President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. paid tribute to his late father, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., as the family marked his 36th death anniversary on Sunday.
“Remembering my father, Apo Lakay, on his 36th death anniversary. His memory and his dreams remain with me always,” the President wrote in a post.
Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the country’s 10th president, ruled the Philippines for two decades, a period remembered for both infrastructure development and deep political controversy. He declared Martial Law in 1972, citing threats from communist insurgents and civil unrest, a move that granted him absolute power. The era was marred by widespread human rights abuses, media censorship, and corruption allegations amounting to billions of dollars.
The strongman’s rule collapsed in 1986 following the assassination of opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. three years earlier, economic turmoil, and the historic People Power Revolution, which forced Marcos Sr. and his family into exile in Hawaii.
On September 28, 1989, Marcos Sr. died of cardiac arrest at the age of 72 while in Honolulu. His body was returned to the Philippines in 1993, and in 2016 he was interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, a decision that stirred heated debate across the country.
