Socio-cultural Historical Background of the 1950s 1960s

SERRA, Patrick James B.

Group 3, Kas 112 (Contemporary Philippines)

International Scene

The middle 20th century (1950s 1960s) saw the heights of Cold War, an unconventional warfare on the clash between two ideologies Capitalism
and Socialism with USA and USSR as the major players respectively. Different ideas, inventions and innovations emerged from this period empowered by the
race of the two factions may it be scientific (space race) or cultural (music, arts etc). Worth noting was the predominance of the American culture across the globe
especially to the countries that consonantly abide by the ideology of capitalism. More so, international cooperation through achieving peace and stability from
any potential wars, had started in this period with the establishment of the United Nations and co-agencies such as the UNESCO, UNICEF among others.
Notable with the international organization is its advocacy on defining and protecting the human rights as evident to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
constituted in 1948. The century also witnessed the increase of life expectancy and living standards of the people of different countries duly in part of the
decreased conflicts across the world and of the endeavours of the government, NGOs and other concerned groups alike to promote the importance of human life
and its quality. These included their intervention to developing countries to conduct humanitarian aids in education, basic necessities and the like. Numerous
social movements also occurred during the two centuries fighting for their rights. Such movements were civil rights, feminist, blacks among others.

Local Scene

Although having gained its independence, Americans didnt leave abruptly after the declaration as they continuously shaped the politics, commerce
and security interest of the country. 1 This then implied a continued influence of the colonizers particularly in the cultural aspect. With the onset of the American
softpower expansionist, Filipinos easily fell under the American cultural spectrum. Filipinos widely received these influences and thus the association of its
famous attitude of colonial mentality, a term used to people who feel inferior to their colonizers thus, pushing the former to patronize the latter may it be
products, culture and the like. This rising condition among Filipinos made the Filipino First policy of Carlos P. Garcia possible that advocates everything that is
native or Filipino. Accentuating more of the American dominance among Filipinos, Ables in his book stated that Filipinos were up-to-date when it came to the
latest American fashion, top tunes and movies. The so called colonial mentality was abetted by the media, content of which was mostly imported. 2 Furthermore,
Ables also said that even the newspapers have generally patterned themselves after American counterparts, particularly in their layout, content, and writing
style. Most of the foreign stories in Philippine newspapers were from America instead of nearby Asian neighbours. 3

Filipino music, films, paintings, literature and even television shows were heavily influenced by the United States as evident with the usage of the
English language and other American elements. Some of the renowned writers like N.V.M. Gonzales and Nick Joaquin used the colonizers language. Despite
this, Most of the Filipinos pursued an independent endeavour that is not American. This was evident through the resuscitating of the old Tagalog poetic form in
the early 1960s, the tanaga and the published novels such as Abadilla and Kapulongs Pagkamulat ni Magdalena (1958) and Edgardo Reyess Sa Mga Kuko ng
mga Liwanag (1966). In the field of the arts, the trend of modern Filipino painiting, as introduced by the Filipino modernist painters who studied in American
art schools, is towards the blending of Oriental and Occidental elements. The Orientalism in contemporary painting is shown in rich brilliant colors, in the subject

1 Ables. Mass Communication and Phl p. 31

2 Ibid. p32.
3Ibid. p,32

1
of the individual painter, in the decorative tendency, and in the calligraphic technique. 4 The initiatives of heroic musicians and musicologists such as Antonio
Molina, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Eliseo Pajaro among others to develop Filipino music by the use of folk literature and folk songs as thematic materials had failed
to arouse popular interest and sympathy.5

Debates were also seen on the conflict between the Filipino and English language. Filipino having established as the national language of the country
during the Commonwealth period and being taught in schools starting 1946 witnessed little success through its propagation as far as academic and professional
aspects are concerned. As Agoncillo said, The hostility with which Tagalog has been met by many Filipinos of Western cultural orientation is based on the
ground that it is not yet developed.6 There was a problem also on the limited absorption of knowledge because vernacular languages are not used. That is why
Garcia in his 1st SONA stated that vernacular languages were used for instruction in the first two years of primary to promote optimum literacy.

