Abinales, Jojo and Donna Amoroso (2005). STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE PHILIPPINES. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. . . . Nevertheless, in 1969 Ferdinand Marcos became the first Philippine president to win reelection. His victory came at an extremely high price to the country. As much as $50 million went into the Marcos campaign, much of it public funds. For example, money from the Rural Improvement Fund was distributed through the patronage network down to the level of barrio captain, especially in his opponent’s home province of Cebu. As historian Resil Mojares explains: “The election was decided by the question of greater and lesser power. . . . Millions were disbursed for billboards and outdoor propaganda materials, print publicity, campaign gifts, and the virtual monopoly of radio and television time.” Defeated candidate Sergio Osmeña Jr., in a post¬election protest filed with the Presidential Election Tribunal, “charged . . . maximum use by Marcos of the power of his office through organized terrorism, massive vote-buying, and rampant fraud.” It was the classic case of being out-gunned, out-gooned, and out-gold. REFORM OR RADICAL CHANGE? Marcos’s reelection plunged the country into crisis. The unprecedented government deficit of more than one billion pesos forced Marcos to float the currency in early 1970. From its peg at TWO PESOS TO THE DOLLAR, the peso dropped to SIX TO THE DOLLAR. Inflation, which had been stable at about 4.5 per cent through the 1960s, rose quickly. A sense of unease spread in urban areas, as the middle class feared an economic tailspin. Social and political activism became much more urgent, and student protest on Manila’s campuses grew in frequency and intensity.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:32:57 +0000
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