life during Marcos' time....

[ab_initio]

Karamihan daw ng krimen ng pulis o sundalo sa probinsiya daw.. SA Maynila maingat ang mga pulis altho may nakakalusot. Karamihan daw ng dinadampot yung makukulit na rally ng rally at kontra ng kontra. Pero yung mga normal na tao na kumakayod lang at normal na nagtatrabaho parang ok naman sila

Partly true. Halos araw-araw may display of dead bodies in our plaza. They were covered with banana leaves. Families with female teenagers were always wary and so scared of soldiers courting or abducting their children. Life in the province during the dictator's regime was laced with the gory details of military abuses. At such a young age, it forced me to understand what gory is. Barbaric. Ruthless. Been caught in the middle of crossfire twice. My aunt lost me from her grip in the middle of the exchange of bullets. Fortunately, an armed person took me from the fray. The good side is...it makes me more tough. "I am a survivor"-this i always tell myself. But i want to shield my kid from that.

[chua_riwap]

basta natatandaan ko noon, disiplinado tao. mahigpit sa jay walking. sinusunod kung saan ang mga bus & jeepney stops, disiplanado mga PUVs noon, at may curfew.

sikat noon ang kanta ni kuh ledesma...."ako ay pilipino"

at lagi kong naririnig noon, yung paulit-ulit na, "sa ikauunlad ng bayan....disiplina ang kailangan"

[ess]

The only thing I remember was my mother threatening me that the Metrocom will pick me up if I don't take my afternoon nap. (Sige, pag hindi ka natulog, dudukutin ka ng Metrocom!) Man that scared the hell out of me.

Oh yeah, and the cancellation of Voltes V, etc. and video arcades.

[coiter]

ano ba specific 'Marcos time' are we talking about, pre-martial law or after martial law was declared? because I think they're practically different eras.

I remember before in the early 90's when my brother and I (we were in our late teens then) were discussing politics and we brought up the idea na bagay sa atin martial law kasi ang gulo gulo na sa bansa, bigla kaming nasigawan ng dad ko. sabi 'bata pa kayo nung martial law kaya di niyo alam sinasabi niyo. hindi na dapat maulit yun.' I guess that says it all.

but when he speaks of Marcos' 1st term until the middle of his 2nd, he's all praises.

[JackFlash]

ano ba specific 'Marcos time' are we talking about, pre-martial law or after martial law was declared? because I think they're practically different eras.

That's right. You can break down the Marcos era into:

1. 1965-1969: His 1st term. Phils was full of hope behind his vision, "This nation can be great again." The country's economy is 2nd to Japan. It has a healthy democracy, the envy of many developing SEA countries. Bec of Macoy's achievements, he gets re-elected in 1969.

2. 1969-1972: Macoy continues his reign but starts becoming more sinister. Because of international geopolitics, the country's economy slows down, the poor realize that the gap with the rich hasn't narrowed, commies agitate for revolution, while Macoy starts to exercise more cronyism and turn the presidency into his family business. Street protests become more rampant and as the end of his term draws near in 1973 Macoy decides he doesn't want to step down and engineers martial law in 1972.

3. 1972-1981: Martial Law. Using the red scare as his ace card, Macoy draws the support of the US govt, and the country's elite who decide to protect the status quo. He gives a lot of support to the military, buying their support and loyalty. Despite the arrests, torture and disappearances of opponents, despite the iron rule, death by firing squad, etc., many turn a blind eye, thinking some strong-arm tactics are needed to keep the country in line. Sumobra ang strong-arm tactics. Since very few could oppose him, Macoy's kleptocratic govt escalates its abuses. People start to question him toward the late 70's but it's still far from boiling point. A few street protests occur here and there but mostly it's initiated by students and left-leaning groups (which usually scare off the middle class).

4. 1981-1983: Macoy "lifts" martial law. Installs a rubber stamp batasan using parliamentary form of govt where all the MP's are allies. Political parties exist but only one is dominant, his KBL party. If you weren't allied with this group, mahihirapan ka lang mag serbisyo sa constituents mo. Since then, the only real party in this country has been the "Llamado Party". Kung party ka ng admin, dadami ang sasama sa yo. No party system, no party philosophy; just a bunch of opportunists who'll jump at the chance to be part of the ruling party. Sad to say, yan ang practice na hindi nabuwag hanggang ngayon.

