BASIC ASSERTIONS REGARDING PHILIPPINE HISTORY by Romeo J. Intengan, S.J.

9 October 2001

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The history of the Philippines is a history of the struggle of the native and assimilated immigrant inhabitants of our archipelago, toward national unity, freedom, justice and progress, in the various aspects of life - political, economic, cultural and spiritual. In the northern, central and much of the southern part of the Philippine archipelago, our native pre-colonial ancestors had economic sufficiency but at a primitive level. They had independence, but only at the level of clan-based communities. They lacked national consciousness. Their societies were classdivided, and had some elements of exploitation by those who controlled the primitive means of production and exchange then available. In much of the southern part of the archipelago Muslim sultanates had been established even before the coming of the Spanish colonialists in the sixteenth century. Contrary to the egalitarian orientation of Islam, these sultanates also showed class divisions and patriarchy1 and certain other elements of exploitation by those who controlled the means of production and exchange. These Muslim sultanates had more sophisticated and more powerful technology, political structure and explanation of the universe than those existing in the clan-based communities found in the other parts of the Philippine archipelago. The Spanish colonialist regime, which started in the later part of the sixteenth century and lasted more than three centuries, saw the establishment of political unity over most of the northern and central parts of the Philippine archipelago. The Spaniards introduced a form of Catholic Christianity, which though it had many humanistic and liberating values, nevertheless also contained negative elements such as religious intolerance, patriarchy and the acceptance and reinforcement of class divisions. The Spanish colonialists also introduced some improved techniques of material production and effected slight improvements in the material infrastructure of the archipelago. In many cases the indigenous peoples willingly accepted Spanish rule and Catholic Christianity in its Spanish colonialist form, for a number of reasons, including the following. The externals of the form of Catholic Christianity

introduced by the Spanish colonialists had some resemblance to the indigenous pre-Christian religions of the Philippine archipelago. This form of Catholic Christianity provided the indigenous peoples what was for them an explanation of the universe more plausible than that of their ancestral beliefs. The Spanish colonialist regime made available to them better technology for material productivity. Spanish rule and the form of Catholic Christianity it introduced provided the indigenous peoples with some political and sociocultural structures to balance the oppression they suffered from some of the pre-colonial native wielders of societal power.

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Often and in many places the Spanish colonialists were untrue to the core values of justice, liberty, and equality of the Catholic Christianity that they preached. Thus they practiced racial discrimination. They established an authoritarian political system with absence of civil liberties. They violated freedom of conscience by giving a politically privileged place to Catholic Christianity and legally penalizing believers of other religions. They instituted economic oppression through forced labor and confiscation of goods, and through their introduction and enforcement of feudal2 patterns of land tenure. The Spanish colonialists encouraged the early stages of capitalism. This capitalism was initially of a comprador or merchant type, but later developed a few elements of an industrial type. In both types of capitalism the bulk of the fruits of production were appropriated by the merchants or by the owners of the early industrial means of production. The Islamized ethnocultural communities of the southern part of the Philippine archipelago, with their relatively strong political organization (the sultanates), a religious and ideological bond (Islam), and of sufficient economic resources (the proceeds from control of international trade in much of southeast Asia), were in a better position to resist the attempts of the Spanish colonialist regime to conquer them, than were the clan-based communities in other parts of the archipelago. The above-mentioned Islamized ethnocultural communities became the nucleus of what later developed into the Bangsa Moro or Moro nationality. Starting toward the end of the sixteenth century and until the middle third of the nineteenth century, come of the Islamized ethnocultural communities conducted

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Patriarchy is the ideology and the system of social organization based on fatherdominance, which underlies the dichotomous dualism of many cultures. The paradigmatic dominance-subordination dualism is that between husband-father and wife, a dualism that is intrinsically sexual and that involves the extension of the attribution of superiority to all that is perceived as masculine, and of inferiority to all that is perceived as feminine.