Starting 1950s, discussions with the Philippine educational system were correlated with the performance and the requirements of a national economy 7
albeit still heavily patterned with educational system of USA emphasizing Americanism and US democracy. Community schools and vocational educations were
also established during the centuries. Its concept is primarily geared to the improvement of the social, economic, and health conditions of rural areas. 8 This
attracted international attention as it was the object of considerable interest during the 1 st United Nations Conference on Community Development for South and
Southeast Asia held in Manila from November 29 to December 10, 1954. 9 Educational opportunities had also been extended to more people and the literacy rate
improved gradually.

The trend of urbanization started growing in the country. According to Corpuz, the rise in population and the weakening of provincialism as a result of
the last war, in addition to improved transport and communications facilities, stimulated considerable internal migration. On the whole this trend resulted in a
greater degree of urbanization.10 Furthermore, with the rise of industrialization in the country during post war also saw the demand of the industrial (white
collar) and professional (blue collar) jobs. This resulted to the rise of the middle class. But still, the upper class retained their pre-war lands and thus remained as
hacienderos. The rapid growth of population should be a great asset to the country if only the government would be able to cope up on providing jobs but this
was not the case of the government that time. Poverty has also given rise to a new class known as squatters as the immigrants settled in lands illegally building
their frail barong-barong houses.11 Manila became the focal point for the mass movement of Filipinos from provinces and thus, the capital wasnt able to sustain
this population growth. Moreso, the houses of the immigrants posed problem to the community as their houses are fire hazards and their surroundings a threat to
public health.12

Conditions of Moro in the south remained unchanged as resistance still ensued in the 1950s particularly with the resistance led by Datu Kamlon in Sulu
that lasted for 8 years and the government -bandits encounters that happened in Cotabato. The government still pursued the integration of the Moros of the

4 Agoncillo. History of the Filipino. P.584

5 ibid p.585
6 Ibid, p.574
7 Corpuz, Education and Socio-economic change p. 73
8 Ibid, p.571
9 Ibid. p. 572
10 Corpuz, Education and Socio-economic change p. 67
11 Agoncillo, History of the Filipino p. 590
12 Ibid. p.590

2
south to the Philippine Republic although this was seen by the intellectuals as an assimilation. In the end, Philippine government failed to placate the Moros of
the south and this will even worsen with the massacres occurred mostly in the late 60s and early 70s.

References:

1960s Timeline: Timeline of the 20th century. About Education.Web. Retrieved from http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1960timeline.htm.

Ables, Higino. Mass Communication and Philippine Society. Q.C.: The University of the Philippines Press, 2009

Agoncillo, Teodoro. History of the Filipino People (8th edition). Q.C.: C.E. Publishing Inc, 1990.

Corpuz, Onofre D. Education and Socio-Economic Change in the Philippines, 1870 1960s. Social Science Research Council, University of the Philippines.

Tuazon, Bobby (ed.). The Moro Reader: History and Contemporary Struggles of the Bangsamoro People. Quezon City: CenPEG Books, 2008.

