Authoritarian Regime, Crony Capitalism

Marcos decreed martial law in 1972, with Imelda eventually becoming an official who often
appointed her relatives to lucrative governmental and industrial positions. (She would later be
known for accumulating upward of 1,000 pairs of shoes along with Manhattan luxury real
estate.) These acts were part of Marcos’ state-imposed "crony capitalism," by which private
businesses were seized by the government and handed over to friends and relatives of regime
members, later leading to much economic instability. Though making domestic headway over
time with infrastructure projects and harvesting, Marcos' administration bolstered the military by
huge numbers (recruiting unqualified personnel), curtailed public discourse, took over the media
and imprisoned political opponents, students and denouncers at will.

Marcos also oversaw a 1973 national referendum that allowed him to hold power
indefinitely. Preceding a visit by Pope John Paul II, martial law ended in January 1981. Marcos,
serving as both president and prime minister by this point, resigned from the latter post, still
retaining the power to implement laws at his command and imprison dissenters without due
process. In June 1981, he would win presidential reelection for another six years, with his
political opponents boycotting the vote. 

Downfall

Implicated in Aquino Assassination

On August 21, 1983, the previously jailed Benigno Aquino Jr. returned from his long exile to
offer the Philippine people a new face of hope, but he was shot and killed as he stepped off the
plane in Manila. Countrywide demonstrations followed in the wake of the killing. Marcos
launched a civilian-based independent commission whose findings implicated military personnel
in Aquino's assassination, although it has since been suggested that Marcos or his wife had
ordered the murder.

With the country's economy plummeting and Aquino's murder becoming part of the national
consciousness, the urban wealthy and middle class, often core supporters of Marcos, began to
push for an end to his power. Also contributing to Marcos' downfall was a far-reaching
Communist insurgency and the resolution signed in 1985 by 56 assemblymen calling for his
impeachment for enriching his personal coffers via crony capitalism, monopolies and overseas
investments that violated the law. To quiet the opposition and reassert his power, Marcos called
for special presidential elections to be held in 1986, a bit more than a year before the end of his
current six-year term. The popular Corazon Aquino, the widow of Benigno, became the
presidential candidate of the opposition.

Marcos managed to defeat Aquino and retain the presidency, but his victory was deemed by
many to be fraudulent. As word spread of the rigged election, a tense standoff ensued between
supporters of Marcos and those of Aquino, with thousands upon thousands of citizens taking to
the streets to support a non-violent military rebellion.