Feudalism is the economic system based on agriculture, and which in addition possesses the following characteristics. First, large tracts of agricultural land are owned by relatively few private individuals (feudal landowners of landlords). Second, most of this land is cultivated by relatively numerous poor peasants working individually or in family units on small parcels of lands rented from the landlords. Third, the peasants generally use simple agricultural implements and methods in cultivating the land. Fourth, a large part of the crop or of the financial proceeds from the crop is taken from the peasants by the landlords in the form of land rent.

successive raids against the settlements of the Christianized inhabitants of the northern, central and near southern parts of the Philippine archipelago. These Islamized communities also raided animist indigenous communities living in their vicinity. During these raids much destruction was inflicted on these communities. The raiders carried away many inhabitants to slavery and took much war booty. Up to the later part of the eighteenth century, the main motivation of the raids on Christianized communities was reprisal for the attempts of the Spanish colonialists, with the help of Christianized natives, to subject the Islamized communities to Spanish rule and to Catholic Christian missionary activity. Starting in the later part of the eighteenth century, the main purpose of the raids was to capture slaves to support the political economy of the Islamized sultanates, especially the Sultanate of Sulu. The latter needed slaves to extract the natural products of sea and land for export and to produce food, leaving the Islamized indigenes of the sultanates free to strengthen their military control and to engage in the profitable export trade. These slaving raids ended only during the last third of the nineteenth century, when Spanish naval technology surpassed that of the sultanates.

13. The Propaganda Movement strove for palliative reforms in Philippine society,
within a basically feudal and nascent capitalist framework under the control of Spanish colonialism. It was doomed to failure by Spanish colonialist intransigence and by ilustrado individualism and vacillation. The Propaganda Movement was eventually transcended by the Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, which launched the politico-military struggle of the Philippine Revolution of 1896, toward national independence.

14. In its early phase, the Philippine Revolution of 1896, pursuing a liberal
democratic politico-economic model, showed promise of leading to the attainment of unity, political freedom, and some measure of justice and progress for the people of the Philippines. But it was led astray by the ilustrados who seized leadership from the workers and lower middle class personalities who led in the founding of the Katipunan. The ilustrados proceeded to set up a polity which though unified and independent, eventually becoming the First Philippine Republic in 1899, and which though relatively progressive in a material sense, was nevertheless class-divided and patriarchal. This unevenly developing society was betrayed by a large part of the ilustrado leadership of the Revolution, which by and large collaborated with the intrusion and occupation by United States imperialism.

10. Many of the highland ethnocultural communities all over the archipelago,
particularly in the northern part of Luzon, were also able to withstand the efforts of the Spanish colonialist regime to subjugate them. Their successful resistance against the Spanish colonialism was part due of their geographical isolation in rugged mountainous areas of the archipelago, in part because of the solidarity and mutual help provided by their tribal and intertribal links.

15. The early phase of the Philippine Revolution of 1896 was marked by an
upsurge of religious fervor and by the enthusiastic participation and support of a large segment of the Filipino clergy. However, many of the ilustrados who later took control of the Revolution were anticlerical or even antireligious. They communicated their anticlerical or antireligious convictions and sentiments to government policy and practice, which in some ways became anti-Catholic. This alienated fervent Catholic Christians, many of whom eventually withdrew from active participation in the Revolution. In spite of the anti-Catholic tendencies of the leadership of the later part of the revolution and of the Republic, many Catholic Christians, including clergy, continued to support the politico-military effort for independence against the Spanish colonialists, and later against the United States imperialists.

11. The lowland ethnocultural communities which fell under Spanish colonialist
domination waged more than two hundred revolts against the Spanish colonialist regime. However, until the resumption in 1898 of the Philippine Revolution which broke out in 1896, the uprisings of these lowland ethnocultural communities failed to throw off the Spanish colonialist yoke. This failure was due to the fact that these uprisings were localized or at best regional in scope, and the communities or groups that waged them lacked the material resources for a successful struggle against the Spanish colonialist regime.

