The Shameful Marcos Legacy

Ferdinand Marcos has died in opulent exile in Hawaii, more than three years after a popular uprising dramatically ended his 20-year rule as president and martial-law dictator of the Philippines. The Philippines, meanwhile, continues to suffer from the many economic and political afflictions that will long survive as the legacy of Marcos’ venal tenure.

With his unappeasably avaricious wife, Imelda, at his side, Marcos looted the Philippines of uncounted wealth, in so doing stealing much of the country’s hopes for future development. When Marcos was first elected president in 1966, the Philippines was poor but not without some economic promise, and in his early years in office Marcos showed signs of being a progressive and reformist leader. By the time public outrage and a military revolt forced the Marcoses to flee Manila in 1986, however, the country had been effectively pauperized by the ruling family and its cronies.

During the Marcos years, officially sanctioned theft and corruption were carried out on a truly grotesque scale, becoming both the ends of power and the means to maintain it. In the course of building up his near-absolute authority, Marcos ordered or sanctioned brutal violations of human rights, including the torture and murder of political opponents.

The military, controlled in good part by inept and dishonest Marcos loyalists, was allowed to rampage through the countryside, killing, stealing and otherwise terrorizing the population it was sworn to protect. The communist-led insurgency, small and ineffective when Marcos first became president, expanded as official abuse and criminality grew ever more flagrant.

The public behavior of the Marcoses grew ever more ostentatious as their power swelled under martial law. Millions of dollars were regularly spent on glitzy entertainments for their circle of international acquaintances and sycophants. World leaders and hangers-on who accepted their hospitality and favors apparently never thought to inquire where the money to pay for the fun was coming from. No one ever seems to have asked whether the wealth squandered on parties, clothes, gifts and homes could not have been put to more socially productive uses, among them feeding Filipino children who died of hunger each year by the thousands.

Filipino children are still dying of malnutrition, part of a tragic heritage whose dismal effects will be felt for many years to come. Marcos wanted very much to be remembered in his nation’s history. He will be, if only as a name to be reviled by generations of Filipinos yet unborn.