Of course life seemed much better at least during the 1970s and early 1980s. That is truly the most deceptive thing of all. That was paid for by the billions upon billions Marcos borrowed, which we paid for with our forests and seas, the bulk of which Marcos and his cronies stole anyway. That was the one thing that guaranteed the bitter harvest afterward. It began to unravel toward the last few years of Marcos’ rule, which compelled him to rely on the “Binondo Central Bank.” That was what guaranteed our doom afterward, or our conversion from being one of the brightest to the one of the wretched-est countries of the world.