3
Group 3 Pre-Martial First State of the Nation Address
Law Ferdinand E. Marcos January 24, 1966
Kas 112 Contemporary Address on the State of the
Philippines Aspektong Nation1
Pangkultura at Panlipunan
Walang nabanggit.
Konteksto:
And this will be, I know, the heavy
burden, the thankless task that the
Chief Executive must perform during
this period of recovery. But I accept this
heavy burden; I ask you to accept it
with me. I accept it for today my life
seems to have run full circle.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Fourth State of the Nation Address
January 27, 1969
New Filipinism: The Turning
Point2
1968:
Through the Commission of National
Integration, we have accelerated the
integration of our cultural minorities
into the mainstream of our national
life. Five farm settlements are being
maintained and operated, and 3,075
hectares of land have been surveyed as
possible new reservations for our
minorities. The commission has also
allocated for settlers 282 lots, titles to
which are ready for issuance. In 1967,
the commission granted 1,845
scholarships in Philippine colleges and
universities, as well as a number of
foreign scholarships.
1969:
The Mindanao State University in
Marawi City has been maintained as a
center for Muslim studies and culture.
Our small farmer-settlers, who have
courageously dared the dangers and
anxieties of frontier life, especially in
Mindanao, as well as the cultural
minorities with just and rightful claims
to the lands of their ancestors, have
been given greater protection and
assistance.
In 1968, our Muslim brothers and the
cultural minorities figured prominently
in our overall development program.
They were given preference in the
allocation of prefabricated school
houses as well as in the release of the
Barrio Development Fund.
Sixth State of the Nation Address
January 25, 1971
The Democratic Revoulution3
1970:
Through the Commission on National
Integration and the Presidential
Assistant on National Minorities
(PANAMIN), we have reclaimed
thousands from a life of backwardness
and deprivation and brought them into
the stream of national progress.
On August 10, 1967, this
administration created the office of the
Presidential Assistant on National
Minorities (PANAMIN). The PANAMIN
has been an extremely successful
attempt by the government to focus
attention on the problems of our more
than four million Filipinos who belong
to the national cultural minorities, and
to involve actively the private sector in
model programs of medical, social, and
economic assistance.
PANAMIN has undertaken research
activities to gather, collate, and
disseminate information, which is
essential for any viable planning and
programming of development projects.
The results of these research activities
and model projects will provide
information as handbooks for action
program among minorities not only in
the Philippines but throughout Asia.
Five model socioeconomic
development projects were established
in minority areas, and seven model
projects are in developing stages which
will cover the minority areas of the
4

More scholarships were also
awarded last year, especially
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
for the provinces of Lanao del
Sur and Sulu.
The Muslims and the other
cultural minorities shall
continue to receive preferential
attention under this
administration.
Philippines.
Particularly during the past
four years under an
enlightened administration, the
CNI has brought about the
gradual uplift of the more than
47 known ethnic groups, from
the Apayaos in the north to the
Badjaos in the south.
In 1969, the CNIs scholar
program reached a new high. A
record P3.5 million was
appropriated for scholarships to
deserving members of the
cultural minorities throughout
the islands.
In the legal field, the CNIs
lawyers answered the call
particularly of the impoverished
minorities. CNI legal personnel
went to different parts of the
country to handle landgrabbing
cases for the minorities and
prepared the ground for the
proclamation of reserved areas
as cultural minorities
settlements.
1971:
I propose to launch a massive
land distribution drive aimed at
satisfying the hunger for land
of our small settlers and
members of the cultural
minorities.
In the past year, fortunately,
we acted just in time to
remedy such abuses against
several cultural minorities,
who, as a result, have been
5
 restored to their patrimony as
well as to their confidence in
the government.
Last year was significant for
our national minorities.
Through the PANAMINs
community development
projects and medical missions,
the government has continued
with increased vigor and
intensity to serve the needs of
the cultural minorities. The
private sector has also helped
by donating close to P3 million
to implement the different
PANAMIN projects.
By proclaiming last June 5,
224 hectares as a civil
reservation for the Tebolih
group in South Cotabato, we
benefited directly 5,000
residents in that critical area
and brought peace to some
75,000 Taga-bilis, Bilaans, and
others.

MEDIA PRINT, VISUAL, Walang nabanggit. Walang nabanggit. 1970:

AUDIO I am aware of the important
role of private initiative in
spreading knowledge about
family planning. In particular,
the mass media have been
extremely helpful in pointing
out the dangers of the

6
population explosion. I urge
them to continue to do so.
The new election code should
provide for the limitation of
such propaganda gimmicks
including billboards; the details
I leave to you. The media
should give as a part of public
service, a portion of space in
case of newspapers and time in
case of radio and television, to
all political parties that have
candidates all over the
country.
1971:
When the economic royalists
prove to be insatiable, when
they use the combination of
media and economic power to
coerce and intimidate the duly
elected leaders of the people
and to advance their privileges
and financial gains, there is no
course left but to eradicate
them.
The regulation of media as well as
propaganda. While there were
some complaints about the
restriction on the use of radio, TV,
and newspaper facilities for
political propaganda in the last
election, I feel that by and large,
and with certain modifications, we
must prevent a recurrence of the
abuses of the past when in some
cases affluent candidates simply
monopolized these information
outlets, thereby placing poorer
candidates at a disadvantage

