Ferdinand

Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel
Edralin Marcos Sr.

Born on September 11, 1917, in

the town of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte
Mariano Marcos
and 
Josefa Edralin
Ferdinand Emmanuel
Edralin Marcos Sr.

Was a Filipino politician and lawyer

who served as the 10th president of
the Philippines from 1965 to 1986.
The most controversial leaders of the 20th
century, Marcos' rule was notable for its
corruption, extravagance, and brutality.
Throughout his political career, Marcos
claimed to have been the "most decorated
war hero in the Philippines.”
A number of his claims have been found to
be false, with United States Army
documents describing his wartime claims
as "fraudulent" and "absurd.“ After World
War II, he became a lawyer, then served in
the Philippine House of Representatives
from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine
Senate from 1959 to 1965.
Ferdinand Emmanuel
Edralin Marcos Sr.

Was elected the President of the

Philippines in 1965 and presided
over an economy that grew during
the beginning of his 20-year rule,
but would end in the loss of
livelihood, extreme poverty, and a
crushing debt crisis.
Ferdinand
Emmanuel
Edralin
Marcos Sr.
Placed the Philippines under martial
law on September 23, 1972.
Martial law
It was ratified in 1973 through a
fraudulent referendum.
Martial law
Was the last defense against the rising disorder caused by increasingly violent student
demonstrations, the alleged threats of communist insurgency by the new Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP), and the Muslim separatist movement of the Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF).
Imelda
Romuáldez
Marcos
Marcos’s wife was Imelda Romuáldez
Marcos, a former beauty queen.
Imelda Romuáldez Marcos

Imelda became a powerful figure after the

institution of martial law in 1972. She was
often criticized for her appointments of
relatives to lucrative governmental and
industrial positions while she held the posts
of governor of Metropolitan Manila and
minister of human settlements and ecology.
By 1983 Marcos’s health was
beginning to fail, and opposition to
his rule was growing. Hoping to
present an alternative to both
Marcos and the increasingly
powerful New People’s Army,
Benigno Aquino, Jr., returned to
Manila on August 21, 1983, only to
be shot dead as he stepped off the
airplane.
The assassination was seen as the work of the
government and touched off massive
antigovernment protests.
Corazon Aquino

To reassert his mandate, Marcos called for

presidential elections to be held in 1986. But a
formidable political opponent soon emerged in
Aquino’s widow, Corazon Aquino, who became
the presidential candidate of the opposition.
It was widely asserted that Marcos managed to defeat Aquino and retain the presidency in the
election of February 7, 1986, only through massive voting fraud on the part of his supporters.
Deeply discredited at home and abroad by his dubious electoral victory, Marcos held fast to his
presidency as the Philippine military split between supporters of his and of Aquino’s legitimate right
to the presidency.
A tense standoff that ensued
between the two sides ended only
when Marcos fled the country on
February 25, 1986, at U.S. urging. He
went into exile in Hawaii, where he
remained until his death.