User:Alternativity/sandbox/Ferdinand Marcos Presidential Campaign, 1969

The 1969 reelection campaign of Ferdinand Marcos, the 10th President of the Republic of the Philippines, formally started in July 1969 when incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos was unanimously nominated as the Presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party at its National Convention at the Manila Pavillion. A meeting of the party's ruling junta had met a week earlier to assure that the nomination would be unanimous. With Fernando Lopez as his vice president, he ran against the Liberal Party slate of, Sergio Osmena, Jr and Genaro Magsaysay.

With his popularity already beefed up by debt-funded spending, Marcos' popularity made it very likely that he would win the election, but he decided, as National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin reported in the Philippines Free Press, to "leave nothing to chance." Time and Newsweek would eventually call the 1969 election the "dirtiest, most violent and most corrupt" in Philippine modern history, with the term "Three Gs", meaning "guns, goons, and gold" coined to describe administration's election tactics of vote-buying, terrorism and ballot snatching.

Marcos used the military and the government bureaucracy for his campaign, and also went on a campaign spending spree, initiating USD50 million worth in infrastructure projects meant to impress the electorate. This rapid campaign spending was so massive that it would be responsible for the Balance of Payments Crisis of 1970, whose inflationary effect would cause social unrest leading all the way up to the proclamation of Martial Law in 1972. Marcos was reported to have spent PhP 100 for every PhP 1 that Osmena spent, using up PhP 24 Million in Cebu alone.

The most infamous incidents took place in Batanes, where Philippine Constabulary officers, paramilitary groups and hired guns essentially took over the island, and motorcycle-riding thugs rode around terrorizing voters and Comelec officials, and beating up opposition leaders.

Presidential, legislative and local elections were held on November 11, 1969 in the Philippines. Incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos won an unprecedented second full term as President of the Philippines. His running mate, incumbent Vice President Fernando Lopez was also elected to a third full term as Vice President of the Philippines. An unprecedented twelve candidates ran for president, however ten of those were nuisance candidates.