EDSA People Power Revolution
is linked with the foreign debt that led
to Philippine economy’s decline since the 1980s.
In Marcos vs Manglapus, (G.R.
No. 88211 September 15, 1989), the
Supreme Court said that “nor are the
woes of the Republic purely political. The accumulated foreign debt and the
plunder of the nation attributed to Mr. Marcos and his cronies left the economy
devastated. xxx We cannot ignore the
continually increasing burden imposed on the economy by the excessive foreign
borrowing during the Marcos regime, which stifles and stagnates development and
is one of the root causes of widespread poverty and all its attendant ills.”
Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was the
longest-serving president in Philippine history, holding office for over 20
years, from December 30, 1965, until he was ousted on February 25, 1986. His
21-year rule (7,362 days) included a period of martial law from 1972 to 1981,
allowing him to stay in power beyond his initial terms.
Instead of its promised
stability and prosperity, the imposition of Martial Law generated intense
social conflicts and a worsening economic crisis.
The foreign debt incurred by
the Marcos Sr. regime is one of the
biggest obstacles to Philippine economic recovery commonly attributed to the
corruption and cronyism.
A group of economists from the
University of the Philippines (UP) issued a report titled “Economic Recovery
and Long-Run Growth: Agenda and Reforms” that evaluated the economic
performance during the martial law years.
The report noted that the
Philippines at that time was “one of the
most heavily indebted countries in the world: seventh in size of debt, sixth in
debt to exports ratio, fourth in debt to GDP ratio, and ninth in debt service
ratio.”
The UP report went on to say
that “most of the projects financed by the foreign loans were unproductive; …
not well chosen or were probably chosen precisely to finance capital flight
through the overpricing of projects.”
So-called “official
development assistance” was “generally tied to projects that were not very high
in the country’s priorities or were tied to sources of imports and equipment
that are more expensive than competitive suppliers.”
Projects that were financed by
the debt were found to be “overpriced, mismanaged, not viable to begin with, or
made unviable by changes in exchange rate and the international environment.”
The debt problem was certainly
severe and increased fifty-fold from US$599 million in 1965 when Marcos,
Sr. entered Malacañang as president to
US$28.3 billion when he left it as a deposed dictator.
The bloating of the country’s
foreign debt can be dramatically
illustrated in this manner: Marcos,Sr.
took out loans especially to fund his “Golden Age of Infrastructure”,
with the enormous kickbacks to enrich himself and his cronies. These loans
became unpayable because they were pocketed or used by inefficient enterprises.
The resulting financial burden drove the protected crony-dominated economy into
the ground.
The Supreme Court cases that declared some of the Marcos assets
to be “ill-gotten” include $658 million
in Republic v. Sandiganbayan, (G.R. No. 152154. July 15, 2003); PLDT shares in
Yuchengco v. Sandiganbayan (GR NO. 149802, Jan 20, 2006); US$3.37 million in
Marcos Jr. v. Republic (G.R. No. 189434 April 25, 2012) and collection of jewelry (Estate of Marcos
v. Republic (G.R. No. 213027January 18, 2017).
Existing data noted that the
outstanding aggregate debt during per term reached P870 billion under Cory
Aquino; P1.496 trillion under Ramos;
P2.385 trillion under Estrada; P4.718 trillion under Arroyo; P6.09
trillion under Aquino III, PHP
12.79-trillion under Duterte.
Forty years after EDSA,
independent think tank Ibon Foundation said the Philippines’ total debt as of
November 2025 has reached ₱17.6 trillion under the administration of President
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Since Marcos Jr. assumed
office on June 30, 2022, the country’s debt has surged by 38 percent from ₱12.8
trillion at the end of the Duterte administration.
Marcos administration has been
borrowing an average of ₱118.4 billion per month — the highest compared to
₱95.1 billion monthly under Duterte, ₱19 billion under Aquino, and ₱21.2
billion under Arroyo.
While domestic debt is the
majority, foreign debt continues to rise, with about 30.8% of the total debt
(₱5.32 trillion) in foreign currency as of late 2024.
Practically all or 99.5
percent of taxes the government
collected went to servicing its debt.
With a population of 112.7
million, each Filipino carries a debt of ₱156,552.
Among 27.5 million families,
each Filipino family owes ₱642,000 as part of the Philippine total debt.
Unless corrected, IBON said
that the debt consequences will persist
to burden generations of Filipinos to come.
(Peyups is the moniker of the
University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the Seafarers’
Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail
info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0908-8665786.)
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