Asia Times: 'People power' under review in Estrada's Philippines



	February 29, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

'People power' under review in Estrada's Philippines

MANILA - Fourteen years after a civilian-backed uprising that ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Filipinos are divided on whether they have pursued the democratic goals of the 1986 ''people power'' revolt or have reverted to the bad political habits they swore to change.

And just as in every year since February 1986, this year Filipinos argued about how the event ought to be remembered and who should have graced the celebrations. Up to two million Filipinos flocked to the area outside the main military camps here in support of military rebels who had broken away from Marcos weeks after the snap poll in 1986. On February 25, 1986, after a standoff that began four days earlier, Marcos fled the Philippines and went into exile, with the help of the US government.

President Joseph Estrada, a long-time mayor under Marcos, found himself the target of criticism, with many saying his presidency and his presence at the celebrations highlighted a retrogression in the gains made in the revolution that restored democratic institutions in the Philippines.

Estrada is responsible for ''resurrecting the ills of the Marcos dictatorship'', said the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) or New Nationalist Alliance, seizing on criticism that Estrada has been known to favor friends in key posts and in making political and economic decisions.

Estrada was invited to the Friday celebrations by former President Corazon Aquino, who was catapulted to the presidency in 1986 in a snap poll where Marcos tried, but failed, to use his party machinery and government resources to hang on to the presidency. Then, up to two million Filipinos flocked to the area outside the main military camps in Manila in support of military rebels who had broken away from Marcos weeks after the snap poll in 1986. On February 25, 1986, after a standoff that began four days earlier, Marcos fled the Philippines and went into exile, with the help of the US government.

Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, who in 1986 had called on the public to protect the military rebels from being attacked by Marcos's military, agreed to have Estrada at the celebration rites, but did not spare him scathing criticism in his homily at a commemmorative mass Friday. Sin lashed out at ''corruption in high places'' and urged Filipinos to be vigilant against ''the return of cronyism'' in government.

Estrada has been widely criticised for favoring so-called ''Marcos cronies'', and for his cozy relationship with Marcos's family, who have staged a political comeback through elections in recent years. Elected in 1998 on a pro-poor platform, Estrada's popularity has been erratic in recent surveys as he has been accused of favoring political allies for key posts, of being soft on the Marcoses who are still facing graft charges in court and of heading a rudderless government.

At the end of 1999, he reshuffled his cabinet, but his critics say it is time for another revolution this time to boot him out of office. ''Estrada should be kicked out from Malacanang [the presidential palace]. Just like what we did to his master at Edsa 14 years ago,'' said Rodolfo Sambajon, chair of the fishermen's group Pamalakaya.

Writing in the Philippine Daily Inquirer this week, political commentator Conrad de Quiros said: ''There is nothing left of 'People Power' today. What is there is a total perversion of it. What is there is not 'people power' but 'some people's power'.'' While he says Aquino and her successor, Fidel Ramos, had their own ''brands of cronyism'', Estrada exceeded his predecessors, De Quiros argues.

''It is not merely that the present crop of cronies is the same one that stole this country blind - though by itself that is rubbing salt on wound. It is also that the brazenness of the abuse of power matches only that practiced by Marcos.'' He also alleged that Estrada chose to fire his justice secretary recently because he would not cooperate with a business magnate friend and had scrapped an aviation treaty with Taiwan to favor the same businessman. The 1986 revolution was ''first and last about putting the public good above all else. Erap [Estrada] is first and last about putting the good of family and friends above all else''.

Still, Aquino, who had earlier rallied against Estrada's move to amend the 1987 constitution, said the President deserved to be invited to this year's celebration in the spirit of unity and reconciliation. Besides, she said, Estrada had also ''institutionalized people power'' by declaring February 25 a national holiday and by signing a ''pledge of unity'', which included a vow to uphold democracy. Estrada lit the ''Freedom Flame'' at the revolt's monument on Friday, with Ramos and Aquino.

The Inquirer, an English-language newspaper highly critical of the Estrada government, surprisingly took Aquino's side and said Estrada ''has more right to be at the celebration than the fence-sitters of the leftist movement who folded their arms and watched the unfolding drama'' of 1986.

While Filipino commentators debate where the country has gone since 1986, today's youth appear to know little about the event that political analysts say has inspired similar bloodless revolts across the globe.

Indeed, on the eve of the February 25 anniversary, major newspapers and broadcast networks came out with special reports that attempted to measure where the ''Edsa spirit'' was in the Philippines' social, political and cultural barometer. They wanted to determine two things - first, whether those who participated in the revolt continued to believe in its message of peace and hope and second, whether today's generation, represented by teenagers born during the four-day uprising, know the significance of this chapter in Philippine history.

Teodoro Benigno, Aquino's former spokesman, laments not only the dwindling number of attendees to the yearly rites but what he says is the seeming lack of consciousness among the youth about the meaning of the event. Young Filipinos interviewed on the significance of the revolt to their lives gave responses as varied and indistinguishable as today's Edsa - as the national highway where the crowds gathered in support of anti-Marcos rebels in the military is called.

Even the avenue bears little resemblance to the plain long stretch of highway it was before. It has been transformed into a mish-mash of concrete flyovers and the path for Manila's elevated railway system, which began operating in December. But a statue of the the Virgin Mary, known as Virgin of Edsa, still towers over the scene of the revolt.

In a bid to ''revive the Edsa spirit'', Benigno and his fellow Aquino supporters, produced ''Edsa 2000'', a feel-good documentary about the revolution. Still, the numbers at the commemorative rally did not go up. Newspaper estimates of the crowds at this year's celebration ranged from 8,000 to 30,000. And young people who showed up said they were attracted more by the street party held after the rally, which featured celebrities and musical bands.

There were also less vendors at the celebrations this year, a sign that the times have not gotten better, only worse, says 52-year-old vendor Naty Edma. ''There were many promises that were broken, Our people remain poor. But I came, anyway, to listen and of course, to sell. We can't do anything but pray that genuine change will still come,'' said Edma.

(Inter Press Service)

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