (United Democratic Opposition, a coalition
of opposition parties, headed by Salvador
Laurel) and Laban, boycotted the elections.
In an almost one-sided election, President
Marcos won an overwhelming 88 percent of the
votes, the highest in Philippine electoral history.
The Nacionalista candidate Alejo Santos
garnered only 8.6 percent of the votes and
Cabangbang obtained less than 3 percent.
On June 30, 1981, President Marcos was
inaugurated in grandiose ceremonies and
proclaimed the “birth of a new Republic.” The
new Republic lasted only for less than five
years. Economic and political crises led to its
demise.
The Aquino assasination
After seven years of detention, President
Marcos allowed former Senator Benigno S.
Aquino, Jr. to leave the country for a coronary
by-pass operation in the United States. Aquino
agreed to the President’s request that he would
not make any statements criticizing the Marcos
regime. Before he left, Aquino told the First
Lady: “I would like to express my profoundest
gratitude for your concern …In the past, I’ve
been most critical of the First Lady’s project… I
take back all my harsh words – hoping I do not
choke.”
However, Aquino broke his promise and called
on President Marcos to return the Philippines to
democracy and end martial rule. He urged
reconciliation between the government and
opposition.
After three years of exile in the United States,
Aquino decided to return. The First Lady tried to
dissuade him but in vain.
On August 21, 1983, former Senator Aquino
returned to the Philippines. He was shot dead at
the tarmac of the Manila International Airport
while in the custody of the Aviation Security
Command (AVSECOM). The assassination
stunned the whole nation, if not, the whole
world.
In a mass show of sympathy and awe, about two
million people attended the funeral of the late
senator from Sto. Domingo Church to Manila
Memorial Park.
President Marcos immediately created a fact-
finding commission, headed by Supreme Court
Chief Justice Enrique Fernando, to investigate
the Aquino assassination. However, the
commission lasted only in two sittings due to
intense public criticism. President Marcos issued
on October 14, 1983, Presidential Decree No.
1886 creating an independent board of inquiry.
The board was composed of former Court of
Appeals Justice Ma. Corazon J. Agrava as
chairman, Amando Dizon, Luciano Salazar,
Dante Santos and Ernesto Herrera.
The Agrava Fact-Finding Board convened on
November 3, 1983 but, before it could start its
work, President Marcos charged the
communists for the killing of Senator Aquino.
The Agrava Board conducted public hearings,
and invited several persons who might shed light
on the crimes, including AFP Chief of Staff
Fabian Ver and First Lady Imelda R. Marcos.
After a year of thorough investigation – with
20,000 pages of testimony given by 193
witnesses, the Agrava Board submitted two
reports to President Marcos – the Majority and
Minority Reports. The Minority Report, submitted
by Chairman Agrava alone, was submitted on
October 23, 1984. It confirmed that the Aquino
assassination was a military conspiracy but it
cleared Gen. Ver. Many believed that President
Marcos intimidated and pressured the members
of the Board to persuade them not to indict Ver,
Marcos’ first cousin and most trusted general.
Excluding Chairman Agrava, the majority of the
board submitted a separate report – the Majority
Report – indicting several members of the
Armed Forces including AFP Chief-of-Staff Gen.
Fabian Ver, Gen. Luther Custodio and Gen.
Prospero Olivas, head of AVSECOM.
Later, the 25 military personnel, including
several generals and colonels, and one civilian
were charged for the murder of Senator Aquino.
President Marcos relieved Ver as AFP Chief and
appointed his second-cousin, Gen. Fidel V.
Ramos as acting AFP Chief. After a brief trial,
the Sandiganbayan acquitted all the accused on
December 2, 1985. Immediately after the
decision, Marcos re-instated Ver. The
Sandiganbayan ruling and the re-instatement of
Ver were denounced by several sectors as a
“mockery” of justice.
The failed impeachment attempt
On August 13, 1985, fifty-six Assemblymen
signed a resolution calling for the impeachment
of President Marcos for graft and corruption,
culpable violation of the Constitution, gross
violation of his oath of office and other high
crimes.
They cited the San Jose Mercury News exposé
of the Marcoses’ multi-million dollar investment
and property holdings in the United States. The
properties allegedly amassed by the First Family
were the Crown Building, Lindenmere Estate,
and a number of residential apartments (in New
Jersey and New York), a shopping center in
New York, mansions (in London, Rome and
Honolulu), the Helen Knudsen Estate in Hawaii
and three condominiums in San Francisco,
California.
The Assemblymen also included in the
complaint the misuse and misapplication of
funds “for the construction of the Film Center,
where X-rated and pornographic films are
exhibited, contrary to public morals and Filipino
customs and traditions.”
