Ferdinand Marcos's cult of personality
have compared to other authoritarian and totalitarian leaders such as Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler,[3] but also to more contemporary dictators such as Suharto in Indonesia, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and the Kim dynasty of North Korea.
[35]: 293 Marcos claimed to have led a guerrilla force called Ang Mahárlika (Tagalog, "The Freeman") in northern Luzon after the fall of Bataan.
A memorandum sent to the Adjutant General, Lt. Col. Parker Calvert relayed the order of Col. Russell Volckmann to inform Marcos that his request for release from the 14th Infantry to rejoin his guerrilla group was disapproved.
In a May 1945 memorandum, Langham wrote to the Commanding General for Ang Mga Maharlika not to be "recommended for recognition because of the limited military value of their duties.
[46][47][48] The following discredit the claims made about his supposed exploits:[43] In 1986, research by historian Alfred W. McCoy into United States Army records showed that most of Marcos's medals were fraudulent.
[55] Marcos claimed he received the medal from MacArthur in 1945, but the latter, following his retreat to Bataan, then to Australia, was only able to return to the Philippines in 1944, when his troops landed in Leyte.
[56][57] Indeed, as of August 2021, searching through the list of recipients of the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, and Silver Star yields no result for Ferdinand Marcos.
[58][59][60] John Sharkey of The Washington Post found records that Marcos was on the list of those that were released due to either "having severe health problems and those whose families have cooperated with the Japanese military authorities.
[65] Diosdado Macapagal countered with his own propaganda film, "Daigdig ng Mga Api (World of the Oppressed)," but it was Marcos who won the election.
[68][69][70] It features Paul Burke as Marcos stand-in Bob Reynolds, who leads a group of guerrillas called Ang Mga Maharlika against the Japanese.
[72] Generally recognized as a "master of populist imagery,"[66]: 123 Marcos actively sought to create a "macho" image,[73][74] associating his public image with symbols of masculinity, indirectly through stories of wartime escapades[75] and by making sure he was photographed joining farmers in planting their rice crops;[66]: 123 and more directly by casting himself in masculine roles in commissioned works of art,[75] including poems, paintings, and photographs.
[92] The Anti-Subversion Act was originally meant to counter the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and its armed force, the Hukbalahap, also called the Huks.
"[95] But Marcos immediately made noise about the supposed "communist threat" – drawing on images of the bloody Huk encounters of the 1950s, and courting the Johnson administration's political support in light of the Us's recent entry into the Vietnam war.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines did likewise in 1969, when the CPP allied with Huk commander Bernabe Buscayno to create the nascent New People's Army (NPA).
[9]: "43" [95] As a result, notes Security Specialist Richard J. Kessler, "the AFP mythologized the group, investing it with a revolutionary aura that ony attracted more supporters."
Even in the days immediately before Marcos's declaration of Martial Law on September 23, 1972, the Philippine National Security Council did not consider the two communist movements to represent a sizable threat.
"[12] Marcos said that there was a need to "reform society"[101]: "66" by placing it under the control of a "benevolent dictator" in a "constitutional authority" which could guide the undisciplined populace through a period of chaos.
[101]: "29" [102] President Marcos supported the ideology of "constitutional authoritarianism" with various exercises in social engineering, united under the banner of the "bagong lipunan" or "new society.
"[103]: 13 The Philippine education system underwent a major period of restructuring in after the declaration of Martial Law in 1972,[104] in which the teaching of civics and history was reoriented[104][105] so that it would reflect values which supported the Bagong Lipunan and its ideology of constitutional authoritarianism.
[122] Taking off from his early efforts to portray himself as a virile, macho figure, Marcos later associated himself with idealized images of the leaders of precolonial Philippine settlements – the "Apo", "Datu", "Rajah" ,and "Lakan".
[127] Historiographers agree that the publication of Tadhana did contribute to the growth of the discourse of Philippine history, but that the project was ultimately flawed due to its explicitly political nature.
They wished to shape the kingdom in their own image; like the Sun King, Louis XIV, Marcos wanted to be able to say, 'L'état c'est moi.
From 1975 to 1982, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) introduced a five peso coin in line with the new 'Ang Bagong Lipunan' series issued in commemoration of Marcos's declaration of Martial Law.
[142][143][144] With the popularization of social media during the 2010s, several bloggers and content creators have made videos and articles supposedly debunking the corruption and atrocities of Marcos.
"[146][149][150] Based on participant observation in Facebook community groups and Twitter accounts, as well as key informant interviews with 20 "disinformation architects," conducted from December 2016 to December 2017, the study described a "professionalized and hierarchized group of political operators who design disinformation campaigns, mobilize click armies, and execute innovative "digital black ops" and "signal scrambling" techniques for any interested political client.
"[145] It also revealed the existence of "Ilibing Na" ("Bury now") campaign designed to create public support for a hero's burial for Ferdinand Marcos using "diversionary tactics to elude allegations of human rights violations and corruption during the term of Ferdinand Marcos"[145] and launching "digital black ops that targeted prominent critics" of the Marcoses, particularly vice president Leni Robredo.
In Silang, Cavite, a President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. Field will be built using funds from the Philippine National Police Academy and the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Cost includes the construction of a large full-body portrait or relief Ferdinand Marcos resembling "Christ on the crucifix", according to a Vera Files report.
[154][155][156] The 2018 study of Networked Disinformation by Ong and Cabañes has identified "Golden age" propaganda as one of the tactics used by professional propagandists to further the political comeback of the Marcos siblings during the mid-2010s.
[160] There are social media posts that falsely claim that Marcos and an associate were paid 640,000 metric tons in gold by a client in 1949, supposedly making them the richest men in the world.
