Ferdinand Marcos as an Economist

            First of all, what is an economist? What is their contribution in the country? Does one must graduate in economics just to be called an economist? According to the Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary and Thesaurus, an economist is a person who studies or has a special knowledge of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories concepts from economics and write about economic policies. You may ask, why did I asked those questions and why did I defined an economist. Well, because my favorite economist may not be considered an economist or is not a very common choice to be exact. Not very common choice, so he's not Karl Marx or Adam Smith or even Leon Walras but a fellow citizen her in the Philippines, the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
             Ferdinand Edralin Marcos was born on September 11, 1917 in the town of Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. He studied law at the University of the Philippines and graduated cum laude despite the rough obstacles along his way. A lawyer, a member or the Philippine House of Representative in 1948-1959 and the Philippines Senate in 1959-1965, he became the president of the Philippines in 1966. And in his reign starts his economic accomplishments. According to The Economic Legacy of Marcos by Gerardo P. Sicat, the economic legacy of Marcos is organized along 4 major lines: government reform; infrastructure investment; social and people-oriented reform and; economic and industrial reform. .
             In government reform, he surrounded himself with officials who would help him execute his program thus appointing the best available and placing them in charge of major duties. And most of them covered the areas of finance, budget planning and financial institutions. Most importantly, Marcos took an active role in improving the major economic thrusts of the government. For infrastructure development, Marcos built the most extensive infrastructure compared to the other presidents.