The following day, the Committee on Justice,
Human Rights and Good Government dismissed
the impeachment complain for being insufficient
in form and substance:
The resolution is no more than a hodge-podge
of unsupported conclusions, distortion of law,
exacerbated by ultra partisan considerations. It
does not allege ultimate facts constituting an
impeachable offense under the Constitution. In
sum, the Committee finds that the complaint is
not sufficient in form and substance to warrant
its further consideration. It is not sufficient in
form because the verification made by the
affiants that the allegations in the resolution “are
true and correct of our own knowledge” is
transparently false. It taxes the ken of men to
believe that the affiants individually could swear
to the truth of allegations, relative to the
transactions that allegedly transpired in foreign
countries given the barrier of geography and the
restrictions of their laws. More important, the
resolution cannot be sufficient in substance
because its careful assay shows that it is a mere
charade of conclusions.
Marcos had a vision of a "Bagong Lipunan (New
Society)"—similar to the "New Order" that was
imposed in Indonesia under dictator Suharto. He
used the martial law years to implement this
vision. According to Marcos' book, "Notes on the
New Society," it was a movement urging the
poor and the privileged to work as one for the
common goals of society, and to achieve the
liberation of the Filipino people through self-
realization. Marcos confiscated businesses
owned by the oligarchy. More often than not,
they were taken over by Marcos' family
members and close personal friends, who used
them as fronts to launder proceeds from
institutionalized graft and corruption in the
different national governmental agencies. In the
end, some of Marcos' cronies used them as
'cash cows'. "Crony capitalism" was the term
used to describe this phenomenon. This
phenomenon was intended to have genuinely
nationalistic motives by redistributing
monopolies that were traditionally owned by
Chinese and Mestizo oligarchs to Filipino
businessmen. In practice, it led to graft and
corruption via bribery, racketeering, and
embezzlement. By waging an ideological war
against the oligarchy, Marcos gained the support
of the masses. Marcos also silenced the free
press, making the state press the only legal one.
He also seized privately owned lands and
distributed them to farmers. By doing this,
Marcos abolished the old oligarchy, only to
create a new one in its place. Marcos, now free
from day-to-day governance (which was left
mostly to Juan Ponce Enrile), also used his
power to settle old scores against old rivals,
such as the Lopezes, who were always opposed
to the Marcos administration. Leading
oppositionists such as Senators Benigno
Aquino, Jr., Jose Diokno, Jovito Salonga and
many others were imprisoned for months or
years. This practice considerably alienated the
support of the old social and economic elite and
the media who criticized the Marcos
administration endlessly.
The declaration of martial law was initially very
well received, given the social turmoil the
Philippines was experiencing. The rest of the
world was surprised at how the Filipinos
accepted his self-imposed dictatorship. Crime
rates plunged dramatically after dusk curfews
were implemented. The country would enjoy
economic prosperity throughout the 1970s in the
midst of growing dissent to his strong-willed rule
towards the end of martial law. Political
opponents were given the opportunity or forced
to go into exile. As a result, thousands migrated
to other countries. Marcos' repressive measures
against any criticism or dissent soon turned
opinion against him.
Economy
Economic performance during the Marcos era
was strong at times, but when looked at over his
whole regime, it was not characterized by strong
economic growth. Penn World Tables report real
growth in GDP per capita averaged 3.5% from
1951 to 1965, while under the Marcos regime
(1966 to 1986), annual average growth was only
1.4%. To help finance a number of economic
development projects, such as infrastructure, the
Marcos government engaged in borrowing
money. Foreign capital was invited to invest in
certain industrial projects. They were offered
incentives including tax exemption privileges
and the privilege of bringing out their profits in
foreign currencies. One of the most important
economic programs in the 1980s was
the Kilusang Kabuhayan at
Kaunlaran (Movement for Livelihood and
Progress). This program was started in
September 1981. Its aim was to promote the
economic development of the barangays by
encouraging the barangay residents to engage
in their own livelihood projects. The
government's efforts resulted in the increase of
the nation's economic growth rate to an average
of six percent to seven percent from 1970 to
1980.
Economic growth was largely financed,
however, by U.S. economic aid and several
loans made by the Marcos government. The
country's foreign debts were less than
US$1billion when Marcos assumed the
presidency in 1965, and more than US$28billion
when he left office in 1986. A sizable amount of
these moneys went to Marcos family and friends
in the form of behest loans. These loans were
assumed by the government and still being
serviced by taxpayers. Today, more than half of
the country's revenues are outlayed for the
payments on the interests of loans alone.
Another major source of economic growth was
the remittances of overseas Filipino workers.
Thousands of Filipino workers, unable to find
jobs locally, sought and found employment in
the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong.
These overseas Filipino workers not only helped
ease the country's unemployment problem but
also earned much-needed foreign exchange for
the Philippines.
The Philippine economy suffered a great decline
after the Aquino assassination by Fidel Ramos'
assassination squad in August 1983. The wave
of anti-Marcos demonstrations in the country
that followed scared off tourists. The political
troubles also hindered the entry of foreign
investments, and foreign banks stopped granting
loans to the Philippine government.