12. A common acceptance of Catholic Christian beliefs and values and a sense of
commonality of grievances against the Spanish colonialist regime started the process by which the Christianized lowland inhabitants of the archipelago became the core of what later was to become the Filipino nationality. To this core were gradually added other elements, including some from the highland cultural communities. Soon after the Christianized Filipinos acquired a common religious and ideological bond (Catholic Christianity), better links by improved transport and communication facilities, and adequate economic resources (the wealth of the growing number of Filipino landlords, businessmen, and professionals), they launched a reform movement that turned into an eventually successful struggle for national independence.

16. The United States colonialist regime gave the Philippines a measure of material
progress, but for the most part, this progressed was not shared by the masses. This was because the U.S. colonialists maintained the feudal system of land tenure established by the Spanish colonialist regime, and in addition they expanded the system of capitalism that was in its incipient stages when the Spanish colonialists were expelled. Consequently, the feudal and capitalist owners of the means of production appropriated for themselves of the value created in the process of production. The U.S. colonialist regime also introduced the people of the Philippines to the principles and institutions of formal political democracy, but a stable and substantial democracy did not develop because of the extremely class-divided nature of society. The owners

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of the means of production abused the institutions of formal political democracy to advance their personal and class interests. The U.S. colonialist regime built a far-flung and wide-ranging public schools network, but while this advanced the literacy of the people of the Philippines, this public school network. While these advanced the literacy of the people of the Philippines, this public school network also served as an instrument of cultural imperialism. It inculcated a colonial mentality, which eventually valued the English language and North American traditions, values and products more than our native languages and our indigenous traditions, values and products. The United States colonialist regime mitigated the patriarchal character of Philippine family life, but only to a small extent. The Catholic Christian Church in the Philippines was initially put at a severe societal disadvantage at the start of the United States colonialist regime by some factors. One was the massive withdrawal of the Spanish church personnel. Another was the founding and initial rapid growth of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Still another factor was the inclination of the United States colonialist regime to favor Protestant Christianity and Masonry over Catholic Christianity. An added factor was the linkage of Catholic Christianity with the declining Spanish-speaking culture, while Protestantism was associated with the ascendant English-speaking culture. This societal disadvantage caused the Catholic Christian Church to largely withdraw from addressing public issues, and to become privatized -- confined to internal ecclesiastical concerns and family and individual morality -- in its focus. However, by the 1930s, the severe societal disadvantage burdening Catholic Christianity had been largely reduced. This turning of the tide was made possible by several factors. One was the arrival and activity of large numbers of English-speaking Catholic Christian missionaries. Another was the founding of an extensive network of Catholic schools that provided a relatively modern Catholic Christian education to a large proportion of the economic, political and social elite. Yet another factor was the updated and improved formation of new generations of Filipino clergy. Nevertheless, Catholic Christianity had suffered a definite reduction in its influence in Philippine society. Moreover it continued to retain a mostly privatized attitude.

molds the policy of the government of the United States. The greater part of the wealthy minority in the Philippines who control domestic economic, political and social power continue to serve as social bases of the foreign interests which support them and share with them in disproportionately benefiting from the labor of the economically, politically and socially marginalized majority of the people of the Philippines.

20. During the first two decades after formal political independence in 1946,
Philippine society could be described as a country dominated by U.S. neocolonialism, in which feudal and dependent domestic capitalist forces and structures of Philippine society served as social bases for U.S. imperialism. Initially, the feudal elements were the stronger of these two social bases of U.S. imperialism. However, with the growing urbanization of Philippine society and with the spread of dependent capitalist relations all over the country and even into the countryside, the dependent domestic capitalist elements displaced the feudal elements from being the stronger of these two social bases of U.S. imperialism. There was no fundamental conflict among these elements, because they were for the most part related by blood or by marriage. Meantime, the condition of the Philippine masses -- peasants and small fisherfolk, workers and small bourgeoisie -- continued to worsen. Along with this, patriarchy still continued to characterize Philippine society. This U.S. neocolonialist-feudal-dependent capitalist and patriarchal configuration of Philippine society continued until the 1980s, when the Philippine problematic changed its shape.

