1.
One of
the richest country second to Japan – undecided
As what the Marcos loyalists are always
bragging, we are 2nd to Japan as the richest country in Asia. I
tried to search for available articles or documents but as of today I can’t
find anything to support the claim. If that would be the case, Philippines is a
first world country by then. But there is no tangible evidence to support this. Upon doing my research, I came
to see this data; 1970-1980 Growth Rates
of GDP per capita: Malaysia – 5.3% ; Thailand – 5.1%; Indonesia – 5.7%; Singapore
– 7.7%; Philippines – 3.4%. If Philippines is second to Japan, why do we have
the least increase in GDP. So if you can provide me any documents I can
probably believe this.
Source: Data from Wikipedia
2.
Philippines
has the strongest currency exchange rate of $1=P2. - True.
But let me remind you, it is not right to
claim someone’s achievement. Before he was elected as President on 1965,
peso-dollar exchange rate is already $1=P2.
If you see the trend, the exchange rate
becomes $1=P20 when he left the
post, the most drastic drop of peso’s value in history. Here are the peso value
per president at the end of term (before and after Marcos): Diosdado Macapagal –
1965 -$1=P3.80; Marcos – 1986 - $1=P20.53; Aquino – 1992 - $1 = P27.61.
Source: Data from Wikipedia/Philstar
3.
We had better
economy during Marcos Regime – False.
Poverty
significantly worsened during the Marcos years. “A World Bank study estimated
that the proportion of people living below the poverty line in [Phl] cities had
risen from 24 percent in 1974 to 40 percent in 1986 [the year Marcos was
ousted]. The countryside was no better.” Thus wrote the well-respected
journalist and historian Stanley Karnow in his book, In Our Image, America’s
Empire in the Philippines, which won the Pulitzer Prize for
History.
Economic
growth slackened. Penn World Tables reported that while real growth in GDP per
capita averaged 3.5 percent from 1951 to 1965, under the Marcos regime (1966 to
1986) annual average growth was only 1.4 percent (Wikipedia). So how could the
Philippines have overtaken Singapore which had witnessed
“unprecedented economic growth” averaging 12.7 percent of real GDP from
1965 to 1973, according to the Library of the US Congress? Thereafter,
Singapore frequently reached growth rates averaging 8-10 percent. Homepage
(Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Workers’
wages decreased drastically. Between 1982 and 1986, real wages of unskilled
laborers in Metropolitan Manila declined annually at 5.8 percent, and those of
skilled laborers at 5.2 percent. Agricultural wages also declined at the same
rate, according to James K. Boyce, associate professor of economics at the
University of Massachusetts in his book, The Political Economy of
Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Era.
Source: Philstar
4. Low
price of commodities. – True;
but because it was subsidized.
Basic commodities have been subsidized so that the
public will be on the impression that they have a good quality of life. But if
you dig deeper, the money that has been used to subsidize the services is from
the loan from IMF and WB. In short, GINISA TAYO SA SARILI NATING MANTIKA.
5.
Martial was declared to stop
insurgency/communism/activism –
Half True – Half False.
Yes,
there might be are insurgency at that time, but the question is, did the declaration
of Martial Law solve the insurgency problem? The insurgency intensified. “. . . [T]he US
foreign policy experts also perceived that the longer Marcos’ excesses
continue, the faster the Communist insurgency would spread . . . So his
profligacy, corruption and repression presented a potential danger to America’s
strategic interests,” said Karnow. Not only did the Communist insurgency strengthen,
the Muslim insurgency erupted and after protracted war forced the Marcos
government to sign the humiliating Tripoli Agreement giving concessions to the
Moro National Liberation Front. -
For me, It doesn’t solve the
problem but rather intensify the problem and even cause life of thousands
Filipino.
Source:
Philstar
6.
Lot infrastructure project has been constructed. – True; but foreign debt also increases.
It is rightful
the build lot of infrastructure since he is in the position for 21 years. With
the sudden increase of our
foreign debt, we then
should expect that the money will be use for the public. The
Philippines’ foreign debt rose from $360 million in 1962 to $28.3 billion in
1986, said Boyce. Hence, more than one-half of the present $53 billion external
debt was contributed by Marcos. The government financed its
spending primarily from foreign debt. From $2.9 billion in 1973, it rose to $6.8
billion in 1976 and $17.3 billion in 1980. The balance of payments also behaved
generally well in the earlier years, with surpluses recorded from 1973 to 1974.
However, an increasing trend of deficits followed the years afterwards. From 1974 to 1976, investments were still very
high as the government still engaged in massive spending. Spending on
infrastructures was primarily the focus of the government, targeting an
increase economic growth and
tourism. Because of the large influx of investments from
the public and private sector and the increase in economic activity, together
with high domestic savings which financed part of
government spending, the Philippines survived the first oil price
shock, the Middle East oil embargo which started in 1973 and caused inflation
to rise in the Philippines. By the years 1977-1980, the Marcoses primarily
supported and focused on the expansion of its government-owned corporations,
which were able to loan from foreign institutions for investments. According to Joseph Lim of the
University of
the Philippines, a
businessman in 1981 related to Marcos fled the country with $80 million worth
of debt in international and local banks. Because of the gravity of the parties
involved, the
Central Bank, together with national banks like
Philippine
National Bank and Development
Bank of the Philippines, formed
a bailout package and rescued the banks and companies implicated, which paved
way for “the expansion of the money supply from 1980 to 1983.”
[3] The
outflow of capital, termed “capital flight", contributed to the foreign exchange depletion as seen
in Table 2 (qtd. in Boyle, 1990). "As the import liberalization program
started to be implemented, important sectors … became more and more monopolized
by the cronies of Marcos.”
Source:
Wikipedia/Philstar
7. Di bale ng
corrupt at least may nagawa. – Isang malaking kabobohan.
Sige
nga kung maholdap ka habang pauwi, dahil mabait yung holdaper bingyan ka ng
pamasahe pauwi. Ok lang ba sa’yo na ganoon?
8.
Siya pa rin ang pinakamagaling na naging president,
maraming nagawa, kayang mag-speach ng walang kodigo, etc. – Matalino siguro,
Oo.
Nagamit
ba ng maayos yung kagalingan nya? Wala ba siyang flaws di tulad ng ibang presidente?
Sapat ba lahat ng mga tulay, daan, gusali na nagawa nya upang tumbasan ang
libo-libong buhay na nawala, sapat ba ito upang ibsan ang dalamhati ng mga
pamilyang nawalan. Kung nangyari sayo ang narasan ng maraming Pilipino na
biglang naglaho ang mahal sa buhay, iidolohin mo pa ba siya?
Now, you
decide.