In an attempt to launch a national economic
recovery program, Marcos negotiated with
foreign creditors including the International Bank
for Reconstruction and Development, World
Bank, and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), for a restructuring of the country's foreign
debts – to give the Philippines more time to pay
the loans. Marcos ordered a cut in government
expenditures and used a portion of the savings
to finance the Sariling Sikap (Self-Reliance), a
livelihood program he established in 1984.
From 1984 the economy began to decline, and
continued to do so despite the government's
recovery efforts. This failure was caused by civil
unrest, rampant graft and corruption within the
government and by Marcos' lack of credibility.
Marcos himself diverted large sums of
government money to his party's campaign
funds. The unemployment rate ballooned from
6.30% in 1972 to 12.55% in 1985.
Downfall
During these years, his regime was marred by
rampant corruption and political
mismanagement by his relatives and cronies,
which culminated with the assassination of
Benigno Aquino, Jr. Critics considered Marcos
as the quintessential kleptocrat, having looted
billions of dollars from the Filipino treasury.
Much of the lost sum has yet to be accounted
for, but recent documents have revealed that it
was actually Fidel Ramos who had diverted the
money (source required to substantiate this). He
was also a notorious nepotist, appointing family
members and close friends to high positions in
his cabinet. This practice led to even more
widespread mishandling of government,
especially during the 1980s when Marcos was
mortally ill with lupus and was in and out of
office. Perhaps the most prominent example is
the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, a multi-billion
dollar project that turned out to be a white
elephant which allegedly provided huge
kickbacks to Marcos and his businessman-
friend, Herminio Disini, who spearheaded the
project. The reactor, which turned out to be
based on old, costly designs and built on
an earthquake fault, has still to produce a single
watt of electricity. The Philippine government
today is still paying interests on more than
US$28 billion public debts incurred during his
administration. It was reported that when Marcos
fled, U.S. Customs agents discovered 24
suitcases of gold bricks and diamond jewelry
hidden in diaper bags; in addition, certificates for
gold bullion valued in the billions of dollars are
allegedly among the personal properties he, his
family, his cronies and business partners had
surreptitiously taken with them when the Reagan
administration provided them safe passage to
Hawaii.
During his third term, Marcos's health
deteriorated rapidly due to kidney ailments. He
was absent for weeks at a time for treatment,
with no one to assume command. Many people
questioned whether he still had capacity to
govern, due to his grave illness and the
ballooning political unrest. With Marcos ailing,
his equally powerful wife, Imelda, emerged as
the government's main public figure. Marcos
dismissed speculations of his ailing health - he
used to be an avid golfer and fitness buff who
liked showing off his physique. In light of these
growing problems, the assassination of Aquino
in 1983 would later prove to be the catalyst that
led to his overthrow. Many Filipinos came to
believe that Marcos, a shrewd political tactician,
had no hand in the murder of Aquino but that he
was involved in cover-up measures. However,
the opposition blamed Marcos directly for the
assassination while others blamed the military
and his wife, Imelda. The 1985 acquittals of
Gen. Fabian Ver as well as other high-ranking
military officers for the crime were widely seen
as a miscarriage of justice.
By 1984, his close personal ally, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan, started distancing
himself from the Marcos regime that he and
previous American presidents had strongly
supported even after Marcos declared martial
law. The United States, which had provided
hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, was crucial
in buttressing Marcos' rule over the years.
During the Carter administration the relation with
the U.S. soured somewhat when
President Jimmy Carter targeted the Philippines
in his human rights campaign. In 1981 Vice
President George Bush seemed to signal a
different approach when in his visit to Manila he
told Marcos, "We love your adherence to
democratic principles and to democratic
processes."[11]
In the face of escalating public discontent and
under pressure from foreign allies, Marcos
called a snap presidential election for 1986, with
more than a year left in his term. He selected
Arturo Tolentino as his running mate. The
opposition united behind Aquino's widow,
Corazon Aquino and her running mate, Salvador
Laurel.
The final tally of the National Movement for Free
Elections, an accredited poll watcher, showed
Aquino winning by almost 800,000 votes.
However, the government tally showed Marcos
winning by almost 1.6 million votes. This
appearance of blatant fraud by Marcos led
the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines and the United States Senate to
condemn the elections. Both Marcos and Aquino
traded accusations of vote-rigging. Popular
sentiment in Metro Manila sided with Aquino,
leading to a massive, multisectoral congregation
of protesters, and the gradual defection of the
military to Aquino led by Marcos' cronies, Enrile
and Ramos. It must be noted that prior to his
defection, Enrile's arrest warrant, having been
charged for graft and corruption, was about to
be served. The "People Power movement"
drove Marcos into exile, and installed Corazon
Aquino as the new president. At the height of the
revolution, Enrile revealed that his ambush was
faked in order for Marcos to have a pretext for
imposing martial law. However, Marcos
maintained that he was the duly-elected and
proclaimed President of the Philippines for a
fourth term. Marcos' wife was found to have over
2500 pairs of shoes in her closet.
