Morales entered government service in 1965, joining the economic staff of President Ferdinand Marcos as a senior economist.
On the day he was supposed to have received the award, he announced his resignation from the Marcos government to join the underground armed resistance linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines.
He remained detained until 1986, when the newly installed presidency of Corazon Aquino ordered his release together with other political prisoners.
[3] In 1987, Morales unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Philippine Senate under the banner of the Partido ng Bayan.
In December 2011, Morales was stricken by a heart attack in Baguio that left him comatose and in a critical condition.