Ferdinand Marcos as a Leader: Insights from The Marcos Regime

Introduction

Why should one read this book one might ask? If one is curious about the details and the unobservable events, even anecdotes from the regime of Ferdinand Marcos as a leader who left a significant mark on the history of the Philippines, this will be a book that will offer you much more than a dainty experience. What is this really about? It is to enlighten the non-enlightened so to speak, as does what a true book does, and a book that would arm you with perspectives wherein one can one manage and even learn from the master of politics, that is to say, the power play. If one ignores the attempt of the author who delivered his conceived notions, a detached point of view therefore, which is to equally say, an avatar that possesses the same qualities as what a Machiavellian individual has, one will see and even apply tactics and strategies present in this very book towards certain events into one’s life, and can even give an advice to individuals who seek nurture from the reader itself who have grasped the fundamentals present in this material. More than that, it is to arm oneself as well, specifically from the people who very well are thirsty for the grasp of power, those who are willing to break and transgress ethical and legal actions- for what we know from the empirical evidence gained by surviving in this environment, may it be in the school, in the friendship circle, in the workplace, etc. It is clear to say that human beings crave power instinctively

Unveiling the Facets of Ferdinand Marcos' Power

Although it is safe to say as well that acquiring power involves scalability, some people seek power only in the domains wherein they can conduct without feeling unethical towards its procedures, there are people as well who seek power solely only because those whom they have casted upon, or the environment on which they solely occupy can be victimized which roughly translates to possessing opportunities wherein one has the ability to cast self-interested motives, there are also people who practice discipline for not grasping an amount of power, which we can infer as the politically ascetic. The best way, driven by personal opinion, to read this book is to read with a detached, almost observateur-like persona, accept what was written proven that it possesses a convincing evidence, investigate, keep the skepticism, notice the flaws but always at the same time read for the sake of information which would translate to knowledge then to wisdom, but above all, learn for enjoyment.

The following are details on which one might be considered novel from a non-expert in the history of the Philippines, to be specific during the Ferdinand Marcos regime. The author of this book observed from the information given in this material is a journalist, that of a real kind, he dismantled the illusion of the naked eye what can be considered as a pretense, to the Philippines, and towards the Filipino people, to the whole world even! He was a confidant and propagandist that of the former president Ferdinand Marcos, and was bribed for a false testimony, however Primitivo Mijares stated, with what one can infer to as both honorable and right and I quote: “the martial regime of Marcos miscalculated; it failed to reckon with that little possibility that I might also be influenced by the high fallutin’ principle that there are things in this life which are more precious than gold, like the duty and obligation I owe to myself, my family, my profession, my country and its history.” You are surely to be targeted by the enemy especially when you did hit them where it hurts for them, however at the same time, if you think about this thoroughly, if the opposition, which was the side of Ferdinand Marcos, moved and attacked Primitivo Mijares himself, the media or the public in general were to turn suspicious, and would only give a causality with a result in one conclusion, Ferdinand Marcos is truly the cause for such an event, it is then a bad play if Ferdinand Marcos were to commit such an act, in turn, he declined the statements from the mouth Primitivo Mijares, and Primitivo Mijares as often one can intuitively account from reading his work, proposed Ferdinand Marcos as a pathological liar.

Approach of Ferdinand Marcos as a Leader

What we see here is but a perspective from the author himself, and a detail in this book states that Primitivo Mijares was working for Ferdinand Marcos for 3 years, a speculation thus comes to mind that Marcos and Mijares encountered a conflict and on which has caused Mijares to sell Ferdinand Marcos, there might be another party who have bribed the author a far larger amount, and merely veiled this book as a scapegoat or an excuse for that manner, especially when the details are vivid, and to the nuanced mind, it is of course counterintuitive thus fallacious to fully detail an event, for that is an act done by that from a consummate liar. However, these are mere speculations, it may have been indeed a strategic execution from a man of honor and shrewdness in order to bring the hammer of justice to what he calls the tyrant of the country, pretending to be a fool to fool the so called tyrant himself, for no sane man is willing to invest long excruciating years for this book merely as an excuse, or a revenge from a man who has damaged both his character and pride. If he does this so, then it is only right for him to be commended, given the fact that this piece is written metaphorically saying, with his own blood, for he risked everything, himself and his family, and those close to him, in order for the so called “truth” which can be considered as a primary substance which is chased by the curious minds. Just by knowing the writer, one can also judge the book by itself, a good book that is. A true writer is not just he who writes for the sake of money, but for a legacy, for the world itself, and his books and works is a reflection of what he is, as Rene Descartes once said, “Reading all good books brings one into conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”