Exile and Death
The Marcos family and their associates went
into exile in Hawaii and were later indicted
for embezzlement in the United States. Marcos
died in Honolulu on September 28,1989 of
kidney, heart and lung ailments. He was interred
in a private mausoleum at Byodo-In Temple on
the island of Oahu, visited daily by the Marcos
family, political allies and friends. The late
strongman's remains are currently interred
inside a refrigerated crypt in Ilocos Norte, where
his son, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., and eldest
daughter, Maria Imelda Marcos, have since
become the local governor and representative,
Imelda Marcos was acquitted of embezzlement
by a U.S. court in 1990, but is still facing a few
hundred additional graft charges in Philippine
courts in 2006.
In 1995 some 10,000 Filipinos won a U.S. class-
action lawsuit filed against the Marcos estate.
The charges were filed by victims or their
surviving relatives for torture, execution and
disappearances. Human rights groups place the
number of victims of extrajudicial killings under
martial law at 1,500 and Karapatan (a local
human rights group's) records show 759
involuntarily disappeared (their bodies never
found).
Legacy
President Marcos's official Malacañang Palace
portrait since 1986; the portrait he had selected
for himself was lost during the People Power
Revolution Prior to Marcos, Philippine presidents
had followed the path of "traditional politics" by
using their position to help along friends and
allies before stepping down for the next "player."
Marcos essentially destroyed this setup through
military rule, which allowed him to rewrite the
rules of the game so they favored the Marcoses
and their allies.
His practice of using the politics of patronage in
his desire to be the "amo" or godfather of not
just the people, but the judiciary, legislature and
administrative branches of the government
ensured his downfall, no matter how Marcos
justified it according to his own philosophy of the
"politics of achievement." This practice entailed
bribery, racketeering, and embezzlement to gain
the support of the aforementioned sectors. The
14 years of his dictatorship, according to critics,
have warped the legislative, judiciary and the
military.[12]
Another allegation was that his family and
cronies looted so much wealth from the country
that to this day investigators have difficulty
determining precisely how many billions of
dollars have been salted away.
The Swiss government has also returned
US$684 million in allegedly ill-gotten Marcos
wealth.
His apologists claim Marcos was "a good
president gone bad," that he was a man of rare
gifts - a brilliant lawyer, a shrewd politician and
keen legal analyst with a ruthless streak and a
flair for leadership. In power for more than 20
years, Marcos also had the very rare opportunity
to lead the Philippines toward prosperity, with
massive infrastructure he put in place as well as
an economy on the rise.
However, he put these talents to work by
building a regime that he apparently intended to
perpetuate as a dynasty. Among the many
documents he left behind in the Palace, after he
fled in 1986, was one appointing his wife as his
successor.
Opponents state that the evidence suggests that
he used the communist threat as a pretext for
seizing power. However, the communist
insurgency was at its peak during the late 1960s
to early 1970s when it was found out that the
People's Republic of China was shipping arms
to support the communist cause in the
Philippines after the interception of a vessel
containing loads of firearms. After he was
overthrown, former Defense Minister Juan
Ponce Enrile stated that certain incidents had
been contrived to justify the imposition of Martial
Law,[13]such as Enrile's ambush.
The Martial Law dictatorship may have helped
boost the communist insurgency's strength and
numbers, but not to the point that could have led
to the overthrow of the elected government.
Marcos' regime was crucial in the United States'
fight against communism and its influences, with
Marcos himself being a staunch anti-communist.
Marcos however had an ironically mild streak to
his "strongman" image, and as much as possible
avoided bloodshed and confrontation.
His most ardent supporters claim Marcos was
serious about Martial Law and had genuine
concern for reforming the society as evidenced
by his actions during the period, up until his
cronies, whom he entirely trusted, had firmly
entrenched themselves in the government. By
then, they say he was too ill and too dependent
on them to do something about it. The same has
been said about his relationship with his wife
Imelda, who became the government's main
public figure in light of his illness, by then
wielding perhaps more power than Marcos
himself.
It is important to note that many laws written by
Marcos are still in force and in effect. Out of
thousands of proclamations, decrees and
executive orders, only a few were repealed,
revoked, modified or amended. Few credit
Marcos for promoting Filipino culture and
nationalism. His 21 years in power with the help
of U.S. massive economic aid and foreign loans
enabled Marcos to build more schools, hospitals
and infrastructure than any of his predecessors
combined.[14] Due to his iron rule, he was able to
impose order and reduce crime by strict
implementation of the law. The relative
economic success that the Philippines enjoyed
during the initial part of his presidency is hard to
dispel. Many of Marcos' accomplishments were
overlooked after the so-called "People Power"
EDSA Revolution, but the Marcos era definitely
had accomplishments in its own right.
