1965 - Marcos is elected president in November, promising improved living conditions for average Filipinos and land reform. While the first is achieved through an ambitious program of public works, the latter is never seriously tackled. He helps found the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), established in 1967.
1969 - Marcos wins a second four-year term as president. He is the first president to be reelected in the short history of the Philippine democracy. However, growth slows and quality of life begins to deteriorate. Violence and crime begin to become everyday occurrences. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) starts to make inroads in the provinces, with its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA) spreading across the archipelago.
On the southern island of Mindanao, Muslim secessionists organise under the banner of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). In August Marcos launches major military campaigns against the NPA and MNLF.
1970 - Social unrest continues to build. Student demonstrators attempt to storm the Malacanang Palace, the presidential mansion, on 30 January. Manila and other large cities are rocked by random bombings. Marcos blames leftists and suspends habeas corpus in August 1971, a prelude to martial law.
1971 - At a constitutional convention opposition delegates introduce a provision to prevent Marcos from remaining as head of state or government once his second term as president has expired. Marcos succeeds in having the ban overturned the following year.
1972 - Using the excuse of an alleged assassination attempt against Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos declares martial law on 21 September, promising to eliminate poverty and injustice and create a "new society". It is later revealed that the assassination attempt had been staged by the military.
Opposition figures (including Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino), journalists, student and labour activists and criminals are arrested and detained at military compounds run by the army and the police. Newspapers are closed and the mass media tightly controlled. Demonstrations, strikes and boycotts are outlawed. Marcos assumes absolute legislative power. The constitution, which permits presidents only two terms in office, is suspended.
1973 - A new constitution allowing Marcos to stay in office indefinitely and to rule by decree is introduced. The result is confirmed by a fraudulent referendum enabling him to continue as president until the end of martial law and to arbitrarily appoint all government officials, including members of the judiciary. Imelda Marcos is made governor of Manila and minister of human settlements and ecology.
Martial law initially brings stability and an economic turnaround but with the costs of reduced social freedoms and increasing corruption. Limited land reforms are introduced but prove ineffective. Manufacturing and business enterprises are nationalised or handed to Marcos's cronies or relatives. Profits are siphoned off for personal enrichment and mismanagement is rife.
The armed forces are politicised. Officers from Marcos's home province are promoted to high rank. A childhood friend of Marcos becomes chief-of-staff of the armed forces and head of the internal security network. Officers are appointed to manage several corporations and the military is ordered to take control of all public utilities and the media. The size of the army is also increased, with numbers swelling from about 58,000 in 1971 to 142,000 in 1983.
The military has virtually unlimited powers to search, arrest and detain civilians without reason and without recourse to legal representation. Military tribunals are set up throughout the country to try and sentence detainees. The civilian courts are striped of their power and autonomy, and the Philippine police force is placed under military control. It is estimated that more than 60,000 people are arrested between 1972 and 1977.
Politically prisoners are routinely tortured by the military. "Disappearances" and murders of suspected political activists are common, with over 500 cases being recorded for the period 1975-80. Meanwhile, inflation and unemployment rise while already low living standards drop.
The brutality of the regime and the stagnating economy causes may Filipinos to turn to the communists for protection and support.
1976 - The constitution is amended further to allow Marcos to continue to rule by degree even after the lifting of martial law.
1977 - Benigno Aquino, leader of the Philippines democratic opposition, is tried by a military court, found guilty of subversion and sentenced to death. The sentence, however, is never applied.
1980 - Aquino, who is ill, is released in May to receive medical treatment in the US. He will remain in the US, becoming a leader of the opposition in exile.
1981 - Marcos proclaims the end of martial law on 17 January. He wins an overwhelming majority in a presidential election held in June, but the vote is rigged and is boycotted by the main opposition groups.
1983 - After three years in exile, Aquino decides to return to the Philippines and help end the Marcos regime. However, minutes after his arrival at Manilla airport on 21 August he is shot in the head and killed. The lone assassin is shot on the spot.
Marcos claims the assassin is a communist, but a subsequent government commission of inquiry finds that the military had conspired in Aquino's death. However, the finding is rejected and those accused of the conspiracy are allowed to go free.
Aquino's funeral procession draws hundreds of thousands of mourners. It is the largest demonstration in the history of the Philippines and marks the beginning of the 'People's Power' movement led by Aquino's widow, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino.
