Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law
On the Economic Disaster and Social Inequalities during the Marcos dictatorship
Economic Crisis
Golden Age of Philippine Economy?
Martial Law was not the so-called Golden Age of Philippine Economy but a period of disaster.
Marcos and Globalization (Neoliberalism)
Neoliberalism did not just start on the Aquino regime, on the contrary it started during the Marcos administration.
Social inequality
During the Marcos period the lives of common Filipinos were at par with few elites, contrary to the assumption that during those days, people enjoy their lives and had a more affluent standard of living.
Marcos Infrastructural Projects
Marcos has finished infrastructural projects not in the name of national development but because of the rationale to immortalize his regime and to channel loans from foreign countries and multilateral loan agencies which caused economic havocs that we endure up to the present.
Environmental Destruction
During the administration of former Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965-1986), almost 7 million has of forests were estimated to have been lost. Annual deforestation rates peaked due to massive timber harvesting. PD 705 was promulgated, adopting policies such as recognizing the multiple-use of forest lands; systematization and hastening of land classification and surveys; promoting and rationalizing wood processing plants; and developing and rehabilitating forest lands for production purposes.
The logging industry also served as one of the most lucrative sources of ill-gotten wealth by those in power, especially during the Marcos dictatorial regime. In 1975, logging companies protected by Marcos extracted a record high of 15.5 million cubic meters of lumber. From 1972 to 1988, around 8.57 million hectares of forested area and 3.8 million hectares of virgin forests were destroyed. By 1990, only 8% of the forest cover in the country remained.
Among the most destructive was Marcos crony Alfonso Lim Sr. who was responsible for denuding forests in Ifugao and Cagayan Valley, which now serve as Magat Dam’s main source of water. He owned and operated at least seven logging companies which covered hundreds of hectares of forests in the said areas.
To monopolize the timber industry, Marcos appointed Juan Ponce Enrile as his “general” for logging who was tasked to issue permits to logging companies. At the same time, Marcos also awarded Enrile’s San Jose Timber Corp. which covered 95,770 hectares of forests in Northern Samar. This is in addition to the concessions of seven of his other logging companies which denuded forests in Palawan, Samar, Bukidnon, Butuan and Cebu.ion during those years, losing 316,000 hectares of forest annually on average. The TLA holders did not adopt selective logging, a sustainable way of harvesting timber. They cleared forests, did not replant, and even went beyond their concession areas.