II. His "New World" and His "New Society"
Having been a man with a strong sense of justice, Light had already been disgusted at the string of crimes and abuses that were occurring in his society. When he got hold of the Death Note and realized the notebook's ability to end a person's life, he soon decided to take it upon himself the task of eliminating the "rotten people" in order to cleanse the world of evil. With the Death Note, he slowly created his "new world" or his "utopia" where he became god. ("Yagami Light", n.d.) To his credit, the instances of crimes in the world did decrease through his efforts. However, the peace and order that people felt at this time was only a result of the people's fear for the wrath of KIRA, thus making this perceived peace in society not genuine.

President Ferdie, on the other hand, was also faced with a nation undergoing what is arguably its most troublesome period ever since the Third Philippine Republic was established. The economy was at its worst yet and peace and order was deteriorating with the worsening crime situation & the emergence of several anti-government rebel groups and violent demonstrations (Agoncillo, 1990, p. 572). While Light had his Death Note, President Ferdie sought to solve these problems with his most extreme executive power: the power to declare the Philippines under martial law. In his state address, Marcos explained that he did it to "save the Republic" and "reform society" (as cited in "The Philippines Under Ferdinand Marcos", n.d.). Under the "New Society", he "assumed all the powers of the government - executive, legislative, and judicial" (McDougald, 1987, p. 125). Dissidents were controlled and curfews were imposed; as a result crimes and disorders around the country became less prevalent (Agoncillo, 1990, p. 576-578). The economic and social situation appeared to rise once more during this era, with new infrastructures being built, land reform programs being executed, and national income withstanding the worldwide recession at that time. (Agoncillo, 1990) However, the Martial Law era would also become infamous in many history books due to the thousands of human rights abuses that were committed during this period; according to Alfred W. McCoy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 737 Filipinos disappeared, 3,257 were killed, 35,000 were tortured, and 70,000 were incarcerated (McCoy, 1999). It must be noted that martial law was lifted in 1981, but the Marcos regime continued from there until 1986.