Topic Exploration: The People Power Movement

1. What was the protest? If it was part of a larger movement, where are you drawing the boundaries around your project?

The People Power Protest of 1986 took place in the Philippines. President Ferdinand Marcos, a middle-class descendent who had a large IQ and a shrewd personality, was elected in 1965 to defeat the incumbent from the other party who had poor economic control over the country, leading to destitution for many Filipinos. Although Marcos was called a president, he actually played the part of a dictator, calling into action Marshall Law when people began to rebel against his administration. He ruled for 20 years, although his administration was fraught with protests and scandal, before a sizable revolution began after the assassination of his primary enemy, Benigno Aquino in 1983.

Cory Aquino, Benigno’s wife, became the leader of the revolution after coming out of exile, and was nominated to run against Marcos in his snap elections during the years of 1985-1986. Marcos is overthrown after both he and Aquino claim success on Election Day. Marcos and his wife escape the Philippines to live in America, but are eventually indicted by the US Supreme Court for embezzlement and fraud. Marcos dies not long after. Aquino and her staff take over the role of President, much to the relief of most Filipinos (Goodno xiii).

2. Why do you believe that this identity is tied to this protest in a significant way? For whom is this tie significant?

I have chosen the identity of Catholic Filipinos because 84 percent of the Filipino population self-identifies as Roman Catholic (Davis 156). The massive presence of Catholicism is due to the early history of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines. Once the Philippines became a sovereign nation, Catholicism was deeply ingrained into their society. The Church often butt heads with Marcos’s administration because the Church had a lot of power over the Filipino people. The support of human rights and anti-violent tactics was seen as a threat to Marcos (Youngblood 93). Of course within Catholicism, there were different factions, which were either for or against the Marcos’ government. For the most part, ultra-conservatives and conservatives were the least likely to speak out against Marcos and his human rights violations. Conservatives encompassed the majority of those who were religious (Davis 163-164). Moderates and progressives were similar in that they believed that human rights were important and that real change needed to happen politically. The largest difference between the two factions would be that moderates did not believe that violence should be used under any circumstance, whereas the progressives believed that violence should be used if that is what the people decide (Davis 165-167). Finally, the radicals are the most outspoken of the five groups. They are forced to go underground when Marcos starts his “witch hunts” (Davis 169). They are often persecuted if suspected of treason.

3. How did the group you are looking at participate in the protest?

Obviously, not all Filipinos who identified as Catholic participated in the protest. But I think it would be interesting to see how the different parts of the Church dealt with having to split up into factions. The ultra-conservatives and the conservatives tended to be of a wealthier class, which meant that they were never on the receiving end of Marcos’s brutality. The fact that they never had to see it or experience it probably contributed to their lack of mobility within the protest. Furthermore, their wealth and high status would actually make them supporters of Marcos’s government and would therefore cause them to actively support Marcos. Why would those who are in a socially favorable position want to oust someone who is determined to keep the status quo? On the other hand, those who were moderates and progressives were more liberal minded. Moderates were “the most influential group in the Church,” even though they tended to not have the status that the ultra-conservatives possessed (Davis 167). The radicals took the largest role in the protest, often having to be secretive about their identity as a radical. They worked with the Christians for National Liberation (CNL) which was a group headed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (Youngblood 81). This group was extremely politically oriented and believed that an “armed struggle” was necessary for “liberating the Philippines from the status quo” (Youngblood 82).

4. When you think about this protest, what are you worried or concerned about? Are there questions that you think will be hard to answer? Do you have methodological concerns? What part of this project do you think will be the most difficult for you?

I think that it will be difficult to find concrete examples of Christians working for the cause of the protest. I have a lot of materials on Christianity in the Philippines during the time of the protest, but it is hard to find specific groups that were involved in the protests and how those groups directly affected the outcome of the protests. I think I will need to read through my research materials more carefully to find smaller key facts and also do some online research for journal articles on this topic. I hope I haven’t made the identity too narrow (Catholic/Christian Filipinos vs. Filipinos in general), but so far it looks like there is a lot of background on the religion within the country before the protest, which will be good for my historical context portion of the essay. The historical context portion will take the most time by far because the history of the Philippines is extremely varied and rich (with Colonialism taken into account). I will definitely have to make sure that I touch on all of the history (both of Catholicism in the Philippines and the political history of the Philippines) so that the rest of the paper is clear.

Works Cited:

Davis, Leonard. Revolutionary Struggle in the Philippines. Hampshire: Macmillan, 1989. Print.

Goodno, James B. The Philippines: Land of the Broken Promises. London: Zed, 1991. Print.

Youngblood, Robert L. Marcos Against the Church: Economic Development and Political Repression in the Philippines. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1990. Print.