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  • Essay / 11st People Power Revolution in the Philippines: No Guns, No Deaths, No Violence

    The Philippines has been ruled by many presidents over the past decades. One of the most famous of these is the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, commonly known as Ferdinand Marcos, was the 10th president of the Philippines. Born September 11, 1917 in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. He studied law at the University of the Philippines. Over the years, he was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 1949. He entered the Senate in 1959 and served as Senate President from 1963 to 1965. After failing to win his party's presidential nomination, he broke his ties with the Liberal Party. and presented himself as a candidate for the Nationalist Party. He finally became President of the Philippines on December 30, 1965. Which even today is a subject of much discussion among Filipinos because of how he led the government and country of the Philippines to say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Many people have differing opinions about the rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. Some say that these were the glory days of the Philippines and if his reign had continued, we would have been recognized as one of the best countries today. On the other hand, it was also said that he abused his power to such an extent. His era was known as one of two things: the time when the Philippines was at its peak or the time when Filipinos were silenced. Many history professors like to discuss the topic of his reign because of the extent of the discussions, because at that time he had actually been forced to resign his position after 20 (going up to 21) years as as president. He was re-elected in 1969 and this was marked by increased violence and civil conflict from left-wing rebels. On September 21, 1972, after a series of bombings in Manila, he declared what we all call martial law. Before martial law was declared a week before, a number of people had received information that Marcos had hatched a plan to completely take over the government and obtain all power. Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr., exposed on September 13, 1972 during a privileged speech “Oplan Sagittarius”. The senator proclaimed that he had received a confidential plan proposed by Marcos himself aimed at placing Metro Manila and its surrounding areas under the control of the Philippine Constabulary as a prelude to martial law. Using a series of bombings in Metro Manila, including the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing, to justify his takeover. Marcos himself passed Proclamation 1081 in September 1972, which officially placed the Philippines under martial law, thereby extending his term. During martial law, streets were considered clean, curfew hours were strictly enforced, and fear was inflicted on the general public. During his time, the Philippines also became exporters rather than importers. We have imported various crops to other countries, thereby increasing our economy. The Philippines also had nuclear power plants that were meant to be used, but are now left behind as traces of President Marcos' plans. The Philippine peso was also almost equivalent to the US dollar due to the good health of the economy and the country. One could say that, from an economic and national perspective, Marcos had a huge impact. Unfortunately, even largeThings have their bad sides. Not all Filipinos agreed with these conditions. Some felt this strengthened their grip on freedom, especially after 300 years of Spanish colonization that the country had endured. Many opposed the President gaining total control of everything, and politicians who seriously disagreed were imprisoned. One of those who opposed it was Benigno Aquino Jr., who was imprisoned for eight years. Not only politicians, but also some religious groups and church leaders opposed it. On August 21, 1983, Ninoy Aquino or better known as Benigno S. Aquino was assassinated at what is now known as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his memory. This led to an uprising because it was speculated or used as a reason that Ferdinand Marcos himself was the cause of the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. In reality, he had nothing to do with it. Despite this, this uprising sparked something within the nation. A rather unusual scenario, without weapons, without deaths and without violence. This was marked and known in history as the 1st People Power Revolution. This happened from February 22 to 25, 1986 and was led by various religious groups and people, among them Cardinal Jaime Sin, who actually opened the school gymnasium. About 2 million people joined and marched along Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue (EDSA), which marked a new era of democracy and freedom for Filipinos. With this event, Ferdinand Marcos resigned as president after 20 years in power. Since then, Filipinos have celebrated the 1st People Power Revolution every February 25. Now, what has happened since then? Well, after the indictment, Ferdinand Marcos flew to another country until the matter calmed down. He died on September 28, 1989 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It doesn't stop there. Now that you know enough, what can you say about the tenure of Ferdinand Marcos? This still remains very controversial among ordinary people. The way law and order was imposed on ordinary people was like two sides of the same coin. In a country, law and order are essential, and in Ferdinand Marcos's term, it was good, people were not discriminated against and were not deprived of their rights. However, those who might object may have faced circumstances where law and order was not present, such as when court cases or justice were required. According to some people, the streets were clean, the curfew was enforced, and basic laws were respected, rarely broken. This may lead to some speculation, is it because of the influence of senior officials who provoked the said uprising? Or did a certain event or detail happen that the history books wouldn't like us to know about for our own sake? Was it simply because the needs of the people were not being met with this style of government? This is all really strange. In this regard, in addition to martial law, the death penalty was also implemented. All serious offenders were put to death. This, at least in my opinion, could have been the main reason why people no longer wanted Marcos to be president. The possibility of the evidence presented being tampered with, the witnesses lying, the high probability of an injustice occurring and resulting in someone's death in return was too great. It was as if in order to establish law and order, one had to pay a life time to strike fear into the hearts of many people. In these hearts are the hearts of those who have known.