Quirino comes to power ( 1948-1953 )

In April 1948, Roxas died of a heart attack. He was succeeded by Elpidio Quirino, his vice president. Quirino, a native of Vigan, Ilocos Sur won as president in the 1949 election against Jose P. Laurel, who was president in the Second Puppet Republic during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines. Quirino’s main goals in his administration were to obtain peace and order and minimize graft and corruption in the government. He believed that mass corruption existed during the Roxas administration. But Quirino also was severely criticized by the press and the public for alleged corruption. It was during his administration that the Huks increased to a greater number. In the 1949-51 period, there were between 11,000 and 15,000 armed Huks. Although they were mostly in central Luzon, there were regional committees of the People’s Liberation Army in provinces now known as Southern Tagalog region, in northern Luzon, Visayan Islands, and Mindanao. Quirino appointed Ramon Magsaysay, a former guerrilla and a congressman from Zambales Province, as secretary of defense to fight the Huks. With the efforts of Magsaysay, the backbone of the Huk movement in central Luzon was broken. The Magsaysay 

Era (1953-1957) 

In 1953, because of his popularity and his success in fighting the Huks, the Nacionalista Party lured Magsaysay to be its presidential candidate. He was then called as “Man of the People.” They also said, “Magsaysay Is My Guy.” Born in Iba, Zambales, Magsaysay defeated Quirino of the Liberal Party in the November 1953 election. As a man of the people, he opened the Malacañang Palace, the White House of the Philippines, to the people. He also established special courts for landlord-tenant disputes and built roads, bridges, irrigation canals, and “liberty wells” in the rural areas. The Huk movement further weakened with the surrender of Luis Taruc in May 1954. In 1955, Magsaysay worked for the redistribution of land. In that same year, Congress passed the so-called Land Reform Act. The law created the Land Tenure Administration that had the power to acquire private lands through either purchase or expropriation. Such lands would be sold by the government to farmers at reasonable prices. However, the law was hampered by a lack of funds. Hence, Magsaysay, was not able to push through in Congress his full program for land reform. He died in March 1957 in a plane crash at Mt. Pinatubo. 

The Garcia Regime ( 1957-1961 ): 

Carlos P. Garcia, Magsaysay’s vice president, succeeded him to the presidency. Garcia, a native of Talibon, Bohol Province, was himself elected president in the 1957 election. Diosdado Macapagal, of the opposing Liberal Party, won the vice presidency. President Garcia immediately imposed import controls on manufactured goods from abroad. His objective was to jump-start the Philippine economy. His administration was known for its program of austerity and its “Filipino First” policy, with a view to creating economic independence for the Philippines. This led to a kind of industrialization. However, as in the time of President Quirino, Garcia’s government was plagued with graft and corruption. 

The Macapagal Administration ( 1961-1965 ): 

With graft and corruption as the election issue for the 1961 election, Garcia was defeated by the Liberal Party’s Diosdado Macapagal. Calling himself the “Poor Boy” from Lubao, Pampanga, Macapagal lifted the import controls imposed by Garcia. In 1963, Macapagal signed the Agrarian Land Reform Code into law. The code abolished tenancy by the institution of an agricultural leasehold system, which was intended to lead toward the eventual goal of ownership of the land by the farmers. However, when Macapagal’s term ended in 1966, the extent of the land area affected was not significant. Only about 29,150 hectares of the 405,000 hectares of rice and corn, were cultivated by tenants. Macapagal was also known for his changing the Independence Day of the Philippines from July 4, 1946 (given by the United States) to June 12, 1898. It was on the latter date that President Emilio Aguinaldo had declared the Philippine independence in his hometown in Cavite from Spain. Besides launching his version of Agrarian Reform, Macapagal promoted the stability of the peso and initiated a socio-economic program for the betterment of the poor. 

The era of Marcos: A President Who Became a Dictator (1965-1986).