5. 1981-1986: Macoy tries to show the world that democracy exists in this country with his batasan, elections (which were rigged), and all sorts of palabas. Kaso, napupuno na ang tao, kaya lalong dumami ang protesta. It comes to a boil after Ninoy Aquino's assassination in 1983. Various countries sever ties w/ the Phils, the economy takes a nose dive, many businesses pull out. Protests spread to the middle class who realize their aspirations are threatened. Yet Macoy manages to cling on to power until he again tries to pull a moro-moro by calling for snap elections in 1986, which he wins through massive cheating.

6. 1986: EDSA 1 and the rest is history.

[kotiko]

Bagong Lipunan

May bagong silang,

May bago nang buhay,

Bagong bansa,

Bagong galaw,

Sa Bagong Lipunan.

Magbabago ang lahat,

Tungo sa pag-unlad,

at ating itanghal,

Bagong lipunan!

Ang gabi'y nagmaliw nang ganap

At lumipas na ang magdamag

Madaling araw ay nagdiriwang

May umagang darasnan

Ngumiti ng pag-asa

Sa umagang anong ganda!

[marg]

[SIZE="3"]No way, Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., no way![/SIZE]
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo, The Philippine Star

If it isn’t bad enough that the late unlamented Dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos brought us through a dark and bitter chapter of our history — now here comes his son, Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., attempting to rewrite that story. No way, Sen. Marcos, absolutely no way!

When the young Marcos asserted with a straight face last week that our country would have been a Singapore by now if his father was not ousted by People Power in 1986 — thank God that I wasn’t seated as the impact of his wild imagination could have compelled me to wreck another chair. If there is anything I have consistently deplored about the sad state of affairs in our country, it is our very shallow appreciation of our real history.

Looking at the human side, a son trying to redeem the name of his father in history, I first tried seeing that assertion of Bongbong Marcos as a joke. I was thinking that Bongbong Marcos may have spoken the truth when he asserted that the Philippines would have been like Singapore if his father, the Dictator, wasn’t ousted — if what he meant was that after the looting, we will be left with only Metro Manila. Then that would make the Philippines no more than a City State like Singapore.

There is nothing that you can do now about your family’s past, Bongbong Marcos, not in this generation and not in the Information Age. No doubt, your political prospects are weighed down by your family’s past. That’s why it took so long before one of you won in a national election after 1986. The sooner you extricate yourself from any further discussions about your father’s sins against our people and our country, the more your prospects will improve. Hopefully that break from your past will allow you to accomplish something that can make up for the negatives of your heavy baggage.

Bongbong Marcos, this nation might give a sincere son who wants to make up for the sins of his father a break. However, make no mistake about it — we will not allow you to erase the truth about our past because we know only too well how damaging that would be to future generations who will not learn our real history and cannot thus avoid reliving its bitter episodes.

[donbuggy]

Will the gentleman veteran of the First Quarter Storm throw some light on this dark chapter of our nation's history?

[Big_daddy]

I was born in 1976...a few years after Martial law was declared and missed out on most of the "gulo" during that time...but I think that the prevalent fear/discipline that you'd observe during that time can't be seen in our streets now.

I remember cleaner streets back then...functioning streetlamps...discipline drivers on the streets...and a lot of "good" things happening, but mostly as very superficial.

I think what caused us to slide back even more is the fact that what replaced the iron-fisted rule of the Marcoses...the soft lace democracy that we had since 1986 has made us lose control of our society. Its like having a really stern dean of discipline kicked out of your university...all the weevils and bugs started crawling out of the woodwork.

I guess that there are good things that Marcos did for his 1st term...but he got corrucpted by power...and we in return...got drunk on too much freedom...and that is how the Philippines is where it is now.

Just my humble opinion.

[miLes]

I was born in 1976...a few years after Martial law was declared and missed out on most of the "gulo" during that time...but I think that the prevalent fear/discipline that you'd observe during that time can't be seen in our streets now.

I remember cleaner streets back then...functioning streetlamps...discipline drivers on the streets...and a lot of "good" things happening, but mostly as very superficial.

I think what caused us to slide back even more is the fact that what replaced the iron-fisted rule of the Marcoses...the soft lace democracy that we had since 1986 has made us lose control of our society. Its like having a really stern dean of discipline kicked out of your university...all the weevils and bugs started crawling out of the woodwork.

I guess that there are good things that Marcos did for his 1st term...but he got corrucpted by power...and we in return...got drunk on too much freedom...and that is how the Philippines is where it is now.

Just my humble opinion.

spot on! now the problem is to instill back discipline you need absolute power but power tends to corrupt so we are back to where we started from