@Imjhum 4 April 2021 more from that month

The Philippines became independent on 4 July 1946. Manuel Roxas was the first president of the newly independent nation. Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989) was elected president in 1965. He was re-elected in 1969. However the Philippines was dogged by poverty and inequality. In the 1960s a land reform program began. However many peasants were frustrated by its slow progress and a Communist insurgency began in the countryside.