Marcos, Ferdinand Edralin (1917–1989)

Filipino right-wing politician, dictator-president 1965–86, when he was forced into exile in Hawaii by a popular front led by Corazon Aquino.

Born in Sarrat, Marcos was convicted, while a law student in 1939, of murdering a political opponent of his father, but eventually secured his own acquittal. His claim that during World War II he was a guerrilla fighter against the Japanese invaders was subsequently discredited. He worked as a special assistant to President Roxas during the 1940s and was a member of the House of Representatives 1949–59 and senate 1959–61, representing the Liberal Party until 1964, before becoming president in 1965. He was elected as the candidate of the right-wing Nationalist Party, defeating Diosdado Macapagal.

During his first term, Marcos launched military campaigns against communist insurgents and Muslim rebels on Mindanao, and made a reputation as a reformer. He was re-elected in 1969, but, with civil strife increasing, declared martial law in 1972. The Marcos regime became increasingly repressive, with secret pro-Marcos groups terrorizing, arresting, and executing opponents and press censorship being imposed. The new 1973 constitution made Marcos a virtual dictator. With corruption, nepotism, and electoral fraud rife, Marcos was finally overthrown and exiled in February 1986, following a nonviolent ‘people's power’ movement, led by Corazon Aquino, the widow of a murdered opposition leader, which obtained international and army support. Marcos was backed by the USA when in power, but in 1988 US authorities indicted him and his wife, Imelda Marcos, for racketeering and embezzlement.

A US grand jury investigating Marcos and his wife alleged that they had embezzled over $100 million from the government of the Philippines, received bribes, and defrauded US banks. Marcos was too ill to stand trial and died in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, in September 1989. His body was later returned to the Philippines in 1993 and was kept in cold storage, while his widow, Imelda, campaigned for a proper state burial.