21. In spite of the growth in numbers, economic holdings and political clout of
domestic capitalist elements since formal political independence in 1946, the Philippines has not been able to attain the transition to an autonomous and modern capitalist economy. The dominant landed segment of the domestic capitalist elements that could have decisively induced an autonomous and comprehensive industrialization failed to do so. Factors leading to their failure included in their continuing ties to feudal or backward agrarian capitalist land tenure or to primary industries such as logging and mining, from which they extracted huge profits. Thus they had no strong incentive to commit themselves to industrialization based on manufacturing of a whole array of products -consumer items, intermediate products, and capital goods. Controlled by these domestic capitalist elements, the Philippine economy failed to make the transition from the easy import substitution, industrialization. (The easy early type of import substitution industrialization consists in the domestic manufacture of substitutes for imported consumer goods. The difficult later type of import substitution industrialization consists in the domestic manufacture of the substitutes for imported intermediate products and capital goods and attainment of an autonomous technological research and development capability.

18. After World War II the government of the United States eventually conferred
political independence upon the Philippines, after more than three years of brutal Japanese imperialist occupation of the country. But this grant of political independence marked the transition from colonialism to neocolonialism. The Philippines, from being a colony, became a neocolony -- having formal political independence, but with an economy dependent upon and controlled by the United States and with sovereignty impaired by United States extraterritoriality, military bases and parity rights.

19. The successive administrations governing the Philippines since the grant of
formal political independence have to a great extent been dependent on the approval and support of the military, commercial and industrial interest which

22. Once the growth potential of import substitution of consumer goods was
exhausted toward the middle of the 1960s, the Philippine economy went into chronic crisis caused by a persistently negative balance of trade and a resulting shortage of capital for modernization. Most domestic capitalist, because of their ties with feudal or backward agrarian capitalist land tenure, also blocked agrarian reform, thereby obstructing any improvement in the income of the rural masses and therefore stunting the growth of the domestic market for the products of industry.

Christianity gives hope for those who struggle for a just, free and progressive Philippine society.

26. The parts of the southcentral and southwestern parts of the archipelago that are
home to the Bangsa Moro continue to suffer destitution and social backwardness worse than that of most areas inhabited by the Filipino nationality. The causes of this worse destitution and social backwardness include neglect by the central government and misgovernment by corrupt or incompetent indigenous leaders. These are worsened by the persistence of feudal patterns of social power which render difficult the implantation of democratic government and rational public administration for the common good. This deplorable situation was one of the factors that led to the formation of revolutionary groups fighting for secession from the Philippine republic and the setting up of an independent Islamic state. Foremost among these revolutionary secessionist Moro groups is the Moro National Liberation front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). These revolutionary secessionist groups gained the allegiance of the majority, though not an overwhelming one, of the Bangsa Moro.

23. Domestic capitalist also controlled the state. They directed the decisions of the
state away from lines of rational and consistent policy in pursuit of the common good, and turned these decisions toward favoring particular interests by skewed policies or by unwarranted exceptions from rational policies. Thus a relatively autonomous and sufficiently strong developmentalist state could not emerge. Consequently, there did not come to be any overarching institution that could direct the transformation of wealth based on land, logging and mining into industrial capital. Not surprisingly, rural and urban poverty became wider in scope and worse in degree, more so with rapid growth in population and the exhaustion of the land frontier. Societal discontent and conflict began to spread and deepen. This problem still remains unsolved.

27. In reaction to the grave societal contradictions which had re-emerged and
intensified starting in the mid-1960s, and which ripened into a full-blown crisis in the early 1970s, a faction of the dependent domestic capitalist and feudal elements dominant in the Philippine society brought about the imposition of the fascist Marcos dictatorship. This imposition of martial law was backed by the governments and the military, commercial, industrial, and financial interests of the capitalist industrialized countries especially the United States and Japan. The imposition of martial law was a sign that the measures of mainly covert economic, political and cultural manipulation formerly used by the forces of oppression in Philippine society were no longer effective in controlling Philippine society. Those wielding economic, state political, and cultural power had to use naked armed repression their effort to maintain their domination of Philippine societal life.

