University of the Philippines

University of the Philippines main campus at Quezon City, the Philippines; English language; founded 1908. Among its many schools and colleges are those of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, veterinary medicine, business administration, education, human ecology, architecture, fine arts, law, engineering, arts and literature, library science, music, economics, and graduate studies. It has research centers for industrial relations, hydraulics, biotechnology, aquaculture, statistics, and policy and development studies. At Manila are colleges of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and other health professions. There are other colleges of the university throughout the country.

Marcos, Ferdinand Edralin (b. 11 Sept. 1917, d. 28 Sept. 1989). President of the Philippines 1965–86 Born in Sarrat (Ilocos Norte) of a well-connected family, he graduated from the University of the Philippines Law School and became a highly successful intelligence officer for the US army during World War II. A supporter of President Roxas, he was a member of the House of Representatives for the Liberal Party (1949–59), and of the Senate (1959–65), whose leader he became in 1963. Supported by the Nationalist Party, he was elected President in 1965, and in 1969 he became the first Philippine President to be re-elected. His initial popularity due to his educational and agricultural reforms waned when he used increasing force against his opponents. He declared martial law in 1972, in a coup that dissolved all political institutions and suspended human rights. His reactionary policies triggered resistance by the Communist ‘New People's Army’, as well as the Muslim Moro National Liberation Front. Economic decline forced him to abandon martial law in 1981 and to open up the political system. His regime was badly shaken by the assassination of the opposition leader, B. Aquino. In desperate need for legitimacy, he called elections in November 1985, but was outsmarted by Corazón Aquino, who claimed victory on 9 February 1986. The military, led by General Fidel Ramoz, refused its continued support. Marcos fled to exile in Hawaii on 25 February 1986, where he died.

Taruc, Luis (b. 21 June 1913). Filipino resistance leader The son of sharecropping peasants in Luzon, he was educated at Manila University and in the 1930s took up the cause of landless peasants, who were particularly affected by the Great Depression. In 1935 he joined the Socialist Party and the Philippines Anti-Fascist Front. In 1942 he formed the Hukbalahap on Luzon, and became its commander-in-chief. By 1945 his forces had almost total control of the rural areas of the island, and welcomed the return of the US liberation forces against the Japanese. In 1946, he was elected to the House of Representatives. When denied his seat, he returned to his guerrilla activities at the head of a People's Liberation Army. He finally surrendered in 1954. He was imprisoned until 1968.