Marcos, ruling by decree, curtailed press freedom and other civil liberties; closed down the Congress and media establishments including RBS. In December 1972, RBS was given the green light by the government to return on the air, however with limited three-month permits. Programming during that time was supplied mostly via a blocktime agreement with Philippine Production Center Inc. (PPCI), a company led by former ABS-CBN executive Romeo Jalosjos. But due to limited licenses, difficulty in financial obligations, and disallowing foreign citizens and entities from owning and operating media companies in the Philippines, Stewart and the American Broadcasting Company, who owned a quarter of the company, was forced to cede majority control to a triumvirate composed of Gilberto Duavit Sr., a Malacañang official; Menardo Jimenez, an accountant; and Felipe Gozon, an attorney of the Stewarts in 1974; and the station changed its name to GMA Radio-Television Arts (GMA stood for Greater Manila Area, the station's initial coverage area); though Republic Broadcasting System, Inc. remained as its corporate name until 1996. His wife Loring was the president when the takeover ensued. The relaunched GMA, aside from sporting a light blue square logo with the network name in white, also (until 1980) had a circle 7 logo in use, in its final years the blue circle 7 logo used was similar to those used by the ABC in some United States cities. After that, Rod Reyes, the then-general manager of RBS recruited old-timers from ABS-CBN, including from the news department and entertainment programs. Through the acquisition, the station was able to broadcast in color with a ₱8 million credit line thru buying telecine machines and acquired foreign programs. Ratings were up from #5 to #3 that time. When Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., a senator who strongly opposed the Marcos administration, was assassinated on August 21, 1983, it was only a small item on television news. The iron grip that the Marcos administration had on television began to slip, as GMA broadcast the funeral, the only local station to do so. In 1984, Imee Marcos, daughter of Ferdinand Marcos, attempted to take over GMA. However, the takeover was prevented by GMA executives. Stewart left the Philippines for good as he was utterly disappointed with the Marcos move. GMA was also instrumental during the years preceding the People Power Revolution.