In the 1965 presidential election, Macapagal was defeated by Ferdinand E. Marcos, a former Liberal, who became the Nacionalista Party’s presidential candidate. In 1969, Marcos, a native son of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, won his reelection. However, during the Marcos regime, corruption in the government reached unparalleled proportions. Thus, opposition to Marcos’s administration grew stronger and stronger. On September 21, 1972, President Marcos imposed martial law. He abolished Congress, clamped opposition print and broadcast media, and jailed thousands of his critics. He became an absolute dictator. His presidential proclamations became the laws of the land. In 1973, his second and final term as president should have ended. However, with martial law, Marcos continued to rule as the absolute dictator in the Philippines. Plebiscites were held during the years 1973, 1975, and 1978. However, the will of the Filipino people didn’t prevail. All the plebiscites of disputable legitimacy gave approval to the extension of martial law. In 1978, the Philippines held elections for the legislature (the National Assembly had replaced the former Congress). Marcos’ party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), or New Society Movement obtained three quarters of the seats in the national assembly. In 1981, Marcos formally ended martial law. However, as president, he had emergency powers. In June 1981, in an election during which many people didn’t vote, Marcos won another six-year term as president. During the martial law era, both the administrations of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter continued to give military and other economic aid to the Marcos administration. In August 1983, Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., a staunch Marcos critic, went home to the Philippines from his exile in the United States. He was murdered at the Manila International Airport upon his arrival. In February 1985, General Fabian Ver and 24 other soldiers were tried by a special court composed of what the opposition groups called “Marcos loyalists.” Ver and his soldiers were acquitted. A so-called “snap” presidential election, proposed by President Marcos himself, was held in February 1986. Corazon Aquino, wife of the late Senator Aquino who was murdered, became Marcos’ rival candidate. Aquino, with the backing of the people, won a clear majority of the votes. However, Marcos had the National Assembly declare himself winner in the election. A section of the military, led by Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos’ secretary of defense, and Fidel Ramos, chief of staff of the armed forces of the Philippines, rebelled against the dictator. Due to the mass demonstrations in Manila, called “people power,” Marcos was forced to escape aboard a U.S. Air Force plane to the United States. That ended the Marcos regime and started the rule of President Aquino. Marcos died in exile in the United States. 

The Aquino Administration ( 1986-1992 ): 

Upon taking over the presidency, President Aquino, freed all political prisoners jailed by President Marcos. In the same year, all presidential decrees by Marcos were revoked, and the constitution, the fundamental law of the land, was adopted by a nationwide plebiscite in 1987. During her administration, Aquino attempted to alleviate the economic conditions of the people. However, she was not successful. In fact, some criticized the weakness of her administration in dealing with economic problems. Furthermore, during her term, some elements of the armed forces, along with Marcos loyalists, revolted seven times against the Aquino government. The coup attempts were thwarted by loyal sectors of the military, led by Fidel V. Ramos, chief of staff of the armed forces and secretary of defense. It was during the Aquino administration that the issue of extending the expiring leases of U.S. military bases in the Philippines came about. In September 1991, as Aquino objected to it, the Senate disapproved the extension of the leases of the bases. (Earlier, in June 1991, the nearby Mount Pinatubo damaged the Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga rendering it unusable.) Former Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo said of Aquino, “Cory Aquino’s greatest legacy is the fact that we are all here today, talking freely.” In the next presidential election, President Aquino didn’t seek reelection. She chose Fidel V. Ramos, as her candidate for president. 

The Ramos Administration ( 1992-1998 ): 

Fidel V. Ramos won in the 1992 presidential election against six other candidates. In the last five years of his administration, he has changed the Philippines from being “the Sick Man of Asia” into “The Next Tiger of Asia.” In September 1992, he lifted the ban on the Communist Party. Likewise, he eliminated foreign-currency restrictions to attract foreign investment to the Philippines. Ramos, besides courting foreign investment, has liberalized the Philippine economy to move toward industrialization. He negotiated with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), headed by Nur Misuari, to bring peace in Mindanao, the southern part of the Philippines. A peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Muslim group was signed on September 2, 1996, that ended the 24-year-old war in Mindanao. The agreement was signed by the government chief negotiator Manuel Yan, Nur Misuari, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, and Secretary General Hamid Algabid of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Later, Misuari ran for and won the governorship of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARM) in the September 9, 1996, elections. 

Due to his economic programs and accomplishments, Newsweek Magazine, cited the Philippines as the “The Next Tiger of Asia. 

The Modern Philippines today, the Philippines, an independent nation of about 70 million people, is becoming one of the most progressive countries in Asia. The Philippines has rebounded from the economic debacle that former dictator Ferdinand Marcos had put her into. Investors from the United States, Japan, Malaysia, and other nations in Asia are bringing in millions of dollars as investment in factories, recreation establishments, and other businesses. 

The “States” of the Philippines. A “state” in the Philippines is called a province. The Philippines has 72 provinces and 61 chartered cities. Manila and Its Satellites. Metro Manila is the political, economic, social, educational, cultural and recreational hub of the Philippines. It comprises the city of Manila, Quezon City, Makati, and other suburban cities. Malls, boutiques, flea markets, and other shops abound in Manila and its environs. You’ll be amazed at beautiful attractions in Manila itself, like the Intramuros, the old walled city, and Chinatown. Here you’ll see a number of McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. When you’re inside the malls and you don’t concentrate on the crowd, you’d think that you were somewhere in America. 

