Appendix 5.14: Introduction, Introductory Readings in Filipino Ideology

Abstract

As previously mentioned, Marcos’s propagandists released books on the Filipino Ideology under their principal’s name. Below is the introduction to a curious book released by the President’s Center for Special Studies, which does not have an identified author nor a copyright page. By juxtaposing texts written by intellectuals such as Apolinario Mabini and Claro M. Recto with selections from works attributed to Marcos, the book tries to portray Marcos as a political thinker worthy of esteem like his intellectual forebears. However, the juxtaposition also has the effect of highlighting how lacking in novelty the Marcosian Filipino Ideology is; from the internal revolution (channeling Mabini) to self-reliance (echoing Recto), all of “Marcos’s” formulations were better enunciated by those who came before him.