Fil-Am convoluted history

Each year, American renew a solemn vow to never forget what happened on September 11, 2001, or those who lost their lives.

On Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance, we honor every life lost that day.  We honor the first responders - firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency workers, and service members - who answered the call of duty, and the brave civilians who rushed into action to save lives that day. 

9/11 anniversary

Their courage embodies the best of our American spirit and resilience - their heroism continues to inspire generations of Americans.

To the detriment of the Philippine nation and its people Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, the 10th president of the Philippines and its lone dictator from 1966 to February 1986 - was born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. An unfortunate event we all still have to recover from. 

Marcos Senior was an AmBoy - a favored puppet of the American government. From 1972 until 1983, the US government provided $2.5 billion in bilateral military and economic aid to the Marcos regime, and about $5.5 billion through multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

Richard Nixon with the Marcos family, 1969 - thick as thieves

In a 1979 US Senate report, it was stated that US officials were aware, as early as 1973, that Philippine government agents were in the United States to harass Filipino dissidents. In June 1981, two anti-Marcos labor activists were assassinated outside of a union hall in Seattle. On at least one occasion, CIA agents blocked FBI investigations of Philippine agents. 

By 1984, US Republican President Ronald Reagan started distancing himself from the Marcos regime that he and previous American presidents had strongly supported even after Marcos declared martial law. The United States, which had provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, was crucial in buttressing Marcos' rule over the years. 

Ferdinand & Imelda Marcos at the White House with Ronald Reagan,1982

During the Carter administration the relationship with the US had soured further when President Jimmy Carter targeted the Philippines in his human rights campaign. All five American presidents from 1965 to 1985 were unwilling to jeopardize the US-Marcos relationship, mainly to protect and retain access of the US military bases in the Philippines.

Each year, Filipinos around the world renew a solemn vow to never forget what happened under the Marcos dictatorship. Marcos left an economic legacy of debt, hardship and excess of dictatorship. 

treasure trove of archival footage helps tell the story
of the Marcos dynasty’s Hawaiian exile

Authoritarianism, human rights abuses - abductions, torture, terror killings or "salvagings", disappearances, murders, massacres - ill gotten or unaccountable wealth and kleptocracy, historical manipulation and Marcos family denial, monopolies, international and national debt. 

The list of Marcos era atrocities continues to today. Marcos and his wife, Imelda, were jointly credited in 1989 by Guinness World Records with the largest-ever theft from a government (an estimated 5 billion to 10 billion US dollars), a record they still hold to this day. 

Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos with the Johnsons, 1966

Their whole family and minions remain free and unaccountable. As does the US government and their role in this horror show. Never again! we cry against these hooligans and monsters.