IV. Their Sad Downfall
As they had in them much power, their minds were soon corrupted to the point that their once admirable personalities soon withered. In the beginning, Light wanted to create a world where evil does not exist and only those who are good are left to live freely. But as time passed, he not only killed criminals and evildoers but also innocent people who have not done anything wrong but, in Light's eyes, pose a threat to the emergence of his new world ("Light Yagami", n.d.).
In the same sense, Ferdie appeared to have done his best to make a "New Society" where people can live safe and sound. However, his regime did not only punish the guilty but also many innocent civilians. He became a dictator who showed no intention of leaving the office and who led crony capitalism and widespread corruption in the country (Quezon, 2007).
The eventual downfall of these two men were primarily the result of the deaths of their respective rivals. The assassination of L led to the rise of his successors Mello and Near, who continued the unfinished business of L and solve the KIRA case. Similarly, the assassination of Ninoy in his return to the country on August 21, 1983 led to a significant increase in the people's dissatisfacton of Ferdie's government (Romulo, 1988); the assassination soon gave rise to Ninoy's widow Corazon "Cory" Aquino, who became the new face of the opposition.
Their downfall was also a result of their trusted allies turning their backs on them or making a mistake that proved detrimental to them. In Light's case, the miscalculated mistake by Teru Mikami to intervene in the already furnished plan of Light led to a chain of events that culminated in the end of Light. His fellow colleagues in the police force turned their backs on him once they learned that he was KIRA, and this became most apparent when Matsuda shot Light multiple times. (Garten, 2007)
In Ferdie's case, his trusted generals Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile turned their backs on their bosses and attempted a coup against him. However, Ferdie saw this coming, and ordered the military to capture his once loyal generals. This would then lead to the call of Cardinal Sin to the people to protect the rebelling generals, which then resulted in a simultaneous street demonstration of a million people that became the world-famous 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. Soon, the military slowly turned their backs from their commander-in-chief and crippled his government. And when Ferdie lost the support of the Reagan administration in the United States, which Ferdie had considered as an ally, he left office in February 25, 1986 and ended his two-decade reign in the country (Agoncillo, 1990, p. 584-585).
Death came very soon for these two men. Soon after Light had lost in his quest to be the god of the new world, Ryuk put an end to Light's life by writing his name in the Death Note, just as Ryuk had promised in the beginning. Marcos, on the other hand, was already an ailing dictator before being ousted from office, and three years after the People Power Revolution he passed away while on exile in Hawaii. Light was 23; Ferdie was 72.
