The Philippines

     The Philippines are an archipelago of some 7,000 islands northeast of Indonesia. Many foreign elements have mixed with the indigenous population of the nation to create an exotic mix of eastern and western cultures. More than ninety percent of the people of the Philippines are Christian. 

     The Philippines were visited by many cultures from around the world. Ferdinand Magellan died in the islands, but sailors aboard his ship were the first to travel around the globe. The Spanish colonized the Philippines in 1565, but were forced to turn over the islands to the United States after losing the Spanish-American War in 1898. 

     Japan attacked the Philippines December 8, 1941, the day after they declared war on America by bombing Pearl Harbor. The American and Filipinos fought together to remove defeat the Japanese, and shortly after the war ended, the United States granted the archipelago independence. 

     Ferdinand Marcos was elected president of the Philippines in 1966 and ruled the nation for twenty years. Marcos was popular at first, over time he became a dictator. He and his wife Imelda lived in a lavish style despite great poverty in his nation. In 1983, Imelda Marcos warned opposition leader Benigno Aquino not to return home from exile to the Philippines. When Aquino did return, gunmen at the airport murdered him shortly after his plane landed. The Filipino people were outraged. Many saw Imelda’s warning as a threat and blamed Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos for the murder. 

     Aquino’s widow, Corazon, opposed Ferdinand Marcos for the presidency in 1986. Marcos declared himself the winner, but Corazon Aquino led the Filipino people to revolt against the government. On the brink of revolution, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos fled to the United States. Ferdinand died shortly after, but his wife returned to the archipelago to run for the presidency herself in 1992. She received less than one percent of the vote. 

     Corazon Aquino declined to run for reelection in 1992. Her courage forced a dictator from power and allowed freedom and the Philippines was once again a democracy where the people selected the government. Her job was complete.