Accounts were also gathered by Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the World Council of Churches, the International Commission of Jurists, and other non-government organizations.
[10] Marcos had won the 1969 campaign on the strength of a USD50 million spending spree on infrastructure designed to court voters,[11][12][13] which forced him to take on a loan with the IMF whose requirements so destabilized the Philippine economy that the resulting inflation led to protests and general unrest from 1970 to 1972.
The 1976 Amnesty International Mission Report lists 88 government torturers by their initials, with ranks as junior as Sargeant and as high as Brigadier General.
However, the reports of Amnesty International, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the World Council of Churches, etc, all assert the fact that the torture happened as a policy of state, meant to stifle opposition, demonstrate the power of the ruling regime, and terrify the population into inaction.
"Journalist Raissa Robles later noted that although Amnesty International made President Marcos aware of the names of these perpetrators, only one of them was ever brought to court, and even he was not convicted; and that most of these individuals were eventually promoted despite Marcos' regular press announcements that supposed military torturers had been caught and tried.
Aside from deadly weapons, implements of torture included water, pliers, thumb tacks, ballpoint pens, and flat irons.