A journalist said that "The Marcoses were the
best of us, and they were the worst of us. That's
why we say we hate them so much."[15].
On the other hand, many despise his regime, his
silencing the free press, his curtailing of civil
liberties such as the right to peaceably
assemble, his dictatorial control, the
imprisonment, torture, murder and
disappearance of thousands of his
oppositionists, and his supposed shameless
plunder of the nation's treasury. It is quite
evident that the EDSA Revolution left the
Philippine society polarized. Nostalgia remains
high in parts of the populace for the Marcos era
due to the downward spiral the Philippines fell
into after his departure. It can be said that his
public image has been significantly rehabilitated
after worsening political and economic problems
that have hounded his successors. The irony is
that these economic troubles are largely due to
the country's massive debts incurred during his
administration. The Marcos Era's legacy,
polarizing as it is, remains deeply embedded in
the Philippines today.
NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY
The New People's Army (NPA)
(Filipino: Bagong Hukbong Bayan) is the armed
wing of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP). It was formed and founded
by Bernabe Buscayno A.K.A. "Commander
Dante" on March 29, 1969. The Maoist NPA
conducts its armed guerrilla struggle based on
the strategical line of "protracted people's
war".[citation needed] The Philippine Army estimated
the NPA's strength at 3,200 fighters at the end of
2015.[4]
The NPA collects "revolutionary taxes", mostly
from businesses, in the areas where it
operates.[5] The Communist Party of the
Philippines refers to the NPA as "the tax
enforcement agency of the people's
revolutionary government".[6] In 2014, Lieutenant
Colonel Ramon Zagala, speaking for the Armed
Forces of the Philippines said "[the communist
rebels] have lost their ideological mooring and
now engaged in extortion [activities]."[5]
The NPA is designated as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization by the U.S. State
Department[1] and as a terrorist group by
the EUCommon Foreign and Security
Policy.[2] The Government of the Philippines,
however, has delisted the NPA as a terrorist
organization in 2011 [7] and has resumed
preliminary peace talks pending formal
negotiations with the NPA's parent political
organization, the CPP.[8] There have been
reports of the Chinese government shipping
arms to the NPA.[9] Due to this, the NPA have an
unknown number of Type 56 assault rifles. The
NPA has also received support from North
Korea as well as former members from the
defunct Communist Party of Malaya(CPM).[10]
Peace negotiations have recently reached an
impasse. The Philippine government has
specifically drafted a "new framework" which
seeks to end the 27-year-long stalemate in the
talks, hoping to build ground with the leftist
rebels that is more comprehensive than human
rights, the only issue on which the negotiating
parties agree.[
History[edit]
The 1960s saw a revival in nationalism and
patriotism, especially among the youth and
students, in the Philippines. The ongoing Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China,
sparked a renewed interest in Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism study, with emphasis on
lessons from the Chinese Revolution. National
democratic organizations such as
the Kabataang Makabayan and other groups
began to see the need for a renewed armed
struggle based upon Mao's strategy
of protracted people's war. On December 26,
1968, the Communist Party of the Philippines
was re-established on Marxist-Leninist-Mao
Zedong thought line. The CPP immediately went
about organizing a new people's army. The CPP
had previously made contact with former
members of the Hukbong Mapagpalayang
Bayan (HMB) – to which the Huks changed their
name in the 50s – in Central Luzon. On March
29, 1969, the New People's Army was formed. It
had only 72 fighters and was equipped with light
weapons. After its initial formation, the CPP and
the NPA dispersed and established regional
cells in several parts of the country.
The NPA claims responsibility for the
assassination of U.S. Army Colonel James
"Nick" Rowe, founder of the U.S. Army Survival,
Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE)
course, in 1989. Colonel Rowe was part of a
military assistance program to the Philippine
Army. The NPA insist that this made him a
legitimate military target.[12][13]
Second Great Rectification Movement[edit]
In the 1990s internal criticism about mistakes in
the 1980s led to the Second Great Rectification
Movement, launched in 1992 and largely
completed in 1998, leading to a resurgence in
the Philippine insurgency. The Second
Rectification ended internal purges of the
movement that killed hundreds of members on
allegations of being "deep penetration agents" of
the Armed Forces of the Philippines and
the Philippine intelligence community. Former
CPP-NPA cadre Lualhati Milan Abreu's award-
winning memoir Agaw-Dilim Agaw
Liwanag[14] chronicled the executions.
The Second Great Rectification, despite its
successes also resulted in a series of splits
within the Party and even the People's Army.
The Alex Boncayao Brigade, notorious for
targeting policemen and officials that were
allegedly corrupt, left the party while some
ended up forming groups such as the
Revolutionary Proletarian Army and the
Rebolusyonaryong Hukbong Bayan.
