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<div class=pull-left>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaaRSRNfE271E1k9PQprixeAxxzXNuUhvtjaGZm5vCvP1/monument-395549_960_720.jpg<center><a href="https://pixabay.com/en/monument-nationalism-sacrifice-395549/"><sub>Image Source</sub></a></center></div>

In my previous post, I [summarised the history of the Philippines](https://steemit.com/philippines/@evlachsblog/the-philippines-during-pre-spanish-and-spanish-colonisation) from before the Spaniards colonised our country and until we declared independence from Spain in 1898. 

After that, a war between Spain and the United States broke out. Spain surrendered to the Americans and then the latter took over the islands and declared the Philippines as a colony. From 1898 to 1907, the Filipinos fought a fierce guerilla war but because of the Americans' advanced weaponry, they prevailed and we continued to be under the rule of yet another colonisers.

When the Second World War broke out, the Japanese occupied the Philippines from 1941 to 1945. Germany, Italy and Japan lost the war, and as for the Philippines, we were grateful for the Americans for their help during this period. In 1946, right after the war, we declared independence from the American regime. Since then we have been free to choose our own leaders through a democratic election as stipulated or guaranteed by the first Philippine Constitution of 1935.

<div class=pull-right>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcfKHVzevRTHTwk9CEBSgbqU4kuG9KYDsRyGfDt4TyikD/marcos.jpg<center><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Ferdinand_E._Marcos_and_the_First_Family_ascending_the_main_Palace_staircase_on_the_day_of_his_1969_inaugural.jpg"><sub>Image Source</sub></a></center></div>

In 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos declared "Martial Law", and most history books claim, that he did so to keep himself in power beyond the term allowed by our Constitution. During this period, many opposition leaders were arrested, the media was shut down, thousands of protesters were jailed, the Assembly was dissolved, and so a new Constitution replaced the 1935 Constitution.

In 1983, Benigno Aquino, an opposition leader, who was exiled and was ordered to return to the country, was shot. Hundreds of thousands of people marched on the streets as they denounced the murder of Benigno Aquino and demanded an end to the "alleged tyrannical rule" and the vast powers wielded by the Marcoses. We called these protest marches "People Power" or "EDSA Revolution" (as the protest was majorly held on EDSA road).  We called it People Power because we wanted to emphasise that we wanted democratic power, free to choose our leaders and that our basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech, restored to us. 

President Marcos was forced to step down because of People Power. Corazon Aquino, the wife of the late Benigno Aquino, succeeded Marcos to the presidency. A new constitution was promulgated in 1987, the one which we abide by and follow at present.

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