Meanwhile, the domestic economy grinds to a halt and then begins to contract. But while the salaries of Filipinos are, in real terms, half as much as they were in 1956, the share of the national income held by the wealthiest 10th of the country has increased from 27% to 37%.
As living standards decline further the business community begins to speak out against the Marcos regime. The NPA gains further ground in rural areas. In the cities and towns Communist Party influence continues to spread.
1985 - In November Marcos announces that an election for president will be held on 7 February of the following year. Corazon Aquino announces that she will stand as a candidate.
1986 - The election is held on schedule but the results are contested, with the opposition and Roman Catholic Church claiming widespread fraud and intimidation. Marcos is proclaimed the official winner on 15 February, sparking a rebellion by Defence Minister Enrile, armed forces vice-chief-of-staff Fidel Ramos, and the commander of the Philippine police, who also believe that the vote has been rigged.
Calling on Marcos to resign, the rebels receive the backing of the church and the support of the people. The armed forces either join the rebellion or, faced-off by massive crowds gathered around the rebel's camp, decline to intervene.
On 25 February the Marcoses run, abandoning the presidential palace and flying to Hawaii in the US. Their 20-year regime is at its end. As the Marcoses flee, Corazon Aquino is sworn in as president, riding in on the massive wave of 'People's Power'.
When Marcos arrives in Hawaii he is said to be carrying suitcases containing jewels, 24 gold bricks and certificates for billions of dollars of gold bullion. His Swiss bank accounts are estimated to contain between US$3 billion and US$35 billion stolen from his country. The Philippine's foreign debt is about US$28 billion.
About US$356 million of the Marcos fortune is discovered soon after the ousted dictator leaves the Philippines.
To this day, the existence and whereabouts of the rest of the Marcos billions remains unconfirmed despite detailed investigations by the US Senate.
1987 - It is reported that Marcos is conspiring from his base in Hawaii to launch an armed invasion of the Philippines and again seize power.
1988 - Marcos is indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in the US for offences including mail fraud, fraudulent misappropriation of property and obstruction of justice.
1989 - He dies of a heart attack on 28 September while in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, and before his trial.
Postscript
1990 - In March Imelda Marcos is brought to trial by the federal grand jury in New York but in July is acquitted on all counts. She faces further trials in the Philippines for the misappropriation of public funds but is able to avoid conviction. Meanwhile, on 28 September a special court in the Philippines convicts 16 Filipino military personnel of murdering Aquino and his "assassin".
1993 - Marcos's embalmed body is returned to the Philippines and placed on permanent display in a mausoleum in his home town. Imelda Marcos refuses to allow his body to be buried, saying that despite the Philippine Government's objections it should be interred at the 'Cemetery of Heroes' (Libingan Ng Mga Bayani) in Manilla.
1994 - The District Court of Hawaii finds that Marcos was responsible for executions, disappearances and torture during his rule and awards nearly US$2 billion in damages to thousands of surviving victims. The victims later agree to a US$150 million settlement, but a court in the Philippines blocks payment in 1999.
2003 - In July the Philippine Supreme Court rules that US$700 million of the Marcos fortune must be handed over to the Philippine Government. The money is to be used to buy land for distribution to poor farmers. The Marcos family immediately appeal against the judgement.
The ongoing fight over the Marcos millions is further complicated in September when the District Court of Hawaii places a global freeze order on the Marcos assets. The Philippine Government lodges an appeal against the freeze in a court in California.
On 18 November the Philippine Supreme Court upholds its July ruling and criticises the Hawaiian court for overstepping its jurisdiction.
2004 - On 25 March the international anticorruption organisation Transparency International (TI) places Marcos at second on a list of the world's most corrupt political leaders of the past two decades, surpassed only by former Indonesian President Suharto.
According to TI, Marcos is alleged to have embezzled between US$5 billion and US$10 billion from the Philippines.
Meanwhile, a judge in Hawaii orders that US$40 million held by a finance company set up by Marcos be used to start paying the victims of his regime who were awarded damages in 1994. The finance company appeals the ruling.
2005 - In a nationwide poll held in July Filipinos rate Marcos as the best of the country's last five presidents. The former dictator even out-polls his successor, the 'People's Power' leader, Corazon Aquino
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