Born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte on September 11, 1917 to Mariano Marcos and Josefa Edralin. He was the 10th president of thePhilippines and held office from 1966 to 1986. He established an authoritarian regime in the Philippines that came under criticism for corruption and for its suppression of democtratic processes. Besides being president, he also became the first prime minister in Philippine history.

Marcos studied law at the Univesity of the Philippines and while stilla student he was tried for the assasination in 1933 of Assemblyman Julio Nulundasan, a politic opponent of his father. He was found guilty in November 1939 but argued his case on appeal to the Philippine Supreme Court and won acquittal a year later. After graduation, he took the bar examinations and became its topnotcher.

During World War II Marcos served as an officer with the Philippine armed forces. Captured by the Japanese,he survived the Death March from Bataan to central Luzon then escaped. Marcos` subsequent claims being an important leader in the Filipino guerilla resistance movement were a central factor in his later political success, but U.S. government archives revealed that he actually played little part in anti-Japanese activities during the war.

From 1946 to 1947 Marcos was a technical assistant to President Manuel Roxas. He became a member of the House of Representatives (1949-59) and of the Senate (1963-65). Marcos also assumed the position of president of the Philippines senate. He married Imelda Romualdezin 1954 who successfully helped him later in his campaigned for the presidency. In 1965 Marcos broke off from the Liberal Party after failing to get his party`s nomination for president. He then ran as the Nationalista Party`s candidate for president against Diosdado Macapagal who was the chosen candidate of the Liberal Party.