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Marcos has eased the conditions for foreign investment in the Philippines, and the country is attracting an impressive series of development loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Eight new first-class hotels are pushing skyward all over Manila in preparation for a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in September. The benefits of all the economic gilding, however, have not yet trickled down to the Philippine grass roots.
While the gross national product has increased—by an annual average of 7.26% in the past three years—inflation has grown far faster, reaching a staggering 40% in Manila during 1974. Real wages have probably declined for working-class urban Filipinos. The 1976 peso has shrunk to a mere 34% of its 1967 value.
Marcos is concerned about economic matters, but not very interested in them. He remains at heart a social revolutionary, a leader almost wistfully in search of what he calls "the internal revolution" in the nation's character. Over a frugal lunch of chicken and vegetables with Imelda and members of his Cabinet, Marcos explained what he wants of his countrymen. "I would like to return the Filipino to what he was before he was altered and modified by the softness of Western and other ways. I would like to see a change of heart and a change of mind. I would like to see a concern for his fellow man."
Brilliant Tactician. Though he is respected and often feared, Marcos does not arouse Kennedy-like adulation among Filipinos. "He is the most brilliant political tactician the Philippines has ever had," grudgingly admitted one businessman who thoroughly dislikes Marcos' "constitutional authoritarianism." But the businessman added: "He and the top officials can do anything and nobody can stop them."
The statement is true, but Marcos would probably not be offended by it. The contemporary world figure admired most by both Marcos and Imelda is China's Chairman Mao Tse-tung (see story page 22). Reason: Mao, as the President puts it, united "800 million volatile and historically disparate and separated people." Except for the population figure, the phrase could equally apply to the Philippines. Marcos also admires another great historical figure. "What was Napoleon's maxim?" he asks rhetorically. " 'The art of power is not how to use your friends but how to use your enemies.' "