Ferdinand Marcos
The president who imposed martial law and ruled the Philippines for twenty years before being overthrown by the People Power Revolution.
Life
Lawyer
Marcos was a lawyer-turned-politician who was elected President in 1965 and reelected in 1969.
Martial law
In 1972, citing a communist insurgency, he declared nationwide martial law, dissolved Congress and arrested the opposition, and thereafter ruled as a dictator. His family and that of his wife Imelda amassed enormous wealth, with embezzlement estimated in the billions of dollars. In 1983 the opposition leader Benigno Aquino was shot dead at the airport on his return home.
People Power
In 1986 fraud in the presidential election set off peaceful demonstrations by a million people, and he fled to Hawaii in the United States; he died in 1989. His son Marcos Jr. was elected President in 2022.
Legacy
Marcos's rule under martial law was the most controversial period in modern Philippine history, and his family remains a major force in Philippine politics today.
Did you know? His wife Imelda was famous for her collection of more than a thousand pairs of shoes.
Key dates
- 1965Elected President
- 1972Declares martial law
- 1981Lifts martial law but stays in power
- 1983Aquino assassinated
- 1986Overthrown; goes into exile
- 1989Died