September 21, 1972

In order to understand the Philippines today you have to go back almost 38 years to September 21, 1972 when Ferdinand Marcos declared marshal law to control rising resistance to his government. He had originally been elected in1965, and reportedly governed well for the first years of his reign, but by the 1970s the people were facing extreme economic hardship and Marcos, who was supposed to be making 300,000 Philippine Pesos per year as president (about $6,000 in today's US dollars) was later discovered to have been looting the government coffers while his people were starving to death.

Marcos was tightly aligned with the United States. The United State has a history of alliances with corrupt leadership when it serves our strategic advantage. (example: Shaw of Iran). In 1978 President Carter pushed away from Marcos recognizing the human rights abuses and corruption taking place.

Marcos finally lifted marshal law in 1981 while Carter was still in the White House. The Reagan administration in 1982 again reached out to Marcos and his strategic alliance with the US was partially restored until something happened in 1983 that began the end of the Marcos regime.

Aquino's Return From Exile

In 1983 a former Philippine Senator named Ninoy Aquino was returning from self exile to a country anxiously awaiting his return. In the video that follows you are going to see footage from inside the aircraft of Aquino predicting he had less than a 10% chance of making it back to the Philippines alive and then walking into martyrdom for the people he loved.

Aquino's funeral procession on August 31 lasted from 9 a.m.— with a funeral mass officiated by the Catholic archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin, and held at Santo Domingo Church — to 9 p.m., when his body was interred at the Manila Memorial Park.

Two million people lined the streets during the procession which was aired by the Church-sponsored Radio Veritas. The procession reached Rizal Park, where the Philippine flag was brought to half-staff.

4 Days in February

Aquino's death provided the drumbeat to set the Philippine People Power Revolution into motion and his widow, Corazon Aquino, was their champion. In February 1986 the people overthrew Marcos and exiled him from the country to Hawaii where he lived until his death.

The following song and music video is only one of many that have been written and recorded about this monumental event in the history of the Philippines. "4 Days in February" tells the story of the Philippine People Power Revolution of 1986 by using some old photographs the musician took during the Revolution and from other on-line sources. Four Days in February is as important to the Philippine people as July 4th is to Americans.

The Philippines had been left in shambles by the Marcos government and the United States strong backing of Marcos can not be ignored as one of the key reasons the Philippines was in the economic condition it was in.

George H Bush was elected to the presidency of the United States a short time later in 1988. Aquino and her government were trying to replenish the empty national treasury and feed her starving people.

Bush promoted a free trade policy and American companies employed Philippine workers. At the same time US jobs lots to the Philippines were more than offset by jobs created in other sectors like agricultural where our exports increased as we sent more and more products to the Philippines to feed the people . . . especially US rice.

Philippine people had freedom and they had hope . . . two things they had not experienced in a long time. The Bush policies of the United States were helping them get back on their feet, but the 1992 elections in the United States could stall the Philippine recovery. One candidate wanted US free trade stopped.

p>Bill Clinton wanted it controlled. Bush wanted free trade expanded. A Texas millionaire named H.Ross Perot was warning voters about a "giant sucking sound" they would hear if they didn't put a stop to the free trade policy and a lot of people were listening.

Coming up: An Eye for An Eye Will Only Make the Whole World Blind - Outsourcing America - That Giant Sucking Sound