24. Marxism-Leninism (Communism) took root and spread in the Philippine

society as a reflex against these evils, gathering much strength because it addresses many of the most important problems of the people. The gravity of the Philippine societal problematic and obvious dedication of Marxist-Leninist militants brought many talented and committed recruits to the Communist cause from the 1930s to the early 1950s, and again from the 1960s to the 1980s. This brought the Communist movement real prospects of seizing state power in the short run.

25. In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. socially liberating
forms of Catholic Christian faith have been steadily gaining strength in the Philippines. The socially retrograde pietistic devotional and privatized predominant form of Catholic Christian faith in the Philippines is being gradually replaced by a more authentic form of Catholic Christian faith, which gave due importance to ethics and recognizes and acts upon the public character of Christian faith. Although at present more widespread than before, these socially liberating forms of Catholic Christian faith have not been embraced by a critical mass of the Catholic Christian majority in the Philippines sufficient to effect radical social transformation toward a rational and progressive civil society. This is in part due to the fact that the channels of social communication available to the socially progressive sectors of the Catholic Christian Church in the Philippines are quite underdeveloped. Nevertheless, the growing strength of socially liberating forms of Philippine Catholic

28. In such a difficult situation for the Philippines, a number of organizations and
social movements arose. These were motivated by the desire to present an economic, political and cultural program that promotes, in a balanced way, the human values of basic welfare, equality, liberty, and participation for all the people of the Philippines and of the world. Among these organizations are those which are animated by Democratic Socialism and social democracy. Many of these organizations find the major part of their inspiration the tenets of a renewed Catholic Christianity, especially the social teachings of the Church.

29. The political and military strength of the secessionist Moro revolutionary
groups has been relatively contained by some factors. These factors include the sheer demographic preponderance of the Christianized Filipino nationality

within the Philippine Republic, the political and ideological divisions among the Moro revolutionaries, strategic mistakes on the part of some of their leaders, and some reforms effected by the central government. 30. After steady and accelerating gains in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, the Marxist-Leninist leaders fell into doctrinal rigidity and committed strategic mistakes. These negative developments and the timely emergence during the mid-1980s of what could have been ways to significant societal change alternative to Marxist-Leninist state socialism caused grave reverses to MarxistLeninist groups, from which they have not quite recovered.

31. The People Power revolution of February 1986 was a political revolution
which succeeded in overthrowing the U.S.-backed Marcos dictatorship. In this political upheaval certain progressive segments of the Catholic Christian Church, as well as Democratic Socialist and social democratic forces fulfilled important roles. However, other elements, such as politicians of the traditional bourgeois opposition as well as liberal democrats from the old industrial and commercial establishment, were also involved in the People Power revolution. These social forcessome outright reactionary, some moderately conservativehad social power and connections to decisively determine the configuration of the leadership to be installed in state power. The result of their influence was that the People Power revolution installed an essentially liberal democratic3 political dispensation in state power, headed by former President Corazon C. Aquino.

showed neither sufficient vision nor political will to lead this needed social revolution. Thus for the most part Philippine society remained a neocolonial dependent capitalist society with remaining areas of feudalism, and characterized by strongly rooted remnants of patriarchy, although this time administered by a basically liberal democratic government formally committed to gender equality. The plight of the Philippine masses, especially the women, remains grave. The last years of the Aquino administration were beset by a grave energy crisis, which came about because of lack of foresight on the part of the government. This energy crisis aggravated the economic downturn consequent to the withdrawal of investors from the Philippines following the coup detat attempt in 1989, and the continuing reluctance of investors to invest in the Philippines due to fear of political instability.