7
 Other Sociocultural Highlights, Issues and Scandals during the

Pre-Martial Law Marcos Administration

Ivy Grace Espejo

Edifice Complex

Edifice complex was defined by Gerard Lico as political leaders compulsion to build edifices as a hallmark for greatness or signifier of prosperity.
Cultural and infrastructure projects, such as the CCP Complex and the Nayong Pilipino by First Lady Imelda Marcos required heavy borrowings from
international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank which later on saddled the country with debt.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is a public corporation that aims to promote Filipino culture and heritage. It was established through
Executive Order No. 30 in 1966.

Its complex houses the TanghalangPambansa, TanghalangNicanorAbelardo, Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, Bulwagang Juan Luna and many more. Most
of these buildings were designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin.

The Nayong Pilipino was a cultural theme park built near the former Manila International Airport in Pasay City. It was divided into six regions namely
Tagalog, Bicol, Cordillera, Ilocos, Visayas and Mindanao. It featured miniature replicas of the Aguinaldo House, Mount Mayon, Magellan Cross, Chocolate
Hills, Banaue Rice Terraces, a Vigan house and a Muslim mosque. The expo was later moved to Clark, Pampanga due to the NAIA Terminal 3 expansion.

Malnutrition

A White House research project conducted in 1966-1967 in the Philippines under the World Food Problem Study program revealed that many Filipino
children ages six to 71 months are suffering from malnutrition with five per cent of them suffering from third degree acute malnutrition and 30 percent being
moderately malnourished.

8
 As a result, the United States Agency for International Developments Food For Peace program provided assistance and distributed packages of
Nutripak, a basic foodmix in powdered form that contains ground rice, shrimp, legumes and a packets of oil and Nutribun, a whole-wheat bread product similar
to the pan de sal and often served with a glass of milk. This was done along with Operation Timbang, a mass, house-to-house weigh-in of children.

POPCOM

In 1967, President Marcos started to seek ways to control the Philippiness booming population when he signed the Declaration on Population with 12
other world leaders. He saw that a sustainable population is one of the keys to a good economy. Therefore, he started to lay the groundwork for the establishment
of the Commission on Population or POPCOM. Also, with the help of USAID, contraceptives were distributed around the country and sterilization practices were
promoted.

Dovie Beams affair

Dovie Beams is an American actress who was hired to play Marcoss lover in the propaganda film, Maharlika, and became Marcoss mistress from 1968
to 1970.

Beams apparently recorded her trysts with the president, including an audio of the president begging her for oral sex and an audio of the president
singing Pamulinawen to the actress. She allegedly played these tapes in press conferences.

Beams claimed that the president owed her $150,000 while First Lady Imelda Marcos allegedly deployed a hatchet man to attempt to kill the actress.

The Beatles

The Beatles held their biggest concert ever in the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium but what was more significant is that the band vowed to never go
back to the Philippines again after a run-in with the First Lady.

9
 The First Lady cried foul when the band was not able to show up for a Malacaan function attended by 120 children from prominent Filipino families
that the band did not even agree to or was even aware of.

After local television news shows reported that they snubbed the palace, the British Embassy and Manila Hotel, where the band stayed at, began
receiving bomb threats. Their security was also withdrawn and they were forced to go to the airport by cab. Upon their arrival at the airport, the escalators were
turned off and thugs fired gunshots.

Tasaday

The Tasaday was a fake Stone Age tribe made up by the president and Manuel Elizalde, one of his cronies and Secretary for the Presidential Arm for
National Minorities (PANAMIN), in order to strengthen the countrys claim to Sabah by proving that there were prehistoric Filipinos.

