IN his first term, President Marcos immediately sat out to solve the country’s most urgent problems of inadequate food supply, lack of basic social services, infrastructure support and a lethargic economy controlled by aliens and a well-entrenched oligarchy. He relentlessly pursued his political and social platform of “rice and roads.” The priority was to achieve food security for his people.
It was during Marcos’s presidency that the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established to serve as the focal point of research efforts in rice technology, not only for the country, but also for the rest of the world. The different high-yielding varieties developed at IRRI soon changed the agricultural landscape in most rice-producing nations in the Third World, including
our country.
As a result, the Philippines began exporting rice in 1977. After being a rice importer for many decades, the country was able to ship 15,000 metric tons of rice to Indonesia. Since then, the country has been consistently exporting rice in varying amounts to such countries as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brazil, Australia and Germany.
Aware that the agriculture-based economy could not compete with the emerging markets in Asia, President Marcos ordered on September 28, 1979 the implementation of the country’s 11 heavy industrialization projects and announced this before the University of the Philippines Law Alumni Association. At that time. we were already on the way to NIC-hood status (newly industrialized country).
The projects were integrated steel, petrochemical complex, heavy engineering industries, the expansion of the cement industry, the industrialization of the coconut industry, an integrated pulp and paper mill, copper smelter, aluminum smelter, phosphate fertilizer, the manufacture of diesel engines and Alcogas.
In reaction, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank and their allies, including the President’s technocrats, led by then-Prime Minister Cesar Virata; the Makati Business Club, led by the late Jaime Ongpin and the Zobel-Ayala group; and the Center for Research and Communication, an institution associated with Opus Dei, whose spokesman was Dr. Bernardo Villegas, went to work, relentlessly blocking and delaying the projects at every turn.
To oppose Marcos, they even came up with a sardonic slogan to dramatize their effort: “You can’t eat steel!”
Visibly irritated over the negative reactions of the IMF-World Bank and the Makati business group, Marcos issued a strong public statement accusing them of sabotaging the country’s industrialization plan.
A year later, Ninoy Aquino, who ignored the government’s request to suspend his return to the country, was assassinated on his arrival at the airport. The incident triggered a political and economic crisis in the country, exacerbated by a spate of oil-price increases, inflation, capital flight and the deliberate tightening control of credits by the IMF-World Bank and other foreign creditors.
As a consequence, Marcos’s massive industrialization plan evaporated into thin air.
Look what happened:
The economy in the post-Marcos years turned from bad to worse notwithstanding his successors’ accumulated budgets in 29 years of more than P30 trillion. This huge budget, which is now a subject of a comprehensive research work by the Philippine Council of Management Research Institute, was supposed to spur economic growth.
By comparison, Marcos’s official accumulated budget in 20 years was only P486.42 billion. Yet, on records, none of them or all of his successors combined could not even match his economic infrastructures of roads, bridges, hospitals and schools; a tri-modal transportation system of air, land and sea; communication facilities; energy infrastructure; and the laws required to safeguard the economy and make it progressive.
Marcos’s laws and other edicts
Marcos crafted and formulated with the help of experts 7,883 presidential decrees (PDs) and other legal issuances from September 21, 1972 up to February 26, 1986, a span of 14 years.
Justice Manuel Lazaro said these laws set the rules, regulations and penalties for almost every facet of lawful and ethical human conduct—from birth to grave.
They are categorized as follows: PD (1 to 2036); Letters of Instruction (1 to 1525); Letters of Implementation (1 to 157); General Orders (1 to 61); Executive Orders (EO) (366 to 1093); Administrative Orders (349 to 504); Proclamations (1081 to 2486); and Memo Circulars (599 to 1297).
Out of the 7,883 presidential issuances, only 67 PDs or less than .01 percent have either been repealed or modified. The minimal percentage of 67 PDs either repealed or modified by EO 187 issued by Corazon Aquino were the decrees increasing the penalties for certain offenses against public order and security, e.g., PDs 38, 1735, 1834, 1974 and 1996.
Interestingly, the rationale and purpose of the PDs repealed or modified were resurrected in enacting Article 134-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by RA 6968. Notably, 7,816 issuances are still effective and enforced up to the present. These laws are eloquent proof of the wisdom, vision, dedication and foresight Marcos possessed as instruments of good and effective governance.
Lazaro said: “No President in the country’s legal history had codified more laws. Worth mentioning are the 15 codified laws, with social and economic relevance. These are the Local Tax Code [PD 231]; Labor Code of the Philippines [PD 442]; Real Property Tax Code [PD 464]; Child and Youth Welfare Code [PD 603]; Insurance Code [PD 612];
“Revised Forestry Code [PD 705]; Code of Sanitation [PD 856]; Coconut Industry Code [PD 961]; Water Code [PD 1067]; Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines [PD 1083]; National Building Code [PD 1096]; Philippines Environment Code [PD 1152]; Fire Code [PD 1185]; Government Auditing Code [PD 1445]; Tariff and Customs Code [PD 1464]; and Code of Agrarian Reform [PD 444].”
More important, there is the Judicial Development Fund, the wellspring of the financial benefits of the members of the judiciary. There is also the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., a consistent source of revenues for the country.
In essence, as long as the laws he issued are embedded in the country’s legal system, Marcos lives and they will continue to guide and safeguard the nation and its people.