CLAIM: “Yellow” presidents failed to improve Filipinos’ lives over a period of three decades
RATING: False
The faulty narrative that the “Yellow” presidents that took over after the downfall of the Marcos regime in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution did nothing good for the country is a staple of pro-Marcos social media accounts. The apparent objective is to diminish the presidencies after Marcos while propping up the latter’s image and downplaying economic hardships and human rights violations during the Martial Law regime.
This remains a key talking point for the camp of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. days before the May 9 elections, with the Facebook page “BBM Youth Advocate” falsely claiming that five “Yellow” presidents failed to improve Filipinos’ lives.
The May 6 post, which has been shared more than 400 times and commented upon more than 200 times, claimed:
“Tatlong dekada binigyan ng Pilipino ang mga dilawan na pangulo namely Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Ninoy Aquino at mga opisyales mula noon hanggang ngayon ng pagkakataon na magsilbe ng tama ngunit nabigo at nalugmok sa kahirapan ang Pilipino.”
We have to break down the false claim into two: first, that five “Yellow” presidents followed ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., Bongbong’s father and namesake; and second, that Filipinos’ lives did not improve over the three-decade period that these presidents were in power.
“Yellow” was the color of the 1986 presidential campaign of Corazon Aquino, as opposed to the Marcos camp’s red. The color was adopted by pro-Aquino parties, notably the Liberal Party that propelled her son, Benigno Aquino III, to the presidency in 2010.
On that basis, the “five presidents” claim is incorrect. After Corazon Aquino (1986-1992) and her anointed successor, Fidel Ramos (1992-1998), Joseph Estrada (1998-2001), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2001-2010) and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III (2010-2016) followed. The page erred in saying that “Ninoy,” Noynoy’s father, became president; the ex-senator was assassinated at the Manila airport in 1983.
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