The confiscated documents revealed that since the 1970s, Marcos and his associates embezzled 10 to 15 percent of Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund loans through commissions from about fifty Japanese contractors.
[2][4] When Ferdinand Marcos first became president in 1965, he appointed his Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity brother and golfing buddy Roberto Benedicto as the Philippines' ambassador to Japan.
[5] In 1972, Ferdinand Marcos abolished the Philippine legislature under martial law, and took on its legislative powers as part of his authoritarian rule.
Benedicto and Marcos then ratified the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation ten days prior to a visit of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, giving Japan a “most-favored nation” status.
[5] The Marcos ODA scandal and other incidents of corruption were issues that the succeeding administrations of presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos had to address.