This group was designated as a
foreign terrorist organization by the United
States in August 2002 and by the European
Union in November 2005.[2][15] The NPA's
founder, lives in the Philippines in peace but
under close watch by the government. The NPA
operates mostly in the rural areas and their
targets often include military, police, government
informers, and businessmen who refuse to pay
"revolutionary taxes".[16]
The Arroyo administration negotiated
intermittently with delegates of the NPA in
European countries.[17]
The arrest of a Naxalite guerrilla by Indian
security forces suggested links with the NPA,
who were said to have traveled to India to teach
them how to conduct guerrilla warfare against
the army and police.[18]
In March, 2008 AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon
Jr., claimed that the New People's Army (NPA)
rebels had only around 4,900 members,
significantly down from 26,000 at its peak in the
1980s. The New People's Army currently have
110 guerilla fronts on 71 out of 81
provinces.[19] Forty thousand people have died in
the conflict since 1969.[20]
On September 5, 2007, President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo signed Amnesty
Proclamation 1377 for members of
the Communist Party of the Philippines and its
armed wing, the New People's Army; other
communist rebel groups; and their umbrella
organization, the National Democratic Front
(Philippines). The amnesty covers the crime of
rebellion and all other crimes "in pursuit of
political beliefs," but not crimes against chastity,
rape, torture, kidnapping for ransom, use and
trafficking of illegal drugs and other crimes for
personal ends and violations of international law
or convention and protocols "even if alleged to
have been committed in pursuit of political
beliefs." The National Committee on Social
Integration (NCSI) was to issue a Certificate of
Amnesty to qualified applicants. Implementing
rules and regulations were drafted, and the
decree was submitted to the Senate of the
Philippines and the House of Representatives of
the Philippines for their concurrence. The
proclamation was to become effective only after
Congress had concurred.[21]
NPA rebels disguised as Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency personnel had raided a
prison in Lucena, Quezon
Province,[22][23]overpowering the guards and
freeing rebel prisoners they deemed to be
"political prisoners."[24] Two of the seven people
deemed political prisoners did not escape with
the NPA raiders, opting to be cleared of any
wrongdoing by lawful, legal means.[25] Other
NPA rebels held in other prisons were to be
moved into secured facilities.[26]
There were 43 people arrested at a community
health meeting in Morong, Rizal on February 6,
2010. They were accused of being part of the
NPA. On December 10, 2010,
President Benigno Aquino III ordered the
release of 38 of the 43 because the Morong
43 case had due process violations. Seven of
the released were reported to have returned to
the mountains to continue the NPA's armed
struggle. The last 5 admitted being part of the
NPA and are being prosecuted for various
criminal offenses including murder, extortion,
and other offenses.[27]
The NPA conducted attacks on October 3, 2011
against three large-scale mining corporations in
Surigao del Norte. The attacks spanned only
three hours but resulted in grave damage,
including the burning of ten dump trucks, eight
backhoes, two barges and a guest house. The
mining firms attacked include the Taganito
Mining Corporation at Taganito village in Claver
town, the 4K Mining at Cadiano village, also in
Claver, and the Thpal Mining located near the
Taganito Mining Corp. compound. The Armed
Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that the
NPA attacked the mining firms because of their
failure to pay "revolutionary taxes."[28]
March 22, 2014 saw the arrest of Benito
Tiamzon, chairman of the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the
New People's Army (NPA) in the Cebu province,
along with his wife Wilma and five other
members of the central committee of the CPP-
NPA. Wilma Tiamzon is also the secretary
general of the CPP-NPA. The arrest of the
Tiamzons happened exactly a week before the
45th anniversary of the CPP-NPA on March 29.
In January 2015, the NPA moved its center of
operation to the City of Kabankalan, Negros
Occidental. NPA top officials refer to the City of
Kabankalan as the "Heart and Liver of
Terrorism" where they plan to attack military and
civilian outposts every minute and every second
of the day as part of their General Plan of Action
(GPoA) for the year 2015. This part of the NPA
GPoA, labeled the "Operation: Chiquitita", was
revealed during the 15th Annual NPA Strategic
Planning held at the Manila Hotel in December
2014. Police and military officers are strongly
encouraged to refuse being assigned to the City
of Kabangkalan, even at the risk of termination
and dishonorable dismissal from the police and
military force.
Plantations run by Japanese companies have
been assaulted by the NPA.
During the peace process the NPA recruited
over 1000 new members. This brought their
numbers up to about 5000.