In the previous statements, a discussion have stated that in a detached point of view one can learn from the cunningness of Marcos, but a question comes to one’s mind, what are his motives for wanting to rule the country in a perennial manner that he is almost willing to do everything to achieve that grandiose purpose of his, which is to have full control of the Philippines? It gives us perspective what power does and its attempt to fully grasp it, that a reasonable man such as Ferdinand Marcos can be considered to have lost his cognitive clarity, we can compare him to the Greek mythology figure, Icarus, who was given the ability to fly by having wings created out of wax and feathers but flew too close to the sun thus burning and melting his wings which resulted to his death from a fall . A great power really does come with a great responsibility, and by that it is agreeable, and perhaps they are exactly right when they have stated that power too corrupts. The realm was full of terror due to the power directed solely for oneself, and it is present here what the tangible commodity named money can be used to, even the author himself stated; everything has a price, but that price is not at all centralized around money, there is your life, and that of your loved one’s, their opportunities, and many more. It is always present in us, the notion of possibilities, behind the lies of the previous tyrant, as what the author refers to him, what could have the state become if he instead directed on the people’s interests, rather than that of himself and that of his beloved lover? He may have not gotten the same power as what he used to have on that era, for those who sided with him was a bond created not out of brotherhood, nor honor, it was rather for ascending themselves and intersected interests through means of fear and money. One cannot help but to think that the type of government which is governed by fear, to be precise, a righteous terrorizing is critical in our nation for the people as what history have shown, made them relatively behaved, however, that is just another speculation and the possibility remains endless. Fear alone is not enough to run a country towards a successful future and to domesticate the citizens from ruining the plans from that of the higher authorities, the brain, analogically speaking. “Repeated punishment, while it crushes the hatred of a few, stirs the hatred of all … just as trees that have been trimmed throw out again countless branches.” said a poetic insight by Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

Marcos' Martial Law Policy

The term “martial law” when stated has now become repulsive and possesses a negative connotation to the Filipino people given the history the country experienced, it scales to the middle-aged, adults, even from the youth. The actions they have executed can never be undone, thus it is considerable that we cannot blame the actions of the people in those era, the people from those era as well have been rooted by fear, and it is almost useless and nonsensical to offer solutions for it is given that the event has already happened. The youth as of the moment, introspecting the past, is vehement towards not repeating the event that terrorized and caused suffering from the Filipino people within the regime of the so-called dictator, and ex-president Ferdinand Marcos, in this, most consider themselves enlightened, however, such a thought is gravely dangerous, that is: to believe that one is enlightened actually is very different from being truly enlightened, although that topic would better to properly be tackled for another tangent. We can observe from the event that those who do not tolerate have a huge effect and even if it is an action single-handedly done by an individual, it will have an effect. In physics, Newton remarked that in every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, this can be universalized and applicable to this domain. With a single mistake just like in a domino context a single of domino piece pushed will fall to another domino, then to another domino and so on. One has to go with the momentum, although it was not at all noticeable at first, it will compound, think of a seed as small as a nail of a man’s thumb, even smaller, it has the ability to outgrow him who have planted the seeds. The small actions, of the author, the conversations he had with the people mentioned in this book, and even the writing of this book was caused by an action, a trifle, that it is now forgotten and not at all present in this book.

Conclusion

The Marcos administration revolved around the idea of bribery, hoaxes, frauds, treachery and dominated by several incidents of murders and violence that forged to the idea of antagonizing him. Marcos is a visionary man with the great ambition of lifting the country, he might even consider as the best president of the Philippines ever had. On his early term, Marcos improved infrastructure of the country such road projects, bridges, school buildings and LRT’s, his brilliancy on how he lifted the Philippines from a poor country into a developing country these caught so much attention to its neighbouring country that led in praising and hailing the Philippines because of what leader they have. However, this success that started in the early term of Marcos only short-lived because his lust of power had grown so fast that it ate him and blinded him. This book discusses, if not all, almost everything of Marcos's anomaly and controversial events he had done to maintain his power. Primitivo Mijares, the author of this book once described Marcos as a deceiver he quoted “He has lied himself blue in the face to achieve a desired rhetorical effect. And lying is almost the best way of the weapons he is prepared to deploy on behalf of his grim faith.” This statement of Mijares shows how a man Marcos was. On September 21 Marcos declared a Martial Law over the country that marked a horror, fear and terror on every Filipino that is alive on those years, thus, gave him the power to control his terms that caused a dictatorial government under his regime. The 1935 constitution was the most controversial constitution ever drafted in the Philippine history that was used by the former president to manipulate and deceive people to serve his intention in extending his terms. During those years several violation has been committed.

Works Cited

1. Mijares, Primitivo. 'The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.' Bookmark, 1976