33. By the start of the 1990s there took place a change in the configuration of the
Philippine societal problematic, to some extent reflecting such changes in the international situation, especially the increasing scope and depth of globalization of the neoliberal4 kind. From an economic viewpoint, the basic structure of Philippine society at present may be described as a patriarchal dependent neoliberal capitalist system with remaining areas of feudalism. From a political viewpoint, the Philippines is at present governed essentially according to a dysfunctional patriarchal liberal democratic framework dominated by traditional politicians. From a cultural viewpoint we can say that Philippine society has some sound values such as sensitivity to personal needs, strong regard for the family, and resiliency in the face of hardships. At the same time Philippine society is heavily influenced by colonial mentality,

32. The post People Power liberal democratic government restored considerable
respect for the democratic rights and civil liberties of the people of the Philippines. With support from the majority of the leadership of the Catholic Christian Church it survived a series of attempted coups detat launched by a considerable remnant of fascist military, police and civilian elements. However, the liberal democratic government did not adequately pursue the transformation of the February 1986 political revolution into a social revolution that decisively addresses and remedies the structural problems of Philippine society, such as initially, neocolonialism, imperialism, feudalism and dependent capitalism, and later on neoliberalism. The liberal democratic administration
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A liberal democracy stresses liberty, and depends upon private initiative and formal equality before the law to bring about social equality. This social equality is not too difficult to achieve under the rules of a liberal democracy if there is not too much economic inequality among the citizenry and if the legal system works in such a manner that formal equality before the law translates largely into real equality. However, in a situation of great economic disparities and a poorly functioning legal system, the formal liberty and equality of liberal democracy ends up actually producing wanton privilege for the wealthy few and constraints and disadvantage for the poor majority. Liberal democracy is faulty in that it is content with equal formal rights and does not emphasize equal social power.

Neoliberalism or neoliberal capitalism advocates a return to a certain extreme understanding of free enterprise, which sees society, both domestic and international, primarily as a market, in which everyone is both a producer and a consumer, and in which the free operation of market forces (supply and demand) (untrammeled by government regulation) at both the national and international levels will promote, as though by a hidden hand, the common good, consumers being given access to the best products at the cheapest prices, and the most efficient producers gaining the most profits. Neoliberal capitalism advocates a new version of the principle of comparative advantage, according to which each production unit, whether an enterprise, region or country should concentrate on producing or providing the commodities or services that it can most efficiently produce or provide, and exchange these with the commodities and services of other production units. Neoliberal capitalism demands for its adequate functioning a dismantling of national protectionist economic systems and the integration of economies, whether in regional blocs, or whether in a total world or global economy, more often than not in an asymmetrical manner, with dominant and dependent, central and peripheral aspects. Neoliberal capitalism or economic neoliberalism has as liberal democracy as its political corollary, liberal democracy and postmodernist cultural and ethical individualism as its cultural associate.5

excessive personalism and family-centeredness, patriarchy, prescientific worldview, and escapism.

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The Ramos administration came to power on the slogan of people empowerment, which it later explicated to mean basically two things. First, national economic growth resulting in the status of a newly industrializing country by the year 2000 or slightly beyond. Second, the eradication of poverty and the attainment of social equity through reform. The Ramos administration was able to put an end to the most acute aspects of the energy crisis. It also dismantled or attenuated monopolies in various areas of the economy, such as banking, communication, and transportation. During its first four years the country attained moderate national aggregate economic growth were neither equitably distributed nor sufficiently put to use to improve the prospects of sustained economic growth. Consequently the economic growth did not have a significant impact in economically, politically, culturally empowering the impoverish masses of our people. One key reason for this failure of people empowerment was the unwillingness or inability of the Ramos administration to establish the institutional framework for a functional and not merely formal democracy, which is so essential for the just redistribution of the burdens and rewards of economic life. Without the later, the income of the people will not grow sufficiently to buy the products of industry and the creative energies of the people will not be released for productive innovation, that is, the domestic market will not grow enough to sustain industry and commerce. Another facet to the causation of the failure of the Ramos administration to bring about real people empowerment was that it chose to use as its power base traditional politicians with their particularistic vested interests, and paid only lip service to peoples organizations, which are the authentic basis for people empowerment. Moreover, the Ramos administration was unenthusiastic about the urgent measures for the reform of our electoral system, and was pointedly tolerant of massive electoral fraud, which further entrenched traditional politicians in power. This gives warning that the economic growth the country could attain would benefit only the minority who are already in control of economic and political power. In the mid 1990s the MNLF entered into peace talks and eventually signed a peace agreement with the government. Though the process of its members integration into the mainstream of Philippine social and political life has been disappointingly slow and uneven, the MNLF has not yet resumed hostilities against the Philippine