Manila: 

Where Admiral Dewey Met His Destiny. A long time ago, Manila was a small tribal settlement on the banks of the Pasig River near Manila Bay. On May 1, 1898, Dewey’s naval fleet destroyed the Spanish Fleet on Manila Bay. It was on May 24, 1570, when Spanish Marshall Martin de Goiti’s expedition reached Soliman’s settlement. On June 24 of the following year, Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the city of Manila, which he called the “distinguished and ever loyal city” of Manila. He proclaimed it as the capital of the islands.

During the old times, in the suburbs or arabales, such as Quiapo, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Malate, the Filipinos, then known as indios, lived and worked together with the so-called mestizos (of mixed Filipino and foreign descent). The Chinese merchants called Sangleys, lived in a district called parian, which now comprises an area known as Binondo. Intramuros, which means within the walls, was the original Walled City. It was the site of the native settlement called Maynilad, ruled over by Rajah Soliman. It was at that time the center for the trade of goods from Asia. It was in this walled city where the Spaniards sought refuge when the American troops came during the Spanish-American war. It was also here that the so-called “mock battle” took place between the Spanish and American forces, where Filipino troops were excluded from participating. Intramuros is now a tourist attraction. 

Local and foreign tourists have the option of enjoying walking tours from 30-minute to 2 hours. Among the attractions in Intramuros are Fort Santiago, Rizal Shrine, Casa Manila Museum, San Agustin Church, Intramuros Walls Museum, and San Agustin Museum. Moreover, performances such as Serenata sa Fort Santiago and the Marian Procession are held in Intramuros. The Serenata sa Fort Santiago is performed as an open-air band concert in the tradition of the outdoor concerts in the paseo of the Old Luneta. It is held every Sunday from April to mid-May. On the other hand, the Marian Procession is held annually in December. This procession is in commemoration of the 400-year-old celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Concepcion. The activity is a grand display of various images of the Virgin Mary. There are also other activities in Intramuros. 

Where to Go. 

What to See. There are a lot of tourist attractions in the Philippines. Here are some suggested destinations by the Philippine Department of Tourism: Boracay. Made up of three little communities, Boracay, a “paradise island,” is at the northwestern tip of Panay Island in the West Visayas region. The communities are Yapak in the north, Balabag in the middle, and Manocmanoc in the south. About a dozen beaches dot the island. Bamboo outriggers ferry visitors. There are also horses and bicycles for riding. Night life is fun. Avail yourself of bars and discos up to the wee hours of the night. Or take a stroll in the beach by the moonlight. At Yapak, with an experienced guide, you may wish to explore the bat caves. Windsurfing and parasailing gear are readily available in the 2,000-hectare area of Boracay. You can enjoy sailing with the help of local sailors to make your stay enjoyable and memorable. Boracay is an international place. When you’re there, you’ll hear different languages: English, Pilipino, German, etc. Foreign cuisine such as French, Belgian, German, Thai, Spanish, and Australian are available, together with native cuisine. 

What a wonderful life! 

If you’re going there from Manila, you can go to Boracay by taking a 50-minute Philippine Airlines flight to Kalibo, Aklan Province. From there, you’ll take another 2-hour inland ride via bus or jeepney to Caticlan. (Or you may take a flight straight to Caticlan). At Caticlan, you may be asked to complete forms with regard to travel information. From there, you you’ll reach Boracay via outrigger boats. Banaue/Mt. Data, Saga-da. 

The natives of Banaue are called Ifugaos or rice eaters. The attractions there are the Banaue Rice Terraces, which were carved out of the mountain about 2,000 years ago. These rice terraces are called the “magnificent stairway to the god’s domain.” They rise up to 1,500 meters high and extend to over 20,000 kilometers. The ideal visiting time to see them is between March and June, when the terraces are green with shoots or golden with ripe rice seeds. The 

Philippines 2000: 

Philippines 2000, is a strategy and a movement; it is the Filipino people’s vision of development by the year 2000. As envisioned, the Philippines by the year 2000 will have the decent minimum of food, clothing, shelter, and dignity. The major goal of Philippines 2000 is to make the Philippines the next investment, trade, and tourism center in Asia and the Pacific. The Birth of Philippines 2000. The Philippines 2000, as a movement, started to gather momentum in the form of multi-sectorial consultations. These consultations were geared to pave the way for the Philippines’ entry into the 21st century. Today, involved in these endeavors are people from government, business and private sectors, labor, and other sectors forming a “strategic alliance” under the leadership of President Ramos. 

Results of panic in asia: 

In July 1997, as a result of the Hongkong stock market crash, all the currencies in Southeast Asia, including the Philippine peso, suffered steep falls in value against the U.S. dollar. The collapse of the stock market there was triggered by the jacking up of interest rates initiated by Hong Kong to protect its currency against any speculative attack.