8A PHILI[PPINE SITUATION DURING cORAZON Aquino Government

cORAZON Aquino Government and Prospects for the Economy The “New Society” proclaimed by Marcos in the early 1970s failed to produce its promised improvements in the welfare of Filipinos, and, as martial law continued, opposition to the Marcos government grew. The oil shock and subsequent fall in commodity prices hurt incomes, particularly in the rural areas. Although measured economic growth was substantial, regional income disparities increased, and over the decade the proportion of the population living in poverty remained high.’ Continuing arrests and human rights violations by the military brought protests, particularly from the Catholic church. But the most crucial loss of regime support came in those groups that had provided the initial constituency for martial law. The patronage machinery on which the political foundations of martial law rested, especially the particularistic interventions and the generation and distribution of monopoly rents, tended over time to narrow the base of political support. By 1985 Marcos’ base was dangerously thin. The early support for the government within the rural sector faded as the momentum of land reform dissipated and as military abuses and corruption increased. Even though agricultural terms of trade were falling, the government increased its taxation of important crops through export and producer levies and through monopolization of trading and processing activities. The increasing incidence of rural poverty aided the insurgency, and the communist NPA took over effective administration, including taxation, in several areas. Although the military had been the main beneficiary of martial law, opposition within the armed forces developed over promotions and over the deployment of forces against the Moslem and communist insurgencies. Before 1972, the Philippine armed forces had been small, relatively professional, and reasonably effective.