Best Philippines Scenario...

...WITH a Marcos Presidency. He doesnt have to rule for 20 years, nor does he have to become authoritarian. He simply needs to be president.
 
Marcos extending his presidency shut the other groups/families/political parties out of the lucrative graft and power perks at the top. If he leaves after just four years, or even eight it allows the 1950s model to continue, which adds a bit of stability at the upper levels to counter other social unrest. The other elites & power people aggravated the general social unrest that grew in the 1960s-70s by attempting to use it to unseat Marcos.
 
Ferdinand Marcos should have just waited for another 4 years and let Diosdado Macapagal be reelected in 1965 and there, we would have a much better Philippines compared to OTL.
 
Or Marcos does not win in 1965. Macapagal does - perhaps with Marcos staying in the Liberal party for the meantime. Marcos only achieves the presidency at a later period when Cold War politics and Philippine domestic politics makes it unlikely to achieve.

The late sixties and early seventies were the crazy years. If Marcos was President at a different time, it's less likely the Filipino establishment and the US would tolerate martial law, the level of corruption, etc.
 
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