Claim: Local products, culture thrived during Marcos Sr. presidency
Rating: FALSE
Social media posts are claiming that during the presidency of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr., local products and culture were at the forefront due to the support of the national government.
This is false.
Multiple academic sources indicate that during the previous Marcos presidency, local industries suffered difficulties due to an import-heavy policy (Robin Broad, Unequal Alliance, 1979-1986: The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Philippines (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988).
In order to take out loans from the international market that would eventually be siphoned away to grow the Marcos family’s wealth, the regime liberalized trade in the country and greatly lowered tariffs on imported products, making it economically difficult for local products to stay afloat (https://englishkyoto-seas.org/…/SEAS_0302_05_Tadem.pdf).
To say that local products and culture were at the fore would therefore be misleading at best.
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