Lorenzo,
Your father was right... because Marcos was a dictator he commanded; let there be light! And NEA was formed and there was light all over the Philippines. Hehehe....
Kidding aside... Bohol during the time of Pres. Garcia built the Tontonan Hydro Electric Plant but the power is too low that it was supported by a generator installed in Dampas. The power of Tontonan can not generate power all over Bohol.
Really the truth is; the development of our country culminated at the start of Martial Law. And the main thrust of Marcos was to industrialize our country. To achieve this is to develop sustainable power for industrialization. So NEA was formed. Infrastructure in our country was in a faster pace of development through Marcos rule by decree... whereas before Martial Law enabling laws were marred in endless debate in congress.
When Marcos visited Bohol after he declared Martial Law he asked all the town mayors that were gathered at the Garcia Stadium listening to his speech. Marcos asked; "what road in Bohol is not passable?" One mayor from the eastern part of the province raised his hands and said that a part of the road going to his town is not passable. Marcos again asked; "who is the district engineer?" The mayor answered; Engr. Modesto Butalid Mr. President. On that very moment Engr. Modesto Butalid was fetched in his house to answer Marcos why that road is not passable.
That was Marcos!
But today when Garci or Lacson is summoned to face the court they cannot be found because they're hiding. Angelo Reyes went to the extreme of taking his own life just to evade to answer questions from congress. Hehehe....
WN
I think my father, Engr. Rico Lucino, would like you and enjoy a conversation with you as you both seem to have very similar opinions on the subject. He is also a staunch Marcos supporter.
The Philippines, as he tells me, is so diverse and so different in its own dynamic that it cannot function without a strong handed government. Marcos' strong iron hand was necessary at that particular time.
During the time when Martial Law was implemented , South Vietnam was being abandoned by the United States as North Vietnam continued to pound and win over the country until South Vietnam collapsed with the fall of Saigon in 1975. As communism spread through Laos, Cambodia and infiltrated to Thailand, Malaysia. The situation was so dire that even in Thailand , too, experienced an iron handed government. Thai Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn , himself, suspended the Thai Parliament because of the national inability to control the Communist threat in the north (near Chiang Mai and the border of Laos). Thanom even went so much as to elect himself as the Chairman of the Thai National Security so as to make sure to assess the threat the country experienced. Marcos' imposition of Martial Law in 1973 was (at the time) necessary since the country was itself battling the Communist NPA rebellion as well as the Muslim Separatist War with Nur Misuari's MNLF. The country, as we know it, was indeed in an imminent national crisis.
And considering South Vietnam's ultimate collapse in 1975, can we really blame why Marcos implmented Martial Law? Communism was indeed a real threat. Martial Law was necessary, at the time. In regards to Eisenhower's Domino Theory, if policies were not enacted to prevent the spread of communism, then the Philippines (a major non-Nato ally of the United States and a major member of the Free World in Asia) would fall to Communism as did South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
It is so easy for us to debate otherwise now. Hindsight is always perfect.
Linkback:
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