government. The MILF and other secessionist Moro revolutionary groups, however, have grown in strength and certainly are forces to reckon with. Though unable to overthrow the Philippine government, they can tie down most of the strength of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police in a long-drawn out war, which would be very costly in terms of human lives, money, property, and opportunities of attracting investments. 4. During the last years of the Ramos administration the perception it fostered of the Philippines being on the threshold of becoming a newly industrializing country with a healthy economy was shattered by the destructive effects of the Asian financial crisis the El Nio phenomenon. The Philippines did not suffer as much as some other Southeast Asian countries from the financial crisis, because if had not received as much speculative investments as these other countries. Moreover its banks were not overexposed to bad or dubious loans, to some extent because the reckless spending and lending spree characteristic of the neighboring fast-growing economies had not come to be in the economically slower-growing Philippines. Nevertheless aggregate economic growth slowed down to a crawl. The burden of unemployment, underemployment, decreased income, and more difficult conditions of life was borne to some extent by the middle class but especially by the workers, peasants, and poor fisherfolk. A wide spectrum of ideologically very disparate groups and pragmatic interests joined together to support then Vice-President Joseph Erap Estrada for the presidency in the 1998 elections. The Estrada administration came to power on the wings of the popularity of its presidential contender with the masses, a wellfinanced and well organized machinery, and effective political communication of its main slogan Erap para sa mahirap. The latter gave the Estrada candidacy a pro-poor image among the masses. Its victorious effort was aided by disillusionment with the Ramos administration, as well as by the failure of alternative groups to come together to support a common set of candidates. At the accession to power of the Estrada administration, some political observers were of the belief that the basic character of the Estrada administration would be one or a combination of the three types of governance which could projected from the type of election campaigns its leaders waged and the interests represented among its leaders and supporters. The first type would be that the Estrada administration could become basically pro-people and pro-poor, as its leaders try to live up to the image it projected during the presidential election campaign. The second type would be that the

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Estrada administration could end up in incoherent ad hoc decision making, muddling through till the end of its term, as disparate ideological and pragmatic interests compete for power and resources insufficiently restrained by an unmindful or incapable leader. The third type would be that the Estrada administration, through its control of the legislature, the executive, and part of the judiciary, could carry out an extreme rightist legalized counterrevolution reversing all the gains of the struggle for social reform of the past decades. As it turned out, the Estrada administration, within a year of its coming to power, proved not only to be a combination of the second and third types described above, and was characterized by incompetence, cronyism, and other forms of corruption. Worse, it showed clear signs of facilitating the takeover of the Philippine state by organized criminal elements, and in particular by narcopoliticians. Its increasingly evident incompetence, corruption, and criminality elicited growing outrage from the more educated segments of the Philippine body politic. 7. After two and a half years in control of state power, the Estrada administration was deposed in January 2001 by what has become known as People Power 2a combination of a massive protest movement covering a wide range of the political spectrum, and the withdrawal of support by prominent figures in the executive and legislative branches of government, and finally, by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. Then Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, constitutional successor to former President Estrada, became President in January 2001. Her inaugural platform of government emphasized four points: the winning of the war against poverty; improving moral standards in government; new politics of party programs and consultation with the people; leadership by example. Her administration was heavily burdened by the bleak legacy of the Estrada administration and the struggle to depose former President Estrada- - huge financial deficits, the armed conflict with the MILF and with some extremist Muslims, the growth in the political and military capabilities of the Marxist-Leninist left, the hostility of many of the poor, and the destabilization carried out by forces linked with the Estrada administrationall this in a climate of economic uncertainty or decline in most of the world. In this difficult context, the Macapagal Arroyo administration has managed to survive and to achieve an increasingly stable hold on state power, in part by winning, albeit narrowly, in the recent national and local elections; gaining the allegiance of many of the urban poor, especially in Metro Manila; convincing the MILF to a agree to a cessation of armed hostilities; dealing firmly with