The press such as the National Geographic and NBC made films documenting this tribe and later on, visitors from around the world paid to see them.
But later on, the Tasaday was debunked as a hoax when a Swedish journalist saw them wearing clothes and living in actual houses.

It turned out that Elizalde paid farmers who lived near caves to move into the actual caves and pose as cavemen. The Tasaday is an actual tribe related to
the Manobos of South Cotabato but they are not from the Paleolithic period.

Yamashita treasure hunt

The Yamashita treasure was a trove of gold and other relics supposedly left behind by Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita when the Japanese surrendered at the
end of the Second World War. Hunters made excavations all around Baguio City where Gen. Yamashita stayed after he withdrew from Manila.

One of the most famous items in the treasure is the Golden Buddha, which was allegedly found by Rogelio Roxas but was stolen by the president.
Marcoss men allegedly tortured and incarcerated Roxas in order for him to reveal the location of the Golden Buddha. He later sued the president in 1988 for
theft and won the case in Hawaii Supreme Court in 1996.

10
References:

Ayala, Turbay, and Lord Caradon. Declaration on Population: The World Leaders Statement.Studies in Family Planning 1, no. 26 (1968): 1.
doi:10.2307/1965194.

Cabreza, Vincent. Yamashita Treasure 70 Years after.Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 8, 2015. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/720070/yamashita-treasure-70-
years-after.

Delos Reyes, Antonio.Coercive Population Ploys in the Philippines.PRI Review, April 2002.

Howe, Alan. How the Beatles Trouble with Imelda Marcos Led to Sgt Pepper.The Australian, July 2, 2016.

Lico, Gerard. Edifice Complex: Power, Myth and Marcos State Architecture. Ateneo de Manila

University Press. 2003

Pineda, DLS. My Favorite Marcos Lie: The Tasaday.The Philippine Star, February 27, 2016. http://www.philstar.com/supreme/2016/02/27/1557062/my-favorite-
marcos-lie-tasaday.

Reid, Lawrence. The Tasaday Language: A Key to Tasaday Prehistory. In The Tasaday Controversy: Assessing the Evidence, edited by Thomas N. Headland,
180-193. American Anthropological Association Special Publications, Scholarly Series No. 28. Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological
Association, 1992.

Tweedie, Neil. Imelda Called in Family Assassin to Deal with Love Rival. The Telegraph (London, UK), January 1, 2001.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1317785/Imelda-called-in-family-assassin-to-deal-with-love-rival.html.

USAID. Nutrition and Related Public Services Provided to the Philippines. 1974

11
Prepared by: PENA, Joanna Marie M.

Kasaysayan 112

ASSESSMENT OF THE SOCIO-CULTURAL ASPECT OF MARCOS (PRE-MARTIAL LAW: 1965 1971)

This paper aims to give an assessment of Marcos first and second terms regarding the socio and cultural aspects that his administration had confronted.
We will try to assess his terms by looking at his strengths and weaknesses as well as the issues and obstacles that he had.

(A) Education

Education was being turned to as a source for various types of manpower skills 13 since the early 1950s.The economic growth and political development
that were achieved required support from the educational system. 14Entrepreneurial, office, and trained manpower skills were considerably derived from the
output of educational institutions.15Developmental planning in the 1960s will most certainly lead to a direct correlation between education and economic
growth.16 Graduates during this time were generally graduates of a number of vocational and collegiate programs.However, in relation with the increase of
graduates with vocational degreesis the decrease of graduates with scientific and middle technical skills.

13Onofre D. Corpuz.Education and Socio-Economic Change in the Philippines, 1870-1960s, Social Sciences Research Council, University of the Philippines. 1963.
p7
14 Ibid, p.68
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid, p.8

12
 Despite all of this recoveries ever since the war, strains and pressures still weighed down on the system. Steady rise in enrollment, high rate of pupil
drop outs, inadequate classrooms, shortage in finances, lack of equipment, high costs and scarcity of textbooks recurred with cumulative impact 17 and a fall in the
quality of teacher-training instructions making pupil performance also fall especially in the field of language and arithmetic skills.