ILAGA
The Ilaga (Engl. trans.: Rat) is/was a right-
wing paramilitary group in the
southern Philippines predominantly composed
of Visayans (mostly Ilonggo), embracing a form
of Folk Catholicism that utilized amulets and
violence. The group complemented
the Philippine Constabulary as a militia force
during the 1970s in southern Mindanao while
fighting against Moro guerrillas during the Moro
insurgency in the Philippines.[1]
The group committed its bloodiest act on June
19, 1971, when the group killed
65 Moro civilians inside a mosque.
The Mindanao region is rich in natural
resources, including large quantities of mineral
reserves. The American colonial government
and subsequently the Philippine
government pursued a policy of migration by
resettling significant numbers of Christian
Filipino settlers from the Visayas and Luzon onto
tracts of land in Mindanao, beginning in the
1920s. This policy allowed Christian Filipinos to
outnumber both the Moro
and Lumad populations by the 1970s, which was
a contributing factor in aggravating grievances
between the Moro and Filipino Christian settlers
as disputes over land increased. Another
grievance by the Moro people is the extraction of
Mindanao's natural resources by the central
government whilst many Moros continued to live
in poverty.
The Philippine government under Ferdinand
Marcos particularly encouraged
(allegedly) Ilonggo settlers who had emigrated to
Mindanao to form a militia, which was eventually
called the Ilaga. There is anecdotal evidence
that the Ilaga often committed human rights
abuses by targeting the Moro and Lumad
peoples, as well as attempting to seize
additional territory.[citation needed]
The end result of Ilaga extremism is the lingering
animosity between Moro and Christian
communities. Mistrust and a cycle of violence
are still felt today due to the creation of the
Ilaga.[citation needed]
Manili massacre[edit]
Violence attributed to the Ilaga reached its
climax in June 1971 with the Manili massacre of
65 men, women and children at Barangay Manili
in Carmen, North Cotabato.[2] The group was
composed of Christian villagers allegedly used
by the Philippine Constabulary to attack Moro
communities. It was reported that some
members cut off the ears of dead Moro and
wore them around their necks as trophies. One
senior member, Norberto Manero, aka
Kumander Bukay, also gained notoriety in the
1980s after he was convicted of murdering and
cannibalizing the brain of Italian priest Tullio
Favali, whom he had suspected of having links
with Communist insurgents, yet Manero was
later released.
MORO NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT
(MNLF)
The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is
a political organization in the Philippines that
was founded in 1972.[2][3] It started as a splinter
group of the Muslim Independence
Movement.[2] The MNLF was the leading
organization among Moro separatists for about
two decades beginning from the 1970s.[2]
In 1996, the MNLF signed a landmark peace
agreement with the Philippine government that
saw the creation of Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), an area composed
of two mainland provinces and three island
provinces in which the predominantly Muslim
population enjoys a degree of self-rule.[4] Nur
Misuari was installed as the region's governor
but his rule ended in violence when he led a
failed rebellion against the Philippines
government in November 2001,[4] and fled
to Sabah before being deported back to the
Philippines by the Malaysian authorities.[2][5][6]
MNLF is internationally recognized by
the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
and its Parliamentary Union of OIC Member
States (PUIC).[7] Since 1977, the MNLF has
been an observer member of the OIC.[8] On
January 30, 2012, MNLF became an observer
member of the Parliamentary Union of Islamic
Cooperation (PUIC), as approved during the 7th
PUIC global session held
in Palembang, Indonesia.
The Philippine government wanted to encourage
migration of landless Christians from other parts
of the country in a so-called Homestead
Program (1903–1973). There was no land titling
system by the natives of Mindanao at that time,
and the Christian settlers exploited the
situation. Lanao and Cotabato received an influx
of migrants from Luzon and Visayas. Tensions
between Moros and Christians were caused by
disputes about land ownership and
disenfranchisement of Muslims. The Homestead
Program is one of the root-causes of the Moro
conflict.[10][11]
Poverty, grievances of the Muslim population,
weak rule of law and difficult terrain have
made counterterrorism challenging against
insurgents in the Southern Philippines.[12]
On March 18, 1968 there was an alleged
massacre of Moro soldiers in Corregidor
Island.[13][14] There has been a long-standing
allegation that the Malaysia provided the initial
training and arming of the first batch of MNLF
cadres known as "Top 90" in 1969.[15] Likewise,
it has also been alleged that Malaysia was either
seemingly ignorant or tolerated the illicit arms
shipments, mainly from the Middle East, flowing
into Mindanao that fueled the insurgency.[16]
The founder and former leader of the MNLF
is Nur Misuari.[2] The MNLF was founded as a
splinter group of the Muslim Independence
Movement on October 21, 1972.[2]
MNLF officially claims that its ideology
is egalitarianism, and it is not a religious
organization like its Islamic splinter group
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.[17]
Leadership and splits[edit]
The MNLF was the leading organization among
Moro separatists for about two decades
beginning from the 1970s. However, discontent
on Nur Misuari's leadership caused the group to
unravel especially after the 1996 peace
agreement. Integration of former rebels in the
society was also a factor in the weakening. At
the present there are multiple competing
factions. For instance, Hadja Bainon Karon's
faction supported peace deal in 2012, after Nur
Misuari had criticized it.[2][18][19][20] There was also
a case of defections of Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) fighters to MNLF.[21] As of 14
August 2015, the current chairman of the group
is uncertain and the sources,
including Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation and Philippine Government,
disagree. Nur Misuari still has support among
some of the factions.[2]
Many splits followed tribal affiliation.[2] United
Nations Security Council report stated in 2010
that the splinter groups Moro Islamic Liberation
Front and Abu Sayyaf recruit and use child
soldiers in the conflict.[22]
Peace talks[edit]
Libyan and Muammar Gaddafi's mediation
resulted in the Tripoli Agreement on December
23, 1976. It would have established an
autonomous region and given Moros influence
on foreign policy, military, education, courts, and
finances. Areas such
as Basilan, Palawan and Sulu would have been
included in the autonomous region. The plans
failed due to president Ferdinand Marcos'
decision to hold a referendum on each area that
was to be included in the autonomous region.
