Marcos's Plan for the Philippines

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Marcos' plan was twofold. Get Filipinos to leave the country and then make sure they'd send money home, funneling their earnings back into the Philippines economy. He suspended democracy and basically used his power to fervently suppress any opposition that came. Their vision of the Philippines entailed them disappearing journalists who would speak out against them or activists that would speaking out against them.

This time of year, right in the middle of the holiday season, there's a beloved, frenzied tradition playing out in Filipino households all around the world, with which reporter Gabrielle Berbey is intimately familiar. A Balikbayan box is a huge cardboard box (often weighing over 100 pounds) that Filipinos living all over the world send to family members who are still living in the Philippines. The word Balikbayan literally means homecoming in Tagalog.

Balikbayan Boxes