In a statement of President Marcos in one of his interviews, he stated that he is now giving much emphasis on education geared towards development.
This includes teaching of those skills which modernization and economic progress require. 18An emphasis on science and technology was also made as well as on
research. Vocational schools were also developed during this time. Technical and vocational schools have been expanded to meet the manpower needs of the
country19 and to give opportunities for education to those who could not afford a regular college course.

The first administration of Marcos is marked by a number of infrastructures including school buildings. He had built the most number of schoolrooms
and buildings than all of his predecessors combined. By 1969, his administration had already built 42,165. These projects were mainly funded by the Special
Education Fund of his administration with an amount of 106 million pesos. This was collected from the taxes of real estates and from the taxes of tobacco and
tobacco products. Aside from the school buildings, this fund was also used for textbooks, teachers devices, machinery and equipment of vocational courses.In
line with this school funding project of Marcos was the issue regarding the Marcos Foundation. The decision to create the Ferdinand E. Marcos Foundation, Inc.
was taken in as early as 1969. The foundation should be formed to help in the advancement of education, science, technology and arts. This corporation,
according to Marcos in one of his interviews, will take over his assets that he will transfer to the said foundation.

(B)Health and Gender

The early 1960s was marked by the growing population in the country. The population growth of the Philippines has proceeded faster than that of the
underdeveloped countries in particular and the worlds population in general. 20This was later on intensified by his numerous projects on building road ways and
networks that led to the displacement of the people from the rural places to urban centers. The displacement of the people resulted to an increase of population in
settlements that was then called squatters area. The settlements were located in places that impose hazard and threats to their health.

17Ibid, p.69
18Presidential Policy Statement Series 1968. Radio and Television Chat of President Ferdinand Marcos, 1968.
19Ibid.
20 Onofre D. Corpuz. Education and Socio-Economic Change in the Philippines, 1870-1960s. (Social Sciences Research Council: University of the
Philippines,1963) p.78

13
 The president also mentioned in his 1969 SONA that the government had provided free medicines to the indigent population. This is in relation with the
Asian Flu that had hit the region of Southeast Asia during this time. According to Marcos in one of his interviews in 1968,his administration had activated out
several volunteer missions in provinces to monitor its health condition and had distributed 16 million pesos worth of free medicines to decrease incidence of
illness.

(C)Indigenous Peoples

The decade of the sixties and seventies saw the emergence of the two major Muslim armed movements, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
founded in 1969 and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 1977. 21 There are three particular events that served the hastening of their radicalization. One
of them was the massacres of the Muslims in what is known as the Jabidah Massacre in 1968. Filipino Moro Soldiers were being trained in Corregidor Island
by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for an undercover project to invade and occupy Sabah but were killed when they refuse to follow the orders to attack.
Another event that shaped these movements was the Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM) which was issuedin 1968 by Salipada Pendatun, Datu Udtog
Matalam of Maguindanao, and Rashid Lucman of Lanao. They issued the MIM manifesto calling for the independence of Mindanao and Sulu to be known and
referred to as the Republic of Mindanao and Sulu. 22 The third major event was another mass killing of Muslims in central Mindanao perpetrated by the Ilaga 23-
military elements in between 1970-1971. In Manili in Cotabato, local Christian leaders called for a peace dialogue with the Moros in the mosque 24;however,
while the conversation was going on, a grenade was thrown at the crowd by armed men dressed in uniforms of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) uniform. Others
who opt not to join the dialogue gathered at the local school. But were also summarily executed. 25

These massacres left the different Moro groups with different and varying ideological and political beliefs with no other recourse but to form a united
front against their common adversary which is the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. Both movements strive for power and justice so that the Moros
would be freed from the grip of Philippine colonialism, oligarchy and traditional politics 26 since the Muslim trapos end up as the primary beneficiary of peace
and dividend and other forms of development in Mindanao.