Most of the regions did not have a Muslim
majority. The referendums however did
influence Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao by creating its predecessors. MNLF
decided to continued armed struggle.[2]
The MNLF shifted from demands of full
independence to autonomy in the 1980s. In
1986 a ceasefire and attempts to have a peace
agreement were made, but they failed.[2]
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao was
established in 1989, despite opposition from the
MNLF.[2]
OIC, Libya and Indonesia mediated peace talks
which were restarted in 1992. Statements of
Understanding and Interim Agreements were
made between 1992 and 1996. Jakarta Peace
Agreement was signed in 1996.[2]
Tensions between the Philippine Government
and the MNLF have been fueled by mineral
wealth sharing, problems of implementing the
peace agreement and the Nur Misuari faction's
ongoing opposition of the peace agreement.[2][23]
In 2015 Nur Misuari rejected reports on the
MNLF involvement in the North Borneo
dispute and said only the Sultanate of Sulu can
pursue the negotiations for the Sabah claim with
the Malaysian sides. The MNLF has asserted
that their group are not involved in any part of
the North Borneo dispute and stressing it is a
non-issue as Sabah has become the "home-
base for different tribal groupings of Muslims
from different regions of Southeast Asia that
have enjoyed peaceful and harmonious co-
existence with
the Chinese and Christian populace in the
area."[24]
European Union and the United States do not
use the classification of "terrorist" for the
MNLF.[25]
Zamboanga City crisis[edit]
In 2013, the Nur Misuari faction of the MNLF
declared independence for the Bangsamoro
Republik and attacked Zamboanga City. During
the MNLF standoff with the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, the group was accused by the
Philippines of using civilians as human
shields,[26] thus leading the Philippine
government to label them
terrorists.[27][28][29][30] The State Department of the
United States included a mention of the siege in
its report on "East Asia and Pacific Overview".
CRONYISM
Cronyism and the
ubiquitous padrino (patronage) system describe
an economy in which certain business people
and government officials maintain a close
relationship, resulting in favoritism in the
allocation of government contracts, permits,
grants, benefits, etc. In its more despicable form,
cronyism makes use of illegal and corrupt
practices, causing people to lose respect for,
and develop a mistrust of, both business and
government.
While cronyism is an important factor in the
growth of capitalism and the economies of
countries, it results in discrimination against
honest, legitimate business.
4. Streamline procedures and processes to
eradicate red tape. Red tape induces
bribery.
With a civil service that is above-board and
transparency in government conduct, cronyism –
and the padrino system – will fade away.

The Philippines ranks among the top ten

countries in which cronyism is rampant. And the
connection between cronyism and pervasive
graft and corruption in the Philippines is all too
obvious and well-known.

Every area of business in the Philippine

economy is fueled by cronyism, including retail,
manufacturing, banking, transportation, energy
and natural resources, real estate and
construction, and communications – and all
branches and agencies of the government are
affected.

Cronyism owes its spread in the Philippines to

the proliferation of political dynasties, the culture
of patronage, and the fact that Filipinos value
social and institutional bonds, sometimes over
blood relationship. Almost every adult Filipino
has a kumpadre or two, and the bonds created
by each relationship extend across entire
families. Strong ties also grow through college
organizations and the fact that people were
schoolmates, or are members of the same
service club.
Newly installed President Rodrigo Duterte has
promised to eliminate all forms of graft and
corruption in government and business – and
between business and government. Mr. Duterte
can succeed by adopting the following measures
to curb cronyism:

1. Bring the salaries of all civil servants –

including and especially law enforcers – at
all levels of government to living wage
standards. This will reduce the temptation to
accept bribes or privilege.
2. Guarantee transparency in government
conduct by using smart technologies in
government processes, activities, and
procedures.
3. Enforce transparency in all government
transactions. This will assure openness and
minimize misconduct.