Summary of Sterling Seagrave's The Marcos Dynasty

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Ilocos region of Luzon is a dry, impoverished area that was settled by Ilocano tribes. The first European to visit the area was Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo, who established the settlement of Manila in 1571.

#2 The Ilocano are a very superstitious people, and their family cell and blood clan are extremely important to them. They are extremely loyal to these two things, and will do anything for them.

#3 The Ilocanos, as a people, have a long history of dreaming of escaping their hometowns. They have been historically employed as domestics and drivers, but many have emigrated to undeveloped Mindanao, the Middle East, and Hawaii.

#4 Ferdinand’s father, Fructuoso Edralin, was a relatively prosperous peasant who owned 80 hectares of irrigated rice land and coffee plantation along the river in the barrio of Dingras near Sarrat. His mother, Josefa Edralin, was a tough, resourceful woman who had to work hard because her husband was a spendthrift.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822545366

IRB Media

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Insights on Sterling Seagrave's The Marcos Dynasty

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Ilocos region of Luzon is a dry, impoverished area that was settled by Ilocano tribes. The first European to visit the area was Spanish conquistador Juan de Salcedo, who established the settlement of Manila in 1571.

#2

The Ilocano are a very superstitious people, and their family cell and blood clan are extremely important to them. They are extremely loyal to these two things, and will do anything for them.

#3

The Ilocanos, as a people, have a long history of dreaming of escaping their hometowns. They have been historically employed as domestics and drivers, but many have emigrated to undeveloped Mindanao, the Middle East, and Hawaii.

#4

Ferdinand’s father, Fructuoso Edralin, was a relatively prosperous peasant who owned 80 hectares of irrigated rice land and coffee plantation along the river in the barrio of Dingras near Sarrat. His mother, Josefa Edralin, was a tough, resourceful woman who had to work hard because her husband was a spendthrift.

#5

The American educational system, which was available to everyone, helped expand the Marcos family’s network. By the time Josefa began high school in 1914, she was 21 years old. She was already married with a child, but she continued her education.

#6

The story is that the heir of the wealthy Chua family in Batac, a young man named Ferdinand Chua, fell in love with Josefa. They planned to be married, but Chua’s parents intervened. He was sent to Manila to marry a Chinese woman.

#7

The Chuas, a family of Chinese immigrants, were prominent in the Chinese community of the Philippines. They organized clan associations to protect themselves. The Chuas and other leading Chinese families established links with the Chinese chambers of commerce in Manila, which provided leadership for the Chinese community as a whole.

#8

Ferdinand’s education was administered by lashings of a leather belt from his father, who was a severe disciplinarian. He developed a range of instant personalities like a hall of mirrors.

#9

Mariano’s career made unaccountable progress. He was appointed district school superintendent in Ilocos Norte, and he traveled around the area by pony. He was voted into Congress in 1922, and was re-elected four more times. He was not a man who looked you in the eye and then shot you in the back; he had someone else shoot you in the back and then looked you in the eye.

#10

The Marcoses lived in a shabby rented house on Mabini Street in Manila. They moved every year, as Josefa struggled to keep the family afloat on her meager earnings. Ferdinand was in school until he completed the seventh grade in 1930, interrupted by several periods of a month or two when there was absolutely no money.

#11

To her children, Josefa explained that their grandparents on her side had big farms in Ilocos Sur, but the Marcos side had nothing. The official version is that Grandmother Edralin had to send money now and then, to tide them over. But Judge Chua, in his role as godfather, also sent money.

#12

The world of politics that Mariano entered in Manila was a game of pretense, manipulation, and patronage. It was a world in which egos were mashed and bruised, and murder was a viable option.

#13

The Americans in the Philippines wanted to hold on to the islands as long as possible so their economic interests could be met. They gave the Filipinos favors and patronage, which they could use to keep their own factions in line.

#14

Manuel Quezon was from a well-educated Chinese mestizo family, schoolteachers of modest but adequate means, with good connections on the fringe of the oligarchy. He was a young man of exceptional gifts at manipulation. He used these abilities to become governor of Tayabas Province in 1906, and later national assembly speaker.

#15

The Philippines had a democracy, but it was merely theater. Politicians would constantly switch between factions