Build. Borrow. Bury.

1972. A man was on a couch. Across the television, flashed news about Marcos'
infrastructures, rice exportations, Masagana 99, ... The man's cheeks were practically reaching his ears
as he grinned. His windows were shut, letting no air to pass. His windows were stained with bloody
handprints. The scene outside was unheard. Was Marcos Era the Golden age or the Golden age of
oppression?

Many would believe what the elders told them, “The golden years of the Philippines”.
Doubtlessly, it was the time when unprecedented hospitals were built that includes the Philippine
Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, and Philippine
Children's Medical Center. Also, cultural, tourism and heritage sites were, likewise, constructed. “Of
all the presidents of the country, to this time, Marcos built the most extensive infrastructure. The
projects were interrelated and complemented sector-development objectives. He put in the major
trunk-line road networks within the country, linking them from Luzon to the Visayas, and then to
Mindanao.” (Sicat, 2015).

Furthermore, the 1973 worldwide oil crisis led to a rise in high commodity prices. To counter
this, the government tried to reduce its reliance on imported oil by utilizing domestic energy sources.
The Marcos administration finished 20 power plants as a consequence. Moreover, Masagana 99, which
was started in 1973, was the patriarch of the Marcos family's effort to boost rice output by giving
farmers heavily discounted loans so they could buy fertilizer and equipment. Between 1975 and 1985,
230,000 housing units were built also called the Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services
(BLISS) projects. It is to house the country's poorest of the poor in order to combat the flurry of
individuals migrating to urban centers from the countryside, which arose to a huge array of other
problems, such as violence, political upheaval, ecological pollution, and limited housing provision.

On the one hand, the time of martial law was also the dreadful years of the Philippines. A
broader look at the entire authoritarian period from 1972 to early 1986 reveals a quite different image.
While it's true that infrastructure expenditure soared in the middle of the 1970s, this was also
accompanied by growing external debt, which became the economy's downfall when the country was
incapable to pay for these in the 1980s, until now. In other words, Build. Build. Build. is Borrow.
Borrow. Borrow. It took years for infrastructure expenditure to rebound after it fell to its weakest level
at that time. In parallel, M-99 rice program along with the maternal and child nutrition, family
planning, and energy development initiatives were all vulnerable of the regime change that occurred
after EDSA I. In the haste to discredit the Marcos regime, the baby was thrown out with the bath
water, as the expression goes. The reason for the dismal performance under martial law is well
understood. The economy suffered its worst post-war recession under the Marcos regime because of
the huge debt hole it had dug, from which it could not get out,” (Dios, 2015).

Good gains were short-lived. During the Martial Law era, fundamental human rights were not
attained. People back then didn't practice being disciplined; instead, they obeyed commands out of fear
for the authorities, who had the authority to imprison those who disobeyed the regulations. The
military was given authority in order to safeguard democracy, however they violated a number of
human rights. A rough estimate of 7,000 torture victims, 2,000 individuals who were saved, and 1,000
people who vanished. (1999; Malanes) Torture methods that time was quoted as “Worse than death”.
Physical tortures included Electric Shock, San Juanico Bridge, Truth serum, Russian roulette, Beating,
Pistol whipping, Water cure, strangulation, cigar and flat iron burns, and Pepper torture. The
dictatorship also used isolation and solitary punishment to "shake one's principle" and inflict
psychological and emotional anguish. Threats of impending murder, rape, and harm to their families
were reportedly used to torment people. Inside the detention facilities, reports of sexual assault were
also prominent. Women were raped and sexually harassed objects such as smeared eggplants with
spice, ice blocks for seating, and frigid chambers.

The fact that the current generation was not born during that time is rather use as an excuse to
have known how Martial Law impact our country’s social system. Statistics go beyond just numerical
data. Tales are still spoken decades after the Marcos administration, providing as somber memories of
the nation's most troubling time. In essence, those towering infrastructures may be the things that
others would acknowledge and remember but democracy, our freedom of rights, must be way above
than those projects.

Submitted by: Rae Simone B. Sampang

Section: St. Vincent de Paul
Submitted to: Arden C. Cabugos