ABSTRACT
Interaction among social, political and economic elites of the Philippines and neighboring countries has lubricated intergovernmental regional cooperation in South East Asia. This dimension of power sharing on the national level developed hand-in-hand with intense electoral political competition among the national elite of the Philippines. Chapter 3 shows how President Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965-1986) used a high-stakes 1967 national election campaign (Soliven 1967:5-A, 14-A; Marcos 1967:12-A; Yambot 1967:1-A, 6-A; Monteclaro 1967:1-A, 6-A; Valencia 1967:4-A), marked by sixty-two political murders (Shaplen 1969:248), to take a step forward in South East Asian regional cooperation.
