Pseudo-Democracy 4/1/87
Strongman Ferdinand Marcos escaped from the Philippines on February 25th, and remains in Hawaii because no other country will accept him.
New Philippines President Corazon Aquino’s chief claim to fame was that she is the widow of assassinated politician Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, a major Marcos rival. Last autumn and winter, after Marcos called the snap election for February 7th, various groups competed for the right to run against Marcos. Cory lined up with former Marcos ally Salvador Laurel to dominate the opposition. Unfortunately, things have not changed much in the Philippines since Marcos left. During Cory’s first six weeks in office, several disappointing Marcos-type trends have been established: the process for establishing a new government by fiat, the appointment of establishment-oriented ministers, the military domination of domestic politics, the lack of real commitment to land reform, and the continued subservient relationship to the U.S.
While Ninoy’s death proved to be the event that opposition organized around, Cory and her new administration are still for the most part the conservative establishment.
While literacy is 89%, 70% of the population are rural peasants, and unemployment is 50%. Starvation is as bad as Ethiopia, and the country is not food self-sufficient, exporting Dole and Del Monte pineapples and bananas as cash crops in lieu of subsistence farming.
35% of the workers in the Philippines are in export-related jobs, and 80% of the exports are headed for the U.S.
Amid the hope and optimism toward the 6-week-old Cory Aquino Administration, what are the dangerous trends indicating future trouble?
1) New Constitution: While Cory had kept her pledge to end many of the decree-making presidential powers established by Marcos, she has suspended the Constitution and called for a new constitution. The new constitution, however, will be drafted by a group hand picked by the top of the government, not duly elected; and the interim governing document reportedly gives the new government power even Marcos did not have.
2) The Appointments of the New Government: since the left (BAYAN) chose to boycott the election, most of the spoils-appointments are going to members of the left-center Laban coalition of Cory Aquino, and the even more pro-U.S. right-center Unido party of Salvador Laurel, Cory’s running mate. Laurel is also a major land holder. His father was president during the Japanese occupation in World War II. Most of the ministers in Cory’s cabinet are establishment businessmen; while some were jailed by Marcos, only two are genuine human rights activists. The local elections scheduled for May have been cancelled. All 73 Provincial Governors and 1,300 mayors and local officials have been asked to resign. Local Government Minister Auilino Pimentel has been assigned responsibility to appoint new officials to replace Marcos’ cronies. Pimmentel is a Laban-Social Democrat, and he has appointed Laban-oriented officials. To complicate matters, Vice President-Prime Minister Laurel has appointed duplicate officials from the Unido Party for many key local posts, creating dissension within the new government. Basically, Laban and Unido are already competing for the local elections re-scheduled for 1992.
3) Military Domination: The Army is still in charge of the country. Under Marcos, the established policy of “extrajudicial executions” led to as many deaths per capita as in South Africa, under the leadership of land-holding warlord Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, who is now one of the richest men in the Philippines. Enrile has controlling interest in the coconut monopoly. In retaining Enrile as Defense Minister, Aquino gained the cooperation of the military, but lost the potential confidence of the anti-Marcos insurgent New People’s Army with 20,000 indigenous troops. While 500 political prisoners have been released, another 500 have been re-classified as criminals and retained in the prisons.
4) Agricultural Land Reform: with U.S. multinational corporations controlling much of the productive land, and draining food and cash from the countryside, the Philippines’ prospects for future development remain dismal. Only by giving the land back to indigenous farmers through real land reform and returning to traditional rice varieties and other subsistence farming, can the country hope to eradicate its increasing addiction to foreign-produced costly fertilizers and pesticides. Unfortunately, new Agricultural Minister Mitra has already established a policy to maintain the relations with the U.S. multinational corporations at the expense of peasant self-sufficiency.
5) U.S. Domination: the U.S. has 23 military bases in the Philippines, and is the third largest employer in the country after the Philippine government and San Miguel. U.S. expenditures account for 10% of the Philippine Gross National Product. Over 40,000 native workers earn as little as $1 an hour, a God-send in a country where 70% of the population is below the poverty level of $150 a year. When Cory was first a serious candidate for President, she stated she would end the U.S. military presence in the archipelago. As her candidacy became a reality, she backed away from her strong attack on the Military Bases Agreement which ends in 1991. Developing a new Bases Agreement will be the culmination of this Aquino administration. Currently the Philippines is receiving $125 million in economic aid and $55 million in military aid from the U.S. This is a tremendous conservative force on the administration to sustain a cooperative relationship with the Reagan administration.
The Philippines has lots of problems, and lots of potential. The soil is fertile, the climate is pleasant and there are 55 million people.
On Tuesday, April 15th, the Davis International House will present its annual conference at the Veteran’s Memorial, 14th and B Streets. This year, the focus is on the Philippines, with dinner at 6 p.m., a keynote speech by Cory’s sister-in-law, Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara, and a panel discussion with some of the foremost U.S. authorities on the Philippines.
