In Search of Alternatives: The Third World in an Age of Crisis

by Ferdinand E. Marcos

In this new book, President Marcos goes further by suggesting that the Third World, of which he is one of the acknowledged leaders (since UNCTAD IV) is confronted with a difficult choice between the economic ideologies and political systems of the two superpowers which have anointed themselves with the standard bearers of the human race. He argues, with a rare combination of eloquence and courage, that neither Western capitalism nor Soviet socialism can satisfy the quest of the developing countries for stability, national growth and sovereignty without blemish and embarrassment. Altogether, "the Third World in an Age of Crisis" is an exciting journey into one of today's most important minds in Asia-and the world.

271 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1980

About the author

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician and kleptocrat who was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled as dictator under martial law from 1972 until 1981. While his regime started an unprecedented number of infrastructure projects and monuments (known colloquially as an "edifice complex'" and at great taxpayer cost), it also became infamous for its corruption, extravagance and brutality.

Reviews

[Michael David · Rating 1 out of 5]

When this book was published, it was already 1980 and Marcos was on his eighth year of Martial Law. Although this book was full of well-reasoned rhetoric, Marcos's arguments break apart in the light of truth. "Salvage" became a popular malapropism in the Philippines because many political dissidents were killed after midnight and thrown to grassy areas during that time.

The book is Marcos's argument for constitutional authoritarianism. Because the Philippines is third-world, he claimed, it cannot withstand the capitalistic ideas espoused by the United States nor could it with stand the amoral tenets of communism. His synthesis (a la Marx) is Martial Law, or constitutional authoritarianism. Of course the book is full of bullshit: among those grand claims consistently disproven by witnesses and history is his claim that there was only one person executed during his term, Lao Seng, for heroin merchandise.

His preposterous claim of the New Society being a free society was also debunked by what he himself had posted: the political freedom index of the Philippines during that time was no better than Swaziland's, which remains to be one of the world's poorest nations. (p. 206-207) There was even a laughable typo that showed the true color of his regime: on page 128, he wrote "Less than 1%, or 53%, believe that Martial Law should be lifted."

The whole treatise is as laughable as his claims towards being welcoming to foreign business, or allowing free press in the Philippines. I know better.

Filipinos should, also, especially with the conviction of Imelda Marcos for graft.