extremist Muslim rebels; moving to prosecute criminal elements who were in control of state power; observing austerity in government spending; defending the economy against currency speculators. However, it has had to make compromises with national, regional, and local politicians who do not really subscribe to the administrations vision and values, simply in order to strengthen its hold on state power and to be able to govern the country. Epilogue: The Catholic Christian Church, with the at least nominal allegiance of the majority of the people of the Philippines, has a major responsibility in working for authentic national reconstruction -- one characterized by social justice and by the moral growth of the whole Philippine political community. It has the duty to form its own constituency in a manner favorable to national reconstruction. It also has the duty, in pursuit of its particular legitimate objectives and interests, to construct a vision, mission and project for itself. Furthermore it has the duty to contribute to a vision, mission and project for the entire Philippine political community, that will effect the reconstruction of Philippine society and make possible a just, free and progressive authentically humanizing future. This vision, mission, and project should be based on a civil ethics5 that is virtually if not formally compatible with the basic tenets of Catholic Christian faith. BASIC ASSERTIONS REGARDING PHILIPPINE HISTORY By Romeo J. Intengan, S.J. 9 October 2001 Questions for Personal Reflection and Group Discussion

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What would you say about the assertion that says, in effect, that before the coming of the Western colonialists, the people of the Philippine archipelago led idyllic lives in a sort of golden age, which colonialism disrupted?

Civil ethics is a form of ethics that is formally (though not necessarily materially) detached from the particular religious or philosophical worldviews or concepts of reality. Basing itself on the ethical premises and goals of authentic humanization, it projects a common moral ideal open to the various more or less authentically humanist worldviews or concepts of reality within society. Civil ethics is necessarily related to a situation of ethical pluralism. It is to some extent a formal ideal, rather than a material reality, since what really exists are various ethical systems based on the respective world views of those who advocate these ethical systems. In the belief-and-value system, and they uphold civil ethics for the governance of public life from the motivation provided by their religious faith. Thus civil ethics need not be a cause or an aggravating factor for religious indifferentism.

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Described the Spanish colonialist regime in terms of the good and the harm it did to the people of the Philippine archipelago. It is often said that because the Islamized ethic groups in the south of the Philippine archipelago are freedom loving and courageous, they were not subjugated by Spanish colonialism, while the Christianized ethnic groups of the northern and central Philippine were subjugated. What do you think of such a statement? What were the causes of the intermittent warfare between the Spanish colonialists and their Christianized native allies, on one hand, and some of the Islamized ethnic groups in the southern part of the Philippine archipelago, on the other hand? Describe the historical relationship between Catholic Christianity and Philippine nationalism. Describe the United States colonialist regime in terms of the good and the harm it did to the people of the Philippines. How did the Catholic Christian Church in the Philippines fare during the United States colonialist regime? Why is it that after more than fifty years of political independence, the Philippines remains economically backward, not having been able to attain economic development to the level of a prosperous autonomous capitalism? Is it perhaps because majority of Filipinos are Catholic Christian? The People Power Revolution of 1986 raised hopes for sociopolitical reform and an equitable form of substantial economic development for the Philippines. This hope has not been fulfilled. Narrate the happenings during the Aquino, Ramos, and Estrada administrations, which have led to the frustration of these hopes.

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10. What is civil ethics? Why should it be the ethical basis for the public life of the Philippine political community?