Introduction
On February 26, 1986, Ferdinand Marcos, the man who ruled the Philippines for
almost twenty years, left the presidential palace amidst a throng of people rallying
for his removal. A military group, led by longtime Marcos ally Juan Ponce-Enrile,
had declared a rebellion, which the people enthusiastically supported. A quick
overthrow of Marcos had been unexpected. After the assassination of Marcos's chief
rival, Benigno Aquino, in August 1983, many predicted that the Marcos government
would not survive the crisis resulting from that assassination. In spite of the
predictions of his political demise, however, Marcos did survive massive opposition
for a few more years.
During the early 1980s a general feeling prevailed that no alternative to Marcos
and his regime existed and that his hold on power was strong in spite of the
widespread criticism against him. In 1981 he was able to lift martial law and still
retain his absolute powers. Martial law was no longer necessary to justify his rule
because he had established his power base.
This study explains how the authoritarian regime of Marcos ruled the Philippines
and remained in power after the coup of 1972. This study also will look into the
means that Marcos employed to maintain his power. Repressive regimes may seem
undesirable, but they are able to elicit the support of significant sectors of society. Marcos was able to maintain authoritarian rule because of the support of
bureaucrats, businesspeople, the military, and political leaders in various regions,
with the assistance of the U.S. government. He maintained this network of support
through a patron-client system with a centralized bureaucracy as its power and
resource base. In order to reward his supporters, Marcos expanded the authority
of government. To minimize the political cost of the expansion, he maintained the
legal and constitutional forms of democracy. To add credibility to his usurpation of
power, he claimed that economic development was impossible without centralized
authority. Government information offices and the controlled media echoed his
claims and extolled the virtues of the regime. To discourage, weaken, and punish
his opponents, Marcos used the armed forces and paramilitary groups who arrested
and imprisoned more than 60,000 citizens and harassed or liquidated alleged
subversives. To assure survival and the enjoyment of patronage, various sectors of society capitulated to the Marcos government.