Some Are Smarter Than Others

TABLE OF CONTENTSAbstract of ChaptersI. THE WORSHIP 0F BAAL: An Initial Look At Marcos Wealth – Page 9The first chapter sets the tone for the rest of the book by attempting to give an idea of the magnitude of the wealth Marcos and his cronies enjoyed. The spending behavior of the Marcos family is contrasted with the poverty of the rest of the country. It is argued that wealth and poverty are the cause and effect of each other. II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRONY CAPITALISM - Page 66The regime of Marcos and lmelda was not a temporary aberration from the historically established patterns of political and social behavior. The ostentation of Imelda and the corruption of Marcos merely represented in a most developed form the two anti—social traditions of the country's social and political elite. Attempts are made to go beyond ordinary notions of corruption as a way of explaining cronyism as the defining trait of Marcos‘ regime, It is suggested that the phenomenon of cronyism under Marcos be viewed as the use of state power for private interests. III. THE RELATIVES AND CRONIES – Page 91Every major economic activity was controlled by the First Family, their relatives, or cronies. These relatives and cronies acted as either as Marcos nominees or on their own behalf in key corporations and drew money from government, private, and international sources. The national coffer, the resources of private banks. international loans from multinational banks, and aid money from the US and Japan were placed at the disposal of Marcos' money-making network. Corporations owned or manned by cronies were provided extremely liberal government incentives, selectively granted tax exemptions, assigned lucrative government contracts, granted monopolies and captive markets through presidential decree. given easy and privileged access to credit from local and international financial institutions, and monopolized access to valuable market information available only to the government. When these methods did not suffice, military force was used as a factor in economic competition.This chapter presents case studies of selected cronies by outlining the activities of the following: Benedicto. Floirendo, Enrile, Cojuangco, Elizalde, Silverio, Cuenca, Velasco, Disini, Lucio Tan, Yao, Gapud. Roman Cruz, the Enriquez and Panlilio families, Bienvenido and Gliceria Tantoco, the Romualdez and the Marcos families. IV. THE OVERSEAS EMPIRE - Page 365The Marcos family and their friends built an overseas empire which rivals the magnitude of the assets of the biggest multinational corporations. Sophisticated techniques of money laundering were used to hide and transport assets out of the country to amass fortunes in Swiss bank accounts, US real estate, as well as properties in other countries. While the previous chapter documented how wealth was extracted, this chapter discusses how the wealth was transferred overseas. - V. IN LIEU OF A CONCLUSION: Of Typewriters and Flags – Page 460Efforts by the Aquino government to recover Marcos’ wealth have had dismal results. The reasons for the failure in the recovery efforts are analyzed in this chapter.