21Temario C. Rivera. The Struggle of the Muslim People in the Southern Philippines:Independence or Autonomy? in The Moro Reader: History and
Contemporary Struggles of the Bangsamoro People, e.d. Bobby M. Tuazon. (Quezon City: Center for People Empowerment in Governance, 2008). p.31
22 Abhoud Seyd M. Lingga. Understanding the Bangsamoro Right to Self-Determination in The Moro Reader: History and Contemporary Struggles of the
Bangsamoro People, e.d. Bobby M. Tuazon. (Quezon City: Center for People Empowerment in Governance, 2008). p.93
23Ilaga is a cult movement organized by local politicians in Mindanao; it was created by seven politicians of Cotabato known as the Magnificent Seven and
had military backing of Col. Carlos. Cajelo
24 Bobby M. Tuazon. The Moro Reader: History and Contemporary Struggles of the Bangsamoro People. (Quezon City: Center for People Empowerment in
Governance, 2008).p.16
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid, p.27

14
 Another issue that the administration faced was the Timber Licensing Agreement or the TLAs wherein franchises were awarded by the government to
loggers. As a result, indigenous peoples, both Moro and non-Moro, lost possession of their ancestral lands along with their traditional hunting grounds. 27 This led
to armed uprisings which took a while to quell headed by those of the Higuanons in northern Mindanao against the Nasipit Lumber Company and of the Blaans
against the cattle-rancher in Cotabato in the late 1960s.28 These areas became the bases of the New Peoples Army and the MNLF and MILF as well.

(D)Media Print, Visual, and Audio

As early as 1960s, agitation for the Filipinization of the press began. One of its highlight, in fact, was the convention of National Press Club in 1965. It
discussed a bill sponsored by Congressman Rogaciano Mercado ofBulacan providing for the Filipinization of ownership, direction and control of the press. It
was argued that foreigners, through the media, were capable of influencing public opinion. 29 In 1968, the Filipinization once again became a hot issue because of
the Graphic, then owned by. J. Antonio Araneta, ran an editorial entitled Filipinizing the Press. It decried the fact that there were aliens who owned and
operated local newspapers, radio and TV shows. 30 It maintained that as long as the right to gather and publish news and the right to mould public opinion are
shared by foreigners, nationalism will have a retarded growth and suzerainty of a dominant alien minority will always remain a fact of life. 31 There were also
several articles, like those of the Free Press, that reveals the limitations of the ownership of the press and broadcast media to the Filipinos. As long as the press is
in the hands of alien monopolists, the press is used not as an agent of change and progress but as an engine of destruction. 32

A proposal to Filipinize the mass media was taken up in the 1971 Constitutional Convention. However, the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) argued
against it on the grounds that it will not achieve the desired results since foreign publications and news agencies will continue to come in thus negating the
prohibition against local based foreign newsmen and publications. The creation of a Filipino news agency was envisioned to break the monopoly of foreign
newsmen so that the country would acquire and provide news about itself through its own means.

In addition, tabloids during this time such as Taliba, Pilipino Star and The Sun seemed to have been doing better than the rest. From here on, the
competition between the tabloids and newspapers resulted to the pressing need to continuously improve format for greater saleability. The content and manner of
presenting news became more varied as well as the visual attractiveness and efficiency.

27 Ibid, p.132
28Ibid.
29Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo. The Manipulated Press. (Mandaluyong: Cacho Hermanos, Inc.,1984) p.113
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid, p.114
32 Ibid.

15
(E)Arts, Heritage, and Architecture

Marcos embarked on a massive spending in infrastructural development. His first administration was marked by an increase of infrastructure projects
including roads and bridges, school buildings and other public works that were funded by taxes and loans from banks, especially from foreign banks. This
includes the Cultural Complex of the Philippines (CCP) built in 1966 and the Nayong Pilipino which were projects of the First Lady, Imelda Romualdez Marcos.
These projects require heavy funding and borrowing from international institutions that had led the country into great debts.

References:

Ables, Higino Alindogan. Mass Comunication and Philippine Society. Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, 2009.

Corpuz, Onofre. Education and Socio-Economic Change in the Philippines, 1870-1960s. Social Science Research Council, University of the Philippines.

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