The document summarizes key events in Philippine history from independence in 1946 to the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal in 1973. It discusses the US granting independence on July 4, 1946 and the signing of a treaty recognizing Philippine sovereignty. It then focuses on Macapagal's domestic reforms as president from 1961-1965, including introducing land reform and liberalizing foreign exchange controls. The era was followed by Ferdinand Marcos' presidency, where large debts were accumulated and the country faced economic crisis, before Marcos declared martial law in 1972, marking the beginning of authoritarian rule.

1. The Era of Indepence
In
Philippines
Made by: Jeric Anthony F.
Claveria

2. The declaration of independence is one of the most important
milestones in Philippine history. The country was colonized by
many nations for hundreds of years. Imagine achieving your
freedom after all the hardships you’ve been through. It is
priceless. The history of the Philippines from the recognition of
independence in 1946 to the end of the presidency of Diosdado
Macapagal that covered much of the Third Republic of the
Philippines, which ended on January 17, 1973 with the ratification
of the 1973 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines.

3. Recognition of independence
The United States of America granted independence to the Philippines on
July 4, 1946. In accordance with the Philippine Independence Act. President
Harry S. Truman issued Proclamation 2695 of July 4, 1946 officially
recognizing the independence of the Philippines. On the same day,
representatives of the United States of America and of the Republic of the
Philippines signed a Treaty of General Relations between the two
governments. The treaty provided for the recognition of the independence of
the Republic of the Philippines as of July 4, 1946, and the relinquishment of
American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands.

4. President Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. worked to suppress graft and
corruption and to stimulate the Philippine economy. He introduced the
country's first land reform law, placed the peso on the free currency
exchange market, and liberalized foreign exchange and import controls.
Many of his reforms, however, were crippled by a Congress dominated
by the rival Nacionalista Party. In his inaugural address, Macapagal
promised a socio-economic program anchored on "a return to free and
private enterprise", placing economic development in the hands of
private entrepreneurs with minimal government interference

5. Twenty days after the inauguration, exchange controls were lifted and the
Philippine peso was allowed to float on the free currency exchange
market. The currency controls were initially adopted by the administration
of Elpidio Quirino as a temporary measure, but continued to be adopted
by succeeding administrations. The peso devalued from P2.64 to the U.S.
dollar, and stabilized at P3.80 to the dollar, supported by a $300 million
stabilization fund from the International Monetary Fund. To achieve the
national goal of economic and social progress with prosperity reaching
down to the masses, there existed a choice of methods. First, there was
the choice between the democratic and dictatorial systems, the latter
prevailing in communist countries.

6. On this, the choice was easy as Filipinos had long been
committed to the democratic method. With the democratic
mechanism, however, the next choice was between free
enterprise and the continuing of the controls system. Macapagal
stated the essence of free enterprise in layman parlance in
declaring before Congress on January 22, 1962, that "the task of
economic development belongs principally to private enterprise
and not to the government. After the term of President
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. President Ferdinand Marcos
followed.

7. During marcos period, the government had a cautious borrowing
policy in the 1970s Amid high oil prices, high interest rates, capital
flight, and falling export prices of sugar and coconut, the Philippine
government borrowed a significant amount of foreign debt in the
early 1980s. The country's total external debt rose from US$2.3 billion
in 1970 to US$26.2 billion in 1985. Marcos' critics charged that
policies have become debt-driven, along with corruption and plunder
of public funds by Marcos and his cronies. This held the country under
a debt-servicing crisis which is expected to be fixed by only 2025.

8. At 7:17 pm on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on
television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law.
This marked the beginning of a 14-year period of one-man rule that would
effectively last until Marcos was exiled from the country on February 25, 1986.
The martial law era under Marcos was marked by plunder, repression, torture,
and atrocity. As many as 3,257 were murdered, 35,000 tortured, and 70,000
illegally detained according to estimates by historian Alfred McCoy.[29] One
journalist described the Marcos administration as "a grisly one-stop shop for
human rights abuses, a system that swiftly turned citizens into victims by
dispensing with inconvenient requirements such as constitutional protections,
basic rights, due process, and evidence.